Apologizes for the lateness, but this week’s The Mindy Project had to be watched a day late. Unfortunately this season’s starting to feel a little “off” and harder and harder to get through. I wasn’t a huge fan of the last episode about white male privilege, and as I feared, that really was a one off episode that has no repercussions to the characters. Sure Jody’s off-putting line that it “seems to be illegal to be a white man” was well-placed in this episode because of the previous week. But Mindy seems to have no problem with Jody and Jeremy’s macho behavior last episode. She even invited them to her party for her friend from Germany and encouraged them to hit on her.
Someone she did not want hitting on her friend Elana was Morgan, and this episode suggests there is a terrible friendship between Mindy and Morgan. These two are supposed to be friends, but she treats him like a servant, doesn’t invite him places, and chastises him for his bad habits. That line about him smelling like cabbage was alarming, (he should probably get that issue checked out medically), but come on Mindy. You know who else had their employees cleaning up after their personal parties? Sigourney Weaver in Working Girl, and no one wants to be her.
Mindy’s upset that Ben invited Morgan to her party for her friend (played by the under used Casey Wilson), which enrages Mindy. Jody’s pretty funny in her confrontation with Ben at the hospital and had the show’s funniest line about Morgan, describing him as being “like a big sloppy ice-cream sundae. Every part of its good but it makes you sticky and sometimes it makes you sick to your stomach.” Jody saying this stuff is fine because it fits his character, but the problem with this episode is Mindy’s complete agreement with him. When Mindy’s on a double date with Morgan, Ben, and Elena didn’t seem like her having a meltdown or stressed, when she talked about Morgan being a slob or his criminal record she was just being uncharacteristically mean.
The other problem is how boring Ben has become since their reconciliation. He’s like Jiminy Cricket in Mindy’s life now, supposedly Mr. Perfect (even though he’s far from it), and around now just to point out Mindy’s flaws. It’s starting to feel like if Mark Darcy in Bridget Jones just kept pointing out every single thing she did wrong. But I doubt he’s going anywhere because they seem to be just blaming Mindy for their relationship issues. He wants to get married (the B-plot is him maybe buying an engagement ring) and she has no interest. The engagement storyline wasn’t the best, although Tamra, Colette, and Karen spreading gossip was hilarious. I so want a Karen/Anna episode, but that probably won’t be happening. The show seems to have misplaced Anna since her divorce.
And that’s probably the biggest issue with this episode; there seems to be a lack of internal logic within the show now. Like last week’s mansplaining episode, Jeremy was activated to be a jerk and now he’s back to normal. Morgan’s bad behavior has been activated this episode to make him an unsuitable date, but he’s at his least attractive ever here. Mindy’s probably at her worst, but Kaling’s playing her as “normal” as if we aren’t supposed to notice this. And I honestly don’t know how many days this episode took place within…two days or a week. I’m starting to feel like the show’s episodes are being scripted without an overall plan for this season. And that’s a huge problem. It’s time to pull back, remember who the characters are (and why we’re supposed to like them), and get rid of some of the extra junk.
The Mindy Project premieres new episodes Tuesdays on Hulu.
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