"Nick Miller, Nick Miller, never does anything," Jess points out early in New Girl. Afraid of taking chances and getting rejected, Nick is someone who spends a good part of the series relying on his friends to take care of him. In his thirties, he still lives the same way he did when he first met Schmidt in college.
Over the course of the show, Nick's relationship with Jess and his responsibilities at the bar help him to mature. Nick goes through a lot of growing pains in the series, but he eventually becomes a successful writer and someone who can ask his best friend to marry him. But for every bit of growth Nick experiences, he also tends to regress to a more comfortable period of his life.
Grows: Encourages Winston To Break Up With Daisy
Even more than Nick, Winston has a lot of trouble with relationships in the show's first three seasons. After he and Shelby break up, Winston finds himself having a hard time connecting with people until he meets Daisy.
He has a lot of evidence laid out in front of him that Daisy is cheating on him, but he's still unsure. After all, he really likes her and hasn't been able to make any other relationship work. It's Nick who encourages him to talk to Daisy and to break up with her if she doesn't want to be exclusive. Nick giving good relationship advice is a rarity, but he doesn't want to see his friend get hurt or make a bad decision.
Regresses: Goes Back To Caroline
Nick going back to his ex is a pattern that's clear even when the series premieres. A big deal is made by Schmidt and Coach in the pilot that Nick still regularly calls Caroline and can't get over her six months later. When he runs into her at a wedding in the first season, he's ready to jump back into their relationship. At the end of the season, they even get back together and he thinks he's ready to move in with her.
Nick is absolutely a creature of comfort. Despite knowing how bad Caroline is for him and all of the advice from his friends and the video he made for himself, he still goes back to her almost every chance he has because she's the longest relationship he's ever been in. Nick is too afraid to move on.
Grows: Opens A Bank Account
Nick proclaims that he "doesn't believe in banks." To be fair, he doesn't seem to like any institution that requires him to give his personal information. When he's left a bag full of money from one of his father's associates, his instinct is to spend it. Jess suggests putting it in the bank.
She also takes it upon herself to pay off some of his debts, which causes an argument between them, but also leads to Nick going to the bank to attempt opening an account with the check she writes him. It's a big step toward actually being an adult. The audience doesn't hear much about his bank account after this, but it's progress in Nick taking the future seriously.
Regresses: Leaves Reagan On A Train
Nick has always been willing to admit that he's commitment-phobic. After things falls apart with Caroline, he doesn't want anything serious — except with Jess — and he has a string of short relationships that end abruptly. The trouble is, once Nick's in a relationship, he's also afraid to be the one to break up with the other person.
Though he and Jess are up front with one another about their concerns when they break up, Nick backslides after that. When he realizes that he and Reagan want different things, he wants to break up with her, but just can't bring himself to do it. Instead, he takes her by train to San Francisco and then leaves her alone without telling her how he feels. It might be the worst thing he's done.
Grows: Finishes His Novel
By the time the final season of New Girl rolls around, Nick is an accomplished writer and Julius Pepperwood has a few books in the world. None of that would have been possible if Nick didn't sit down and actually finish his original zombie novel — no matter how bad it is.
He misspells words, clearly started writing it in high school, and doesn't follow through on story points in his first attempt draft. But the important thing is that, even if it took him years, he finished it. During the early seasons of the show, Nick isn't the guy who finishes projects unless he's doing something for someone else, like building Jess' dresser. It's a huge step in his growth.
Regresses: Takes Over Six Months To Propose
Nick has a procrastination problem. That's part of why finishing the novel is so huge for him. When he's finally got his life together in the seventh season, got the blessing of Jess' father, and even had the Day family ring in his possession, he continually makes excuses to get out of proposing.
Nick claims that it's not about fear, but about wanting the situation to be perfect. With him, though, it's more likely that he's actually a little afraid that Jess is going to say no and that there are still too many differences between them. Nick is definitely a character who gives into his fear more than confronts it.
Grows: Makes A Great Boss
When the audience first meets Nick, he doesn't want responsibilities. The most he can handle is "angry-fixing" the sink when things don't go his way and helping his roommates out of jams.
That changes when he's able to buy a share of the bar where he works. Once Nick becomes the man in charge, he's able to juggle schedules, keep the books, and genuinely get along with everyone despite being the guy making the rules. Nick proves that he's able to take on more than others think.
Regresses: Hangs Out With Teenagers
In the third season, just after Nick and Jess break up, Jess recruits her friends to help chaperone a dance at her school. Coach doesn't see Nick as chaperone material, so he relegates him to parking lot duty. Nick is supposed to send kids who are loitering outside back to the dance, but he doesn't.
Instead, Nick essentially relives the glory days of his youth as he sets off fireworks and races a shopping cart with two rebels who don't want to go to the dance. He really proves Coach's point about not being ready to be a chaperone when he decides to act like he's 13.
Grows: Talks To Jess About His Problems
One of Nick Miller's biggest issues is that he doesn't like to talk about his feelings or problems. He tries to avoid that as much as possible throughout the series, even "panic moonwalking" away from Jess early in the show. As New Girl continues, however, that changes.
Nick might not always talk to the people he needs to, but Jess becomes his confidante. With her, he's willing to dissect issues, get advice, and share his feelings. He might leave Reagan on a train, but he leaves Jess more voicemails than the audience can count.
Regresses: He Allows Coach To Influence Him
When Coach returns to the show in the third season, it's clear he's a big influence on Nick and Schmidt. Both suddenly decide to act more "manly" so that they look good in front of him.
For Nick, that means refusing to label Jess his girlfriend and telling Coach that he's "checking his woman," when prompted. The strange dynamic that sees Nick so badly want to impress his friends actually leads to a lot of bad things the guys do to one another in the name of friendship over the years.