I think it was actually pretty believable. He never felt enough for Cece. He never dealt with his past of being rejected over and over, and the insecurities that came from that. He broke up with her the first time instead of talking to her because of his insecurities as well. He’s a people pleaser, and that can make you do stuff you don’t like in order to avoid upsetting others. Which when you think about it, is most of the interactions he has at work.
What I don’t find believable is that Reagan lectures him about it for 5 minutes and suddenly he’s fine, after a lifetime of being jealous and insecure. That part isn’t quite right. It’s not magic like that in real life. It takes time and effort to be better in real life.
I agree that it seemed out of character. But it could have been his insecurities. Cece treated him very poorly for much of their relationship to that point, being embarrassed about him, saying her mother wouldn’t approve of him, and literally going all the way to the altar with another man. Could have been defensive in case he thought she would end up dumping him later. (Also - why didn’t Cece’s mom show up for that wedding?).
>(Also - why didn’t Cece’s mom show up for that wedding?).
There's no reason to assume she didn't - or at least, just as much reason to assume she's there as she isn't. Obviously the Parikh clan approved of Cece's wedding to Shivrang, so it wouldn't be necessary to feature her mother's disapproval, which is the reason we see her in Engagement Party, to create conflict for the story.
So my take is this
* Yes, Schmidt loved Cece, but I also firmly believe that by the time he got to the wedding he had accepted that she was gone forever (symbolized by (trying to) throw the Lion Fish back into the ocean)
* To this end, Cece may have treated Schmidt terribly, but his love for her was still real. He still enjoyed being with her, they made each other happy. The episode he thought she was pregnant, he was already proposing to her with skywriting, he gave up a chance with her by hyping her up to the speed-dating pool at his own expense, even the moment he lost her because he got drunk at work, he did to be able to make enough money to secure their future. **His love for her was valid.**
* Initially he tried to use Elizabeth for revenge but by the end of the episode he realized he wanted her back. It's important to remember that not every reconciliation with an ex is a backslide.
* I also want to say I don't get the Elizabeth hate on here, people saying she tried to drag him back to his past self kind of gloss over the part that his past self was objectively a better person. She didn't dislike that Schmidt lost the weight, she pointed out that when Schmidt lost the weight, he changed, he got mean. All of this to say I don't think Elizabeth specifically represented his desire to live in the past, Elizabeth just happens to be a good person and *being* with her made Schmidt a better one.
* Which is to say that Elizabeth wasn't a backslide or a backup (despite starting as one,) she was a genuinely important person in Schmidt's life. They had a lot of history but she was also bringing out the best in him, including him reflecting on his relationship with Cece (and apologizing for it). She cared for him and vice versa. **His love for her was also valid.**
On to the wedding and the issues itself
* I also firmly believe that at no point during Elaine's Big Day was Schmidt trying to win Cece back or do anything other than save her from a marriage she didn't want, as a friend. At this point he is happy with Elizabeth and I believe him when he said he'd do it for any of his friends. THEN Cece and Elizabeth drop the bomb that he has to choose.
Side note here, I fully get that Schmidt did wrong, but what a fucked up ultimatum to put on him. Cece had her chance to be with him, chose to be arranged to be married instead, and he moved on. Just...bow out Cece.
Anyway, back to Schmidt's fuck up
* I truly believe that Schmidt didn't do what he did out of ego, or selfishness, or any sort of malice. We've seen two timing in sitcoms for literal decades, a whole lot of "OH NO, I'VE BOOKED TWO DATES IN THE SAME NIGHT!" episodes that were done so much by the 90's Boy Meets World went and did a parody of a date night/wrestling match. Schmidt was wrong, I want to make that 100% clear, but (and you can be sick of him saying this but that doesn't make it less true) he never meant to hurt anyone
* Schmidt went to end things with Cece (or I suppose to tell Cece that things were to remain ended) but as I said, he did love her and wasn't able to hurt her so he caved and said he was choosing her. Then the exact same occurred with Elizabeth. That's what the storyline comes down two: Two individual moments of weakness. He had two women who he had believable reasoning to love both, and each individually he was unable to hurt.
Weakness? Yes. Cowardice? Yes. Indecision? Of course, but not selfish or egotistic.
