
GIF Source: TheHastiProject Tumblr PIC Source: Mindy Kaling Twitter
Did you see what I did there in the title? You’re supposed to sing it to the tune of Kool & The Gang’s Celebration! Go back & sing it okay, it’ll make you feel happy. We all need a little happiness in these rough Mindy Drought times.
The show’s midseason finale was a shot to the heart and there has been no news since then. We didn’t even get a premiere date at the TCA like I hoped we would! I believe Mindy Kaling actually sensed our desperation – or read some of our twitter pleas – and decided to give us a light drizzle of information that we could spend hours obsessing over (this rain metaphor got away from me.)
On Tuesday January 12th, she tweeted Salvador Perez, the costume designer for the show & god of mixing prints, about Mindy Lahiri having 24 costume changes in episode 14 aka THE WINTER PREMIERE.
Once I got over my initial excitement, I started to wonder what kind of situation would require 24 different outfits. In any regular episode she’d have to wear a new outfit every minute, and while that’s on brand for Mindy Lahiri, it doesn’t leave much room for plot.
The last time this many clothes were used was in “Danny & Mindy,” which featured the most iconic montage. Hence the only logical explanation for the midseason opener is that it will contain a montage more epic than the one in the season 2 finale (because it has one more outfit in it and Hulu is better than Fox!)
But what will this be a montage of?! I took it upon myself to write out some possibilities, in case Mindy wants to take another stab at the draft she currently has.
- This montage is in the cold open, we see Danny & Mindy together talking on the couch, going on various date nights, visiting a therapist. We also see Mindy wedding dress shopping and Danny trying on tuxes. By the time the credits hit, it’s obvious they’ve worked on their relationship with the passage of magical TMP time. The story picks up a week before their spring or summer wedding while they scramble to meet their parents traditional demands. It is a lighthearted super-sized episode that ends in the most beautiful wedding ever
- The show opens on Mindy living back in her apartment and broken up with Danny. We see various versions of her days, from getting ready to going to work to going home or to girls nights or maybe a few quick terrible dates. We also see Danny looking at her with heart eyes and her ogling his butt in these moments. As time passes, they become more friendly at work and hangout and have family dates until we see them kissing and getting back together. This whole thing is in montage form because we need to speed through the break-up and cut to Mindy and Danny both moving in the brownstone. Maybe it’s a cold open, maybe it’s in the middle of the episode (also super sized) after Mindy has a rough night putting Leo to sleep juxtaposed with Danny feeling lonely and there’s a split screen of them drinking wine/beer while watching a Ken Burns documentary.
- This montage happens at the end of the 30 minute episode and shows Danny & Mindy on their honeymoon. Obviously my previous prediction comes true and they have a discussion in the cold open and after the credits we jump to a few months later on the day of the wedding. It is the most amazing and romantic and sweet wedding since Jim & Pam’s. Mindy booked a surprise honeymoon for Danny somewhere with great architecture or like in a red state where he can recreate a western and he booked a beach honeymoon to surprise her with. They decide to go on both and we see them exploring and laughing on the beach through the montage. Kaling has killer beachside style so those Lahiri bathing suits will be as killer as the rest of her outfits.
- This is a montage of Danny and Mindy going on dates and having sex after they decide to get back together and work on their relationship. Picture them at various restaurants, parks, museums, seeing Hamilton and going to the movies and then after each one Mindy rips off one outfit to reveal a fire lingerie set underneath. This is possible on Hulu because they let Mindy’s perv flag fly. It happens after Danny needs Mindy’s help with something or their parents trick them into meeting up and working out their shit or Danny realizes he wants to stay home with Leo and stop being a douche. It can close out the episode or there can be a post-coital scene in which they realize they’re out of condoms so they go out and buy more and have an adorable moment at the drug store or something.
- This montage is from Danny’s perspective. He’s watching Mindy and how she deals with the clinic and Leo and she always looks so amazing and colourful and he misses her. We cut to Mindy’s POV where she’s trying to impress Danny and make him jealous by projecting all this amazingness but inside she’s sad because they’re on a break. Danny overhears her crying to her new best friend Eliza Coupe who is now a series regular (which is a thing I decided just now) and he tries to pull a grand romantic comedy gesture and succeeds this time, they meet back at the empire state building and he re-proposes.
Montage ideas are harder to come up with than I thought, so most of these turned into vague episode descriptions. What do you guys think 24 outfit changes means or how do you think season 4 will open?
*I know Mindy is a troll and she might have been exagerating the number or messing with us but I want it to be real.