Jess and Nick finally kiss on 'New Girl' and likely solidified a third season

Last night fans of Fox comedy hit New Girl were treated to one of two scenes any astute viewer knew would be coming since approximately halfway through Season 1. In case your first thought is of the loft gang buying a vacation home with the proceeds from the Douchebag Jar, you are wrong. It was the other scene – the big kiss between Nick Miller and Jessica Day.

We have been teased before. There were moments in Season 1 were Nick and Jessica became so locked into each other that a complete collapse into each other seemed imminent – perhaps most notably in the third-to-last episode of that season, “Tomatoes,” when the pair got into a heated butt fight. Alas, the season ended with nothing more than the emotional high of private dancing to a ‘90s mixtape.

Thus far, Season 2 offered plenty of Jess and Nick bonding time but no definite move toward establishing a romance or even a formalized flirtation, at least until “Coolers” aired last night. What started out as a raucous game of True American devolved into the pair ending up behind a literal Iron Curtain in the loft with all of the loft residents and several guests encouraging them to lip-lock before they could rejoin the party. Ultimately, the payoff didn't occur in this moment though a subtle declaration of Nick’s feelings for Jess did when he refused to kiss her “like this” and escaped the room by fleeing to an outer ledge through the window.

The actual smooch that sent New Girl fans, including myself, gasping occurred in the final moments of the program after Jess woke Nick up to explore a noise that freaked her out earlier in the program. As the two roomies turned to go back to bed, Nick grabbed Jess, pulled her close, and landed the mother of all kisses with a passion rarely seen on comedy programs. The best part? The kiss was fully reciprocated and left Jess, and the non-screaming portion of viewers, speechless until the program faded to black with Jess entering her bedroom with her boyfriend.

Now that the kiss heard ‘round the world has occurred, fans have a lot to look forward to during upcoming episodes. Even if the moment was a dream, some form of awkwardness would take hold in the dreamer and lead to a hilarious dynamic shift between the two. This shift will be more dramatic if the kiss was 100% real as Nick and Jess process what this means for their relationship. The shift could also be a belly laugh inducer when the other members of the loft find out. Either way, this moment will fuel the comedy and direction of the show for at least the remaining nine episodes of this season and likely guaranteed New Girl a Season 3 in and of itself as a resurgence of casual fan interest should follow this development.