Never Have I Ever TV Review

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Never Have I Ever (Netflix)-From Mindy Kaling (and some other non-Mindy Kaling entity) comes a teen show that’s, for lack of a better word, all that and a bag of chips. The protagonist Devi is an Indian-American and teams up with two other minority students (Fabiola and Eleanor) to form a trio of inseparable friends. But that’s not all they’re defined by and the show doesn’t suggest that this is about whites verse other. The token dream guy is Asian as well. Eleanor, who is East Asian, is also defined by a having a deadbeat mother which bucks the trend of that ethnicity. 

The world of this high school is also one that exists without overt bullying.  Some people are less cool than others, sure, but this is a far cry from the slushie-in-the-face trope of Glee (as far as we’re shown; there could be a serious battle royale in the back for all we know. It’s kind of refreshing to see a world where teenagers aren’t actively trying to make the nerds miserable. It’s also possibly a more accurate depiction of high schools in 2020 as anti-bullying campaigns have gone into effect.

The show won me over many times over by zigging where I expected it to zag. Devi resolves to break out of her sheltered Indian-American constraints and get a boyfriend and by the end of the very first episode, the hottest guy in the school agrees to have sex with her. It seems like the show has jumped the shark in the first 30 minutes but fortunately things don’t work out that easily.

Pretty much nothing in Devi’s life is predictable along the lines of a teen show. The biggest jerk in her social orbit suddenly becomes legitimately friendly and even falls for her while her two best friends turn on her for being a bad friend. But are they in the right? Is Devi a bad daughter or someone restrained by impossible cultural norms? The answers aren’t easy and the show isn’t the most hilarious on TV but it’s brilliant and emotional without being melodramatic or heavy.

My New YouTube Video Channel on Films Where'd You Go Bernadette, Late Night, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

This past Sunday, I woke up extremely lethargic and stayed in bed until a little past noon so I decided I needed a project. At the start of 2018, I thought I'd review every film I'd seen in 2017 but that never got off the ground so I thought I'd start again and I didn't even get out of bed. Over the course of the next 24 hours whether taking a bath, waiting for a restaurant or switching metros, I reviewed all but three of the films I'd seen in 24 hours.

The first was "Where'd You Go Bernadette" which was my third favorite film of the year because it managed to squeeze in complex issues of mental health with a light comedic tone in what was kind of a PG movie. 

The second was "Late Night" written by Mindy Kaling about her own experiences as a diversity hire in many writer's rooms including "The Office." For a film that likely begins with a an agenda about visibility and how the world is all smiles and rainbows if we include POC and women, it has a surprisingly good amount of nuance.

I did "Zombieland" and "The Good Liar" before I got out of bed. I haven't uploaded those ones but I also did "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" the next morning as I was leaving for upstate New York the next morning.

 

