"So Fred's not shy, he just sucks. When I asked him what his favorite hobby is, he said towels. I've got to break up with that human pile of saltine dust."
— Jess
"What About Fred" is the 2nd episode of New Girl's fifth season.
Jess is less than charmed by a first date, Fred, but she and Winston quickly grow to adore his parents, Flip and Nancy. They consider spending time with Flip and Nancy under the guise of Jess dating Fred. Meanwhile, Schmidt and Nick step up as leaders at the bar, and quickly alienate their employees.
Tropes in this episode:
- Actor Allusion: The title's a reference to What About Bob?, which also starred Julie Hagerty.
- The Bore: Fred is incredibly boring. His favorite hobby is "towels". Jess makes it through a couple minutes of him droning on and on about model trains before walking out.
- Cannot Tell a Joke: Schmidt's hapless attempts to do his own take on a Your Mom joke. If he were trying it with anyone but Nick, he'd get beaten up:Schmidt: You save enough money, buy me out one day, you run this place on your own.
Nick: You really think I could?
Schmidt: Yeah, definitely. I mean, your dumb bitch of a mother sure could. [grins nervously]
Nick: [puzzled] What?
Schmidt: Your—your mother, who, uh, we're referring to in this circumstance as a dumb bitch. I think she could probably —
Nick: Wait, what?
Schmidt: Come on. That's what you and Javier do, right? Your, uh, your mother, who, uh, you know, is a dumb, is a dumb...is that not, is that not how the joke goes? I know. - Happily Married: Flip and Nancy have been married 35 years but act as sickeningly in love as when they were young. They spend afternoons painting in the park and invite Jess to come up to their Vermont cabin.
- Like Father, Unlike Son: Much of the humor in the Jess/Winston plot comes from how Flip and Nancy (worldly, gregarious Bourgeois Bohemians) are completely unlike their boring son Fred. Flip and Nancy are aware of it, too, and try to exploit their relationship with Jess to foist Fred onto her.
- Overly Long Gag: God, Fred, shut up, already:Fred: I didn't know you were a railie. That's so great. What's your gauge? Are you a G gauge? Uh, G scale, Gauge one? HO scale? TT scale? Probably not a tabletop girl, right? Do you do it costumed? Or do you just do it leisurely? I deal mostly with the, uh, transitional era, post-Industrial Revolution. I collect a lot of open-air coal engines. I'm the president of my module group, actually. We use horn hook couplers, so I'm kind of one of the best at scenery building. Uh, just finished this beautiful sanitation depot, made completely out of balsa. I also was the first to implement wire-framed humans so that the people are poseable. Station agent is now, now he can bend his arm to say hello, as the train passes. There's one little girl I use, I call her Sally. I'm also quite good at flocking snow, so I'm very popular around the holidays.
Jess: Aah! Stop! Please stop. - Rail Enthusiast: Fred loves model trains and talks a lot about them at dinner. It marks him as an uninteresting, nerdy weirdo.
- Take That!: Nick's initial attempt to be Schmidt's idea of a boss fails miserably.Nick: It was that bad, huh?
Schmidt: No, Birdman was bad. This was a disaster. - Your Mom: Telling "your mom" (or "your mother") jokes is a thing between Javier and Nick. When Schmidt tries it it falls flat.
