“You know you’re right for someone when they force you to be the best version of yourself.”
That was one of the first lines spoken on the mid-season premiere of ‘The Mindy Project” last Tuesday night. Dr. Danny Castellano (Chris Messina) said it to his co-worker Dr. Mindy Lahiri (Mindy Kaling), right before he finally, after a season-and-a-half of pining and bickering, made his move.
Their plane make-out, which started in January and has left fans waiting for months, continued right where it left off. However, in typical “Mindy Project” fashion, it ended in hilarious, awkward physical comedy. When they moved to the bathroom of the plane, after several different repositioning attempts, it ended with Danny’s hand stuck in the trash bin, while Mindy’s hair was stuck in the toilet flush. She repeatedly slapped him while saying “Why are you doing this to me?!”
Despite the awkward end to their first kiss, Mindy and Danny really do bring out the best in each other. Unlike Nick and Jess on New Girl, these characters aren’t worried about how their relationship might change each other or themselves. The two episodes of “Mindy” that aired on Tuesday night showed us that Danny and Mindy’s relationship will only heighten the best parts of their characters. Thankfully, it doesn’t seem like either one of them will be undergoing major personality changes any time soon, which is great since they are two of the most original characters on television right now.
Danny’s grumpy-old-man-in-a-hot-35-year-old’s-body demeanor was on point in the first episodes. His lack of understanding for anything technology-related remains hilarious. When Mindy texted him letting him know the break-up with her ex Cliff was almost complete and that she was “horny for his kisses,” he responded with “Who is this? This is Dan.” He also struggled to put a DVD in his computer and angrily said, “Where do you put the tape in?”
Mindy shows no signs of changing herself for Danny, either. In the second episode of the hour-long premiere, Danny gets sick. Mindy runs into his hospital room and immediately says, “Danny, you can’t die! You have so much to live for! My birthday’s coming up. We haven’t even talked about what you’re going to get me.”
Mindy and Danny both know they’re weird, and that’s what makes them such a great couple. Danny accepts that Mindy has an alter ego named Chloe Silverado, and Mindy’s totally cool with the fact that Danny doesn’t believe in turning on the heat in the winter (“You wanna get warm? Do some push-ups!”).
It seems like these two might be able to go the distance and not be just an awkward workplace fling. The ending of both of the new episodes showed that this Mindy and Danny are both willing to go out of their comfort zones for each other. At the end of the first half-hour, Mindy offered to watch a Ken Burns documentary called “The History of Doo-wop” with Danny. The second episode ended with Danny visiting Mindy in her hospital room, reading aloud from “Bridget Jones’ Diary” to Mindy, wearing his reading glasses and even using a high voice and terrible British accent.
If that’s not true love, I don’t know what is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elIpNCrQchs
