ZOE DESCHANEL Bossed around by Lynn Shelton.

Finally, they played True American again!

“My name is Eli Whitney, and I created the cotton gin!”

“Gin! Gin! Gin! Gin!”

Seattle director, writer, actor, Stranger Genius Award winner, and (the one time I met her) completely funny and lovely person Lynn Shelton directed last night’s drunken, hilarious, pivotal episode of New Girl. I don’t know why I like this show so much—I’m not enamored of Jess, the main character played by Zooey Deschanel, and there was an episode in the first season where she, a grown-ass woman, couldn’t say the word penis that made me cringe so hard I broke a rib—but it always makes me laugh. The cast is surprisingly well-rounded (even though no one knows what they’re doing with Winston this season), and it doesn’t ask too much of you—it’s just a well-written sitcom, and something nice to zone out with on a Tuesday night when you’re doing laundry.

Aside from the drunkenness, Shelton also had to direct the actors around a burning bed, and through a crucial moment.

Caution ye who enter, thar be spoilers >>

Nick and Jess broke up last night!

They were never a good fit. Nick is such a consummate weirdo and Jess such a wide-eyed optimist that they never really made sense, so I’m not exactly surprised. But the breakup was tender and sudden, and I think Shelton did a great job of moving the characters through this chaotic, frenzied day to get to the sullen core of what a lot of viewers have felt all season—Nick and Jess are fundamentally wrong for each other.

Shelton’s latest film, Laggies, was picked up for distribution when it premiered at Sundance, and will be out this summer.