The Christmas Mistress

The Mindy Project, S01E09

Mindy hosted the office Christmas party at her apartment with Josh.  Things turned ugly when Mindy found a message from Josh's girlfriend on his phone and when said girlfriend later showed up to ruin the party.

What is up with this whole Josh thing?  It's like when he takes one inch forward, he takes ten feet back by acting a like an asshole.  He has the great ability of being somehow a good boyfriend and a bad one at the same time, so that made me unable to decide if I liked him around Mindy.  Well, this story definitely made me not want to see him again unless he was one his knees begging Mindy for forgiveness.

First of all, Josh had arranged for them to have their own little private skating rink for an hour, but he had actually paid a random person with no control over the hockey team that promptly arrived after they got there.  I could have overlooked him just tossing money around to make things happen, but he really sucked at protecting her from the swarm of players that filled the rink.  It totally reminded me of when he nearly burned down her house and was so useless just standing around.  For me, it's a deal breaker if I feel like a guy couldn't provide me with at least more protection than I could give myself.  I could see Mindy having to save his ass than the other way around.  Ugh.  I was already annoyed with him at that point.

However, I started to like him better when everyone at the party was mesmerized by him.  It was a real compliment to Mindy that everyone seemed to love him.  I was happy to see that after Danny and Jeremy had made Josh sound like he was about as real as Santa Claus.  Mindy is not so pathetic that she would be boasting for months that she was dating an imaginary man.

The second thing, of course, that made me fall over the fence into hating Josh was when Mindy found that message.  It's not the first time that Mindy has suspected that he was looking at other women while she wasn't around.  Now she had proof.  Proof that bothered her so much she was listening to it outside barefoot while pacing.

Third, Mindy turned out not be cheated on, but the person Josh was cheating with.  I can't believe that he was stringing along some woman because of a sick dog and never told Mindy about it.  I don't know if Mindy would have been cool with that situation, but at least she wouldn't have had to deal with a psycho woman crashing her party and wrecking her house.

Heather, the psycho girlfriend, not only trespassed, but assaulted Mindy with a pillow, broke her microwave (oh, hell no!), and crushed the beautiful gingerbread house that Danny had built.  That was nuts!  Good thing Shauna was dating a police officer.  Also, it was sucky that Josh had given Heather and Mindy the same necklace, but Mindy's had less bling.  That can count as a fourth thing.  I'm tempted to say Heather calling her chubby can count as a fifth thing because Heather showing up is Josh's fault after all.

Last, Josh's ass ran out of the apartment just as Mindy was being hit over and over again with that pillow.  I doubt things would have been better if he hadn't ran, but just seeing him run off like Heather acting crazy was none of his business pissed me off.  He shouldn't have left until he had made sure that crazy lady had stopped wrecking the party!  Heather could have injured Mindy--didn't he care??  Josh sure as hell better not get back into Mindy's good graces without some serious compensation.  Because he hurt her and embarrassed her.  He needed to be beaten like that gingerbread house.

Speaking of that house again, I was real surprised that Danny constructed it so meticulously.  I mean, he used inspirations from Hansel and Gretel.  I think that he secretly loves Christmas more than he wants to let on.  I loved how he was trying to talk about the details of it to the party guests, but everyone was focused on Josh, so they paid him no attention.

Also, it was sweet how Danny forgot about his date and looked after Mindy that night.  Aww, he really does like her!  Danny was being pretty reasonable about suggesting that Mindy let the Josh thing go and deal with it after the party, but Mindy just wasn't listening.  He was being a great friend when he took over the speech Mindy was giving because it was too hard for her to say all the nice things about Josh she had written.  And thanks to helping her he ended up getting called a "philandering gay florist."  One of the best things he's been called yet.

Jeremy also surprised me with the way he rallied everyone to help salvage Mindy's party.  It's not like I think he hates Mindy or anything, but he often seems selfish, so I didn't expect him to be the one to stop everyone from leaving. He even repaired Danny's gingerbread house the best he could.  I really appreciated him after that.

This was one of my favorite episodes so far.  I mean, there were a lot more reasons to hate Josh and Mindy got her heart broken like her microwave, but it was an exciting and interesting party.  Plus, Mindy's friends came through for her again during one of her difficult times and made me like them all a little more.  I feel like I can almost forget that Josh is a bit of dirt bag and Mindy might be depressed because I know that she'll get over it with the great support system she has in her friends.

