New Girl wrapped up more than two years ago. Even though it ended on a perfect note, fans of the show still miss quirky Jess and her group of friends. The two biggest storylines were two love stories: the one between Jess and Nick and the one between Cece and Schmidt.
New Girl's characters were all incredibly lovable, including Megan Fox's Reagan who stepped in for Zooey Deschanel's Jess in season 5. Even though she was better than Jess in many regards, she got in the way of Nick and Jess's big love story. Many of the ten best episodes of New Girl are season finales, since those are the episodes in which something huge happens.
10 "Quick Hardening Caulk" (8.5)
"Quick Hardening Caulk" is one of the best season 2 episodes because in it, Jess finally tells Nick how she fells about him while she's heavily sedated. In order to show initiative, Nick threw a "guy's night" at the bar and his drive drove Jess insane. Unfortunately, Jess eventually found out that Nick is sleeping with Shane, leaving her humiliated and heartbroken.
Schmidt was going through a break up of his own: upon hearing the news about Cece's engagement, he got himself a fish.
9 "Engram Pattersky" (8.5)
Engram Pattersky is an anagram for "My Greatest Prank", Winston's last over-the-top prank that he pulled on everybody as they were leaving the iconic loft behind.
This is also the series finale, so the crew took a trip down the memory lane and played "The True American" for one last time. While Sex and the City and How I Met Your Mother's season finales were the highest rated episodes, New Girl's is only its 7th best.
8 "Virgins" (8.5)
In "Virgins", the group was talking about how they lost their virginities. The episode included some pretty hilarious flashbacks that also added some complexity to the main characters. Cece lost her virginity on her prom night to none other than Mick Jagger.
Nick and Winston had the craziest story to tell. Nick's father hired two prostitutes, Mysteria and Octopussy, to get it going with the boys. Only Winston sealed the deal that night, but he didn't realize until this episode the real identity of those two women. Pretty dark stuff for a sitcom!
7 "Prince" (8.6)
This episode didn't get its high rating thanks to the plot, but rather thanks to the Prince cameo. Just like Friends or How I Met Your Mother, New Girl hosted several celebrity guests. "Prince" was one of the most expensive episodes ever shot. Jess and Cece are invited to Prince's house party, and the rest of the guys decide to crash it.
6 "Background Check" (8.7)
In season 4, Winston was working towards becoming a police officer. In order to pass, he also had to pass a home visit and a background check. No problem, right? This friend group really had nothing to hide.
Well, it turned out that Jess was actually hiding a bag of meth in her closet. They tried to hide it from the authorities, which led to some pretty comical situations.
5 "Elaine's Big Day" (8.7)
"Elaine's Big Day" is season 2 finale. Who is this Elaine person and why is she stealing Cece's thunder on her wedding day? It's the one true love of Cece's almost-husband Shivrang, and she is played by Taylor Swift.
Schmidt wanted to prevent Cece from marrying and he teamed up with Winston and Bucky the badger in hopes to sabotage the big day.
4 "Landing Gear" (8.9)
In season 5's "Landing Gear", Cece got married for real and the lucky guy ended up being Schmidt. But that's not the only story in "Landing Gear": it also turned out that Jess is still very much in love with Nick. Nothing happened between them, though.
The writers left their arc to season 6. Season 5 was more about the growing each character had to do on their own.
3 "Cooler" (9.1)
The first one of the three episodes that received a rating higher than 9.0 is "Cooler", the 15th episode of season 2. The chemistry between Nick and Jess was intensifying in season 2, and it finally reached an exciting new high when Nick had to kiss Jess at a party at the loft. It was awkward and funny, but by the end of the night, Nick made his move and the kiss was definitely the steamiest in all history of New Girl.
The guys tried having a night out without Jess, since she serves as a cooler when she's around. They didn't have any luck, though, since Nick was wearing a female trench coat. This episode had it all: (b)romance, True American, and Jess's quirkiness
2 Clean Break (9.1)
Just like season 2 finale, season 4 finale also centered around Cece and Schmidt's love story: this is the episode in which they got engaged and it came out of nowhere since the two had been avoiding each other for the entire season. But that's not the only big change that "Clean Break" brought about.
The episode centered around Coach leaving for New York City and others similarly trying to leave past selves and relationships behind: Schmidt had a box of Cece to get rid of, while Jess was still clinging onto "the sex mug" she shared with Nick.
1 Five Stars for Beezus (9.2)
The season 6 finale takes the cake as the best episode of New Girl. Jess came back from Portland to tell Nick how she feels and she went to see him at his book reading. There, she heard him say that the characters from his book, Jessica and Nick, will never be together. Well, fast-forward 20 minutes and they are making out in the elevator.
Another major plot line was Cece's pregnancy. The funny thing is that Jess, Winston, and Schmidt all knew before she did.