This week’s The Mindy Project centers on secrets that Mindy and Colette struggle to share with the most important men in their lives, and while the show provides a somewhat satisfactory ending to one of these stories, it cuts the other off with a shocking and pretty jarring cliffhanger, just as the storyline is about to become something more.
Let’s first discuss the story that doesn’t reach its full conclusion in “Stay at Home MILF”: Mindy’s desire to go back to work. Mindy not wanting to be a stay-at-home mom was something that was clearly hinted at in the final moments of last week’s episode, which left us wondering when she would finally tell Danny the truth. Throughout the first half of “Stay at Home MILF,” Mindy attempts to bury her true feelings (following Danny’s speech at the end of the last episode about how much her staying home for Leo means to him) and become the woman she clearly isn’t, and while it’s entertaining to watch Mindy struggle to clean the house or shake her head at the fact that she’s apparently supposed to cook a duck (and go for a run) while taking care of her newborn, all the episode is doing is delaying the inevitable confrontation that needs to take place.
That is until Mindy and Danny decide to switch things up, and he gets a taste of the stay-at-home life while she returns to work. Not only is it hilarious to watch Danny have difficulty with everything from feeding Leo to calling about the cable, but this segment of the story also leads to Mindy’s honest and enlightening confession to Leo that she believes that she’s only good at her job. And unfortunately, before she can have that heartfelt conversation with the person he really should be having it with, Danny gets the phone call about his dad’s heart attack, ending the half hour on a somber and surprising note and further preventing us from where the real meat of this story lies.
Unlike previous episodes of The Mindy Project Season 4, “Stay at Home MILF” fails to engage head-on with the difficult conflict facing Mindy and Danny’s relationship. What has worked so well about these first few episodes this season is that The Mindy Project has been able to show the two of them working through whatever issues they face together as a couple; with this lack of honesty between them (although not intentional on Mindy’s part–it’s understandable why she doesn’t want to dump her confession on Danny right after he hears about his dad), it’s as if the series is taking a couple steps backward. In “Stay at Home MLIF,” we still get the fun, wacky, entertaining build-up that we’ve seen in previous installments in Season 4 but without the emotional payoff.
Where some of that payoff does come in, but to a significantly lesser extant, is through Colette’s admission to Jody that she’s a lesbian. Much of this story, with Colette and Morgan pretending to be a couple, is purely farce, a good excuse to put Garret Dillahunt and Ike Barinholtz in scenes together and let the magic happen. However, there’s real emotional resonance in the conversation that Colette and Mindy have in her office, and the way that the story resolves, with Colette and Jody realizing that the honesty shared between them now makes the closer than they ever were before, is a nice, believable way to wrap things up.
Here’s hoping that Danny isn’t away from New York for too long, so that he and Mindy can get back to that place of honesty as well, helping The Mindy Project return to the series-best heights of this season’s first four episodes.
Other thoughts:
- My apologies for the lateness of this week’s review. Wasn’t able to watch the episode until later in the day yesterday.
- Of course, Danny bakes two pies.
- I can’t stress enough how great Garret Dillahunt has been throughout his first two episodes on this show. I really hope he’s made a series regular soon.
- So we’re told Danny’s mom helped him out with the apartment and Leo, but we don’t get to see Rhea Perlman. Why must you tease us, The Mindy Project?
- “Mom I’d Like to French.”
- “You’re not hunting him for sport, are you?” “Oh, we don’t do that anymore.”
- “He took me on his boat. Nobody’s ever done that and brought me back.”
- “If you can’t be your authentic self, then what even was the point of Glee?”
What did everyone else think of this week’s episode of The Mindy Project? Comment below and let me know.
[Photo via Hulu]
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