This just in: The Mindy Project is going on hiatus, from January 28 to April 1. Glee is moving to Tuesday night, and New Girl is keeping its old 9:00 p.m. spot, followed by freshman series Brooklyn Nine-Nine. For those of us who love this stupid little show, this move is a disaster. Why? Because it clearly indicates that the network doesn’t have confidence in TMP as a ratings performer. They’re not willing to show Mindy Kaling any more leeway. They’re not going to help the show out when its struggling; they’re going to instead throw their support behind newcomer Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Bitter? I’m not bitter. Hey,who really needs another show run by a woman of color? We’ve got Sleepy Hollow and Scandal. That fills our brown women quota, right?
Looks like I’m about to have a lot less to do on Wednesday mornings.
Anyway. This week turned in a solid, if not particularly memorable, episode of The Mindy Project. Josh is back. Remember Josh? The two-timing loser who dated Mindy last season, who cheated on her with Ellie Kemper, who broke Mindy’s heart in front of everyone she knew? Yeah, that jerk. He’s getting married to someone named “Karin,” and he’s having the perfect wedding. Mindy needs to find a date ASAP, because everyone knows that if you go to your ex’s wedding alone, you’re a loser. She should probably calm down, because trying to impress Josh is completely pointless. That guy is lamer than The Lawrence Welk Show. But still. Mindy has a history of messing up at weddings. As Danny points out, the last ex’s wedding she attended, she ruined it by giving an intoxicated speech and riding her bike into a pool.
Mindy’s problem? No one is available to take her. Danny’s throwing a party for his little brother, who’s in town from Florida. Morgan does things like take snapchats of his boogers, so he’s clearly not someone Mindy wants to spend time with. And Jeremy, well. Jeremy is deemed unworthy after she watches him snarf a chocolate doughnut like the Cookie Monster. No one needs that in their life. After Peter hears her trying to order an escort (“yes, if he’s good looking, I’d consider going all the way!”), he offers to take her. “I’m Mr. Wedding,” he says. That, of course, means he tries to bang all the bridesmaids, and at the end of the night, air-saxophones with the wedding band. But she’s clearly out of options, (and she feels a little bad for him after he brings up how heartbroken he is by his ex-girlfriend’s impending wedding), so she says yes.
Peter surprises her by looking fine as hell in his wedding suit.
Maybe this wasn’t as bad an idea as she thought, thinks Mindy. He further impresses her by being the life of the party — he turns out to be a handsome, martini-nabbing, dance floor-clearing, bouquet-catching, sexy James Bond-esque date. It’s a welcome change from Peter’s usual m.o. — being a gross frat boy jerkface who trolls the internet looking for his ex-girlfriend’s breast-feeding pics. It shows that the show is continuing last week’s trend of expanding Peter’s characterization. They’re giving him more meat than the “bro” role they had initially pigeon-holed him into, and I couldn’t be happier about it.
Of course, Peter throws it all away by trying to have sex with the bride, which is generally considered a no-no, at weddings. Karin runs away in shame when they’re caught, and Josh is left with the task of explaining to the wedding party what happened. Mindy decides to spare Josh the humiliation by, once again, ruining someone’s wedding. She gets up on the stage and tells everyone that she, being an incredible loser, tried to have sex with the groom, thereby destroying Josh and Karin’s relationship.
Day saved!
Meanwhile, Danny is entertaining his little brother, who has flown in from Fort Lauderdale to be with his bro. He is adorably excited that Ritchie is here. More proof that Danny is the best guy in the world — he helped raise Ritchie when his deadbeat dad walked out on them. He’s basically like a parent to Ritchie, and he loves him like a son.
Also, they say hello like this:
which is an interesting way to greet your brother.
Ritchie had an ulterior motive for coming to New York — he came to deliver a present to Danny, from his father. (It’s a copy of the Miami Vice soundtrack, which, of course Danny would listen to that.) Danny is instantly furious — his father? The douchebag who walked out on them all those years ago? But Ritchie reassures him that he hasn’t forgotten what their father did to them. He tells Danny that he only has one real father, and that’s Danny.
More proof that Danny is pretty much the best guy on television, right now.
Things I liked about this episode:
1. This is a big one, folks. MINDY LAHIRI NAIRS HER ARM HAIR. THEY SHOWED IT ON TELEVISON.
Sorry, do you know how big a deal this is for me? Mindy Kaling Nairs her damn arm hair. She hates her arm hair, too! Just like millions of hairy Indian women, she has hair she doesn’t want. I wonder if they’ll show her dealing with her mustache, next. Christ, that would be amazing. (For the record, I wax my mustache. And I don’t do anything for my arm hair, because I’m too poor to afford to get my arms waxed.)
2. I liked that Danny was so cool with his little brother being gay. I loved how little it mattered to him, even though he’s a devout Catholic.
Hooray for strong family models that embrace diversity, hooray for depictions of religious people that show the diversity of thought that really exists in religious communities! A+, Mindy Project.
Til next time, 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.
