Last night’s New Girl wasn’t funny at all. There was nothing funny about the way that episode ended, and not even Schmidt’s upside-down testicles could leaven that sick feeling it left us with. It was sadness. I felt sad. Really sad, like the helpless kind of sad that can’t be drowned in whiskey because it was that kind of sad that whiskey would only exacerbate. It was deep, and hollow, and achy and hurty.

Nick and Jess broke up, and they broke up for the kind of reasons that can’t really be fixed. It wasn’t because they don’t love each other. It was because ultimately, maybe they don’t belong together. Maybe they’re too different in fundamental ways that really matter in the future of a relationship. They could be together, or they could be themselves, but they couldn’t have it both ways, and they meant more to each other as themselves than they did as a couple. I respected the decision. I admired the decision. I thought the decision was right. But I didn’t like the way it made me feel, damnit.

It was profoundly sad, the thought that being madly in love with each other is not enough. Because sometimes, maybe it’s just not. The sureness of the decision, too, felt right, but it felt right in the part of your heart that hurts. It felt real, and maybe real is just too painful in the context of a sitcom.

It was a hard episode to shake, and for that reason, it was probably the best episode of the season.

Dustin is the founder and co-owner of Pajiba. You may email him here, follow him on Twitter, or listen to his weekly TV podcast, Podjiba.