Mindy's Perfect Guy

The Mindy Project, S01E16

Mindy reconnected with a guy that she had met at camp when she was thirteen and had an amazing time with him.  The only thing that ruined the start to their relationship was that Sam was in the army and was meant to deploy for 18 months to Afghanistan.  Mindy, not wanting Sam to leave so quickly after they started something so good, tried to find a way to make him ineligible to return to duty for a while.  Danny also was asked by a couple to be their sperm donor and had second thoughts after agreeing to it.

Who would have guessed the first guy that seemed to be Mindy's perfect match would be played by Seth Rogen?  I like him as an actor just fine, but I didn't think that he would have such chemistry with Mindy that it was a little devastating that Sam had to go in the end.  He had all the things that I felt like Mindy needed: a guy who could keep up with her in the comedy department, could share in her love of romantic comedies, and was genuinely a nice person.  It was like every second they spent together made me not want to see him go even more.  It was a little embarrassing that Mindy got caught trying to sabotage his return to service, but I sorta wanted her to succeed.  Sam won me over from the second he awkwardly tried to pretend that he was blind--why did he have to be played by a guest star?  Argh.

My favorite scene between Mindy and Sam was when they were at the drug store and he suggested that they use self-checkout.  Mindy only scanned one item before it had an error and set off an alarm because it thought she was trying to bag something she hadn't paid for.  I liked how they ran off, abandoing their items, and how the machine knew her name.  I think even though it made them look like shoplifters, it was a memory that they could laugh about later.

Sam also gave Mindy the best goodbye letter ever.  I haven't watched the movie You Got Mail, but I think that Sam's ability to quote from it in a letter (and his request that she not share this fact to anyone else) made him look even more perfect for Mindy than he had before.  Their story together was exactly what you would expect from the kind of movies that she liked:  first meeting as kids, and then years later having a chance love connect as adults.  Where is she going to meet a guy again that has this kind of setup?  I really wanted him to stay, but the beautiful letter he left behind was more than adequate to make me accept that he was just one of Mindy's passing through loves.

I also had a line that I liked from this story.  It was after Sam asked Danny whether Mindy was a great doctor and he agreed, surprisingly.  Morgan summed up nicely how much value that nod of approval from Danny meant:

That means a lot coming from him because he's very competitive and doesn't give a lot of compliments.

Either Danny is really starting to fall for Mindy or he really approved of Sam enough to be honest with him (because we all know he wouldn't want to co-own a business with her if he didn't think she was a doctor of good quality).  I liked that Danny has really started to bond with Mindy and seems less about bringing her down and more about joking around with her.  I like honest Danny a lot more than "pretending like he's the biggest bastard in the world" Danny.

Danny also seems to have made Mindy his problem solver.  While everyone else at the office was making him terrified of fathering a son that wasn't going to be in his life, Mindy quickly got him out of his commitment of donating sperm by listing Danny's many faults.  Although he didn't look prepared for the negative points that she was going to tell the couple, Danny went along with it and appeared grateful that she released him from the burden.  The old Danny probably wouldn't even have gone to Mindy for advice in the past.  But the new and more likeable Danny trusted her enough to tell her his problem and let her take care of it.  I'm really liking the place that their friendship has gotten to now.

This might be my favorite episode yet.  It's as good as that one at the club, but I think Mindy meeting a guy who had it all for her purposes beats a good night clubbing, for sure.  Seth Rogen was fantastic as Sam, and I hope somewhere (possibly in the second season if the show gets renewed) that Sam returns.  Maybe by then Mindy will already have found someone as great as him, but I still want him to come back and rekindle that spark they have together.  Sam's character really made me forget about all the other jerks Mindy's been cursed with, so I'll always be grateful for that.  I'm also grateful that Sam's visit made Danny admit how much he values Mindy as a doctor.  The two of them are really getting along well lately, and I'm eager to see if their friendship can deepen to the point that Danny opens himself up to Mindy even more.

