My relationship with Fox’s TheMindy Project has been an interesting one with a trajectory not unlike the relationship of main characters Mindy and Danny.
I gave it a shot in season one, but something about it rubbed me the wrong way. I held on for a few episodes before just getting tired and walking away. Months later, shortly before the second season began, my roommate decided she wanted to give the show a try, and I thought, “What the hell? I can try it again.” This time around, I found things to like. I found charm in the quirks. The more time I spent with the show, the more I began to like it and feel comfortable with it. Then, at some point in season two, I realized something surprising: I freaking love this show.
Seriously! The Mindy Project has become one of my favorite shows on the air right now – and certainly my favorite comedy. I don’t know if it’s just getting better and better or if it’s just growing on me. I don’t even care. All I know is that I absolutely love it, and I’m so glad I didn’t let my first impression scare me away from it forever.
So this long hiatus was ridiculously painful for me. Not only that, but it really built up the return in my head. I had horribly high hopes, and I was scared the show would let me down.
It didn’t. Instead, we got two fantastic episodes in the shows return this week, and all of my dreams came true.
“French Me, You Idiot”
The first episode picked up right where the winter finale left off – with Mindy and Danny kissing on the airplane (squeal!!!!). After a second, Danny pulls away and apologizes. He tells Mindy that if she doesn’t kiss him back before he can count to three, he’ll return to his seat in humiliation. At first, it doesn’t appear that she’s going to. Danny gets to three, but then, after a long pause, he adds, “Four. . .” and that little bit of vulnerability seems to tip the scale. Mindy kisses him back, and the two maneuver themselves into what is possibly the largest airplane bathroom ever. It’s not all fun and kissing, though, because the clumsy, frantic make out ultimately leads to Mindy getting her hair stuck in the toilet.
Let’s be real – it wouldn’t be Mindy and Danny if their first romantic encounter didn’t involve a healthy dose of awkward.
Upon landing, Mindy invites Danny up to her apartment, only to be met by Cliff – who, after receiving the apology Danny helped Mindy write – wants her back. He even hired a mariachi band. The reunion only gets more awkward when Cliff attempts to give Danny a tip for bringing Mindy home. Danny leaves and Cliff follows Mindy inside. But when she attempts to break up with him, he just doesn’t get it. Unfortunately for Mindy, Danny refuses to kiss her again until she and Cliff are over. Mindy realizes she’s not good at dumping guys, but she’s great at getting dumped, so she sets out to trick Cliff into dumping her, pulling out as much crazy as she can. It all backfires, though, when Cliff’s grandmother dies and he needs Mindy’s moral support – and asks her to write a eulogy.
Meanwhile, Jeremy is determined to woo the New York City ballet into coming to their practice after a fellow doctor retires. He recruits Peter, who loathes ballet but is willing to help. But when Jeremy realizes he’s dated several of the ballerinas, Peter is on his own. He teams up with one of the midwives to help lore the ballerinas to both of their practices. But when they are forced to sit through a rehearsal, Peter can’t take his boredom. He ends up screaming at the ballerinas and pushing the two love interests together in a scene that felt remarkably meta, as if commenting on its own love story.
Speaking of which, Danny ends up feeling very jealous of Mindy and Cliff, even suggesting they forget about the kiss on the plane, a suggestion which Mindy quickly shuts down. (Thank God – I was afraid that would be the plot the show would take on and we’d have to deal with it for the rest of the season. But of course, The Mindy Project is ever surprising.) Mindy promises to dump Cliff after the funeral. For some reason, Danny decides to attend the funeral as well, which means he get to witness Cliff giving Mindy’s eulogy in what might have been the show’s funniest scene.
Mindy’s eulogy was awful – it referenced both Anna Nicole Smith and Kendrick Lamar and basically implied that it’s not that sad when old people die. But buried in there was a nugget of sweetness, a line about there always being reasons not to be with the person you care about. It’s enough to make Danny take her hand and the two sneak off to another room where Danny kisses her. When Mindy asks about his feelings from before, he asks God for a sign that what they’re doing is wrong. When nothing happens, the two go back to making out – only to have Mindy knock over a candle and set the building on fire. Whoops!