Mindy Should Be The Boss

The Mindy Project, S01E08

After Dr. Shulman's unexpected retirement, the practice started to lose its patients to a holistic birthing center on a different floor.  Jeremy and Danny sent Mindy off to be with her friends, claiming that they didn't need her, but they continued to lose business in her absence.

I can't believe what big jerks Danny and Jeremy were being by pushing Mindy off to the side pretty much the minute Dr. Shulman was gone.  Wow, they really do not value her input at all.  I don't know why Jeremy would think that Danny had all the answers when he couldn't even handle an issue with HR on another day.  I'm hoping it's less of a sexist thing and more of a friendship thing because I couldn't help but be pissed.  Sure, Mindy is a little out there, but she's a good doctor and has good ideas.

I'm not sure what I felt about the midwife brothers.  I didn't think they were as handsome and charming as all the other women seemed to think (but I also don't think that Jeremy and Danny are better looking than them either).  I liked how they came down and put Danny in his place about how doctors were drug dealers and such.  Danny sucked at showing them up.  All that education and he can't even properly talk smack.  Haha.

Danny also was horrible at talking to his patients.  He was calling one lady stupid because she had concerns about the medication that might be used on her baby.  No wonder his patients practically ran to their competition.  Jeremy, though, was no better.  He was acting too cocky about his looks and making comments that sounded dirty when telling the woman that she was going to stay with them.  It makes me wonder how they manage to get by talking to their patients at all without sounding like assholes or creepers.

While all hell was breaking loose at their practice, I liked that Mindy was enjoying the time with her friends.  My favorite part was that before she ran off to save her business, she had her friends made a human changing room and said:

Please don't judge my bra.

I don't know if that meant her bra was really ugly or raggedy.  In either case, I could identify with that. And it made me laugh and like Mindy a little more.

Of course, I really loved when Mindy came back to the practice, grabbed a patient's file and went down to the midwives for a showdown.  She did her best to deflect their charms, while letting all of their ex-patients know why it was a safer choice to choose their practice for their births in the event there were complications.  She not only sounded intelligent, but also showed that she is not playing around when it comes to stealing her patients.  I liked that she kept the mallet, in case that she needed to come to their center again and ring the gong.  I really liked when she announced her presence by banging on it.

For a brief second, she was a little turned on by one of the midwives wiping her fallen eyelash off and making her blow on it for a wish.  To me that was weird.  It wouldn't have made me swoon.  But to each their own.

It was sweet that Josh showed up at the end to spend some time with her, but I still haven't warmed up to him.  However, I loved his comments as he came into the room:

Why do hospitals always have the ugliest posters?  Indianapolis has a jazz fest?  Gross.

They were such random comments that I wouldn't have expected him to say upon arrival.  But he made some good points.

I'm glad that Mindy has proven how valuable of an asset she is to the business and how lost Danny and Jeremy would be without her for even a day.  Those morons better never put her in the corner again.  With Dr. Shulman gone, I think that Mindy should be the one in charge, really, but I'm sure that the other two would never admit to that.   At least they can never complain that she's useless, though.

Try To Help, Get Zip Tied

The Mindy Project, S01E07

 Mindy tried to help her neighbor and friend Sophia make a smarter decision about going on birth control and having sex with her boyfriend.  Danny had to deal with a complaint about lewd behavior in the office. 

At first I really liked that Sophia and Mindy seem to have a nice bond, as if they were sisters or something.  However, the moment that Mindy tried to get too involved in Sophia's decision about sex, Sophia became a bit of a pain.  I get that no teenage wants an adult to tell them what to do about having sex, but I felt like Sophia was being a little too mean-spirited when Mindy was both trying to help her consider the weight of her first sexual experience and doing her a favor at all by possibly supplying her with birth control in the first place.  The latter was done without parental consent, so Mindy could have gotten in more trouble when helping her.  Mindy got way too involved, but at the same time, it was Sophia who went to her in the first place.  She couldn't have possibly thought that she could just ask Mindy for the pills and Mindy would have just threw some at her with no thought.

My least favorite part was when Sophia got the chance to question Josh, and Josh showed that he was no better of a boyfriend than Sophia's guy.  In fact, he wasn't really thinking of a future with Mindy at all.  It wasn't so fair to put him on the spot when Mindy and he had only been dating for a little while, but still.  I didn't like Josh too much there.  I mean, I felt like he could have worded his uncertainty about Mindy in a better way.  I'm still far from being his fan, and I don't think the two of them have forever on their horizon.

