Photo courtesy of Hulu
On the heels of last week’s episode, which saw Mindy reluctantly agree to stay at home with Leo full time, this week, The Mindy Project showed Mindy excelling at being a stay at home mom, with the help of mommy blogs and some killer outfits straight out of the 1950’s. And she’s good at it, you guys! She may not pull off an elaborate meal each night, or finish a five-mile run, but what busy mom of a baby can? The problem is that she’s not fulfilled. As she tells Leo late in the episode, she’s good at her job, and, no matter how much she loves her son, she’s not happy staying at home full-time.
Danny is still ignorant about his fiance’s desire to work outside the home. And he’s equally ignorant of exactly how much work is involved in staying home with their son. When Danny complains that Mindy has cooked the same grilled cheese and tomato soup dinner five nights in a row, Mindy challenges him to try being a stay at home dad (“Stay-At-Home-Dan”) for a day, while she covers for him at the practice. He accepts, and soon learns that parenting full time is not as easy as he expected. When Mindy arrives home from work, it appears that Danny has had an exceptional day – there’s a freshly cooked meal on the table, the floors have been waxed, and Danny has been working on his painting. But Mindy discovers that Danny had a little help – he called his mother in tears after his scheduled unraveled before noon. The two commiserate over the difficulties of being a full-time parent. Mindy tries to use the opportunity to explain that she wants to return to work, but, just as she does, Danny receives a call from his little sister – his father has had a heart attack and Danny plans to travel to California to see him. They decide that, temporarily, Mindy will cover for Danny at the practice, while Danny travels, and his Ma cares for Leo. The issue of Mindy as a stay-at-home-mom is left unresolved.
The Mindy Project has excelled these past few episodes at highlighting the realities of parenthood. Raising children is hard, there aren’t a lot of easy solutions, compromises need to be made. This episode in particular was successful in playing that dynamic up for laughs, while at the same time making the audience feel. There are few comedies that combine both humor and heart, but The Mindy Project does just that. I can’t wait to see how the writers resolve this arc.
Elsewhere, we learn that Colette is gay, and that she’s afraid to come out to her brother, with his extremely conservative Southern values. Instead, she enlists Morgan to pretend that he is her boyfriend for her grandfather’s wedding (?!). When Mindy returns to the office for the day, she questions the new “relationship”, and encourages Colette to give up the ruse and be her true self. (“If you’re not living your authentic self then what even was the point of Glee?”) Colette takes Mindy’s advice to heart and comes out to her brother
Favorite one-liners:
Danny, I can’t clean! I was born in this country and I’m too lazy! – Mindy
And that’s is our new 40-digit wi-fi password, for security reasons I will never repeat it again. – Jeremy over the practice’s new intercom system
What a hot and natural couple! – Mindy
You cannot keep a Southern family’s gay secret for personal gain. What are you, in a Tennessee Williams play? Whoa, am I smart? – Mindy
The Mindy Project returns Tuesday. Be sure to follow @TheGameofNerds on Twitter and join us for our live-tweet at 6:30pm PST/9:30pm EST!