The building wasn’t destroyed, but the funeral ended early. Mindy decides to bite the bullet and tell Cliff the truth – she and Danny kissed, it isn’t a one-time thing, and she wants to see where it goes. Cliff proceeds to punch Danny in the mouth and inform them that his grandmother will haunt them. But hey, at least they’re together!
This episode was such a pleasant surprise. I was almost sure they’d drag out the Cliff storyline for the rest of the season. But no! This show moves fast, and that’s why I love it so much. Most shows would have dragged out this triangle for at least a few episodes, but The Mindy Project deals with it in one, and now we can move on to what everyone really wants to see – how Mindy and Danny’s story plays out.
“Indian BBW”
When Mindy decides she wants to take their relationship slow and not sleep together yet, Danny is frustrated. He even tries to play the “There are thousands of girls in this city who would love to have sex with me,” line. Mindy calls his bluff, and after calling over twenty-five women, there are no takers besides a prostitute. Poor Danny.
Things only get worse for Danny the next day. Upon arriving at work, Mindy learns from Peter that Danny passed out and is in the hospital with viral meningitis. Mindy rushes over to see him, only to have him introduce her to his brother as a “co-worker.” When she calls him out on it, he says they aren’t sleeping together, so they aren’t technically dating. Then he tries – and fails – to convince her to get a little frisky. Instead she offers to read him her copy of Bridget Jones’s Diary. He is less than interested. Lucky for him, Mindy receives frantic texts from Peter, telling her to come back to the office.
Turns out, Peter has discovered a sex tape of Mindy and her ex, Tom, on the internet. Mindy is horrified and worried it’ll hurt her relationship with Danny. Peter offers to help her and they go to the source, Tom, who admits to lending the tape to his brother. He promises to return the video to Mindy, but Peter reminds her that it’s online, and they have to convince the website to take it down, too. The CEO’s aren’t willing to do so because there is a growing market for “Indian BBW,” which Mindy learns means “big beautiful woman.” But when the CEOs learn that Peter also went to Dartmouth, they decide to do him the favor and take it down.
Meanwhile, Danny admits to his brother that he’s been seeing Mindy and that she doesn’t want to have sex yet. Richie reminds Danny that he has a tendency to be judgmental, and he needs to respect Mindy’s boundaries. But things get all mixed up when Morgan comes by with some of Mindy’s stuff, including the sex tape Tom left on her desk. Danny fumbles with the computer, trying to put it in – he’s adorably awful with technology – and he finally succeeds just moments before Mindy and Peter arrive in his room. But the sex tape is weird and kinky and awkward, and for Danny, horrifying.
He’s furious with Mindy, but Peter brings up the obvious – “Why do you care?” Then he realizes that Mindy and Danny must be seeing each other. The couple denies it, but when Mindy passes out – also struck by meningitis – Peter is even more convinced. He visits Mindy in her room, but she’s too sad to laugh. She thinks she’s just ruined things with “the guy” she’s been seeing. She admits she never really liked Tom. They only had crazy sex to avoid talking to each other. Peter then goes to Danny, bringing Tom in to tell him pretty much what Mindy said. Clearly Mindy is taking it slow with Danny because she actually cares about this relationship, and Danny sees that. Which leads him to do possibly the cutest thing that has ever happened on the show.
He takes a wheelchair to her room, gets her copy of Bridget Jones and climbs onto the hospital bed with her, where he proceeds to read her the novel in a terrible British accent. He also tells her he’s okay with taking things slow.
Not quite as strong an episode as the first of the night, but still pretty freaking great. There were so many good laughs and awkward moments and cuteness. I’m so freaking glad this show is back. I’m glad we’re finally getting to explore Mindy and Danny’s relationship. I just hope the show keeps its momentum from a storytelling perspective – from everything I’m seeing, I have nothing to worry about.
Welcome back, Mindy! You’ve been missed.
Season 2, Episode 15 & 16: French Me, You Idiot & Indian BBW (originally aired April 1, 2014).
The Mindy Project airs Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m on FOX.
Images courtesy of Autumn de Wilde/FOX.
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