I’m in shock.
What I just watched was, dare I say it, rom-com perfection. It had everything you need for a successful romantic comedy plot — a made-up circumstance where two people have to be close together, a fake relationship, a forced kiss, an unrequited love and an oblivious target… This episode could be used in a screenwriter’s class on romantic comedy tropes. It hit every single button I had and more.
The last few weeks of mediocre episodes were absolutely worth it. 100 percent worth it, for this glorious episode.
I guess, what I’m trying to say is, if this show gets canceled, I will probably kidnap the chief executive of Fox and hold him hostage until he changes his mind. Mark my words. Either they keep this show afloat, or I go down with this ship.
This episode ratcheted up the Mindy/Danny tension to a ridiculous degree. Mindy, deciding she doesn’t want to go all the way home after her Friday night shift at the hospital, asks Danny if she can sleep at his place. He’s obviously reluctant to let her into his sanctuary, but he relents, eventually.
Mindy annoys Danny in the most Mindy way possible. She insists on having the bed, instead of the couch, she interrupts him while he’s watching nature programs on TV, she generally invades his space at every step on the way.
Danny is supremely uncomfortable, and insists that they Have A Talk about their relationship. Danny is super uncomfortable with how much tension there is between them, and presumably wants to set up some boundaries. Mindy, bless her soul, has no idea what Danny’s talking about, and assumed that he wants to talk about how Mindy farted while they were watching a horror movie. Danny insists that they move the conversation outside the bedroom, and as they are leaving, they are confronted with this.
It’s Danny’s crazy neighbor, who slept with Danny a few times and now thinks they should be together! Earlier in the episode, Danny asked Mindy to pretend to be his girlfriend, to ward his neighbor off. Mindy agreed, and pretended to be “Chloe Silverado”, Danny’s pregnant fiancée.
Well, now, the neighbor is in Danny’s living room, demanding to know more about their relationship.
Turns out, the neighbor slept with Danny, while Mindy was “pregnant”. She expects Mindy to be outraged at this fact, and Mindy feigns her anger in the most convincing way possible. She slaps the hell out of Danny. “That was a lot harder than it needed to be,” he mutters, looking angry.
After Danny calls Mindy “Mindy”, accidentally, the neighbor demands proof that they’re really in a relationship. Mindy and Danny embrace, to “show” her how in love they are, and this led to the sweetest moment of the episode, when you can see Danny realize just how much he likes Mindy, how perfect it is for her to be in his arms.
The B-plot of this episode was, for a change, hilarious. Morgan and Peter find themselves with Mindy’s phone, and decide to sext Cliff, played by Glenn Howerton, the lawyer that Mindy has been flirting with for a few weeks. Things escalate and all of a sudden, Morgan and Peter have to deal with the fact that Cliff is coming over to Mindy’s house, right now, to get laid. They end up throwing an impromptu party in Mindy’s apartment. Cliff eventually finds out that Mindy wasn’t sending those texts, and makes Morgan promise to delete the incriminating texts off her phone.
He doesn’t.
Things I liked about this episode:
1. I deeply enjoyed that Mindy was reading this book when she was at Danny’s house.
It made me deeply nostalgic. And it makes perfect sense that Danny would own a copy.
2. I (obviously) loved all the Danny/Mindy chemistry we had this episode. I think one of the things this show does best is Danny Castellano, and it’s in large part credit to how great Chris Messina is in this show. Danny is a self-made man, a guy with strong convictions; he’s Ron Swanson, living in New York. He’s a strong, sweet, honest man, and every ounce of that goodness is directed towards Mindy, who is oblivious to his charms. The truth about Danny is that he’s deeply needy, and very lonely, and is looking for whatever it is out there that will make him whole. This episode captured that aspect of his personality completely. Turns out, Danny only led his neighbor on because he was lonely. It comes from “watching the First Family do the Easter Egg Roll,” he claims, and makes him want to do things like make pancakes the morning after for someone.
3. This one is kind of a mixed bag. I liked that this episode featured none of the weakest characters: Tamara, Jeremy, Beverly, and Betsy. The episode benefited from their absence, but in an ideal world, I would like to see their characters included but worked on, improved. We can dream, I guess.
4. I loved Peter’s character this episode. I think I finally saw how funny this character has the potential to be — the writers just need to use him right. That means; avoid mean humor, avoid inappropriately raunchy humor. Let his goofy side come out.
5. I liked that there was a joke about a trans person in this episode that wasn’t transphobic. Mindy is complaining about how she’s not the cutest person in the office anymore, especially “since Doug became Desiree”. Hey, credit where credit is due.
Things I didn’t like about this episode:
Not a thing!
Next week should be intense. It’s called “Mindy Lahiri is a Racist”. Eek. See you then, folks!
Jaya Sundaresh lives in Hartford, Connecticut. She grew up 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.
This episode was amazing! Loved every second of it! 🙂
this ep was perfection! i screamed too when I saw the danny/mindy embrace. #fangirl