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The Mindy Project Season 3 Premiere: Mindy + Danny 4-Eva, Please

The Mindy Project

We’re a Couple Now, Haters!
Season 3 Episode 1
Editor’s Rating 4 stars
THE MINDY PROJECT: Mindy (Mindy Kaling, R) and Danny (Chris Messina, L) spend time together in the

The Mindy Project

We’re a Couple Now, Haters!
Season 3 Episode 1
Editor’s Rating 4 stars
Photo: FOX

As it turns out, some will-they-won’t-they couples are even more fun to watch when they do. And there is no better case in point than Mindy and Danny. Their sexual tension was delicious, but their relationship is even more fun. Score one for monogamy.

Some evidence of their entertainment value as a couple: They listen to Boston’s highly underrated “More Than a Feeling” (just as rousing as “Don’t Stop Believin’,” you guys) during sex. They apparently have more than satisfactory cunnilingus, thanks to Danny’s storied skill with his mouth. Not even “hunky drifter” Cousin Lou (the excellent Rob McElhenney of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) could break them up.

And though Mindy is trying to change some of her bad habits for Danny — namely, telling the whole office stuff like “he’s good with his mouth” — she is still the Mindy we love. That is, she is overly proud of herself for donating two cans of soup to get into a Katy Perry Q&A. And she is not that interested in the office’s new charity, Doctors Without Molars, but she is outraged that their health care does not cover unnecessary color braces for Tamra. “If there were braces for penises, we would not be in this situation,” she says, misguiding her feminist principles. “How about a charity that helps women who want to look bangable at work?”

Mindy has not lost her zest for flirting with white boys, either: She revels in the attentions of Morgan’s cousin, Lou, who may or may not be yet another long-term character, but at least he’s a fun one. Somehow, however, Mindy resists his charms, which include the fact that he stabbed a guy in prison for heckling Richard Lewis. And, in his own words: “I’m not well read or well traveled, and our family’s trash. But I’m a white man who’s interested in you.” I don’t know if this is a dig at the show’s past parade of white boyfriends for Mindy, a dig at how white men tend to see themselves, or both. But I like it.

We know Mindy has truly matured over the course of the show because she now prefers the boring stability of Danny, even if she’s still occasionally bored by him. For instance, he is prone to saying, “Whoa, Nelly!” upon climaxing. (One could make the argument that this is so boring, it loops around all the way to fascinating.) He is possibly also prone to telling her about state capitals, as evidenced by her reaction when he announces that he has “important information” to tell her. “Is this boring, like all the states’ capitals?” she asks.

He assures her that it’s not, and he is correct. He needs to tell her that poor Jeremy has finally gotten a real plotline! Really, though, specifically, he needs to tell her that he saw Jeremy giving Peter’s girlfriend, Lauren (played by show writer Tracey Wigfield), a back rub. Whoa, Nelly. Or, as Mindy says, “That was really good interpersonal chitchat.”

Said chitchat screeches to a halt when Mindy comes across a hot-pink thong that says “DIAMOND” on it in Danny’s drawer. He deflects questions about it, and she tries not to discuss it with everyone in the office. She succeeds, sort of, at least at first. But both Peter and Morgan see her with the thong and offer her clues to its provenance. Peter tells her it’s a stripper thong — see how easily it rips off! Morgan tells her it’s a guy’s thong — see the extra room in the front! With this information, she sleuths out, via internet search, that Danny was actually a stripper. She can’t totally keep this information to herself, however, once they’ve seen her walking around clutching a hot-pink, male stripper thong.

When everyone at work starts talking about the possible Jeremy-Lauren liaison and is also calling Danny “Diamond,” Danny gets mad at Mindy for blabbing once again. But Mindy is also mad at Danny for keeping secrets from her. He admits he was a stripper so he could pay for med school, but storms out. See! Plenty of plotlines in monogamous relationship land!

We soon learn that Jeremy did, in fact, kiss Lauren, and Jeremy pays for his juicy plotline by getting punched in the face by Peter. Hey, no one said being a major character was going to be easy. We even get a bit more intriguing information about Jeremy in an aside from Peter, who thought Jeremy was gay because he brought an older gentleman to dinner once. Turned out that was his dad: “That was your dad?” Jeremy says. “You guys have a very unreadable chemistry.” (More Alan Dale/Caleb Nichol/Charles Widmore as Jeremy’s dad, please.)

In the end, of course, Danny and Mindy make up and agree to tell each other their secrets. Thank goodness, because Danny gets sexier every time we learn something new about him. One minute he’s moodily playing songs from Frozen on the piano, and the next minute we’re getting him in full stripper dance to “American Woman.” Whatever we need to do to get more Danny dancing, I’m into it. Long live monogamy.

The Mindy Project Season 3 Premiere Recap