Source: tvfanatic.com

Title Caramel Princess Time

Two-Sentence Summary Mindy and Danny’s long-simmering argument about her chronic lateness comes to a head and leads to some moments of revelation for both of them. Meanwhile, Peter is set up on a surprising blind date.

Favorite Line “I’m giving you the silent treatment, by the way. That’s why I walked right by you and didn’t respond.” (Mindy)

My Thoughts Absence makes the heart grow fonder, or at least that’s how I felt after watching “Caramel Princess Time.” The last couple of episodes of The Mindy Project before the show’s little hiatus weren’t my favorites, but I thought “Caramel Princess Time” was the show’s way of coming back strong. This episode was firing on all cylinders: Its B-plot was solid, its humor wasn’t just one-note, and its handling of another Mindy/Danny conflict felt very true to these characters while still managing to surprise me in a very good way.

Let’s start from the outside and work our way to the episode’s caramel center. (I know, I know…Lame pun is lame.) I would like Allison Tolman’s Abby to stick around for as long as possible. I didn’t watch Fargo, so I had no preconceived ideas about her, but I loved her instantly. The self-confidence and sense of self-respect that she brought to Abby are such perfect counterpoints to Peter’s insecurity and immaturity. Tolman and Adam Pally had a very natural chemistry in that final writing group scene, too, and I’d like to see more of that. I’d also like to read more of Peter’s fiction because there was too much perfection in “A Titanic Mistake: A Sunken Romance” for me to outline properly in this post. (Although I will make special mention of Peter’s ridiculous “old pirate captain” voice that he gave to the captain of the Titanic.) There was something really adorable about Peter falling for Abby through her writing and wanting to connect with her in her element. But maybe that’s just the writer in me talking.

Peter’s interactions with Abby highlighted an important theme in the episode’s A-plot: Sometimes you have to step outside of your comfort zone in order to leave bad patterns of behavior behind and grow. Peter, Mindy, and Danny all were put in new situations this week, which forced them to examine how they treat the people around them, leading them towards real moments of character growth.

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Title The Devil Wears Lands’ End

Two-Sentence Summary Mindy’s attempts to win over the new hospital administrator lead to disaster when she almost breaks up a marriage. Meanwhile, Peter and Jeremy’s friendship gets its groove back during a Dartmouth beer pong tournament.

Favorite Line “Am I the new mayor of Shondaland?” (Peter)

My Thoughts After a bit of a misstep last week, I really enjoyed this week’s episode of The Mindy Project. I thought it was the funniest episode of the season so far, and it was also the most balanced. In fact, I’d go so far as to say this was another episode where I liked the B-plot better than the A-plot, but this time it wasn’t because the A-plot was terrible. It was because the B-plot was really good.

I’m happy that Peter and Jeremy’s story was as strong as it was because Mindy and Danny’s was a little weak and clichéd in terms of its basic plot. I know that Mindy Lahiri is supposed to be a character who’s hard to like at times, but that doesn’t mean I can just excuse episodes where the character is really grating just because she’s supposed to be that way. I did, however, like seeing Danny act as her conscience because that’s what a partner is supposed to do—tell you when you’re not being your best self.

It was a bit unbelievable that one night out with Mindy would be enough to not just make the new doctor think she was lesbian but also to cause her to cheat on her wife. But I was happy to see that this episode didn’t focus on mining comedy out of Mindy pretending to be a lesbian (which could have gotten really offensive really fast) but instead on Mindy pretending that Danny was upset about the kiss.

And while the A-plot wasn’t terribly compelling on a plot or character level, it did give us the comedic genius of Danny trying to interpret what Mindy wanted him to say during his rant about her “infidelity.” This was such a great use of Chris Messina and Mindy Kaling, and it might have been the single funniest moment I’ve seen so far this season. When he interpreted hanging as “I will go to the Statue of Liberty,” I was actually crying from laughing so hard, and it was all because of Messina’s perfect delivery. Danny was trying so hard to be convincing even as he was saying ridiculous things, which made it even funnier. And all of that was topped off with the brilliant bit of physical comedy that was Danny throwing the wine in Mindy’s face and then yelling “I can’t have a baby!” Once again, Messina’s commitment to the joke was a thing of beauty.

