As the fifth season of New Girl opens, Schmidt (Max Greenfield) and Cece (Hannah Simone) are engaged and ask Nick (Jake Johnson) and Jess (Zooey Deschanel) to be their Best Man and Maid of Honor. This begins the stressful process of planning a wedding…and revealing their engagement to Cece’s disapproving mother. Meanwhile, Nick is the majority owner in a bar, and cop Winston (Lamorne Morris) is now known as the Carport Hero after saving a child from being crushed by a car. Jess, happy about the state of things, declares this “The Year of Us”.
Shortly into the season Jess gets called for jury duty and ends up sequestered—conveniently allowing actress Zooey Deschanel to go on maternity leave and disappear from the show for a short time. In the show’s 100th episode, we are introduced to Reagan (Megan Fox), an attractive bisexual pharmaceutical sales representative, who moves into the loft while Jess is away. Nick is immediately smitten with Reagan, but is too chicken to make a move. I really enjoyed this new character—she had great chemistry with the group, and I didn’t really even find myself missing Jess while she was gone. Schmidt and Cece’s engagement, wedding preparations and bachelor/bachelotte party play out over the course of the season. We also see Jess contemplating a career change and trying out several new relationships; Winston getting an odd new girlfriend, Rhonda (Sonequa Martin-Green); and Nick dealing with staff and other issues at the bar as well as his own relationship questions.
The fifth season also sees a return visit by Damon Wayans, Jr. as Coach and an impressive lineup of guest stars including Curtis Armstrong, Steve Agee, Meaghan Rath, Peter Gallagher, David Walton, Nasim Pedrad, Nelson Franklin, Fred Melamed, Rebecca Reid, John Cho, Rob Riggle, Taran Killam, Julie Hagerty, Henry Winkler, Fred Armisen, Stephen Rannazzisi, Busy Philipps, Sonequa Martin-Green, Clea DuVall, Demetri Martin, Elizabeth Berkley, Lucy Punch, Kal Penn, Nora Dunn, Kim Wayans and more. New Girl‘s fifth season is quite solid, with lots of fun episodes and storylines. I really enjoyed binging the episodes again via this DVD release.
Similar to the previous season, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment has released the fifth season of New Girl on DVD via MoD (Manufacture on Demand). This means you won’t be able to find the title in stores, but it can be ordered online at places like Amazon.com. The discs aren’t pressed discs like a standard DVD release, but rather DVD-Rs. However, the discs do have professional-looking glossy labels and come packed in a multi-disc DVD case with full color artwork. The 22 episodes of the season are split across 3 dual-layer discs, each containing 7-8 episodes. Each disc offers a menu with a list of episodes and a Play All option. The DVD picture looks crisp and detailed, while the audio track provides clear dialogue, but I didn’t notice much use of the surround or stereo channels. Unfortunately there are absolutely no bonus materials included.
What’s Included:
Episodes: (484 min)
- All 22 episodes of the fifth season
“Big Mama P”, “What About Fred”, “Jury Duty”, “No Girl”, “Bob & Carol & Nick & Schmidt”, “Reagan”, “Wig”, “The Decision”, “Heat Wave”, “Goosebumps Walkaway”, “The Apartment”, “D-Day”, “Sam, Again”, “300 Feet”, “Jeff Day”, “Helmet”, “Road Trip”, “A Chill Day In”, “Dress”, “Return to Sender”, “Wedding Eve”, “Landing Gear” - 480p / Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
- Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1
- Subtitles: None
- Media Format: DVD-R
Extras:
-
There is no bonus material included.
Final Thoughts:
The fifth season of New Girl is very entertaining and the episodes are just as enjoyable the second time around—this series makes a fun binge! The season features some fun storylines, character developments and some amazing guest stars. Megan Fox also does an excellent job stepping into Zooey Deschanel shoes while she is away on maternity leave. I really appreciate that Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment continues to release this show on DVD. This MoD release provides solid sound and picture quality, but it contains absolutely no bonus material. This show continues to be fun and enjoyable and this fifth season release is definitely worth picking up!
