"The point of dating is just to keep on dating and then never stop. It's like burning fossil fuels. Or seeing a therapist."
— Schmidt
"Dice" is the second episode of New Girl's fourth season.
Jess persuades Schmidt to teach her the ways of newfangled dating app Dice. In an attempt to become popular with the fellow cadets at the police academy, Winston brings Coach, Cece, and Nick to a party, despite the fact that all three are high as kites.
Tropes in this episode:
- Bad Date: Jess goes through a montage of unappealing and awkward first meetups through Dice.
- Dating Service Disaster: Zigzagged. Dating app hijinks are the focus of Jess and Schmidt's plot. Schmidt tries to teach Jess ways to avoid winding up with unappealing guys on Dice. It works for the most part, but she puts her foot down when these methods drive away a guy she genuinely liked. However, that guy turned out to be a bad date as well.
- Fictional Counterpart: With its hookup culture and "swiping" on potential matches, Dice is a stand-in for Tinder and other dating apps of its ilk.
- I Need to Go Iron My Dog: Schmidt provides Jess with a bevy of flimsy date exit lines ("A prominent US senator is trying to contact me." "An acquaintance of mine is in jeopardy."). Made more blatant by the fact that she reads them in a monotone off index cards.
- Miranda Rights: A stoned Coach asks an officer-in-training if he can read them their rights.
