THE MINDY PROJECT: The B*tch is Back Recap

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – The Mindy Project sure isn’t wasting any time in moving the story along this season. (Speaking of time, sorry that this recap is a little late this week.) Last week we saw Danny return to work after the birth of little Leo and this week it’s almost Mindy’s turn, with the episode set the week before she’s due back at work. Boy those 8-12 weeks of maternity leave went fast! In typical Mindy fashion, drama follows her when she arrives at Schulman and Associates for a visit…

I am Beyoncé Pad Thai: TVs are back in the Lahiri-Castellano household and Mindy is enjoying hanging out with Leo, which includes watching Dora the Explorer – a show where Mindy finds the mysteries difficult to solve. Now I’m all for making Mindy funny and shallow, but I find it hard to believe that someone has smart as Mindy (yes, contrary to popular belief she is smart, seeing as she is a doctor and all.) is confused by a sow targeted at toddlers. Anyway, there’s a week left before Mindy returns to full time work, so she’s popping into Schulman and Associates to see the old gang since she misses them – Jeremerie Jeremy included. (Can Mindy really forget his name? Remember when they were hooking up when the show first started?) While on route to the office on the subway, she gets into an argument with an old fashioned stranger (played by Raising Hope‘s Garret Dillahunt) on the subway when she starts breast-feeding Leo. We soon discover that this stranger is the new doctor at the practice, Dr Jody Kimball-Kinney. Along with his sister Colette (Chelsea Lately’s Fortune Feimster), who is the new nurse, Jody has moved to New York from Georgia and they were actually Jeremy’s host family when he was on exchange in America. Mindy’s now all worked up about having to work with this “sexist” – we’re talking stress-fist clenching – and schemes to get him fired. The new doc has everyone all charmed though and in the end Mindy wonders if it’s worth trying to fight him being there and ends up quitting to stay at home with someone who appreciates her, Leo. (But not before making friends with Colette and accidentally squirting Jody in the face with her breast milk.)

Mischief With Morgan: Morgan is still throwing shade at Leo, especially when Mindy arrives at the office with him when Morgan assumed she’d be arriving solo. Morgan even hints that Leo should be put up for adoption! Mindy’s maternity leave has been hell on Morgan (“As it should be,” she quips.) and he has actually been single-handedly running Mindy’s fertility practice for the last two months. That immediately sets off warning bells in my head and I am right – Morgan admits he’s been doing a bad job and has mixed  up the eggs, which I really hope is not true! Other Morgan revelations this week – he fell asleep in a fan and ended up with a new haircut…

The Gang’s All Here: Apart from the new arrivals, the other office shenanigans happening this week is Beverly and Tamra helping Danny with the perfect “Push” present for Mindy. Initially, he was going to dance for her, but both Tamra and Beverly nixed that idea and when Beverly is telling you that what you are doing is wrong, you know that something is up. Gift idea number two is a luxurious cable knit cranberry coloured turtleneck sweater, which Mindy gives to Morgan because she thinks someone left it for her as a prank. Sorry Danny. The ladies take pity on him and offer to help him out. Danny must be desperate because he doesn’t even protest when Tamra tells him that they’re going to a jewellery store. When Danny picks out a nice and expensive pair of earrings, Tamra is suspicious  and concludes that he’s having an affair…with Beverly! When she realises that it’s a bribe gift (more on that later…), she is less than impressed and tells him so. Who knew that Tamra would be the voice of reason?

The Ballad of Danny and Mindy: With time ticking before Mindy returns to work, Danny is trying to convince her to consider being a stay at home mom instead. Mindy has always loved working and didn’t think that would change when she became a mom and is not swayed by Danny…yet. We’re a bit suspicious when Danny wants to find Mindy the perfect Push present, since he’s against all those sort of concepts, and are suspicions are validated when we realise it’s more of a sneaky bribe than a Push present. Oh Danny, you this won’t end well! When the work situation between Mindy and Dr Kimball-Kinney blows up and she quits, Danny doesn’t look as happy as he should for someone who has just gotten his way – could Tamra’s truth session earlier that day where she pointed out that Mindy has sacrificed a lot to have Leo and yet what has Danny sacrificed, struck a nerve? Maybe or maybe not. When he returns home that night, it looks like Mindy is having second thoughts about her decision  to quit, but Danny is so overjoyed at her decision and happy and finally finding the perfect Push present (Leo’s name tattooed above his heart), that she holds her tongue. I don’t see this ending well, do you?

Say It Again!

• “According to movie posters, it’s just like carrying a briefcase and baby bottle at the same time.” – Mindy is not convinced by Danny’s argument that being a working mom is hard.
• “No man tells me what to do with my body. Only women’s magazines can do that.” – Mindy is not impressed  by the public breast-feeding shaming.
• “I just want to say that I’ve worked here for years and I have never been offered a ride on the Dad Express.” – Yet another reason why Morgan doesn’t like Leo.
• “Yet when I suggested that we do Martini Monday Mornings, I was called a quote, alcoholic.” – Mindy’s retort when the new additions are hailed as cool because of their introduction of Thirsty Thursdays.
• “Being a nurse in New York is a cake than in the South – way less diabetes and you never have to cut anybody out of a house.” – Colette
• “That’s why I do everything. The only reason why I became a doctor is because my b*tch guidance counsellor told me I couldn’t!” – Mindy after Danny tells her not to make decisions out of spite.
• “Can you plot to yourself? We’re still  not married, I’d have to testify against you.” – We guess Danny is behind Mindy and her plot to frame the new doc…
• “Push present? More like based on the novel Push by Sapphire and these gifts are an endless series of tragedies.” – Tamra has had enough of Danny’s Push present ideas.
• “Meet me in the sewers at dawn.” – Do we even want to know what Beverly has planned as a Push present?
• “Jody wanted to leave and we do everything together. Or at least we did until that Uber driver ran over our tandem bicycle.” – Collette explaining the Kimball-Kinney sibling bond.
• “OMG, it’s Beverly! I knew it. You guys are like the same age.” – Tamra’s first conclusion when she thinks Danny is having an affair.
• “So what? Jay Z is so rich he throws his car out the window when it runs out of gas. He doesn’t stop his wife from working.” – Tamra giving Danny a reality check about the sacrifices that Mindy has made (and lack that Danny has.)

New episodes of The Mindy Project are released on Hulu every Tuesday.