It was kinda funny that Mindy got restrained at the school for handing out condoms.  I'm thinking that's more of a no-no because she was unauthorized and parents would complain.  But seriously, what the hell is the harm?  It wasn't like she was pimping out the girls or something!  Geez!  I felt that they didn't need to zip tie her up!  Extreme!  But Mindy was dancing on the line of creepy being at the school and doing what she was doing in the first place.  She really should have just stayed at work (and did the job she seems to be able to not do at will--must be nice to be a partner).  It's amazing how Mindy can look like a criminal so many times when she's not exactly trying to do anything illegal.

As far as Danny's story went, it was okay.  I knew that it was Betsy who had written that complaint.  It was cute when Danny had Morgan in his office and he kept talking about the dogs he kept at the office.  I really like him for some reason.  He has this boyish charm.  Anyway, Danny was being so inappropriate in the way he was trying to up Betsy's confidence.  I can't believe he complimented her so much on her physical traits.  I really hope that doesn't end up blowing in his face anytime soon.

Oh, yeah.  I also loved how much Ben loved Mindy.  She made a fast friend of him and it was adorable, although it is very weird.  But not nearly as weird as that slime all the kids were playing with.  Kids are so strange.

This episode was okay.  It was hard to watch Mindy going around a high school as if her presence there was normal.  I don't think she should ever skip work again.  I'm not any closer to loving Josh, even though I know he's making an effort with Mindy.  I just don't have much faith in his commitment to her, and I doubt that will ever change.  Danny is sort of useless when it comes to handling people.  Although I like he is a bit of a mess himself and Mindy is surely not alone in that department.

Dunno Which Dinner Was The Best

The Mindy Project, S01E07

Mindy spent Thanksgiving at Gwen's house and got into a fight with Gwen after she hit on Dennis.  Jeremy spent the holiday at Betsy's house where she was sick of being treated like a little girl.  Danny spent the holiday alone at the office.

Well, there wasn't much that I liked about this episode.  It was good there were multiples stories because all of them were a little boring to me.  I don't think I could pick a favorite.  Even with Danny being alone the whole night save a damn mouse was about on par with Mindy going after someone else's boyfriend.  I might say Jeremy and Betsy story because it was a little sweet how he comforted her in accepting the way her family treats her because it could be worse (like how he suggested his own family was).

What I was most annoyed about in this episode was Josh.  I'm getting less and less convinced that he is a great match for her.  First of all, after he made a slightly gross dinner for her made entirely on panini presses, he set her apartment on fire was pretty damn useless in taking care of that situation.  Like I couldn't believe that he just sort of stood next her and kind of wanted her to do something about it.  Wow.  Didn't think he could be more unimpressive than his cooking skills.  Second, he didn't want to be exclusive with her.  I don't know why, but I was a little shocked.  You come to cook (by your own definitions) a meal for a girl, but you don't want to be exclusive with her?  Why the hell even go to the damn trouble??  Yes, later he found out that he missed Mindy and wanted to officially be her boyfriend, but I don't appreciate that he sort of swung her emotions around like that.  Especially since it encouraged Mindy to make out with Dennis (although I guess Morgan was the one who told her she didn't need to stick to one man either) and made the fight between Mindy and Gwen worse.  I just don't like the way Josh puts up a front--can't he be  a little more straightforward with his feelings?  It's frustrating and frankly makes him a little less manly in my eyes.

Related to Mindy seducing Dennis a bit, how dramatic was the fight between her and Gwen?  First Mindy jumps to conclusions about Gwen replacing her with another Indian girl (I wonder if she would have felt as threatened if she wasn't the same race), and then Gwen nearly kicks Mindy's ass after she sees her making out with Dennis.  I was really surprised that Gwen got so violent and loud.  But I guess she was just tired of Mindy's shit during a holiday dinner.  Wow, I would not want to piss her off.  I guess her voice makes you think she might be sweet and nice, but apparently she can bring it when necessary.  Learned a good bit about her character in this story.

I also learned that Jeremy doesn't seem to be much of an ass.  I mean, the more I see him with Betsy, the more I think they should hook up.  They would be a weird pairing (okay, well, she's just weird), but I think it might work.  She's definitely not so sneaky and sexually loose as he is, so maybe she could balance him out.  

