Adam Brody Played Grown-Up Seth Cohen on New Girl

While Schmidt, Winston, and Coach were having all sorts of fun in Schmidt’s beer-commercial man pad on New Girl last night, Nick and Jess were across the hall dealing with the sudden resurgence of their exes.

Caroline was back for another round of crazypants behavior (I love that on this show, Mary Elizabeth Ellis gets to act less like the Waitress and more like Charlie). And we met a new former flame of Jess’s: the affable, crunchy, canine-named Berkeley, played by none other than Adam Brody.

I’ve recently watched Brody in the flick Some Girls and on The League; neither of those parts recalled, for me, his iconic Seth Cohen. But Berkeley had shades of Sandy ‘n’ Kirsten’s offspring, all grown up and grown out (his hair, I mean). Let’s assess the overlap.

HAIR

Seth’s hair: scruffy but respectably short. Berkeley’s hair: scruffy, and I’m-an-adult-who-don’t-answer-to-nobody long. That seems like logical progression to me.

APPROACH TO AWKWARDNESS

Seth avoids it at all costs and yet is surrounded by it always. It’s part of his charm. Berkeley pushes right through it and wants to know if you guys want to play cards or something. Perhaps years of Cohen-barrassment prompted him to forfeit his dignity.

CLOTHES

Seth was always a fan of layering. Sure, Berkeley’s style is a bit more granola, but it’s still totally SoCal. Just like, less SoCal attending launch soirees thrown by Julie Cooper, more SoCal bartering for pullovers at the swap meet. Plus, Seth went to RISD. It adds up.

SEDUCTION TECHNIQUE

Berkeley just gets right down to brass tacks. He doesn’t come proffering edible gifts, like Seth. Seth wins.

ROMANTIC STATUS

This is where things start to break down, because none of us can bear to believe he’d want to leave Summer and their child for Jess. Cohen!

CAN HE JUST BE YOUR FRIEND?

Negative. Neither Seth nor Berkeley can just be your friend.

What did you think of last night’s ep—and who else would you like to see guest on the show? I love these ex episodes, and want to see more of the gang’s.