The Mindy Project

Another article used the words "regroup" and "relaunch" in regards to the hiatus, so that doesn't bode that well.

I did think this weeks episode was not funny and boring as hell.

"regroup" and "relaunch"

Uh-oh. They did that with Up All Night, and we know how well THAT turned out.

I do enjoy the show, but it is uneven. And it's already 'regrouped' both the supporting actresses and the supporting actors. It definitely doesn't have room for Jeremy and Adam Pally (I still don't know his character's name) and Morgan.

Shalamar wrote:

"regroup" and "relaunch"

Uh-oh.  They did that with Up All Night, and we know how well THAT turned out.

Wasn't part of the problem that Christina Applegate left, though?

She left after the show had already been retooled once.

biakbiak wrote:She left after the show had already been retooled once.

More than once, somebody posted a list of all the changes in that show's thread. There were more than I thought! I don't think The Mindy Project is in that shape, but it definitely doesn't quite know what it is, yet. Hopefully FOX lets it figure itself out. Hell, they renewed Dads.

EEEEEeeeeee!!!! They kissed!!!

But now, where do they go from here?

When I saw that, I didn't think about Mindy L and Danny, but about Mindy K and Chris Messina. Specifically, I was thinking: that lucky bitch. But that might have been my Chris Messina crush talking.

They actually faked me out. I thought when Danny's face changed after Mindy got up to get him his tonic water (ewww by the way), that would be the cliffhanger for the winter finale. Then when they showed Mindy in the back, I figured she'd get a text or email or whatever from Cliff.

When Danny appeared, I got really excited, unexpectedly, and realized they finally managed to get me to care about this show. It snuck up on me.

It's back! Squeeee!

Danny reading "Bridget Jones' Diary" was freakin' adorable.

And he did the accent and everything. I thought that was sweet. Though I wanted Mindy to point out that he was being an asshole about a sex tape that she made with a guy she'd been in a relationship with while earlier in the episode Danny kept bragging about all the women in the city who want die to have sex with him. Yes he did call 25 women, including an escort, but jeez Danny...25 women are in your phone because of sex.

Shalamar wrote:It's back!  Squeeee!

Danny reading "Bridget Jones' Diary" was freakin' adorable.

I was actually quite pleasantly surprised at the direction the show took. Both episodes were really funny, and I was surprised how well Mindy and Danny went together, but given they are both the most well-rounded/developed characters on the show, the fact that they were the driving forces of both episodes probably contributed to having them work. (Morgan, for example, works much better in smaller doses than when he takes over an episode.)

TiffanyNichelle wrote:Though I wanted Mindy to point out that he was being an asshole about a sex tape that she made with a guy she'd been in a relationship with while earlier in the episode Danny kept bragging about all the women in the city who want die to have sex with him. Yes he did call 25 women, including an escort, but jeez Danny...25 women are in your phone because of sex.

I think the show does a good job of pushing the characters just to the edge of unlikability -- Mindy with her self-absorption and Danny with his machismo -- but pulling them back enough to keep the show lovable. Also, they're totally hot together.

I straight up cackled during the scene where the porn producers explain BBW to Mindy. I, too, am strangely vain about my wrist size. Mindy is my spirit animal.

Danny is so hot, I admit I sometimes get distracted by it, but I enjoyed these two episodes a whole lot.

I also liked that Mindy's sex tape looked like she and Bill Hader just took turns doing flying elbow drops on each other.

I was worried, but I actually thought these were two of the strongest episodes in a long, long time. Mindy telling Danny his eyelashes were so long, he looked like a pony had me laughing for like 5 minutes at how random and weird it was. Also, I'm glad they finally figured out how to use Adam Pally, because he annoyed the shit out of me in every other episode this season. His meltdown at the ballet rehearsal was hilarious. Hopefully, the background characters (the nurses/receptionist, Morgan) will stay in the background more, and they'll give British-doctor-whose-name-I-can-never-remember something to do.

mokey75 wrote:Also, I'm glad they finally figured out how to use Adam Pally, because he annoyed the shit out of me in every other episode this season.  His meltdown at the ballet rehearsal was hilarious.  Hopefully, the background characters (the nurses/receptionist, Morgan) will stay in the background more, and they'll give British-doctor-whose-name-I-can-never-remember something to do.

I, too, am glad they finally figured out how to use Adam Pally. I no longer want him dead. Victory in our time! I laughed SO long and hard at his meltdown at the rehearsal. It was incredible.

While I agree that they need to give Jeremy more to do (and not just because I'm in love with Ed Weeks), I don't think that the background characters could get more background. They give Morgan plenty to do, and Tamra's getting a little more because Morgan's in love with her, but I don't remember if Betsy or Beverly even had lines in the last two episodes. Betsy hasn't actually had anything resembling a story since the front nine of the the first season, and Beverly hasn't had anything since Mindy's birthday episode. For a show with a female lead, all of the female characters besides Mindy are criminally underused.

But, I do like what they're doing with Mindy and Danny. As someone upthread said, part of the reason that it's working is because they're the only two characters with any kind of character development over the last two seasons.