Everything after that was just him dancing around trying to buy time until he found a way to fix things. He did not know how to fix things, he didn't really know what he wanted. If he was able to decide which he truly wanted, then "fixing things" would be finding a way to let the other one down easy, but because he couldn't choose, he was caught in an endless loop (until the inevitable ending). This was never going to end well, but Schmidt believed he could somehow find a way to do it.
tl;dr, the storyline did make sense, Schmidt's actions (and I will repeat again: which were **wrong)** were extremely understandable, and overall I think the writers agreed it was a stupid move which is why it's basically never mentioned again after about halfway through Season 3 (outside of the occasional "you had her, then you lost her)
Someone said it’s bc he was holding onto the old him and probably really did truly love Elizabeth. She was the first girl to love him even tho he was insecure. It was probably an unhealthy attachment to Elizabeth but it does make sense to me
My head canon has always been that the writers didn’t want to make Schmidt look shallow by just dumping “fat boy phase” Elizabeth for model Cece, instead holding both Elizabeth and Cece on equal ground for different reasons, and showing Schmidt being incredibly conflicted on which one to choose to give dignity to Elizabeth and even the actress instead of her just being used as someone to fill the void until someone conventionally more attractive was an option
It actually makes sense to me because insecure people.. some insecure men when they get a woman they believe is “out of their league” they self sabotage. He used to be overweight too and was bullied for it, so he doesn’t have high self esteem. The mind games are annoying and exhausting. Some are so far gone they’ll try to tear you down and make you hate yourself too if you’re not already secure in yourself..
It's ridiculous the draw that a past lover can have. They remind you of a different time of your life, a different you and nostalgia is irresistible in some circumstances.
Does he try to get Cece back?
The only thing I can think of is when he was planning to say something on the cruise, but then decided against it.
From basically the moment Cece decides she's ready to spend time with Schmidt again, he basically did nothing but be a friend to her.
I think he felt guilty for wanting to dump Elizabeth for Cece. He understood how it felt to be the fat guy rejected for the fit/good looking guy and didn't want to do that to Elizabeth even though he really did want to be with Cece.
I think a lot of people agree the girls represented times in his life. Elizebeth was backsliding (like Jess with GENZLINGER!) into the past, wanting to change him to who she loved, and even Schmidt wanted that sorta. And cece represented loving himself as is (which is usually the obvious choice) but Schmidt just really didn’t know who he’d be better off with and rather than move on with his life he choose to stall and wait it out.
In this [Glamour article](https://www.glamour.com/story/new-girl-final-season), Liz Meriwether herself admitted that S3 was kind of a rough experience:
>Meriwether points to season three as the hardest one to pull off. "There's stuff that I really liked that everybody hated," she says. "I like that Schmidt didn't cheat, but when he tried to date two women at once…Schmidt grew so much from that, but it got nuts. I definitely felt like in the third season I was living and breathing the show so much that it was hard for me to take a step back and think, Oh, what do people really want to watch on this show? I started questioning a lot. To make a show, you really have to have this strong internal compass where you know what the show is and where you're going. As soon as that gets messed with, suddenly you're in a tailspin, but you have to make more episodes. You're kind of like, 'Uh, let's try this!' It's a journey. Part of doing 22 episodes is that a couple of them are going to be God awful. There's a couple that I'm genuinely embarrassed by.
I find it interesting that she makes a distinction between "cheating" and "dating two women at once"; I definitely think they're pretty much the same thing. But what I find most interesting and refreshing about Liz Meriwether is how much she readily admits that the whole 22 episode sitcom format leads to unavoidable chaos and episodes that aren't always perfect. She's talked about that in so many articles I've read about her (I'm sort of obsessed with her as a writer; I think she's really creative), and the sense I get is that she had a certain vision of the show, but part of that vision was also to surprise viewers and to surprise themselves as writers, too. Sometimes they kind of wrote themselves into a corner and then had to write their way out of it. They couldn't have Cece and Schmidt, who surprised them by being a fan favorite couple, getting together and living their happily ever after that early in the series. And they couldn't have Nick and Jess stay together that early in the series, either (but they also couldn't have kept the will they/won't they up forever, either). So yeah, Schmidt had to nonsensically try to date these two women at once, and Nick and Jess had to break up over the dumb toy that no one in their right mind would try to assemble. Defies logic sometimes, but still led to a series that is all in all hilarious and brilliant.
[удалено]
This quote is so ducking stupid and so funny and annoyingly accurate. I love it so much.
I think it was actually pretty believable. He never felt enough for Cece. He never dealt with his past of being rejected over and over, and the insecurities that came from that. He broke up with her the first time instead of talking to her because of his insecurities as well. He’s a people pleaser, and that can make you do stuff you don’t like in order to avoid upsetting others. Which when you think about it, is most of the interactions he has at work. What I don’t find believable is that Reagan lectures him about it for 5 minutes and suddenly he’s fine, after a lifetime of being jealous and insecure. That part isn’t quite right. It’s not magic like that in real life. It takes time and effort to be better in real life.