Belated Top 25 characters in TV: 2012

1. Carrie Matheson, Homeland (Claire Danes)-Carrie has been through hell and back and you know the show has hooked you when you desperately want her to be redeemed. Carrie is firm in her resolve, intelligent, and has the traits of a great action hero, yet she still remains unequivocally feminine.
2. Nicholas Brody, Homeland (Damien Lewis)-It takes a great performance by Damien Lewis to pull all these contradictions and facades together. My only complaint is now having learned one of the best American characters I’ve seen on TV is British. I did not see that coming. 
3. Leslie Knope, Parks and Recreation (Amy Poehler)-The year that Leslie’s outsize ambitions finally met up with reality. It’s either a testament to the show’s growth that Leslie has come a long way from the godawfully awkward version of the same character we used to have.
4. James van der Beek, Don't Trust the B--- In Apartment 23 (James van der Beek)-Celebrities satirizing themselves are nothing new (Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, the guest stars from Extras, etc) but James van der Beek one ups them by diving head-first. What I find most interesting about his character is how as a celebrity he has everything a normal TV character could want (wealth, power, fame, romance) so he seeks to reinvent himself each week in increasingly superfluous ways.
5. Olivia Pope, Scandal (Kerry Washington) - Although she's based on Washington PR's Judy Smith (with a heightened sex life for dramatic purposes), Olivia Pope is her own creation. It would be hard to portray someone so appealing and self-assured that every power player in Washington wants to hire her and and the US President is uncontrollably in love with her, but Kerry Washington (a consummate working actor for the past decade) sells it.
6. Sister Mary Eunice, American Horror Story (Jessica Lange)-She's partially being awarded a high spot because Lange is riding the residuals of her Emmy-winning performance as the playfully flirtatious antebellum-mannered neighbor Constance in Season 1. The plot of AHS's second season is a mess but there are plenty of great characters. Like the first season, Lange steals the spotlight as disciplinarian nun Mary Eunice who also turns out to be a dynamic (English literature term for characters that change, not the other definition. That's all the spoilering I'll give) character. Compliments go to whoever directed that trippy dancing sequence and to Lange's dialect coach for that wonderful variation of the traditional Boston accent.
7. Phil Dunphy, Modern Family (Ty Burrell)-Superdad made my list last year, and he's certainly worthy of return. It's no wonder that the new season of Arrested Development referenced Modern Family here and there, as Phil is truly stuck in arrrested development and happy to be there. (Also: See last year's list)
8. Jesse Pinkman, Breaking Bad (Aaron Paul)-My obligatory Breaking Bad inclusion. The TV Critics Association fines me if I don't include it.
9. Agent Van Alden, Boardwalk Empire (Michael Shannon)-Likely the most obscure actor to get an Oscar-nomination in the past 10 years, Shannon is a wonderful foil to Steve Buscemi's Nucky Thompson. He brings such an energy to the role that I'm convinced Shannon really enjoys that old-timey dialogue. More pragmatic then he is obsessive, Van Alden is very much a shade of gray.
10. Kenneth Parcell, 30 Rock (Jack McBrayer)-It took Kenneth Parcell six seasons to grow on me. Of all the characters on 30 Rock, I might very well miss this uber-morally square one the most. Especially when you consider how unlikely it is that another character on TV will ever come along like him again. Unlike Liz, Jack or Tracy, Kenneth could only exist as a funny  and effective character when sandwiched between business-savvy executive, the overworked CEO, and the two empty-headed divas.
11. Schmitty, New Girl (Max Greenfield)-Greenfield successfully convinces us that Schmitty is both the dorkiest guy in the room and someone alluring enough that Cece (Hannah Simone) would want. Getting a model as a girlfriend tends to disqualify you in the former category.
12. Margaret, Boardwalk Empire (Kelly McDonald)-If you shift the focus to Margaret, Boardwalk Empire could almost be seen as a Prohibition-era version of Breaking Bad. Margaret, being the epitome of morality, makes a deal with the devil in her marriage to Nuckie and slowly starts to accept corruption into her life. One of the stronger stories of the series.
13. Dallas Royce, Suburgatory (Cheryl Hines)-One of the more underlooked pieces of the show, she is part of the out-of-it sanitized suburbia that Tessa fears so much, yet she is so comfortable in her skin (not to mention her low-cut dresses), that it's hard not to be won over by her (inexplicable, considering we're on Long Island) Southern charm. Indeed, she has carved her way into the hearts of both father and daughter Altman.
14. Stefon, Saturday Night Live (Bill Hader)-I admit I’m a little behind the curve in recognizing Stefon despite being an avid Saturday Night Live watcher. Two years ago when Stefon and creator John Mulaney were making the press rounds, I had no idea who he was.  Well, I’m happy to report I’ve caught up on my Stefon watching and I’m equally enamored with this lovably bizarre party insider. Unlike “What’s Up With That” or half of the other SNL characters, there’s a lot of room for diverse jokes with every Stefon outing, and even more room for creativity with the sketch’s ending.
15. Wilfred, Wilfred (Jason Gann)-We still don’t know exactly what Wilfed is and here’s hoping we never will.
16 and 17. Cheryl Tunt and Pam Poovey, Archer (Judy Greer and Amber Nash)-Whoever thought that the secretarial clerk and HR rep at an international spy agency could be the most fun characters to watch? Major points go to Adam Reed and company for giving continuity to the highly tenable character bullet that Cheryl is worth a half billion dollars but still shows up to a crappy job every day that she doesn’t appear to be all that crazy about. Bonus points for giving Pam a more active sex life this year as well.
18. Anne, Go On (Julie White)-Anne immediately struck me as the most multi-layered and unique character within Go On's ensemble cast and she's paid off in dividends. She can't easily be pigeonholed as she’s a little bit of everything: Supportive and loyal yet grouchy and blunt. Both desperate and confident. Open to the world around her but wanting to shut people out. Most importantly, Anne’s a confused soul and a complete three-dimensional character. She strikes the perfect balance between individualistic instincts and the need to belong that is the show’s main theme.
19. Lana Peters, American Horror Story (Sarah Paulson)-The level-headed journalist (who's lesbianism was surprisingly well-handled for a Ryan Murphy show) kept us relatively steady in a world that got increasingly ridiculous. She sold some of the show's best moments.
20. Selina Meyers, Veep (Julia Louis-Dreyfuss)-The program of Veep is particularly original on the whole but I give JLD marks for nailing the character. It's too bad The Thick of It and In the Loop came out first.