As for Danny...  What a loser spending Thanksgiving at the office.  I'm surprised that he even texted back Mindy when she sent him a picture.  I guess he sort of missed her.  It wasn't like he was getting any love from anyone else that day (not even a mouse, haha).

This was one of my least favorite Thanksgiving stories I've seen, but I'm not really surprised.  This  show is still getting its act together, so I never expected them to blow me away.  I guess the best thing about the story was that perhaps Mindy has a confirmed boyfriend now.  I wonder if we'll see a change in Josh that will allow me to like him a little better.  Because of right now, I can't wait for someone better to stroll along for Mindy.

Mindy Ain't No Lamp

The Mindy Project, S01E07

Mindy made Danny her gynecologist when she found that her previous one had been retired for some time and when Danny accused her of having feelings for him that would make her impossible as a patient.  Jeremy got Morgan and Betsy to help him break into Mindy's apartment to decorate for a half birthday party, but Jeremy was really there to get back a watch he had misplaced after his last hook up with Mindy.

I still have issues about whether I want to hate Danny or not.  He's quite an easy-to-hate character, but there is something about him that is sort of funny and likeable, so I can't totally commit to loathing him just yet.  This time I was very tempted to write him off as the least loveable character when he was asking Mindy all these questions at her appointment in the rudest way.  I wasn't even sure if all the questions were ones that he asked all his patients, but even so the way he just assumed the answers on his own made me mad.  And I just got even more on Mindy's side when he was making fun of her weight (oh, hell no!).  I know that he and Mindy were playing a game to see which of them would chicken out on this new patient-doctor relationship between them, but he was taking it too far.  I might have wanted to see him get stabbed if Morgan (who is really starting to seem like the best person they could have hired ever) gave Mindy a way to find her inner warrior to fight against Danny.  Sometimes I think he needs to be a therapist, not a nurse.  He's pretty good despite his colorful past.

Thanks to him when Mindy unleased her revenge on him and was making him uncomfortable during the breast examination, I was laughing a lot.  This might be the funniest thing I've seen on this show yet.  Plus, Mindy won in the end and Danny ran home.  Couldn't ask for a better conclusion than that.  But I guess since Danny started acting like a human being, I didn't hate him so much when he caved.  He's a really difficult character.  If I had to bet my money, though, I think that I'm always going to lean toward hating him.

One other thing that was funny in the Danny and Mindy story was when Mindy was talking to him about the retirement card she had made:

[Danny] Take the sunglasses off the sun.  Makes no sense.  The sun’s the only thing that never needs sunglasses.
[Mindy] Um, the sunglasses are the best part.  That is how you know that the sun is cool.

Although I'm conflicted about Danny's personality, he's definitely necessary because he is a great contrast to Mindy's cute comments like that.  That joke wouldn't really work if Danny wasn't so critical and unimaginative.

I'm not so sure what I think about Jeremy so far.  We got to know him a little when he and Danny were at the DMV, and in this episode we saw that he's not above using people, but not impervious to what someone like Betsy might think of him.  He's still a bit of a mystery to me.   I do like that Betsy pretty much berated him for trying to steal the watch from Mindy's place.  I definitely like her because she seems like a pushover, but she will speak out when it's something important like her friends.

Lastly, I don't know if I like Mindy with Josh and all.  That was truly a nightmare to see him in her jeans and comment about the room in the back.  If I was her, I don't know if I would ever be able to face him.  Especially if I was wearing jeans at the time.

Pretty good episode in all.  I feel like Morgan is about my favorite character at the moment.  Mindy comes in at a close second.  The guy who always seems to be hitting low blows at her insecurities, on the other hand, is gunning to be my least favorite one, Danny.  I hope, though, he will grow on me soon.  Also, I want to see more of Jeremy because I can't really have an opinion about him either way.  I'm being impatient because this is a new show that needs time to slowly characterize everyone, but I don't care.  I wanna know what they're all about as quickly as possible.

Boo! (Not In A Halloween Way)

The Mindy Project, S01E04

Mindy was invited to a party with Josh, but was reluctant to come when she couldn't find a good costume.  Danny and Jeremy went to the DMV to get their licenses, but Danny had a much harder time than his friend.