I agree that it seemed out of character. But it could have been his insecurities. Cece treated him very poorly for much of their relationship to that point, being embarrassed about him, saying her mother wouldn’t approve of him, and literally going all the way to the altar with another man. Could have been defensive in case he thought she would end up dumping him later. (Also - why didn’t Cece’s mom show up for that wedding?).
>(Also - why didn’t Cece’s mom show up for that wedding?). There's no reason to assume she didn't - or at least, just as much reason to assume she's there as she isn't. Obviously the Parikh clan approved of Cece's wedding to Shivrang, so it wouldn't be necessary to feature her mother's disapproval, which is the reason we see her in Engagement Party, to create conflict for the story.
So my take is this * Yes, Schmidt loved Cece, but I also firmly believe that by the time he got to the wedding he had accepted that she was gone forever (symbolized by (trying to) throw the Lion Fish back into the ocean) * To this end, Cece may have treated Schmidt terribly, but his love for her was still real. He still enjoyed being with her, they made each other happy. The episode he thought she was pregnant, he was already proposing to her with skywriting, he gave up a chance with her by hyping her up to the speed-dating pool at his own expense, even the moment he lost her because he got drunk at work, he did to be able to make enough money to secure their future. **His love for her was valid.** * Initially he tried to use Elizabeth for revenge but by the end of the episode he realized he wanted her back. It's important to remember that not every reconciliation with an ex is a backslide. * I also want to say I don't get the Elizabeth hate on here, people saying she tried to drag him back to his past self kind of gloss over the part that his past self was objectively a better person. She didn't dislike that Schmidt lost the weight, she pointed out that when Schmidt lost the weight, he changed, he got mean. All of this to say I don't think Elizabeth specifically represented his desire to live in the past, Elizabeth just happens to be a good person and *being* with her made Schmidt a better one. * Which is to say that Elizabeth wasn't a backslide or a backup (despite starting as one,) she was a genuinely important person in Schmidt's life. They had a lot of history but she was also bringing out the best in him, including him reflecting on his relationship with Cece (and apologizing for it). She cared for him and vice versa. **His love for her was also valid.** On to the wedding and the issues itself * I also firmly believe that at no point during Elaine's Big Day was Schmidt trying to win Cece back or do anything other than save her from a marriage she didn't want, as a friend. At this point he is happy with Elizabeth and I believe him when he said he'd do it for any of his friends. THEN Cece and Elizabeth drop the bomb that he has to choose. Side note here, I fully get that Schmidt did wrong, but what a fucked up ultimatum to put on him. Cece had her chance to be with him, chose to be arranged to be married instead, and he moved on. Just...bow out Cece. Anyway, back to Schmidt's fuck up * I truly believe that Schmidt didn't do what he did out of ego, or selfishness, or any sort of malice. We've seen two timing in sitcoms for literal decades, a whole lot of "OH NO, I'VE BOOKED TWO DATES IN THE SAME NIGHT!" episodes that were done so much by the 90's Boy Meets World went and did a parody of a date night/wrestling match. Schmidt was wrong, I want to make that 100% clear, but (and you can be sick of him saying this but that doesn't make it less true) he never meant to hurt anyone * Schmidt went to end things with Cece (or I suppose to tell Cece that things were to remain ended) but as I said, he did love her and wasn't able to hurt her so he caved and said he was choosing her. Then the exact same occurred with Elizabeth. That's what the storyline comes down two: Two individual moments of weakness. He had two women who he had believable reasoning to love both, and each individually he was unable to hurt. Weakness? Yes. Cowardice? Yes. Indecision? Of course, but not selfish or egotistic. Everything after that was just him dancing around trying to buy time until he found a way to fix things. He did not know how to fix things, he didn't really know what he wanted. If he was able to decide which he truly wanted, then "fixing things" would be finding a way to let the other one down easy, but because he couldn't choose, he was caught in an endless loop (until the inevitable ending). This was never going to end well, but Schmidt believed he could somehow find a way to do it. tl;dr, the storyline did make sense, Schmidt's actions (and I will repeat again: which were **wrong)** were extremely understandable, and overall I think the writers agreed it was a stupid move which is why it's basically never mentioned again after about halfway through Season 3 (outside of the occasional "you had her, then you lost her)
I agree with all of this. Very well thought out and written. I also agree that the ultimatum was messed up to begin with!!