21. Tim, Life and Times of Tim (Steve Dildarian)-Take the most tragi-comic episodes of Seinfeld or It's Always Sunny and multiply them by a factor of 10 and you get perhaps the most unluckiest character ever conceived in the history of television. Tim is a 25-year old urbanite constantly in danger of losing his job, his girlfriend, or the respect of his friends and nothing in his external circumstances seems to be helping him any (think a walking Murphy's Law). As Tim goes out of existence this year with the non-renewal of the show (perhaps, the least buzzed-about show in HBO’s history), someone needs to give him a little love and this list might as well be it. Besides, Tim had a relatively good year: He didn’t get urine thrown at his face by a WNBA player (that was Amy), he was promoted to Vice President (likely not for long), and didn’t get caught when he stole the boss’ dog back. Of course, I haven't seen the series finale.
22.Andy Dwyer, Parks and Recreation (Chris Pratt)-See last year's list
23.Kylie Sinclair, Last Resort (Autumn Reeser)-Kylie's first on screen appearance is on the backend of a date with an aide for a senator she's trying to lobby, as she's talking about submarine schematics while making his mouth water as she undresses. Trying to introduce a character as knowledgable AND sexy within a talkative sex scene isn't anything particularly new (see Faye Dunaway in Network), but in Autumn Reeser and Last Resort's hands, Sinclair projects a confidence and duality that works here.
24. Morgan, Mindy Project (Ike Barinholtz)-It's been a few years since Ike Barinholtz was on the sinking ship known as the final seasons of Mad TV, and thank god, he found a good vehicle to return with. Morgan, the ex-con male nurse, is wonderfully unashamed of being a male nurse and pretty much devoid of inhibitions in general which makes him a wonderful foil for the uptight trio of doctors in charge 
25 (tie). Principal Stark, Unsupervised (Sally Kellerman)-Principal Stark-The kind of supporting character whose backstory could fill a novel, Principal Stark is a fine blend of pragmatism, strong-willed determination, and at times, sheer laziness. Her odd approach to running a school leads to some of the show’s funniest moments whether it's pepper spraying a kid who discriminates against a gay student or offering to send the lowest-scoring kids to grade school. And she’s voiced by Sally Kellerman who apparently is still alive. MASH fans rejoice!
25 (tie). Mr. Woolfe, Suburgatory (Rex Lee)-Chatswain High's closeted guidance counselor advisor came out of the closet in hilarious fashion at the start of the year ("Oh and one more announcement, I'm gay. So from will be driving a Miatta. Please let me know if you have any questions"). The way Rex Lee chirpily delivers the dreariest suburban platitudes gives Mr. Wolfe the most laughs per minutes on screen for a TV character with limited screen time.

Mindy Project: "My Cool Christian Boyfriend" and the Endgame: How will Mindy find love?

More than most other shows featuring a single character, The Mindy Project has a clear endgame: The protagonist wants to get married and have kids and a good number of the episodes focus on Mindy's love life with the occasional foray into office politics, Mindy's relationship with her friends, or Mindy's brother.

This week's episode "My Cool Christian Boyfriend" was riddled with plot holes on a number of levels:

THE OBLIGATORY SUMMARY (skip ahead if you've seen the episode):
The episode starts with a smooth-talking guy picking Mindy up from the metro (oops!) Subway. We find out on the first date that he's actually a minister. Mindy's moderately impressed with him but when she attends his church service and hears his sermon, she starts to get all hot and heavy.  After the service, Mindy starts becoming more forward with him and telling him she's (as the youngsters say these days) DTF making for the comic highlight of the episode. He reacts by essentially dumping her explaining that while he had a lovely time on his date, altruism and selflessness are central parts of his life, and he doesn't see those qualities in her.

