The Mindy Project (2012-Present)

 

Years watching The Office put The Mindy Project on my radar, and my adoration for Mindy Kaling helped me stick with this workplace rom-com through its early growing pains.  Though it took a bit of time to figure itself out, it’s shaped into a likeable, irreverently funny show. 

 

Kaling wears the multiple hats of creator, writer, and star in this sitcom.  Dr. Mindy Lahiri is equal parts dedicated doctor (an OBGYN in private practice,) flighty pop-culture addict, and cockeyed romantic optimist.  She grew up on a diet of romantic comedies, favoring the likes of When Harry Met Sally and You’ve Got Mail, and endeavors to manufacture her own rom-com moments in the story of her life.  Unfortunately for her, her dating life is insane at best and dreadful at worst, and her tendency to force perfect romantic moments isn’t entirely blameless on that front.

 

Mindy is absent-minded, frivolous, fiercely loyal, overdramatic, professionally adept, deeply loving, and more than a little self-absorbed.  In other words, she’s a wonderfully-drawn character with a nice balance of flaws and attributes, an entirely rootable character.  Since she’s played by Kaling, she’s of course Indian-American, and her ethnicity informs her character without defining it.

 

I’m not the biggest rom-com fan, but I’ve seen enough to know the beats, and Kaling has a fantastic knack for turning the conventions on their head.  All of Mindy’s attempts at the Big Moments are dashed by a harsh dose of reality.  She stands on the sidewalk to have a heart-to-heart with her boyfriend at his bedroom window, and all his neighbors eavesdrop and weigh in on the conversation.  A sexy shower for two, it turns out, is overly crowded, and it devolves into shoving, scattered shampoo bottles, and unflattering naked angles.  When she visits the Empire State Building on the days leading up to Valentine’s Day in the hopes of meeting someone on the observation deck, she’s grabbed by security (who think she may be scoping it out for a potential terrorist attack.)

 

The show is rounded out by an ensemble of quirky coworkers at Mindy’s practice.  My personal favorites are Morgan, a nurse, and Danny, a fellow doctor.  Morgan is an ex-con with a dim-witted heart of gold.  He collects best friends like they’re going out of style, and his brand of loyalty is unwavering, extremely hands-on, and often not entirely wanted.  Danny is a pessimistic curmudgeon, a divorcee with a cynical outlook on just about everything.  Despite this, he’s deeply sensitive, and when he opens up to someone, he lays himself bare.

 

In case the above description didn’t give it away, there’s just possibly a will-they-won’t-they thing going on between Mindy and Danny.  I really enjoy it – they’re friends first, and they get one each other’s nerves as often as they come to each other’s aid.  They have great chemistry (in my admittedly uninformed view,) and no matter what stage their relationship is in at any given time, the show always maintains its sly, character-driven sense of humor.

 

Warnings

 

Sexual content (including primetime-style sex scenes,) some language, drinking, and smoking.