I laughed SO long and hard at his meltdown at the rehearsal. It was incredible.

Me too. I can't remember the exact words, but it was something like "MOVE! GO OVER THERE! Here, I'll help you. *walk walk walk* THERE!"

"WHY AREN'T YOU HELPING HER? Can't you see there's something wrong with her?!?!" hee!

dionneshea wrote:

mokey75 wrote:Also, I'm glad they finally figured out how to use Adam Pally, because he annoyed the shit out of me in every other episode this season.  His meltdown at the ballet rehearsal was hilarious.  Hopefully, the background characters (the nurses/receptionist, Morgan) will stay in the background more, and they'll give British-doctor-whose-name-I-can-never-remember something to do.

I, too, am glad they finally figured out how to use Adam Pally. I no longer want him dead. Victory in our time! I laughed SO long and hard at his meltdown at the rehearsal. It was incredible.

While I agree that they need to give Jeremy more to do (and not just because I'm in love with Ed Weeks), I don't think that the background characters could get more background. They give Morgan plenty to do, and Tamra's getting a little more because Morgan's in love with her, but I don't remember if Betsy or Beverly even had lines in the last two episodes. Betsy hasn't actually had anything resembling a story since the front nine of the the first season, and Beverly hasn't had anything since Mindy's birthday episode. For a show with a female lead, all of the female characters besides Mindy are criminally underused.

What confuses me about that is how the first season went out of its way to have female characters - for a show with such a shallow female lead, it did try, at least, to pass the Bechdel test (as much as you can with Mindy), to have female characters interact positively with one another, etc. Suddenly it became mostly male characters, which kind of made me lose interest for a while. But Adam Pally's character is more bearable than he was in the start, and Danny's getting layers at any rate. I just want to see Mindy's friends again or have Betsy and Mindy interact or... something. Hopefully this is just a sophomore slump in that regard?

This show has so many cast members and I don't think it entirely knows what to do with very many of them.

Heather wrote:This show has so many cast members and I don't think it entirely knows what to do with very many of them.

This is quite true, but I think it's also fair to say that they definitely have no idea what to do with non-Mindy women characters. The show was originally supposed to be Mindy and the best friend character and her daughter...obviously that got shuffled off a while ago.

I enjoy Danny and Mindy enough to tolerate the secondary character mess.

Binky wrote:

Heather wrote:This show has so many cast members and I don't think it entirely knows what to do with very many of them.

This is quite true, but I think it's also fair to say that they definitely have no idea what to do with non-Mindy women characters. The show was originally supposed to be Mindy and the best friend character and her daughter...obviously that got shuffled off a while ago.

I enjoy Danny and Mindy enough to tolerate the secondary character mess.

Yep. I've mostly enjoyed this show, but it has always been quite messy. They've changed the angles many times & they've never quite known what to do with Jeremy. I don't think they'll ever truly figure it out, sadly, but I still can enjoy it for what it is.

Tonight's first episode was very good though it made me sad. I figured we were heading there, but I thought we would get to enjoy the view for a bit longer. The second episode was quite a bit messier. Mindy's storyline was great (hello, Anna Gunn!), but the Danny plotline made him look so callous, in a way that he usually isn't where Mindy is concerned. The twist at the end with Jeremy speaking Spanish made no sense; why hadn't he talked to the crowd earlier in Spanish?

I love Adam Pally, but like much of the internet, I wish his character and Jeremy would switch screen time. I'd love to see a lot more Jeremy and a lot less of whatever Adam Pally's character's name is.

You guys, I died when Danny told Mindy she was his best friend. He was so sad. It also took me a ridiculously long time to recognize Anna Gunn.

Morning Angel wrote:
Tonight's first episode was very good though it made me sad.  I figured we were heading there, but I thought we would get to enjoy the view for a bit longer.  

I hated the first epsiode so much, I went to bed instead of watching the rest. The only piece of the show that works well are the interactions between Danny and Mindy, and it just seems so effing stupid to put them together just to break them up. I get that on some level, this is probably Mindy Kaling's version of a rom-com, but frankly, it's been done to death (and better) by a trillion others.

I didn't think in a million years that they would stay together, and I actually thought it would only last one episode, so I wasn't disappointed in the first episode. Those two are endgame right now, and for that reason, they won't be able to stay together until much later in the series. Maybe if it was looking like it wouldn't get picked up again for a third season they would have stayed together, but otherwise, they were going to have to part.

Their breakup scene just killed me because it's obvious how much they love each other. Danny's tearful admittance that she's his best (and possibly only) friend and Mindy's desperation to keep their relationship even if it means keeping it a secret were both so well done. As was her getting angry and calling him out on his shit.

The second episode was much weaker, maybe just because the emotional stakes of her leaving could have been very high coming off of her and Danny's breakup, but they didn't even touch on that as a possible reason why she might join another practice. And Peter, who had been a really great friend to her the previous episode (in many ways, filling in the role that Gwen would have had last year but in a much weirder way) seemed like he couldn't care less about her or Danny in the next episode. Honestly, it almost feels like it was aired out of order.