So there is both good news and bad news to share on last night’s episode of New Girl. The good news was that the show finally tried to do something with Winston besides having him be the token black guy who just happens to be there all the time. The bad news is that it was probably the weakest episode thus far in what has been a strong freshman season.

Winston, it seems, is in a bit of a professional funk (so are 15 million Americans, black guy who isn’t Coach). He just doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life after having played pro basketball in Lithuania. He’s stuck in a temp job stuffing envelopes for a living at the moment. And when I say moment, I mean it, because he gets fired pretty quickly after trying to have fun at his job. Fun is for payroll employees, silly temp!

Jess – in her unending campaign to be as ‘adorkable’ as possible – brings home a ragtag band of detention misfits whom nobody believes in and does what she can to infuse them with self esteem. But they can ring bells (albeit rather badly) which it turns out Winston has a knack for. Go fig.

So Winston becomes their de facto coach (oh the irony!) but ends up taking all the fun out of it. When will he learn that you don’t approach middle school group bell ringing with the lightness of a Nazi Death Camp Director? Lighten up, Winston, it’s a situation comedy.

Schmidt and Nick got into it as best friends who are essentially a nonsexual couple (remember Will and Grace?) who can’t stand certain things about the other: Nick doesn’t like that Schmidt dismisses his handy ways and is constantly hiring people to fix his problems, while Schmidt thinks Nick has chosen a life of unnecessary trial and difficulty by opting out of law school and choosing to work as a bartender. How did he put it? Oh yeah: “Like a loser.”

Ouch.

There was a lot going on in the episode – perhaps a bit too much. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as funny as it could have been (I only recall laughing out loud twice). Schmidt still scores top comic points for his ridiculous riffs on everything from sushi to organic woven rugs to the now fabled theme of his bar mitzvah.

Methinks the problem was the writers still have no idea what to do with Winston. If they don’t figure it out soon, I hope he gets replaced with Cece, who isn’t just drop dead gorgeous but is a lot more fun to watch.