THE MINDY PROJECT: 8 things we need to talk about from “Is That All There Is?”

Brace yourselves THE MINDY PROJECT fans, the beginning of the end is here with the first episode of the final season premiering yesterday. We’ve been given 10 last encounters with Mindy Lahiri and ragtag colleagues so let’s make the most of it. First off though, there are some things that we need to talk about from this week’s episode, “Is That All There Is?”:

Well that didn’t last long…

THE MINDY PROJECT — “Is That All There Is?” Episode 601 — Pictured: (l-r) Bryan Greenberg as Ben, Mindy Kaling as Mindy Lahiri — (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Universal Television/Hulu)

We all saw it coming given Mindy’s wistful gaze out the subway window in last season’s finale, but we didn’t think we’d start to see Mindy and Ben’s relationship unravel so soon. (Okay maybe given the fact that this season is only 10 episodes, perhaps we shouldn’t have been so surprised…) Mindy may have always believed that life was one big rom-com and she was the star but in rom-coms we don’t see the heroine repeatedly ditch her new husband for her friends and also not notice for two nights that it was not her husband in bed with her, but rather a pile of pillows – and this is after she slept with them. Yep… She does admit that she’s been so used to spending time by herself that she has forgotten how to share it with anyone else (which to be fair has shown us how much she has grown when we first met her where she was constantly dating and also needing to validate herself with others), but at the end of the episode when she texts Ben that she’s leaving work and can’t wait to see him before drifting off to sleep on the couch in the on-call room, you know that this marriage is not going to last that much longer. (Which is such a shame because I adore Ben and Bryan Greenberg. It’s not you Ben, I’d marry you! You’re just not the right guy for Mindy.)

THE MINDY PROJECT — “Is That All There Is?” Episode 601 — Pictured: (l-r) Bryan Greenberg as Ben, Mindy Kaling as Mindy Lahiri, Elias Janssen as Leo, Brianna Reed as Lindsay — (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Universal Television/Hulu)

Wait, is that Leo?
We only saw him for seriously a second during the happy families montage at the beginning of the episode, but can we please talk about how Mindy’s son Leo has suddenly aged. Wasn’t he in a stroller the last time we saw him? I feel like it’s only been a couple of months that have passed since last season not a couple of years, so why is Leo pretty much a child now – like not even a toddler?  I am so confused. Did I miss something?

Tamra finally gets a proper storyline
Xosha Roquemore first joined the show late season one before becoming a series regular in season two so it’s about damn time that Tamra gets a proper storyline. (Not that we don’t love her sass and casual burns.) And a great storyline this is – not only do we find out that Tamra has quit social media, but she has decided that she wants to have a baby and goes to see Mindy at the Later Baby clinic. In order to prepare herself, she has to take daily hormone injections, which is no biggie since she is a nurse and does it to people all the time, right? Not quite, after passing out in the Schulman and Associates bathroom before she even injects herself, Tamra realises that she’s going to have to take that class that Mindy suggested after all, which leads us to the next thing that we need to talk about…

Professor Tookers

THE MINDY PROJECT — “Is That All There Is?” Episode 601 — Pictured: (l-r) Rebecca Rittenhouse as Anna, Ike Barinholtz as Morgan Tookers, Mindy Kaling as Mindy Lahiri — (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Universal Television/Hulu)

Morgan aka Professor Tookers teaches Hormone Injections 101. That is all. Okay no, that’s a lie – I really liked the Morgan and Tamra friendship in this episode and I wouldn’t be surprised by the end of the series if either the pair reunite or become best friends where he’s basically a dad to her child.

Beth Grant is a national treasure
These words were uttered by a fellow cast member about the woman responsible for bringing Beverly to life at the show’s PaleyFest panel back in 2014 (which I was fortunate to have been in the audience for) and I have to say that they still ring true today, a few years on. Can you imagine what the show would be like without Beverly and her eccentric ways and random references? Beverly was at the top of her game in the season premiere from her “Finally an overdose around here that isn’t me!” when she finds Tamra passed out in the bathroom after attempting to give herself a hormone injection, to her turning the staff lab coats pink after putting them in the wash with her red Trump cap, to accidentally giving Mindy her own anti-psychosis pills instead of Mindy’s fart pills. Sure we should be slightly offended by these things but instead we laugh. Like I said, national treasure.

A new leash on life?
She may have only joined the show last season, but Rebecca Rittenhouse’s Anna Ziev has been a delightful addition to the show. I love how deadpan she is! I also appreciate the tentative friendship between Anna and Mindy – they’re not super close besties but Anna doesn’t really have any friends and so Mindy is probably the closest person she can talk to seek advice from. They’re yin and yang but that’s what makes their dynamic work. After Jeremy asks Anna to move in with him after dating for eight months, Anna confesses to Mindy that she’s only ever had three boyfriends and she means EVER and is worried that she hasn’t given herself a chance to properly see what is out there. Mindy pulls out a box – remnants of her “cool, slutty, feminist days” aka a boyfriend box which also includes a photo of Oscar Pistorius – to show Anna what sort of experiences she has been missing out on. Bring on the girl’s night outs between these two – you know that they’re coming!

THE MINDY PROJECT — “Is That All There Is?” Episode 601 — Pictured: Ed Weeks as Jeremy Reed — (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Universal Television/Hulu)

The delicate flower
Oh Jeremy Reed, please don’t ever change. I do love that he started out as a skeezy playboy when the show premiered to an overly sensitive soul without any explanation. Nonetheless, I quite enjoy this version of Jeremy because c’mon, who wasn’t amused by the fact that he was FaceTiming his bird Roger in the supplies closet after Anna declined to move in with him and it was the bird who was dishing out the harsh truths to him?

What to do with a girl named Karen?
No disrespect or anything, but can we please cut back on the amount of Karen airtime? I’m not her biggest fan but she’s chewing up valuable screentime, especially considering that she’s not even a main character! I wasn’t exactly upset when she got fired, but then she got rehired… Please show, tone down the Karen theatrics; we just don’t need it! With only nine episodes to go now, every moment is precious. Give that airtime to someone else.

New episodes of THE MINDY PROJECT are released on Hulu every Tuesday.

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