'The Mindy Project' Returns With “We’re a Couple, Haters!” and No One is Hating

Rachel Smith ’16 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

The Mindy Project thankfully made it to a third season and kicks off where it left off with Mindy (Mindy Kaling) and Danny (Chris Messina) post romantic Empire State building love confession. Danny narrates a short history of Mindy and Danny’s romance while they’re in bed together. She takes the reigns with the line “Shut up and do me!” and then starts her own narration. These compilations of clips prove that they have a dysfunctional relationship but thankfully it has worked out so far. The most dysfunctional thing is the music that Danny gets turned on by. “More Than a Feeling” is his song of choice and replaces the usual song for the credits (this was Kaling’s personal choice according to her twitter).
But as expected, shortly into the episode there’s already a Mindy-Danny conflict because Mindy shared some of their sexcapades with the entire office. This is a very Mindy like thing to do and Danny is obviously not pleased. He asks her to not gossip about their relationship, but with that being the very root of her personality, she says she will do her best. Can you guess how that turns out? This idea of keeping private things private is what the episode is based upon. It is not a fault of Mindy’s but a dark secret of Danny’s that is revealed by a pink thong found in his dresser.
Between their lovers quarrels, there is a wonderful guest spot from Always Sunny in Philidephia’s Rob McElhenney who plays Morgan’s cousin, Cousin Lou. Morgan (Ike Barinholtz) and Cousin Lou explain how they spent some time in jail together. Cousin Lou is working around the office and trying to get Mindy’s affection so he doesn’t have to work anymore. He also later admits to ratting on Morgan’s involvement with stealing, which put him in jail. Since they did become best friends in that time, Morgan lets it go.

We see that Peter (Adam Pally) has a new girlfriend, Lauren, (Tracey Wigfield) who he is in love with and who everyone actually likes compared to his past train wreck girlfriends. Dr. Jeremy Reed (Ed Weeks) especially likes Lauren. When Danny see’s Dr. Reed rubbing her shoulders at the office while they worked on a charity event together, he decides to tell Mindy as long as she promises not to tell anyone. But of course Mindy has a hard time with this and eventually tells Morgan who tells Cousin Lou who accidentally tells Peter at the charity event. When Lauren admits that they kissed, Peter reacts by punching Dr. Reed in the face and Tamara records the whole thing because it’s “hella dramatic.”
Mindy told Morgan about the Jeremy and Lauren gossip because he was there while she was trying to uncover Danny’s big secret. She learned from Peter it was a stripper thong that was in Danny’s drawer, and with help from Morgan, she found out that it was made for a man. When Mindy did some research, Google took her to the truth; Danny Castellano went by the name Diamond Dan on the Exquisite Butts Guy 2k Party website… Danny was a male stripper!
At the charity event, Mindy comes in just as Danny realizes she gossiped about Jeremy and Lauren. He was furious but she obviously wins the battle of who is a worse boyfriend/girlfriend when she tells him she knew about his past. This lead to more fighting between the two and Danny explains he did it to pay for medical school and he didn’t tell her because he can’t trust her with his secrets. (Sigh.) She was going to dispute that accusation when Morgan comes in and calls him “Diamond Dan”. Danny is embarrassed and angry that Mindy would tell Morgan and he storms out of the party. Meanwhile, fans held their breath at the possibility of their relationship already being over.

Don’t fret though, it is not! Eventually Cousin Lou is the voice of reason and reminds Danny that Mindy must love him because she turned down all of Lou’s advances. Danny takes this to heart and goes to Mindy’s apartment where the two share in one of the deepest moments of openness and trust so far in their relationship. When Danny shares a list of secrets with her, she reveals that she gossips because that makes their relationship more real and less likely to fall apart. This moment changed the tone of the episode from hilarious to heart warming, and assured the audience that this new relationship is surely here to stay.
However, the last scene may be the best of the episode. Danny is now open about his Diamond Dan persona and shows off his stripper moves, much to Mindy’s surprise and satisfaction. It ends with the famous line of the episode, “woah nelly” (and you’ll feel the same way after this scene). This premiere is a great jumping off point for the season and it will be interesting to see Mindy and Danny’s relationship progress and also to see the Jeremy-Peter-Lauren love triangle unfold. Stay tuned!