Well, there wasn't much that I liked about this episode.  I'm still on the fence about whether I like Josh or not, too.  I think the funniest thing about this episode was when Mindy was absently petting a cat until she realized that it wasn't hers and tossed it out the window.  I totally thought she had a cat for a second.  That was so random!

I also thought it was slightly funny that Danny got a second chance to take his road test because Jeremy told the administrator that he had been molested in a car.  He was especially nervous and terrible at driving.  But I felt his struggle to get the license because I'm past the teenage years and have yet to get my license.  I would probably punch a kid if he called me old when going to take the test.  I'm glad he didn't have to go through the pain of taking the test for another time.  It would be a nightmare to have the DMV know you personally because you've failed that many times.

I also will give Josh some points for dressing up as Inigo Montoya for Halloween.  He actually looked much cuter in that than he usually does (he has a weird face), and he paid 3000 dollars just to please Mindy with that costume.  Plus, he knew that she had dressed up as Diane from Cheers, which was nice because I had no idea who she was supposed to be.  Honestly, after she had talked to Riley about the Great Pumpkin and they were playing the Peanuts theme, I thought she was about to go as Lucy or something (I mean, not when she grabbed that wig, though).

What I didn't like the most about this episode was when Mindy was catching up with Tom.  Not only was he not apologetic enough, but Mindy was clearly still hung up on him.  I really wish she hadn't re-evaluated her life because Tom was having a baby.  I hated to see her mope around because of that.  What she had with him obviously wasn't real if he moved on so quickly with another woman.  I was a little disappointed to see her relapse like that.  Come on, Mindy!

This episode was fairly unimpressive.  For a Halloween story it was pretty boring and for any other kind of story, it was little frustrating (mostly because of Mindy and Tom).  I guess I like that Mindy's getting closer to Josh and on the path to a better relationship, but she's far from me applauding her just yet.  Right now I just feel like I want to shake her before I change the channel.

My First Favorite Story

The Mindy Project, S01E03

Mindy got Shauna to get her into a club, and it ended up being an office outing.  Mindy was able to get into the VIP section and meet some interesting guys, but in the end she had to decide whether abandoning her friends was worth a possible hookup.

I didn't expect an episode about a club to be so good, but there were quite a few interesting moments.  One of such was when they first arrived and the group was waiting outside in the line.  Someone remarked that NBA players come to the club quite often:

[Mindy] This is amazing ’cause black guys love me.[Shauna] Keep your racism voice down.[Mindy] Sorry.  That’s not racist.  It’s a scientific fact that black guys love Indian girls.[Shauna] Don’t…[Mindy] Black guys also love ass, which I happen to have a lot of.

I love hearing about different stereotypes and was interested to see if Mindy could prove it to be true.  At first she didn't seem to be having any luck, and then she finally got into the VIP at what seemed to be at the request of one of the players.  It turned out to be from the sports attorney, but he turned out to be less of a douche than he first appeared (my first impression was that he was really rude and perhaps out to play her).  I loved when Mindy was just chilling with the players and having a great time.  She just seemed so cute, yet not awkward chatting with them.  It's just too bad she had other priorities than possibly the most amazing night of her life.

I'm actually glad that Mindy has a big heart and would rather stick by Shauna  and Betsy than go off have fun by herself.  I was pretty impressed with her.  It says a lot about her character.  If she had gone, it would have told me she was really only looking out for herself in the world, and I probably would have started to like her a lot less.

I also started to like Danny a little more in the episode, getting to see him cut loose and dance, but I felt bad that Shauna likes him and he went home with some random girl.  I hope that Shauna can get his attention one day because he doesn't seem to often give attention to anyone unless it's necessary.

I also felt like Morgan was off to a good start in this episode as well.  I loved that he had all these things with him like he was a bathroom attendant, but had no intention of being one, as I thought he did.  I mean, I was confused at first that he didn't understand why he was being given money; it took me a second to realize he had really just brought those toiletries for himself.  Wow.  Then, I thought it was sweet that he picked up everyone's tab at the end of the night with the money he had made (even though it was less than $40).  He could easily become one of my favorites.

This time, I definitely felt like this show has really started to win me over.  I at least care about some of the characters now and want to see how they might grow as people as the stories develop.  I wonder what will happen between Mindy and Josh.  He seems pretty into her, but I don't know if Mindy is there yet.  And I'd like to see Shauna have a real chance with Danny.  I think they could be at least an entertaining couple for a little while.