The Mindy Project – Leo’s Girlfriend

This episode is all about mommy shaming and the wild world of Manhattan Private Schools. ALSO, DANNY!

Before we talk about this episode, we need to go back to Episode 3 because there’s a super important bit I forgot to tell you and it’s been eating at me ALL WEEK. During the episode, The Lahiris all had dinner together and Rishi made a huge announcement. Sonu & Tarun took their kids out to dinner, so Rishi could propose to his serious girlfriend! The ring was hidden in the dessert, that Mindy accidentally ate, but it was eventually recovered. Okay, I feel better now, I didn’t mean to leave Rishi out of the picture like that.

This episode starts with a Mindy & Danny reunion that plays out without much fuss, as if he’s been there all along. He’s here to pick up Leo and take him to school because Annette wasn’t feeling well. They manage to slip into some good old fashioned banter, teasing each other about their divorces (Danny’s getting an annulment, it’s God’s little eraser.) I have to mention that Danny’s is looking gooooood with his new leather jacket and salt-and-pepper beard action. Maybe he’s no longer a sexist jerk and we can see more of him in the back end of the final season.

In other news, it’s time for Tamra’s insemination! She meets with Manhattan’s top spermolier to pick her baby’s other half. On the day of, Mindy walks into the examination room singing an adapted version of the Color Me Badd classic: “I’m gonna knock you up!”  When she gets down to business she discovers that Tamra is ALREADY PREGNANT! Raise your hand if you saw this one coming a mile away because you also watch all the TV and #tropes.

Tamra does not want Morgan to know so later, she pulls Min aside and makes her promise to pretend like they went through with the insemination. Mindy doesn’t know Morgan is the dad so she’s like sure okay whatever. This interruption makes Mindy forget Jeremy’s cherry blossom meringues and be late to go to Leo’s school.

So Tamra goes on acting like the insemination was a success and Morgan comes by to congratulate her and get her flowers. Girl almost spills but then thinks better of it. This will eventually all get out though, already Colette found Tamra’s Diva necklace in Morgan’s sheets. He thought on his feet and pretended he got them for her (she’s never thought of herself as a diva before but now it’s the only way she sees herself) but then Tamra sees Colette wearing the necklace and asks what she’s doing with her jewelry and they BOTH figure out what’s going on but pretend to not.

Now we can talk about why Mindy was going to Leo’s school with snacks that meet the dietary restrictions of all the kids. She gets a call from Dot & Annette at the gym who can’t make it to pick up Leo from school, Mindy tells them she’ll go and it’s a good thing Jeremy is there with her, reminding her of the location of the school and when she has to pick Leo up (definitely not 7 or 8 at night). All the parents there are passive towards her, constantly hinting at the fact that she’s never there. More than anyone it’s Daisy, the perfect mom & Leo’s girlfriend. whose on Mindy’s case. Julie Bowen plays the intensity and bitchiness of Daisy perfectly – attacking Mindy’s mothering so much that she volunteers herself for the school’s next event.

The Quaker school’s Japanese sister school has donated a cherry blossom tree so the kids and parents are all going to plant it in the courtyard. Mindy needs to be there and she needs to bring homemade snacks. She gets Jeremy to make the cherry blossom meringues and almost makes it, but then she stops for Tamra’s medical emergency, forgets the blossoms, and shows up when the thing is over with street cart pretzels (or Indian Twisted Bread). She and Daisy have a heated argument, ending in Daisy throwing the twisty bread to the ground and Mindy pushing her, taking down the tree.

Mindy and Danny get called into the principals office so he can yell at her. This incident offended the sister school so much they stabbed their American tree with a sword. Danny’s heartbroken, he picked out that tree. The principal basically calls her an absentee parent and blames this on her divorce. The principal states that Danny’s getting divorced too but he makes time to be at the school for everything and insinuates Mindy is a bad mom/role model. At this statement, Danny jumps in to defend Mindy. He calls her a terrific mom and a great role model for their son! He defends her work, stands up for everything she does do for Leo, even if she’s not at the school a lot. Finally he points out that if the parents are doing everything, where’s their money going?!

Mindy and Daisy make up and apologize to each other, admitting that neither of them can be the perfect mom all the time, agreeing that they shouldn’t be mommy shaming when they’re both in the same boat. Mindy also thanks Daisy for being there for Leo.

Later that night he shows up at Mindy’s house with a delicious looking pizza. They eat it and bond as the camera fades out through the window, as it used to do back in the day before Danny turned into a stupid sexist jerk.

I have been extremely anti Mindy & Danny for a while now, a firm believer that they should still have broken up after the ~perfect~ season 2 finale and stuck to the will they won’t they stuff. But if Danny is going to finally learn to not be an asshole to Mindy and actually be on her side, like he showed in this episode, I won’t hate it if they end up together.

(FOR THE RECORD BEN DESERVED BETTER AND I STILL LOVE HIM.)

A new episode of The Mindy Project is now streaming on Hulu.