“The writing on the wall.” – The Mindy Project Recap

Season 3, Episode 10: What About Peter?
Posted by Sage

Call me a little nutjob, but I do not think we’re building to a happy winter finale here. Mindy has been sowing seeds of discord in the Dandy relationship over these past few episodes, and I get the feeling it’s all going to play out ever-so-dramatically during the holidays.

The source of the conflict is the age-old relationship conundrum of being on two different timelines. Ever since Danny read Mindy’s diary (and even before that, let’s be real), he’s known that Mindy is “all in.” And it’s not that Danny isn’t – or that he’s keeping an eye out for something better – it’s that he’s in no hurry to make anything official.

And there’s the sticky part. It’s absolutely within the Bill of Relationship Rights for Danny to want to stay in the slow lane for now, but it’s on him to be up front with Mindy about that. He’s not the most effusive boyfriend in New York. (Though I found it fairly adorable when he called Mindy his “little buddy.” And maybe I blacked out for a second after he winked.) In fact, most of Danny’s grand declarations have occurred under duress. “Try Again” ended up being a cheer-up gift for Mindy, but, had her man-trapping plan worked, it would have been a pick-me gift instead. He made his big move in the galley of that fateful plane because he knew that as soon as the landing gear hit the runway, Mindy would be back together with Cliff. And his behavior throughout the last third of season two was roughly 80% motivated by jealousy and fear of losing her. I’m not making the case that good relationships can’t get off the ground that way or that what Danny feels for Mindy isn’t real. I’m telling Danny to nut up. He doesn’t need to propose tomorrow, but he does need to fight for Mindy even when it’s only apathy he’s fighting against.

This week’s relationship drama comes about via Danny’s new (to his dismay) neighbor, Pete. I have yet to come to terms with the fact that Peter Prentice is leaving us this year. My reasons are both selfish and not. Adam Pally is cute and funny and I’m seriously attached to the way he pronounces the word “girl.” But he’s also a vital part of Mindy’s life and the essential third to Danny and Mindy’s relationship. Pairing Mindy with girlfriends has never worked. Her relationship with Gwen was weirdly aggressive and kind of unpleasant to watch. But Peter provides the kind of enabling support that Mindy needs to keep on being Mindy. Bottom line is that it’s no fun to watch someone be chastised. Peter and Mindy are both messy works-in-progress, so they can give each other real talk without an uncomfortable power imbalance. (“Hello, fellow sexist.”)

It’s kind of the ideal situation. Mindy gets steaks and sex from Danny, and reality TV and brunch with Peter. She rescues Pete from his Bro of the Flies roommate situation for his own good, but gets a pretty good deal herself. In theory. (Sidenote: We FINALLY saw Pubes in the flesh! Nice to meet you, sir.) Cuddling with Peter and Nicole in front of trashy television before crawling into bed with Danny Castellano? Where do I sign up for this life?

Peter even makes an effort to be the tenant Danny needs and deserves. He whips up a pot roast. (Which smells just like one of Mindy’s pot roasted scented candles.) He buys groceries! (And then, yes, leaves them at a strip club. Baby steps.) But he regresses when Mindy meets sweet Ray the contractor and learns about Danny’s plans to eventually combine the two apartments. Assuming that the “family” he’s looking to make room for is their future brood, Mindy pre-evicts her BFF. But not before Pete and Danny share a steamy shower scene, soundtracked by Seals & Croft. (“Your boyfriend groped me. You are a beard.”) This is not the first time Danny’s run into a shower problem on this show, or indeed, a shirtless problem on this show. Mindy Kaling knows what we want to see because she wants to see the same thing. We should be lobbing Emmys at the show for this, and for writing a reasonably believable sex scene lead in between this guy and a girl in an apnea mask.

Peter protests his unofficial eviction by inviting Dartmouth’s finest to a blow-out at his new place. But real blow-out occurs between Mindy and Danny. And for a blow-out, it’s frighteningly quiet.

Up until now, Mindy’s been fine with all the joking around and the boy/girl push-and-pull. She considers herself a professional game player, and – in the past – has had no qualms about using all the tools in her arsenal to bend relationships to her will. But, when it comes to Danny, that thought is far too depressing. On hearing that that he actually means the expanded apartment for Ma and her brittle bones (“Please promise me you’ll take the yogurt for your bones.”), Mindy is just spent. She doesn’t launch a scheme to trick Danny into thinking he wants to commit to her. Above all, the one requirement that she puts on their relationship is that it’s “real.” He doesn’t get the smoke-and-mirrors, Phantom-of-the-Opera Mindy that her exes did. He gets sleep mask, mouth-guard Mindy. And he’s obviously fine with it. But if he’s just fine with it – if she’s put more of her real self into this relationship than she’s had in any other and he still wants to spin his wheels, she has to walk away.

I’m obsessed with Emily Nussbam’s dead-on critique of the “Bad Female Fan and now also with The Guardian’s piece hailing the “crass, shallow, helium-high” Mindy Lahiri as the TV Character of the Year. Her complications and near-unlikeablility are what make Mindy the feminist triumph she is. But every once in a while, she makes a move that shows her to be, ever so briefly, a genuine heroine. This reaction to Danny’s uncertainty is one of them. And it scares the shit out of him.

Last season, Peter praised Mindy for being so brave and open and willing to fall flat on her face in the name of happiness. So excuse her if Danny’s plea of “nervous” doesn’t move her. He practically begged Mindy to take a chance on him. And now it’s his turn. Your move, Castellano. Or you and Ma may be admiring that back-splash all on your own.

Random Thoughts/B-Stories

• 

  This week’s B-story was only connected to the A via male nudity. (Thanks again, Kaling!) Left alone with baby Henry, Jeremy is completely at sea. Even his soothing rhymes about “the bog-man” are failing to land. Morgan, ever maternal, comes to the rescue. Morgan and Jeremy make an entertaining odd couple (see: the sweat lodge excursion from “Santa Fe”) and any reference to Jeremy’s family as British lunatics is always welcome. The only plus to Adam Pally’s exit is that Ed Weeks might get his due focus again. Also, Jeremy looks extra hot holding a baby, kind of like Rick Grimes.

• Henry is also #TeamPeter. I like this kid.
• “Bush is a Kennedy.”
• “I need a grown-up living situation. Right now i’m a grown-up living LIKE The Situation.”
• “Those reading glasses are making me horny.” Get in line.
• Danny is the ONLY FRIEND who came to see Peter in the hospital. And he always calls him “Pete,” because that sounds like a working man’s name. Unsung BrOTP of the show.
• “Coccyx, forgive me.”

 

We need a grand gesture and we need one now. Hopefully Danny’s warming up for what really should be an annual Christmas hip-hop routine. What say you, readers?