The Mindy Project- Season 1, episodes 7-9

By Kristin Dos Santos (Mindy Kaling) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Teen Patient- This episode was kind of crazy and unrealistic. It wasn't the norm for this, or any, show to have a doctor stalk a teen patient to her school and compare love lives or whatever the heck happened here. Still, there were some good jokes, so the trip was worth it. We loved Mindy having trouble relating to the teens, slime, and other jokes about how quickly normal people get out of touch with what's going on in private high schools. We also loved that Mindy didn't try to be cool, owning that she was an adult and launching into hilarious lectures.

Sofia reads Jonathan Franzen for fun, huh? How pretentious. However, we'd rather read Freedom than a novelization of Iron Man. Gross. We hope Sofia comes back though and that she wasn't just a random character for this episode only. She's Mindy's teen neighbor. There's more to be mined there. This episode would have gotten an A but for the lame side plot about Betsy feeling unsexy because she isn't sexually harassed. Dumb.
Episode grade: B

Two to One- In this one, Mindy took off from the office to celebrate "best friends day," leaving Danny and the British guy to run things and keep the midwives from poaching all their clients. This is the episode that really proved that the side characters on this show just aren't working. The only time we enjoy The Mindy Project is when Mindy is around. She steals the show, as she should, since it's her show. But she needs some competent supporting characters.

Everyone thinks Danny is a good character, and we agree, so he and Mindy need to move to a new medical office after this one tanks spectacularly in, say, the season finale. This episode was a dud since it featured the office a lot while Mindy wasn't even in it. It got boring, fast, but we loved the resolution where Mindy proved herself to be a necessary leader to the boys. The midwives were funny, as was Mindy's new best friend.
Episode grade: C-

Josh and Mindy's Christmas Party- Josh is a cheater!!! We knew it had to be too good to be true. Also, we can't have Mindy settling down in the first season of her show. She needs to date many more rejects. Plus, Josh is a lawyer. Male lawyers almost always cheat (sorry, lawyers). We can't believe that dull little gnat who plays Erin on The Office even got that role, let alone this one. We know Mindy is friends with her, and we guess that's enough of a reason to stain the episode with one of our least-favorite working actresses. Ugh. At least this means we'll never have to see her on The Mindy Project again. We can't see Mindy hanging out with Josh's ex-girlfriend. There were funny lines in this episode, and some good moments between Mindy and the only other character we can tolerate (Danny).
Episode grade: B+

We still need this show to get better, but with that Christmas episode, it's bought itself a season one pass. We'll keep watching in the spring.