Top Five Short-Term Love Interests: The Mindy Project

Naturally, if you have any interest in the romances on The Mindy Project, then you know that Mindy/Danny is where it’s at.  However, given the gradual progression of their relationship and the time-honored will-they-won’t-they element of TV in general and sitcoms in particular, they spend plenty of time not dating one another.  Being a short-term, place-holder love interest can be a thankless job, but this show does a fantastic job of bringing in fun, entertaining wringers for Mindy to date.  Here are my favorites, though be forewarned:  I’ve been rewatching season 1, and that might be skewing my top five a bit.

 

Casey – Mindy’s hip pastor boyfriend is a lot of fun.  His job leads to some good plotlines – all the Haiti stuff, of course, and I love his panic when his Bible school kids get excited over Mindy’s description of Hinduism – and it also gives us the fabulous image of Mindy in her Tyler Perry church outfit.  Casey has amusing, slightly bickering chemistry with Mindy, and his prediction of what she’d be like as a pregnant woman is terrific.  He also gets plenty of good rom-com trope subversion, my favorites being the hilarious shower scene and the disastrous camping trip.

 

Josh – Heaven help me; he’s an epic sports-attorney tool, but I just love Josh.  I like his somewhat awkward cockiness (fake-scrolling through all the “Kaitlyns” in his contacts is a good moment) and the way he undermines any sweet thing he does by telling Mindy how much it cost.  He and Mindy seem to like each other in an almost begrudging way that’s funny and surprisingly endearing.  Even at his most jerkish, Josh makes me laugh by asking one of his pro-athlete clients for Downton Abbey updates – how can you not love it?

 

Sam – Mindy’s old friend from Jewish sleepover camp reconnects with her on FaceBook, and their one-shot episode is a blast.  Sam is now a soldier recently returned from Afghanistan, and Mindy tries to give him all the things he misses about civilian life (including girls’ shampoo and Nora Ephron movies.)  I like that their bond is based on their old friendship and they spend most of their time making each other laugh.  Also, the letter scene is pitch-perfect, and kudos to the casting director for finding such perfect 13-year-old versions of Mindy Kaling and Seth Rogen.

 

Charlie – Mindy first meets police officer Charlie when his daughter comes to Mindy as a patient.  Almost instantly, they have a combative chemistry not unlike Mindy’s with Danny, and in many ways, Charlie seems like an older version of everyone’s favorite curmudgeonly Italian doctor.  He has no qualms about confronting Mindy and wants to see better for her than she does for herself, like encouraging her to become more self-sufficient.  Plus, nothing is quite as much fun as Mindy arguing with guys she’s attracted to.

 

Jamie – The Office fan in me likes seeing B.J. Novak with Mindy Kaling again, in a relationship completely different from Ryan and Kelly.  He and Mindy have cute, casual chemistry – I like their dinner party meet-cute, and the way they bond over a hypothetical Gerard Butler/Kate Beckinsale movie is awesome.  His main plot leans heavy on the rom-com stuff, since the tightness between him and his best friend Lucy smacks of When Harry Met Sally, and Mindy worries that she’s a bump on the road to Jamie’s real love story.  Oh, and his job (he’s a Latin professor) provides us with Mindiana Jones, one of my absolute favorite bits on the show.