The Mindy Project returned with “Hot Mess Time Machine” a sort of Groundhog Day riff that had Mindy repeating her “crappy” Wednesday over and over. The reason? It is the chance Dr. Lahari needs to win Ben back after he unceremoniously dumped her on a New York sidewalk in the previous episode.
It takes hilarious months for Mindy to learn what she has to accomplish to keep another Wednesday from repeating. During that time she does all the things she ever wanted to do. She hits every MacDonald’s in New York, she goes to Brooklyn and practices basketball, until she can not only drop the ball through the net consistently but she can also dunk.
(Morgan actually guesses at one point that his boss is having a Groundhog Day moment when he reveals he watched her dunk the basketball.)
Morgan is the one person who helps Mindy realize that this is fate’s way of allowing her to repair the relationship with Ben. Initially the male nurse is still angry at Mindy and he refuses to have anything to do with her.
Later, after many attempts, Mindy figures out that she needs to attend “nerd university” and she crams everything about Star Trek, Star Wars and Marvel that she can find. She has to focus on Marvel after turning up as Robin, a DC character. Mindy then moves on to learning everything she can about Ben.
This episode of The Mindy Project was nigh on perfect. It showed off Kaling’s comedic skills and spot on delivery. The prayers to God, the funniest has her telling the big guy that he can “bite me” if this is all some cosmic joke, were all humorous.
Her Star Wars light sabre practice where she keeps breaking the pottery on her desk and grilling Ben on his family secrets, which includes his mother’s banana-nut bread recipe, were also funny.
Mindy telling Moran that he can do whatever he wants because the day will reset anyway turns out to be a lie as Mindy fixes things with Ben.
New cast member Rebecca Rittenhouse, as the coldly beautiful Anna Ziev managed to stand out yet again in the “ABCDE’S of Forceps Hygiene” sequence that was already funny. “Flow-verall” alert shouts Morgan over and over again until Mindy finally covers her overall with a fur coat.
The episode was both funny and fun. It also managed to salvage the relationship of Ben and Mindy. These two were a perfect fit and when Ben left Mindy outside of the party it was almost devastating.
Although the couple may not last too long. Mindy is Mindy after all; a tad sophomoric in her interests and, as Ben points out in this episode, self preoccupied to the extreme. But this is what makes Dr. Lahiri so much fun. One “groundhog day” reprise may not be enough to change her completely.
The Mindy Project airs Tuesdays on Hulu. Head on over and catch up on the hilarity.
Cast:
- Mindy Kaling – Mindy Lahiri
- Chris Messina – Danny Costellano
- Ed Weeks – Jeremy Reed
- Ike Barinholtz – Morgan Tookers
- Beth Grant – Beverly
- Osha Roquemore – Tamra
- Fortune Feimster – Colette Kimball-Kinney
- Garret Dillahunt – Jody Kimball-Kinney
- Bryan Greenberg as Ben
- Rebecca Rittenhouse – Anna Ziev
Best episode to date, in my opinion.