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Source: enstarz.com

Title I Slipped

Two-Sentence Summary When Danny tries something new in the bedroom without asking Mindy first, Mindy worries that she’s not adventurous enough for him. Meanwhile, Morgan tries to mediate Peter and Jeremy’s feud over Lauren.

Favorite Line “Oh cookie dough, please solve my problems.” (Mindy)

My Thoughts I’m going to be honest with you right off the bat so you can choose whether or not to keep reading this review: I didn’t like this episode. On many occasions when it comes to divisive episodes of television, I fall on the “love it” side of “love it or hate it.” This time, however, I didn’t hate “I Slipped,” but I definitely didn’t love it. There were some parts I genuinely enjoyed, but there were also some parts I am still struggling with over 12 hours later.

Let’s start with the biggest positive surprise to come from this episode: I found the B-plot very entertaining. (Maybe I just love references to The Parent Trap?) I thought Ike Barinholtz was used just enough to be really funny. His excitement over Mindy’s vacation idea was perfect, and I thought him calling Peter and Jeremy “two basics having a bitch-fest” was one of the funniest moments of the episode. His pronunciations of “etc.” and “exclam” (aka exclamation points) made me laugh, too.

It was also nice to see a resolution to the Peter/Jeremy fight—at least within the confines of the practice. Mindy was right; it was unprofessional and needed to stop. The water throwing/singed eyebrows highlighted how idiotic their fighting was, and I liked that we were supposed to see it as dumb and immature.

However, I also liked that I was able to see both sides of Peter and Jeremy’s feud after this episode. Yes, I was genuinely sad for Peter when Lauren chose Jeremy, but Peter still has a lot of growing up to do, which this episode highlighted. He’s Mindy’s “most perverted friend,” and he definitely has a long way to go towards understanding and really respecting women. I thought Jeremy stating that he didn’t “steal” Lauren was a good way to get viewers to see that he’s not really a villain (that and the adorably sad banjo playing). Lauren made a choice; she wasn’t stolen. It was nice to see a TV show address that kind of problematic rhetoric head-on.

In a surprising turn of events, it was the A-plot that bugged me this week. I would have actually taken a lot more of Morgan complaining about nobody celebrating him becoming a nurse practitioner (and the rest of the practice scrambling to give him awful gifts) and less Mindy and Danny trying to convince me that their relationship was becoming stale already.

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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.

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Source: spoilertv.com

Title Annette Castellano Is My Nemesis

Two-Sentence Summary Mindy’s plan to win over Danny’s mother goes awry when she feels Danny’s generosity and love for his “ma” isn’t appreciated enough. Meanwhile, Tamra is dangerously allergic to Morgan’s dogs, but Peter doesn’t believe it, which leads to disaster.

Favorite Line “I know this great frozen yogurt place nearby. I myself can’t go. I’ve been banned for sample fraud.” (Mindy)

My Thoughts I know it’s only two episodes into The Mindy Project’s third season, but I’m already incredibly happy with where this season seems to be going and what it’s doing for its main characters. Of course, there’s still time for me to be disappointed (like I was last season when New Girl’s handling of Nick and Jess’s relationship crashed and burned), but—in typical Mindy Kaling fashion—I’d rather keep my hopes high and risk getting disappointed than never feel excited or openly optimistic about anything. And there have been plenty of signs in just these first two episodes that my hopes are lining up perfectly with what the writers are doing.

Kaling said she wanted Mindy and Danny to feel like a modern Lucy and Ricky, and I think “Annette Castellano Is My Nemesis” highlighted why this couple could be exactly that. Mindy’s plan to win over Danny’s mother and her later attempt to confront her felt like schemes that Lucy would have been proud of. And Danny’s reluctance to play any role in these shenanigans felt very much like Ricky’s reactions to most of Lucy’s antics.

What’s impressed me most so far about Danny and Mindy’s relationship and the way the show has dealt with it is its centrality to the story. There’s no shying away from the fact that the conflicts that have driven both the season premiere and this episode—in terms of comedy and character growth—are conflicts that could only exist now that Danny and Mindy are in a serious romantic relationship. This is The Mindy Project laughing in the face of the “Moonlighting Curse” and showing very astutely that sometimes the laughs can be bigger and the stories can be deeper because the main characters on a show got together—not despite it. Many stories can only exist within the context of an established relationship (such as meeting the parents), and this show seems to be finding a lovely burst of creative energy from telling these kinds of stories instead of believing that all people in serious relationships are boring.

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