A review of tonight's “The Mindy Project” season premiere coming up just as soon as I keep a box of my ex's hair for curses…
When season 2 ended with Mindy and Danny reuniting, I was pleased primarily because every character on the show comes into sharper and funnier focus when paired with Danny (who's so well-drawn that he gives others something to respond to even as he's responding in his own way to them), so getting him together full-time with the main character seemed like a very smart idea.
“We're a Couple Now, Haters!” toys for a few moments with simply turning the whole show over to Danny, letting Chris Messina narrate the opening minutes and substituting Boston's “More Than a Feeling” for the horrible quacking ducks version of the theme song. (If they could somehow contrive to have new songs every week in lieu of the quacking, I don't think anyone anywhere would object.) Mindy literally shoves Danny aside after that, but the pairing pays off wonderfully, as Danny's intensely private nature goes to war with Mindy's need to alert the world to every aspect of her relationships. Though the show might run into some questions down the road about long-term compatibility, at least for now, this is one of those situations where the couple stage promises to be even funnier than the unresolved sexual tension stage. (Even if I could imagine Danny sitting at the piano to play “Let It Go” while single, it's more amusing in this context.)
As always, the material with the supporting characters remains hit-or-miss. Morgan's Richard Lewis-tatted cousin(*) provided a good foil for his brand of weirdness, while adding some crucial pieces of Tookers backstory. And the deeper bench characters like Tamra and Beverly had a couple of funny lines each. But the show still doesn't quite know what to do with Peter and/or Jeremy, and putting them into a love triangle with Tracey Wigfield's Lauren doesn't seem like the answer.
(*) Played by Rob McElhenny, which, according to my attorney Charlie Kelly, means Charlie Day is legally obligated to guest star later this season to complete the “Always Sunny” trifecta.
But the core of the show is Mindy and Danny more than ever before – plus the prospect of Messina dancing whenever possible (even if the show failed to deliver on Chekhov's Man-Thong) – and the premiere suggested that core is enough to carry the show as a whole as it continues its never-ending tinkering around the margins.
What did everybody else think?