Source: http://www.mstarz.com
Title Crimes & Misdemeanors & Ex-BFs
Two-Sentence Summary Mindy is forced to ask her ex-boyfriend Cliff for legal help after getting served for not paying her taxes, but he only helps her after she lies about her and Danny ending their relationship. At the practice, Peter and Jeremy fight for Lauren’s affections with disastrous results for one of them.
Favorite Line “I can never repay you, and I don’t plan to.” (Mindy)
My Thoughts Sometimes I watch TV shows to intensely analyze every little detail, but sometimes I watch them for no other reason than they make feel good. The Mindy Project makes me feel good—it makes me laugh and smile and sigh in a way that is probably ridiculous at the wonderful stuff happening between Mindy and Danny. Yesterday I was having one of those days where I needed a little boost of happiness, and “Crimes & Misdemeanors & Ex-BFs” gave me exactly what I needed. Any other day, I might have found myself more annoyed with some of the strange things that happened plot-wise in this episode. But I can’t get too annoyed at a show that managed to make me genuinely feel good after a very long day.
Even the B-plot this week had at least one shining moment, which came to us courtesy of Adam Pally and his parade of horrible accents. I was in tears laughing at this; it may have been the funniest scene I’ve watched on TV so far this season. The rest of that plot suffered from the episode switch. (This was supposed to be the second episode.) We already knew Lauren chose Jeremy thanks to “Annette Castellano Is My Nemesis,” so this plot mattered even less than usual. But Peter’s accents and everyone’s exasperated reaction to Morgan claiming he didn’t make enough money to be taxed helped me enjoy the ensemble much more than I did last week.
Although the switching of episodes affected the timeline of the B-plot quite a bit, I can understand why the network chose to air things out of order. “Annette Castellano Is My Nemesis” was a stronger episode than “Crimes & Misdemeanors & Ex-BFs” for more reasons than just Rhea Perlman. The plotting was tighter, and the characters were a little more grounded than they were in this episode.
I can suspend my disbelief when it comes to TV characters doing certain things for the sake of comedy or an episode’s plot, but I can only do it up to a certain point. Mindy being smart enough to be a successful doctor but not smart enough to know to pay/file her taxes got very close to the line of what I will and won’t accept for the sake of a storyline. I completely believed her rants about national parks, the Liberty Bell, and Laura Linney, and it made perfect sense to me that this character would spend more money on emojis than rent. However, the central plot point—a financially stable and highly educated adult not knowing she had to file for income tax—was a stretch for me, to say the least.
I could also say the same of Danny’s divorce secret. I could have understood him not filing if he thought his annulment covered it, but that didn’t seem to be the case. There was something else going on there that deserved a little more attention than it got in this episode. However, if I had to choose, I would rather it was handled too quickly than dragged out as a source of angst for a whole episode or even longer. If there’s one thing that’s been really refreshing about The Mindy Project so far this season, it’s the lack of overwrought angst.
It was nice to watch Mindy and Cliff interact (and hilarious to watch the elevator fill up with people Mindy has been with) without ever worrying that something was going to happen to jeopardize her relationship with Danny. And it was nice to see Danny handle his divorce situation as soon as Mindy confronted him about it. They may have been keeping secrets from each other at different points throughout the episode, but those secrets never felt relationship-threatening. And that made it easy for me to enjoy Glenn Howerton more than ever because he wasn’t a threat anymore. I especially loved his delivery of “I’m a Red Sox fan,” as he took Danny’s beloved Yankee Stadium seat. As a Yankee fan myself, I knew how much that had to hurt Danny.
Ultimately, all the suspending of disbelief the plot of the episode asked me to do mattered so much less than the way it continued to build up my belief in Mindy and Danny as a couple. When they were together in this episode, it was perfect. They had me laughing from the start, as Mindy kept hiding and Danny kept finding her stuff in increasingly weird places around his apartment. I liked that this conflict was also directly addressed not too long into the episode. At first, it was handled comedically (with the suitcase), but then it was given real, emotional weight.
If you’re an Alias fan or a Castle fan, you know the importance of a drawer to a relationship. The Mindy Project did those shows one better by having Danny present Mindy with a whole nightstand (and what a pretty nightstand it was). The idea of these characters putting down permanent roots in each other’s worlds—especially Mindy in Danny’s world—is so important. Danny is an intensely private person, while Mindy shares everything—including her apartment—with all kinds of people. From what I recall, not even Danny’s ex-wife really had much of a presence in his apartment after they tried their relationship again; they moved into a new place together. By giving Mindy such a fixed place in his home, Danny was reinforcing his commitment to opening up his life to her—letting some of her pink become a permanent part of his neutral-toned world.
