The “L.A.” episode! Every show based in New York has to do it, at least once. Sex in the City did it. Seinfeld did it. Friends probably did it. I’ll be shocked if Will & Grace didn’t do it. L.A.! The city of dreams, which manufactures glam and makes a killing selling it to the rest of us. The palm trees, the bikinis, the exclusive celebrity-studded pool parties. It’s where everyone, except Danny Castellano, really wants to be.
Mindy & Co. are being sent to L.A. to learn how to inject things into women to make them look less grody. (One of the courses offered? “Vaginal Rejuvenation for the Obese.” Fun!)
Jeremy thinks that the extra business will add to the practice’s revenue stream, but Mindy needs no convincing. It’s L.A.! City of dreams! I did this part already. The point is, Mindy is jazzed.
The conference is fun, I guess. We don’t see much of our favorite doctors in any boring lectures or mingling with any fellow doctors. Instead, Mindy and Peter go off on their own, exploring a shoe store that is simply too cool to have them in it. (“Everyone here is like, a minimum of two different races,” says Mindy.) Lo and behold, there is a familiar face at the helm of this small business…
That’s right, everyone’s favorite rogue preacher is back! But Casey isn’t preaching anymore. Nor is he DJing, or doing any of the other things he swore he wanted to do after giving up the pulpit. Casey has decided to stick to one job title only; that of CEO. That’s right, he owns this store. Brother is living large, what can I say. He’s got a house on the beach, already. (Though he insists that “the beach house is not that cool. I’ve had five cats get eaten by sharks already.”) Mindy is impressed by his success, and makes some stuff up, to impress him. She tells Casey about Cliff, and tells him that they’re going to move in together. It’s not the biggest lie in the world, but it is a little premature — Cliff said he’ll think about it. No need for Casey to know that, of course. They make plans to meet later at a pool party at his house. (“The password to get into the party is ‘I think my friend’s in there?'”)
Mindy tells Cliff about meeting Casey, of course. They don’t keep secrets from each other. Cliff is cool with it, he just doesn’t want Mindy to do anything like go out to dinner with her ex, or anything. Mindy swears up and down that she won’t, under any circumstances, go out to dinner with Casey. At a restaurant. She won’t do it! Of course, she conveniently forgets to mention the fact that she’s going to his HOUSE for a POOL PARTY the very next day.
Mindy does her best to stay away from Casey at the party. She pretends she’s being cornered by Kevin Smith, who tries to commiserate with her about how awful it is to be a fat person at things like these. (“We are not the same!” she protests. “I am like an anthill and you are like a volcano!”) In her haste to get away from Casey, she decides to go for a swim, where she runs into… surprise, surprise, Casey.
Mindy confesses to Casey that she was lying about Cliff, that she’s worried about the direction their relationship is heading in, and she doesn’t know whether he’s going to say yes to moving in or not. Casey, in typical bro fashion, has some incredibly hackneyed (yet oddly sweet) words of wisdom for her. “What’s meant to be, is meant to be,” he says, and he’s right; what’s meant to be will eventually happen. You hear that? Danny. and. Mindy. will. eventually. happen. Where were we? Oh, right, Casey. He then proceeds to tell Mindy that he’s naked and that he fully expects them to have sex tonight. Moment destroyed. Thanks, dude.
Tragedy strikes when Mindy gets home and calls Cliff, after seeing several missed calls on her phone from him. He was all set to tell Mindy that yes, he wanted to move in with her — until he happened upon some pictures online. The thing about celebrity pool parties? There are photographers there. Whose sole job it is to upload pictures of the guests onto the internet. Yeah.
Cliff calls the entire thing off, because he can’t trust Mindy anymore. She said she’d avoid Casey; instead, she went to his house. Cliff is a divorce lawyer — he’s seen relationships fall apart. I wasn’t a huge fan of Cliff, but even I was gutted when he told her that it was either they break up now, or three years from now.
Looks like we get another post-breakup episode next week. Poor Mindy.
Danny’s been having a pretty rough time himself. The thing about L.A. is that… well, his dad lives here. And Danny? He doesn’t have the best relationship with his father. His plan is to stay in the hotel, maybe do a few laps in the pool. At least that was his plan until Morgan, that meddler, decides to check Danny out of the hotel early and take him to the Y, where he’s staying. They’re going to see the town, because no one should come to L.A. and remain cooped up at the hotel. Oh, and Danny’s going to see his father, because Morgan is an asshole and decided to invite Danny’s dad to dinner the next night.
Danny decides to call his father.
If you didn’t tear up at this scene, I don’t believe you.
Things I liked:
1. I just CANNOT get enough of FatSteps.
This time, Mindy is looking for FatSteps Cankle Wranglers, for the problematic foot.
2. I liked seeing Casey! I wasn’t much of a fan when he was around, of course (his primary flaw being his Not-Dannyness), but there was something really charming about seeing his face again. Course, he did end up acting like a perv in the end, which was a little hard to buy, given the fact that Casey used to be a preacher, but it was a nice to have him back, if only to add some resolution to the relationship, given how rushed it all seemed.
3. Don’t think I didn’t notice that Danny called Mindy for advice on what to do about his father. And he called her “Min”. He’s giving her nicknames now?!? Squeal!! For an episode that was super light on Danny/Mindy interaction, this was a nice little treat.
Things I didn’t like about this episode:
Nothing popped out at me!
See ya next week, folks!!
Jaya Sundaresh lives in Chandigarh, India. She grew up in the US in various parts of the Northeast before deciding to study political science at McGill University. Follow her on Twitter at @anedumacation and read her thoughts on her personal blog.
