What’s the New Girl crew up to three years later? Here’s where we find Jess, Nick, Schmidt, Cece, and Winston in the premiere

A lot can change in just a few years, and that’s (sort of) true for the New Girl crew. As we saw in the New Girl Season 7 premiere, aptly titled “About Three Years Later” as a nod to the much-discussed time jump, the group — Jess, Nick, Schmidt, Cece, and Winston — really has gone from adulting to adults.

Though, fret not: There’s still plenty of hilarity and mischief happening amongst these friends. (Case in point: Schmidt’s mustache, but more on that in a sec.) Without further ado, here’s what happened with the New Girl crew in the season premiere:

Jess

We catch up with Jess right at the start of New Girl‘s return, as she’s coming back from Europe after accompanying Nick on a lengthy Pepperwood book tour. And no, she doesn’t have a rock on her finger, like her family and friends thought she would after traveling from romantic foreign city to romantic foreign city (but, she does have a splint on her ring finger from a vespa accident, and a neck tattoo gone horribly wrong).

That’s okay with her, but she does have a bit of a setback when she runs into Russell “Fancyman” Shiller, and they get to talking about how she and Nick aren’t engaged/married; he suggests that she’s long been afraid of rushing into things so her response is to lie and say that she misheard Fancyman and she and Nick actually are engaged. *Smooth* Anyway, she ends up coming clean when Fancyman congratulates Nick on proposing, and she later tells Nick that they’re happy, so why get married? Which, he has a wholeeee other perspective about, but read on for more.

Oh, and Fancyman offered her a job at an education-based non-profit, but verdict’s still out on whether she’s taking the gig. AND the loft, which she and Nick are now living in, is under new management, so who knows if they’ll live there much longer??? Honestly, I’m really distressed just thinking about that possibility.

Nick

So, about that whole “marriage” thing: Nick has a whole other perspective than Jess on it. Though, to be fair, I’m not entirely convinced that Jess doesn’t want to get married. It at least seems within the realm of possibility that she’s pulling back, as Fancyman suggested, because she thinks Nick isn’t ready for that step, which she alluded to in a very specific talk with Winston. But, I digress…

Let’s get back on track: Early in the episode, we learn that Nick has been planning to propose to Jess for some time. In fact, he got Jess’ dad’s blessing six months prior, but he’s been waiting to pop the question until they got back from Europe, so he could do it in the loft — where they, of course, met. His plan goes off the rails when people keep interrupting him, and ultimately, he decides to wait so he can pull off the perfect proposal.

And, he promises Jess’ dad, Bob, that he’ll propose within a month. A MONTH, PEOPLE. Needless to say, we can’t wait.

Schmidt

Oh, Schmidt. Let’s start with the good: He’s a stay at home dad, happily raising 3-year-old daughter Ruth with Cece, and they seem as content as ever. Even though Ruth’s feminist icons birthday party turned out to be a bit of a disaster, they still appear to be a perfect little family. As for the bad: In Nick’s time away, Schmidt decided to grow a heinous mustache, and I don’t use that word lightly. It’s absolutely terrible, and the scene where he applies sunscreen to it is cringe-worthy. But thankfully, #TeamNick prevails in the end, and Schmidt’s upper lip returns.

Cece

In addition to raising Ruth with husband Schmidt, it looks like Cece’s modeling agency is still going strong, and you go girl! We only get a little look into that, when Schmidt tells Ruth that Cece — who is rocking an epic pantsuit, BTW — is so important that she has to work on a Saturday, and we love what we saw.

Winston

Winston, meanwhile, is engaged to Aly, who is seven months pregnant with their child — and the pregnancy isn’t exactly going well. Aly doesn’t like being treated differently, even if she is very far along in her pregnancy. But eventually, Winston helps her see that she’s beautiful as she is, and together, they take a look at their wonderfully bizarre pregnancy photo shoot to pick a favorite. But honestly, how can you pick a favorite?

So, like we said, they’re all “adults” now, but still as kooky as ever. And we wouldn’t have it any other way on New Girl. Talk about a great kickoff to the final season.