THE MINDY PROJECT: “Road Trip” Recap

It’s time to hit the road this week on The Mindy Project, with this week’s episode revolving around Danny and Morgan’s road trip. Yes, it is just as hilarious as you think it’s going to be when you hear the words “Danny Castellano”, “Morgan Tookers” and “road trip”!

I am Beyoncé Pad Thai: Despite being the star of the show, we actually don’t see much of Mindy this week. Though in the two scenes that she is in this week, she cracks us up as per usual. When the episode begins, Danny is minutes away from leaving to go out of town to tend to his estranged father who just had a heart attack. Mindy reassures Danny that she has the single mom act down pat and even knows the “Thou art father” prayer perfectly… well perfectly if it goes “Our father who art in heaven. Halloween thy name…” At least she knows the important things like Danny’s birthday – oh wait, she doesn’t know that either. Oops! On a more serious note, she is concerned about Danny driving from New York to California solo so she arranges for Morgan to accompany Danny on the  trip.

Mischief with Morgan: If you are a Morgan fan, you are in for a treat since the premise of this episode is Morgan and Danny on a road trip. Morgan deems himself the navigator because he has an internal compass – literally. He swallowed a compass when he was six years old! Other things that we discover about Morgan on this road trip – he gets carsick while reading and his idea of a good time is ticking off landmarks from the 101 Best Celebrity Pet Graves in America book. Morgan is also very persistent and loyal. Danny tries to ditch him multiple times during the trip (including when they go and see the holy grail of pet graves – Eddie from Frasier, who was pretty high up on Morgan’s list despite him never seeing an episode of Frasier…) so he can go on his secret mission, yet Morgan refuses to leave Dr C alone and just wants to be there for him. When the secret mission is revealed that Danny is meeting his newly discovered 16-year-old son, Eric, for the first time, it’s Morgan who is perceptive enough to figure out that Danny is not the father. (By the way, who else was relieved when the truth was revealed? There was no way they were going to make Danny have a grown son that he never knew about, right?) When Danny drives off after discovering the truth, Morgan stays behind because he feels bad for the down-on-his-luck kid and pretends to be Eric’s father so that Eric is not embarrassed at his own birthday party that day. Sure Morgan falls down the stairs and Danny comes back, but Morgan had the best intentions and really does have a big heart. He gets his sweet moment with Danny at the end of the episode when they’re on the bus from Oklahoma to California (Danny gave his car to Eric as a birthday present much to Morgan’s dismay) and Danny reveals that he did actually take a photo of Morgan at Eddie’s grave. Aww!

The Gang’s All Here: Apart from Mindy, Danny and Morgan, we don’t see the Schulman and Associates crew this week. No doubt they’ll be back with their regular shenanigans next week though!

The Ballad of Mindy and Danny: While Danny is away, Mindy makes a mobile of his face for Leo and a more x-rated version for herself (not that we see the latter). Later on when Danny checks in with Mindy, Leo is a bit restless (finally – I was beginning to think that Leo was the quietest baby ever!), so Mindy puts Danny on speaker and he tells Leo that he loves him and to be good to his ma, Mindy. Aww!

Say It Again!:

• “It’s okay, I can be a single mom for awhile. It’s the lie I tell anyway to get out of jury duty.” – Why does that not surprise us, Mindy?
• “I know your birthday – it’s around the VMAs.” – Typical Mindy.
• “Come on, what are the chances that I’d tell Dr L? 60, 70 percent? Tops mid 80s.” – Morgan Tookers, loyal to a fault.
• “Okay the silent treatment doesn’t work. Grandma gave me the silent treatment. She didn’t talk to me for like eight months. I never stopped talking. Turns out she had a pretty severe stroke.” – Oh Morgan!
• “Of all the times I have been abandoned at a celebrity pet grave, this is the most hurtful.” – We can’t believe that there have been multiple times, Morgan!
• “Because that man’s fiancé had me dig through his family’s genealogy to find out if there was any chance she could have blue eyed children and I still have the scratch marks from when I told her it was impossible.” – That does indeed sound like a typical Morgan and Mindy scheme.
• “Castellano men express their feelings either through fighting or dancing. It’s either the fist or the foot.” – We now understand why it’s such a turn on every time Danny dances.
• “Before Leo was in the picture, you and I would always make plans. And yes you would always cancel them, but now you don’t even make them.” – Oh Morgan, way to bring on the feels!
• “Oh honey, there’s a commercial on that I love and I don’t want to press pause. I love you. Bye.” – Yep, typical Mindy.
• “I wait hand and foot on you and you give me a free t-shirt from your bank for my birthday. I’m incredulous.” – Morgan deserves better.
• “I look like a young Andre the Giant.” – Morgan loves the photo of him and Eddie at Eddie’s grave.

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