The easy, effortless chemistry between Mindy Kaling and Chris Messina in this episode warmed my heart. If this episode—with the same plot about Mindy and tax evasion—would have happened in an earlier season, it would have probably been a dud, at least for me. But once again, Mindy and Danny’s relationship actually made the show better. Whether it was Danny’s weird “Mindy’s butt” voice, Mindy’s hand in his hair, the casual intimacy of her on his lap, or the little kisses sprinkled throughout, they felt like a real couple. Even Danny’s weird Grease thing was perfect—not just because it was another Danny detail but because Mindy completely accepted it and was willing to play along with it because it was for him. And is it just me, or does anyone else love how unafraid this show is of saying that Mindy and Danny have a great sex life? That’s an important part of relationships, too, and it also makes for some great moments of cheeky comedy—like the entire last bit with the closet.
All in all, this was probably the weakest episode of the season so far. However, the fact that there was still so much to like about it—especially on the Mindy/Danny front—has me feeling good about where the rest of this season is headed.
Nerdy Girl Notes 
I didn’t know anything about the episode switch and I would never have known – nothing really felt off for me because, to be honest, I just don’t care enough about the love triangle to pay attention to the details! Also, Mindy said something about “5 months” in reference to her and Danny’s relationship, so I thought this was set 3 months after the episode with Annette where they said something about the relationship being 2 months old. Of course when you have a false start like Mindy and Danny did, timelines become complicated, which is probably convenient.
Pally’s accents were terrible and hilarious, especially with the punchline from Morgan. All the affection was great. The total lack of concern that Mindy was actually going to fatally screw things up by going behind Danny’s back with Cliff took a lot of the tension out of those scenes, which is good (for me, at least). Mindy hiding the tiny plastic bag was very funny – especially behind the toilet tank. I would have expected her crap everywhere. The elevator gag was great – and a little reward for people who have watched from the beginning. (There’s a good reason people are advised not to date coworkers! awkward!!)
The income tax thing was a Nick Miller The Box flashback I could have done without. I felt like they could have achieved the same ends without using that particular storyline – surely there could have been some other complicated legal matter that Mindy could have realistically overlooked. Nick is arguably that dumb (I would argue that he isn’t, but plenty of people feel like that was in character) but Mindy for 100% certain is NOT that dumb.
Regarding the divorce, I felt like Danny might have started the process but not completed it because the annulment was what really counted in his eyes. I have a friend whose husband left her in January, their divorce should have been settled by early June, but he hasn’t gotten around to signing the final papers, even though he’s the one who wanted to end it, and he (or his employer) has been paying for her health insurance unnecessarily since June! So, I figured it was something like that (especially since it got resolved in the blink of an eye!) Just some final papers to sign and file.
I enjoyed the episode about as much as I enjoyed New Girl last night, which is to say, I’m glad I caught them live because they were enjoyable, but I wouldn’t have been very happy if I’d paid $2 for them! 🙂 I still have much faith in Mindy that she knows what she’s doing writing established relationship story lines.
You were not the only one having “The Box” flashbacks. At least on this show, it didn’t get in the way of any of the Mindy/Danny goodness.
I think you might be right about the divorce. Danny’s religion is important to him, so it makes sense that the annulment was the biggest part of the divorce proceedings for him. Also, maybe the reason it felt like it was handled way too easily/quickly to be realistic was because all that was left were the final signings and details.
I agree, this wasn’t the best episode so I’m just going to talk about Danny and Mindy’s relationship and why I love it so much based on what we saw in the ep 😉
First of all, I love the little kisses and Mindy sitting on Danny’s lap and all the other ways they casually show their intimacy. I am a big fan of head kisses so of course, Danny is also. They are so sweet and affectionate and it makes me melt every time. Then when that’s combined with their clearly great sex life, it just makes me unreasonably happy for these two characters.
Second, even though I thought everything leading up to it was a little silly, we need to talk about how perfect the ending was. He didn’t just clear out a junk drawer of his and give it to her. He went out and picked out something pretty and pink and made a space that is entirely her own in his apartment. She’s part of his life now in a big way and even though it’s taken him a little while to adjust to that fact, he’s embraced it in typical Danny style.
Head kisses are basically my favorite thing in the universe, so I’m happy to see I wasn’t the only one melting every time Danny gave one to Mindy in this episode. I love little moments of affection because they’re like subtle reminders throughout each episode that this couple is stable and happy and not afraid to be romantic with each other.
And I could talk about that ending forever. There was something so special about the fact that he went into this trendy little store that he clearly knew she loved and picked out something so “Mindy.” I love that you said he embraced it in typical Danny style because that’s exactly how I felt—when Danny decides to show you how much he cares, he pulls out all the stops. It’s just another wonderfully endearing part of his character that this “tough guy” actually has such a soft spot for creating grand romantic gestures, which makes him Mindy’s perfect match. ❤
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