OK, hold up a second!: Why did the minister want to date her in the first place? She was incessantly complaining and self-involved on the Subway and even disrespectful to the other passengers. And why was the minister taking her to a fancy and expensive restaurant if he wanted to find a prospective mate who didn't value materialism?

Later, Mindy Mindy reacts to being dumped by joining the staff as they volunteer to see patients in a prison.  Mindy finds the whole situation icky and wants little to do with the patients until she meets an inmate so unreal, she could almost qualify as a female friend version of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. What inmate would want to waste the rare opportunity to get a free medical consultation to discuss an episode of The Real Housewives?

If the show was attempting to give Mindy a story arc where Mindy was slowly warming up to volunteerism and becoming a better person, it failed. Mindy still isn't a good person, she only likes helping people if they can keep up with her on reality TV gossip.

Even worse, at the end of the episode, Mindy's brother sticks up for her sister when she bumps into the minister and demands an apology for treating her sister poorly. Why should he have to apologize? Being dumped isn't easy but the minister was forthright, honest, and dignified with her.
The episode demonstrates how skewed the show can be as told from Mindy's point of view. I'm not suggesting Mindy should be a saint or that she's significantly more morally vacant than the average person, but its debatable how much the show is aware of Mindy's short comings.

In some ways, the show reminds me of Becker where the show's protagonist is unlikeable and largely unaware of it. When viewed in this light, the Mindy Project is a more interesting show. If nothing else, it makes better sense that Mindy has trouble with guys (although the show seems to stigmatize unmarried women in their 30's as if having not found Mr. Right is equivalent to social failure).

From here, there could be two routes to Mindy's final goal of meeting Mr. Right: 1) Recognizing that she could be a less self-involved person or b) Finding a man who doesn't mind that she's self-involved and matches her shallow interests.

If the show goes with Option #1, it would be a more interesting and holistic show. Less plots would be need to be focused about dates and relationships gone wrong before meeting Mr. Right and the subsequent diversity would be a good way to avoid creative exhaustion from one romantic plot too many.

The question comes from whether Mindy Kailing and the show's writers are self-aware enough to portray Mindy this way. The way tonight's episode played out in the first act, one might think that B is also very possible because the writers can easily cook up slightly contrived situations where a sort-of Mr. Right comes in and easily overlooks Mindy's flaws but I much prefer Situation A

Top 10 of the Year in TV

My annual Top Ten of the Year in TV:
1. Homeland, Showtime 
The write-up for my #1 show typically has to be insightful and substantial so I'm going to wax a little poetic here and start with a quote from a forward to the book "The Manchurian Candidate" by Louis Menand:
"The secret to making a successful thriller, as Michael Crichton and Tom Clancy have demonstrated, is to slow down the action occasionally with disquisitions on Stuff It Is Interesting to Know- how airplanes are made, how nuclear submarines work, how to build an atomic bomb. Ideally, this information is also topical, food for the public's hunger of the hour."

Although Menand is not writing about "Homeland", he is saying that a great thriller should 1) tap into the zeitgeist and 2) include some howstuffworks.com-type content as a hook. But here's the catch: Topical films and television rarely capture the zeitgeist of the times without seeming like a rehashed newsreel. This is why so many war-related films (i.e. "Rendition", "The Kingdom", "Redacted", "Lions for Lambs") failed in 2007 when the war was in full swing. Homeland is a rare exception where I'm entirely hooked by a show about something I'm already sick to death of hearing on the news about. The acting by Lewis, Danes, and Patinkin is phenomenal, the characters are engaging, and the show keeps suspense going without seeming as though the cliffhangers are cheaply inserted. The show's "hook" is the insider look at CIA interrogations and terrorist watches but it branches into medicine, politics, and even throws in a Douglas Sirkian melodrama for good measure.

2. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, FX
I continue to find it astounding just how many layers this show can reveal around its five characters Clues are being dropped around us over time, but there's still room for our preconceptions to be challenged as we learn that Dennis wasn't as popular in high school as he thought or that Charlie's mom was a whore. At the same time, Sunny has such fun with dysfunction. Mac had daddy issues, Mac was fat, now Mac's a repressed gay, does it really matter? I don't know the answer to that but I'm having fun than ever trying to figure it out. The show is so comedically strong that many a scene can be lifted verbatim and, as a stand-alone sketch, it would be funnier than what you'd see on Saturday Night Live. "The Gang Dines Out", which had the makings of a stageplay, was one of the best episodes of TV I've seen all year. Ditto for "Charlie and Dee Find Love" which teased us with a rewrite of the character bible on Charlie (as someone who will never stray from the waitress) and the "Maureen Ponderosa Wedding Massacre" which added a horror component, more of the McPoyles and a cameo by Guillermo del Toro of all people. As of late, it's getting more apparent that the characters truly love each other which has led to a few more happy endings and that puts a smile on my face more than it compromises the show.

3. Boardwalk Empire, HBO (Note: I've watched Season 2 which goes up to half of 2012 but not the latest episodes)-Steve Buscemi's Nucky Thompson is anything but the burly man that you picture as the patriarch of a big crime organization, and that's what makes him so interesting. Starting out as more of a pencil pusher who cut corners and tried to keep the peace, Thompson has become a fascinating study in squirming your way to the top. Unlike other mob dramas, Boardwalk Empire has the added challenge of being a historic artifact. We know where Al Capone, Lucky Luciano and Nucky Thompson are going to end up, but that doesn't detract from the journey. Boardwalk Empire weaves together a number of interesting storylines and more often than not, the characters- Kelly McDonald as practical Irish immigrant who's moral purity slowly wilts in a marriage to a criminal, Gretchen Mol as a randy young grandmother who knows how to  play the angles, Michael Shannon as the Fed determined to stay within tracking distance of the bootlegging operation, Jack Huston as a gentle soul of a gangster with a disfigured face, and Michael Kenneth Williams as the criminal leader of the black community who can intimidate but knows his limits- do not disappoint. Season two succeeds in creating a more tightly coiled narrative arc with tension rising as Nucky and Jimmy head towards an inevitable showdown.

4. Suburgatory, ABC-Emily Kapnek's show isn't revolutionary by any means but it is the show watching and rewatching more than practically anything else. It has a unique voice and a sharp script. More importantly, the show has a vastly underrated cast with supporting actors (Cheryl Hines, Rex Lee, Chris Parnell, Alan Tudyk, Ana Gasteyer) who do exactly what supporting actors should do and more.  The show also gets a surprising amount of milage for its visual gags and is one of the few instances of voiceover that adds something. The show posits two urban transplants into a foreign suburban world and in that mismatch, sharp satire is added.

5. American Horror Story, FX-In both seasons, Brad Falchuk and Ryan Murphy have managed to create a compelling arc using the horror story homage. The show has a no-holds-barred sense of grandiosity. Nazi doctors and devious nuns not enough? How about aliens, demon possessions, and mutated monsters for you. In Season Two, things got a little excessive but they never got predictable. In Lana (Sarah Paulson), Kit (Evan Peters), and Shelley (Chloe Sevigny), the show's given us three characters to desperately want to see get out of this mess alive. Following a star performance in 2011,
Jessica Lange manages to patch together an otherwise shoddily written part and create a more nuanced character that could otherwise just be evil with a capital "E." Lily Rabe (whose career I am now going to make it a point to watch) and Joseph Fiennes were highly compelling, and while I was highly disappointed with the direction the show took Zach Quinto's character, he was one of the high points of the show before [SPOILERS AHEAD] it was revealed he was a psychopathe. With Quinto suddenly morphing into Skylar from Heroes (counterbalanced slightly be Sister Mary Eunice now being the only good guy in authority, the show needs at least one), I'm not thrilled with where the show stands now, but it's the unpredictable nature of AHS and the interesting directions the show has taken that gives me faith that the ship will either be righted or will at least leave me surprised.

6. The Guild, YouTube-An unabashed celebration of nerd culture and the banding together of six highly diverse misfits who initially never meant anything to each other except as anymous screennames to go on gaming quests with. Each season has succeeded in raising the stakes for the characters and developing them further. This season saw Codex get a job with the game and Vork head the protest movement. Felicia Day can play the violin, work a crowd at comic con, act, and is a talented writer as well. America's next great hyphenate in the making.