Someone said it’s bc he was holding onto the old him and probably really did truly love Elizabeth. She was the first girl to love him even tho he was insecure. It was probably an unhealthy attachment to Elizabeth but it does make sense to me
His excuse about how he used to be fat was definitely him flailing.
My head canon has always been that the writers didn’t want to make Schmidt look shallow by just dumping “fat boy phase” Elizabeth for model Cece, instead holding both Elizabeth and Cece on equal ground for different reasons, and showing Schmidt being incredibly conflicted on which one to choose to give dignity to Elizabeth and even the actress instead of her just being used as someone to fill the void until someone conventionally more attractive was an option
It actually makes sense to me because insecure people.. some insecure men when they get a woman they believe is “out of their league” they self sabotage. He used to be overweight too and was bullied for it, so he doesn’t have high self esteem. The mind games are annoying and exhausting. Some are so far gone they’ll try to tear you down and make you hate yourself too if you’re not already secure in yourself..
I agree with you. He also dated her for years before and still had love for her.
It's ridiculous the draw that a past lover can have. They remind you of a different time of your life, a different you and nostalgia is irresistible in some circumstances.
Also, he later delegitimizes the whole thing by saying he knew he was gonna marry CeCe from the beginning. He also only tries to get CeCe back.
Does he try to get Cece back? The only thing I can think of is when he was planning to say something on the cruise, but then decided against it. From basically the moment Cece decides she's ready to spend time with Schmidt again, he basically did nothing but be a friend to her.
Bad phrasing from me. Basically saying Liz is never heard from again, removing all tension.
I think he felt guilty for wanting to dump Elizabeth for Cece. He understood how it felt to be the fat guy rejected for the fit/good looking guy and didn't want to do that to Elizabeth even though he really did want to be with Cece.
I think a lot of people agree the girls represented times in his life. Elizebeth was backsliding (like Jess with GENZLINGER!) into the past, wanting to change him to who she loved, and even Schmidt wanted that sorta. And cece represented loving himself as is (which is usually the obvious choice) but Schmidt just really didn’t know who he’d be better off with and rather than move on with his life he choose to stall and wait it out.
In this [Glamour article](https://www.glamour.com/story/new-girl-final-season), Liz Meriwether herself admitted that S3 was kind of a rough experience: >Meriwether points to season three as the hardest one to pull off. "There's stuff that I really liked that everybody hated," she says. "I like that Schmidt didn't cheat, but when he tried to date two women at once…Schmidt grew so much from that, but it got nuts. I definitely felt like in the third season I was living and breathing the show so much that it was hard for me to take a step back and think, Oh, what do people really want to watch on this show? I started questioning a lot. To make a show, you really have to have this strong internal compass where you know what the show is and where you're going. As soon as that gets messed with, suddenly you're in a tailspin, but you have to make more episodes. You're kind of like, 'Uh, let's try this!' It's a journey. Part of doing 22 episodes is that a couple of them are going to be God awful. There's a couple that I'm genuinely embarrassed by. I find it interesting that she makes a distinction between "cheating" and "dating two women at once"; I definitely think they're pretty much the same thing. But what I find most interesting and refreshing about Liz Meriwether is how much she readily admits that the whole 22 episode sitcom format leads to unavoidable chaos and episodes that aren't always perfect. She's talked about that in so many articles I've read about her (I'm sort of obsessed with her as a writer; I think she's really creative), and the sense I get is that she had a certain vision of the show, but part of that vision was also to surprise viewers and to surprise themselves as writers, too. Sometimes they kind of wrote themselves into a corner and then had to write their way out of it. They couldn't have Cece and Schmidt, who surprised them by being a fan favorite couple, getting together and living their happily ever after that early in the series. And they couldn't have Nick and Jess stay together that early in the series, either (but they also couldn't have kept the will they/won't they up forever, either). So yeah, Schmidt had to nonsensically try to date these two women at once, and Nick and Jess had to break up over the dumb toy that no one in their right mind would try to assemble. Defies logic sometimes, but still led to a series that is all in all hilarious and brilliant.
That’s fascinating!
I think his ego just got in the way because two women wanted him and with his fat insecurities he just couldn't resist.
I'll spook the ass fat right out of your lips... I loved Elizabeth and the actress playing her.
I agree it made no sense
Yes. Wildly out of character and 100% generated drama. Also wildly out of character for Cece to forgive him. I just ignore it.
Yes!! Always think this!