Undercover feminism on New Girl? It's possible.

Last Tuesday marked the return of New Girl on Fox and I couldn't have been more excited.

Starting off the new year, Jess plans a surprise birthday party for Schmidt after his reservation for a party bus gets canceled in favor of Frankie Muniz.

Needless to say not everything goes according to plan. The party bus is a school bus, Jess accidentally hires a male stripper, and her boss manages to bully an invite. Nick is embarrassed of his friends around a potential new flame Julia, a lawyer with serious anger management problems, played by Lizzie Caplan. Winston messes with him by contradicting everything he says in front of Julia, ya know regular friend behavior.

Schmidt's bronemy (bro frenemy) Benjamin makes a play for Jess much to the dismay of Schmidt. We even see a very cute flashback of Schmidt's past. I say cute because it is interesting to see the different side of Schmidt when he was a good-natured chubby dude. Sadly, Cece wasn't in this episode. It's probably for the better since Benjamin was there. That dude is a serious jerk. But the big mystery of the episode is what did Schmidt do to warrant $50 in the douche bag jar? Well you'll just have to watch it to find out.

It's becoming apparent that the guys on the show have way more weird issues than Jess. Nick dropped out of law school and works at a bar. Winston is a failed athlete with a huge competitive streak, and I don't even know where to begin on Schmidt. But their flaws make them endearing and likable. On the flip side though, it seems like women aren't allowed to be a little weird.

Played by actress Zooey Deschanel, Jess comes off as more quirky than odd. In the beginning of the show Jess started off with great moments of off the wall antics and nerd references but has slowly faded into a display of offbeat humor and nearly overbearing twee optimism. While she isn't allowed to make references to Lord of the Rings, it is perfectly acceptable for Nick to use Superman to explain Jess's relationship issues. That is a major double-standard but who are we kidding? Double-standards run rampant in pop culture. At least Jess is confident enough to let her freak flag fly and not to be ashamed of being herself. This appears to be the message of the show and maybe even the catalyst of Jess's male roomies recent actions.

Regardless of the inconsistencies, New Girl is a great new comedy that is as funny as it is cute.