Leslie Hacked, Ann's Request, And Andy's Charity

Parks and Recreation, S05E15

Leslie had her jokes stolen by an enemy at the Pawnee Sun, and she asked her friends to help her fight against the woman hacking into her emails.  Ben asked April, Andy, and Tom to help him pick a charity at his new job, and April got angry at him when he didn't choose Andy's pick, which could have cheered him up about failing the police academy.  Ann asked Ron for help on how to ask Chris to be sperm donor.

Leslie's jokes for the Correspondence Lunch weren't that great, but it was still annoying that Kim had hacked her email and stolen all her ideas.  What a bitch.  I don't know what Leslie's done to her to make her the butt of every joke in her paper.  Actually, opposed to Leslie's jokes I liked the one that Ron suggested to her that she didn't use:

[Ron] I have a joke for you.[Leslie] OK.[Ron] The government in this town is excellent and uses your tax dollars efficiently.[goofy laugh]
[Leslie] That's not really a joke.[Ron] I disagree.  I find it hilarious.

I liked at the end, thanks to Donna's plan, Amy brought up a rumor from a fake email Donna had sent, revealing Kim's guilt.  That stupid bitch.  It  was funny that they had brought up a fictional thing from Stars Wars, making Kim look like an even bigger idiot.  It's too bad that people there didn't boo her or something.  She couldn't have enough humiliation in my book.

One of my favorite parts about Ben's story was when he told April and the others why he had brought them there.  April quickly let him know she hadn't come to help:

[April] Pass.[Ben] You came down here to pass on helping me?[April] Yeah, I wanted to see what your face looked like when I said no.  It was totally worth it.

Ben's job at Sweetums Foundation is insane.  I can't believe how fancy it is around there with the expensive food, massages, and office space as if Ben was the CEO of a global corporation.  Tom was soaking it up like he was duck in a pond (no surprise there), but I can't believe that Ben didn't feel the irony of having to settle for one charity while they wasted so much money on fringe benefits.  What I did like is that Andy, even in his depressed state, could see that as plain as day.  He's pretty sharp when it comes to certain things.  Since Ben eliminated all of the wasteful spending on pampering the employees, I wonder if there will be enough money to do the music program that Andy wanted.  It was so cute when Andy hugged Ben after he finally realized that Ben was hiring him as his assistant at the foundation.  Yay!  Andy might have found a new calling.

Ann made an awkward mess out of asking Chris to be the father of her baby.  She could have easily just pulled him somewhere private at work and asked him, yet she beat around the bush so much that Ron forced her to do it where someone like Perd could listen in.  Luckily, Chris wasn't repulsed by the idea so much as he was a little shocked.  However, he seems like he may eventually say yes to her.  Here's hoping--I think they would have a really adorable child together.

What I liked most about Ann's story best was her talking to Ron in his office.  I loved what he said to her when she first ran into his office for help:

 I wish this office had only walls.

You really got a sense that he didn't like anyone just stopping by his office, no matter what their business was.  Ann later came to praise Ron for his advice, but he didn't even want to hear that:

[Ann] I gotta tell you Ron.  You were absolutely and totally right.[Ron] I know.  Stop talking and get out.[Ann] Yep.

Ann barely sat down before Ron essentially kicked her out.  I wish I could cue people to leave with just a few words like that with no further questions nor complaints.

Oh, I also liked at the very beginning where Leslie and Ben were dishing out presents from their honeymoon.  They gave Ron a Hawaiian god of anger who looked like Ron when he was at work.  It really did look a whole lot like him, even though Ron doesn't bare his teeth like that.

This was a good episode to follow that amazing one before it.  It helped get the excitement of their wedding out of your system and return to the usual stories of lesser importance, but still with the usual comedy.  Chris might be soon fathering Ann's child, and Andy will soon be working for Ben to help people in a different, but still useful, way than he would have if he became a police officer.  I'm not so sure how well Ben and Andy will work together, but it could turn out to be funny.  After all, Ben is a riot when working with April and Tom, so him and Andy might be another hilarious pair.