7. 30 Rock, NBC-How I will miss this show and wish I was kinder to it every year on my top 10 list. The show might have lost its novelty factor somewhere in the middle but it's never failed at being funny in ways both brilliant and gut-wrenching. This season, the show took on the election with "Mayor Dunston Checks In" and a satire of the presidential debates in which Jack and Liz debate for Jenna's tweeting power. Both were topical without overdoing it. Other reasons why 30 Rock had a great year: Kenneth finally got some forward movement and was hillarious as a member of the  Standards and Practices, Hazel (although this will be debated) was a great addition, the wonderfully vain Avery Jessup returned to turn the 30 Rock universe upside down for a few episodes before unfortunately departing again, and the 30 Rock staff scored two of their biggest successes of the year in improving on two of their past experiements: Queen of Jordan and The Live Show.

8. 30 for 30, ESPN-The series of documentaries launched by ESPN, currently in its second round, is a perfect compliment to the ESPN brand. More than that, the series of documentaries made by seasoned filmmakers is just what's needed to revive a genre of storytelling (sports reporting) that has become stale through heavy repitition. I caught 9.79, Broke, and Ghosts of Ole Miss, and think they could all work as stand-alone films in wide release.

9. Alphas, SyFy-Procedurals rarely hook me but in this show, each mystery of the week helps develop the show and the characters. The special effects are top-notch and the action scenes are both physical and intellectual: The intersection of the characters' powers often play out like a game of chess. The show also works well because of the chemistry. David Strathain's Dr. Lee Rosen works well as a father figure to the group, Rachel and Nina have an intriguing budding relationship as surrogate sisters, and with Ryan Cartwright's Gary Bell, the show deserves credit for not treating autism as though it has kid gloves.

10. Lilyhammer, Netflix-The show's one big flaw is allowing it's protagonist to have become inexplicably powerful too quickly and too easily. Other than that, Lilyhammer has an excitingly well-defined sense of place. Because it's filmed by a Norweigan production company (in collaboration with Steve van Zandt), it goes without saying that watching this show transports you to another world. The cast of characters is wonderfully sharp and I get the strong sense that there's potential of better things to come in Season 2.

10 Honorable Mentions:
Mindy Project, Fox-My review of it is written somewhere else. Don't necessarily think Mindy's a star, but the show is capable of hitting a few emotional chords, and the supporting cast and infrastructure of relationships are both solid.
Little Mosque on the Prairie, CBC-Just as how the Cosby Show eased racial tension by showing how a black family wasn't that different than white middle-class Americans, Little Mosque could do the same in America if people watch it on Hulu.
Go On, NBC-An interesting show with a daring mix of sediment and character-based quirkiness. Sedimental shows run a high risk of disappointing but that's not even half the battle here.
Vegas, CBS-Of the two episodes, I've seen so far, the show definitely has potential. Las Vegas is always an exciting locale to set a drama but historical Vegas has a little something extra to it and I'm excited to see where that goes 
Portlandia, IFC-The show, which made my Top 10 last year, sticks out pretty strongly for its innovation.
Key and Peele, Comedy Central-Mad TV had a few bright spots when these two were on screen so it's a good thing these two have carved out a more specific niche for themselves in the sketch comedy world
Breaking Bad, AMC-I've only watched two or three episodes. It's inclusion on the list is only so I don't get my license revoked as a TV blogger.
Unsupervised, FX-Most underrated cartoon of the year. It's got wonderful characters, it's feel good and disgusting.
Modern Family, ABC-A still solid half-hour comedy. I am certain that out of order, these episodes will kill in syndication.
Bunheads, ABC Family-I never was a Gilmore Girls fan, so when I came at this show at a fresh angle, I was delighted by what I saw.


