"The Mindy Project" Review

After last week’s hilarious season premiere episode of The Mindy Project, I was anticipating episode 2 entitled, “The Other Dr. L,” would be just as great.  Though the episode contained a few funny lines from Mindy (Mindy Kaling) and Morgan (Ike Barinholz), the rest was humdrum.  The good thing is a so-so episode of The Mindy Project is better than a majority of the comedies on TV today.  I am talking to you Last Man Standing and the new comedy Dads.

One of the better moments of the show began in the opening scene when Mindy is on a webcam chat with her long-distance fiancée Casey (Anders Holm).  She promises him a Varsity Blues fantasy.  Anyone who has seen that movie should know she is talking about the whipped cream bikini.  When Mindy comes out to surprise Casey, she instead is in a one piece whipped cream bathing suit.  Casey refers to it as something his grandma would wear.  To end the scene, Mindy gets attacked by ants and ends the webcam chat.  Kaling’s strong comedic skills worked well in this scene and had me cracking up.

Since Mindy decided not to go back Haiti, she has returned to work 8 months before her scheduled time.  This causes some problems in the office especially with Dr. Paul Leotard (James Franco) who has taken over her office and patients.  He has even swooped in and stolen her nickname “Dr. L.”  The office has now referred to Mindy as “Big L” and she is not thrilled about that or the fact her new office is the supply closet where Morgan puts his wet bathing suit to dry every day.

Later that evening, the gang visits a local bar.  Mindy finds out that Paul is a lightweight and challenges him to a shot off.  If she wins, she gets her old office back.  He accepts and the two toss them back until Dr. Paul falls to the ground and surrenders to Mindy, who thankfully ate a whole loaf of bread prior to going out for the evening.  Imagine how awesome it would be to do a shot off with Mindy Kaling and James Franco?  I think I should add that to my bucket list.

After the bar, Mindy escorts Paul back to Danny’s (Chris Messina) place.  She can’t find his keys so she leaves him slumped over at the front door.  When he passes out, she decided to steal a smooch.  He wakes up and starts screaming.  Mindy quickly runs away.  Awhile later, Christina (Chloe Sevigny) arrives to drop off some of Danny’s things.  Paul and Christina end up having sex.  I guess everyone is succumbing to the good looks of Mr. Franco.

The next day, Paul admits to Danny he slept with his ex and the two begin to brawl.  Danny asks Jeremy (Ed Weeks) to fire Paul.  Jeremy declines stating Paul has built an excellent rapport with the customers.  Sadly, James Franco’s visit had to end at some point.  He writes a letter to the staff claiming he had to resign after upsetting Danny.  Looks like things will be back to their old ways come next week.  Hopefully that will include more laughs and screen time for Betsy (Zoe Jarman), Beverly (Beth Grant), and Tamra (Xosha Roquemore), who have mostly been extras in these first two episodes.