Sarah Tapscott is credited with writing the episode “The Hike” in season 6 of New Girl. She has written 41 episodes of New Girl, including the entire 6th season.

The show begins with Jess and Robby being very cute and couple-y and doing things such as saying the same words at the same time, telling inside jokes, and finishing each other’s sentences while getting ready for their hike. Because they are so similar, it sets a very suspicious mood and foreshadows their discovery at the end of the hike. The dialogue was planned this way to show how close and similar they are.

Schmidt and Cece are planning a house party, and they are quite stressed about it. Schmidt makes external references to Groudhog day, calling himself Andie MacDowell because he feels like he has been through this before. They then have flashbacks and begin reflecting on what the “cool” parties were like when they were a kid. These memories were a great use of writing to further characterize Schmidt and Cece and how they handle problems.

When the party begins, dialogue is very important to Winston. Each word he says and story he tells is pretty strange, and this dialogue was chosen to show his nervousness for meeting Ally’s parents. When Ally arrives, there is a large silence that builds apprehension for the surprise. However, there is situational irony because Ally is actually not excited to see her family at all. Ally gets into a fight with her sister because she tells Ally that Winston is “good for her,” which is offensive because it makes it seem as though she needs a man.

A fun cousin hike

Now back to Jess and Robby. They are hiking and realizing just how similar they are. Then, they come to the conclusion that they are actually 3rd cousins. This is a huge plot twist and dramatic turn, as they are dating. I believe it was the writer’s way of breaking them up so that Jess and Nick can be together. Shortly after in the episode Jess comes to the party with a bag of raisins because she doesn’t like them in the Trail Mix. And it just so happens that Nick loves raisins and wants to eat them. This clever writing trick of bringing them together shows that sometimes opposites attract and foreshadows their future.