Of all the characters in New Girl, it might be Cece Parekh who shows the most steady growth. In fact, her character grows so surely and steadily over the series that it's hard to tell she's changed at all in the end. It's very different from the way Nick Miller or Jess Day grow in fits and starts - seemingly making large amounts of progress before regressing to their old ways.
That isn't to say that Cece doesn't experience her own moments of regression, or that there aren't scenes the audience can pinpoint as moments of growth for the character. There are actually quite a few of both.
10 Grows: Cece Quits Modeling
Cece reaches a point in her thirties in which she's not entirely sure what she's doing with her life. Her modeling career didn't exactly go in the direction she thought it would, and she starts getting edged out of jobs by younger talent. Cece makes the decision to quit modeling completely.
It's a drastic action that might seem immature, but she does it with the support of her friends. Surprisingly, it's Nick's place of employment that offers her a new place to start as she tries out bartending. It's clear that bartending isn't going to be a career for Cece, but that's okay because she accepts that she's got to figure a few things out. One of those things is whether or not she can finally earn a high school diploma since she dropped out to model.
9 Regresses: Cece Puts Her Hands In The Food
Cece is the type of person who really enjoys pushing other people's buttons. She likes to see what makes them tick. It's not her most endearing trait, but it certainly makes for an entertaining one.
During the first of the show's memorable holiday-themed episodes, Jess invites a coworker and Cece over for Thanksgiving at the loft. Cece is endlessly amused by freaking Schmidt out in the kitchen. Though she claims to be helping him cook, she's really focused on riling him up by putting her hands on as many pieces of food as possible just to get a reaction out of him. It's childish, but also hilarious, and maybe not the best way to get someone's attention.
8 Grows: Cece Plays True American For Jess
Through a lot of her formative years, and even in the first season of the series, Jess spends a lot of her free time cleaning up after Cece. She picks her up from bad dates, gives her a place to stay when her relationship is on the rocks and makes room for the activities Cece wants to do. Cece is rarely in the position to do the same for Jess - at first.
The night before her wedding in season five, Cece and Schmidt have decided to be adults about their impending wedding day and make sure everyone gets a good night's sleep. When Jess freaks out, believing her boyfriend is going to propose to her, however, Cece buys her some time by proclaiming that they're all going to play True American. It shows just how much Cece is willing to do for her best friend by that point as she's willing to potentially ruin her wedding day with the entire wedding party hungover.
7 Regresses: She Rushes Into Marrying Shivrang
Cece almost makes the worst decision of her life in the second season by marrying the wrong person. She immaturely holds on to this idea that she has to get married on an accelerated timeline to get exactly what she wants.
Paradoxically, that means that a lot of season two is devoted to Cece trying to appear like she's grown up and moved beyond the things that make her seem immature - like hooking up with Schmidt. Despite her assurance that she's going to marry someone her family approves of and start a family, she barely knows Shivrang when she walks down the aisle with him, and she still has feelings for Schmidt.
6 Grows: Cece Admits She Has Real Feelings For Schmidt
Though Cece does get serious about wanting a long term relationship in the second season, she spends a lot of the first season pretending she doesn't. In fact, she hides her feelings and maintains that all she wants is a purely physical relationship with Schmidt.
It takes Jess to find out that Cece and Schmidt have been hiding their relationship from her before Cece is willing to admit to Jess that she actually has feelings for Schmidt. It takes her another few episodes before she's willing to admit it to Schmidt, and then when things go badly between them, another season for her to do it all over again. Each time Cece admits to herself and everyone around her that her feelings for Schmidt are real, she grows up a little bit more.
5 Regresses: Cece Needs Her Mother's Approval
Ever since the death of her father, Cece and her mother have had a strained relationship. They don't see eye to eye on the way Cece lives her life, but Cece still craves her mother's approval just like she did as a teenager. That extends to her dating life - and her desire to marry Schmidt.
When Jess invites Cece's mother out for a celebration of their engagement, Cece gets a low blow: her mother doesn't approve of Schmidt and refuses to give her blessing. At first, she's heartbroken, and it seems like she's not sure about anything going forward. Luckily, her friends are ready to support her.
4 Grows: She Becomes A Manager
After leaving the modeling world behind and bartending, Cece finds her calling. Her nearly two decades as a model has left her with a lot of experience that people new to the business don't have.
When Cece meets a model who doesn't understand the basics of his contracts, she gives him some advice and realizes that she could manage models instead of being a model herself. She takes on a few male models under "Cece's Boys," but by the seventh season, her small business has become a part of a larger one, putting her in boardrooms and giving her a successful career she's good at.
3 Regresses: Cece Becomes Jealous Of Abby
Abby Day only appears in three episodes of New Girl, but her presence is pretty eye-opening for Jess, Cece, and Schmidt. Abby is a whirlwind, disrupting her little sister's life, and moving right in with Schmidt.
It's clear that she and Cece don't get along well from their first interaction, but it's when Abby starts dating Schmidt that Cece becomes "concerned." While she frames her obsession with following Abby and finding out what she's up to as being worried about a friend, the truth is that he's jealous of Schmidt's relationship with her and doesn't want to let him go again.
2 Grows: She Encourages Schmidt To Stand Up To His Boss
In the first season of the show, Schmidt is very upfront about his attraction to Cece, but Cece tends to brush him off until "Valentine's Day." The first hint the audience gets that she might genuinely care about him, however, comes during a different holiday episode.
In "The 23rd" Cece witnesses how his boss treats him at the company Christmas party, and she gives him advice on standing up to the other woman. How Schmidt acts at work is drastically different from how Schmidt acts around friends, and it's enough to make Cece realize, even if she doesn't voice it, that Schmidt is very insecure. The episode also includes her trying out the perfume he made for her, even though it smells terrible. Cece takes a moment to step outside her comfort zone when it comes to Schmidt, taking a step toward growth.
1 Regresses: Cece Steals A Bread Maker
Before her wedding to Schmidt, Cece decides to have "A Chill Day In" with Jess. That results in both of them being high and destroying the bread maker that's supposed to be a gift for Schmidt and Cece for their wedding.
When Cece learns that someone is coming to see it, she and Jess set out to get a new one. When the store is out, the two decide to just steal the floor model. Their antics are incredibly entertaining, but also incredibly immature.
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