For reference, here is what I watched: 2 Broke Girls, 4 to 9ers, 666 Park Avenue, Alcatraz (just one ep.), American Dad, Bent, Big Bang Theory, Bob's Burgers, Brickleberry, Chelsea Lately, Comedy Bang Bang, Daily Show, Don't Trust the Bitch in Apt. 23, Eastbound and Down (one ep.), Family Guy, Futurama, Glee, Good Chrisitan Bitches, House of Lies, Last Resort, Librarians, Louie (a couple eps.) Luck (one ep.), MAD,  Merlin (although episodes date to 2008), Misfits, New Girl, The Neighbors, The New Normal, Office, Parks and Recreation, Revenge (Again, not sure what year I watched this),  Saturday Night Live, Scandal, Shameless (two episodes), Smash, Up All Night (I think? Can't remember exactly if it was 11 or 12), Vampire Diaries,  Walking Dead

Mindy Project: Thanksgiving Episode Review

I generally don’t care too heavily for the standard romcom but for two weeks in a row, The Mindy Project has gotten me to feel Mindy’s pains of a woeful love life. Last week, there was the painful realization that Mindy’s biological clock was running out. This might not have been so emotionally painful if not for the way it all played out: A screwball comedy scenario of Mindy getting an intimate interview from Dr. Castellano segued rather suddenly into a poignant third act in which Mindy was bedridden with depression.

This week, I found the same effectiveness in making Mindy’s rather typical problems carry that extra sting. In this episode, Mindy goes to Gwen’s Thanksgiving Party in somewhat of a mopey mood because her sports agent boyfriend (yes, that sleazy guy from the night club) doesn’t want to be exclusive with her. Her mood temporarily brightens when she bumps into an old flame only to find out that he’s with someone else. 

Mindy’s dilemma of suddenly becoming emotionally unpredictable upon hearing the news that an ex (Ed Helms) is with someone new is fairly universal and increasingly more prevalent with the advent of facebook. In fact, the inability of facebook to make the news of my exes disappear is my number one complaint with the medium. It is also why I found myself really rooting for Mindy to snag back the man that got away. After all, I think it’s fairly well established that Mindy’s current boyfriend really isn’t a keeper. It is interesting in its own way to have Mindy try to better herself by dating a sleazy sports agent she doesn’t have a future with but it’s not particularly meaningful. This is why I’m particularly pleased that the Josh-Mindy scenes are taking up only two or three minutes an episode.

This is an also an episode of pairings. Morgan comes along as Mindy’s plus one to Gwen’s Thanksgiving party. This might not make very much sense, but it’s a good way to get some inter-group chemistry going by isolating these two. It also helps that Ike Barinholtz is making Morgan fun in every scene he’s in. It’s been a while since Barinholtz left Mad TV and it’s a good thing he’s finally finding a meaty comic role to sink his teeth into.

The B-story was fairly lackluster but it sported another good pairing. Betsy goes home to a family that treats her like a kid and there’s unresolved tension. Nothing particularly grandiose comedically here but I do like the Betsy-Jeremy pairing. Because the show is seen through Mindy’s point of view (I’m referring here to both the showrunner and the character), Jeremy’s primarily defined through his sexuality.

Therefore, a good way to develop Jeremy is to pair him up with a woman who he has no desire to have sex with. I know that with the way characters are always being paired up, it seems premature to rule out Betsy from Jeremy’s menu, but I’m pretty sure Betsy is meant to be too plain and frumpy to appeal to someone like Jeremy or pretty much anyone. So as a result, we don’t get sexy playboy Jeremy but curious foreigner Jeremy and I’m fine with that.

Last but not least, the C-story features Danny paired with no one. Watching Danny enjoy Thanksgiving in solitude tugged at my heartstrings which was pretty much the intended effect. Here’s hoping Danny learns to open himself more..

Random thoughts:

-Am I only the one who feels like they tried to plug a dinner party scenario into a Thanksgiving episode? There was little talk of turkey or football, Morgan would have likely had his own plans, and why would Mindy feel the need to go with a date? 

-Mindy and Gwen have low-to-moderate chemistry as friends. When they get into a girlfight, however, it’s a whole another story. That was pretty intense and pretty delightful at that. Anna Camp just earned her place on the show with that scene

-I’m kind of used to thinking of Ed Helms as a bad boyfriend from "The Office" so it was kind of ironic seeing him as a legitimate possibility for Mindy

-Ever notice how characters on TV flirt better than we do in real life? Even with a gun pointed to my head, I don't think I could have come up with as witty responses in conversation as Ed Helms' Dennis in the conversation with Mindy right after he falls down the stairs. Oh yeah, and he just fell down the stairs.