Note: Do not read on if you have not yet seen Season 1, Episode 13 of Fox's "The Mindy Project," titled "Harry & Sally."
To be perfectly honest, I was starting to worry that Mindy had lost sight of the one thing that keeps hope alive episode after episode: The romantic comedy.
But my fears quickly vanished on Tuesday night's episode of the "Mindy Project," titled "Harry & Sally," when Mindy and the gang used "When Harry Met Sally" as a point of reference for a full thirty minutes.
In the opening scene of "Harry & Sally," Mindy is snuggled up with Brendan (and a few necessities she keeps in her bed, such as kitchen knives and frying pans), the emotionally unavailable midwife who's really into sex and really not into dating.
Determined to find a new love interest, Mindy drags her wheelchair-bound friend Maggie to a friend's cocktail party. But instead of finding heaps of charming single men, Mindy meets the nauseatingly adorable Lucy and Jamie (B.J. Novak) who have been together for years.
But wait! Lucy and Jamie aren't a couple. They've just been best friends for fifteen years! Jamie, a quirky and adorable Latin professor, is actually interested in Mindy and wants to take her out on a proper date. Mindy: 1. Brendan: 0.
Meanwhile, Danny's love life isn't going as well as it was last week. Eye Patch Girl, also known as Jillian, is clearly starting to become annoyed with Danny's, well ... lack of interest in her. She hastily breaks up with him over Mexican hot chocolate, and when Danny attempts to win her back by showing up at her Oceanography lab with Morgan and a boom box, she tells Danny that he's just "kind of a jerk." Another one bites the dust.
And, as per usual, things aren't going so well for Mindy either. Just when she's starting to have a great time talking to Jamie about how cool Prince Harry's Instagram would be, a bottle of wine arrives from his BFF Lucy and he feels the need to call her and thank her. Could Jamie and Lucy be just like Harry and Sally? Could they be in love and not realize it?
Feeling a little miffed, Mindy goes crawling back to Brendan. She thinks things might be headed in the right direction -- after all, she spent two nights at his house that week -- when she and Maggie run into him at the movies with an adorable girl named Za hanging on his arm. And in case you were wondering, that's not short for Pizza.
Ah, the trials and tribulations of thirty-something love. Better luck next week! And now, on to a few dialogue highlights in Tuesday night's episode of "The Mindy Project."
Romantic-comedy related lines:
Mindy, when Danny makes a "When Harry Met Sally" reference: "You hate that movie! You called it 'When Doofus Met Dummy.' It was very disrespectful."
Mindy, when Danny says she's the woman in "When Harry Met Sally" who says "I'll have what she's having": "I'm Rob Reiner's mother?!"
Mindy, when Jillian breaks up with Danny: "This is how they do it in movies. Big overtures. Like 'Pretty Woman' or 'Say Anything.' 'Sleepless in Seattle'!"
Mindy, on Jamie's relationship with Lucy: "I don't want to be that, like, rando that Gerard Butler wastes his time with before he realizes he's really in love with Kate Beckinsale."
Arguably offensive lines:
Mindy, when Jamie tells her he teaches Latin: "You need to get them to make another 'Indiana Jones' movie. Those movies make Latin look so cool. He's in a cave. He's reading a Latin inscription by torch."
Mindy, when Maggie suggests Jamie could be gay: "He's not gay. And who would be secretly gay in this day and age? It's like the golden era of coming out of the closet. It's actually cooler to be gay."
Mindy, to Brendan's date: "Za, huh? What's that short for? Pizza?"
Mindy, when Brendan notes that Za is a refugee: "We know war criminals sometimes come to this country and then once they're here they pretend to be refugees."
Maggie to Za: "Ever seen so much food in your life, Za? It's called America, you should look it up."
Mindy, when one of Jamie's students asks if she should call security: "What would you even tell them? There's a sexy Indian woman with a whip and a hat? Yeah, that sounds like paradise."
Cringe-inducing lines:
Mindy, introducing her wheelchair-bound friend: "Hey guys, this is my friend Maggie. She broke her femur."
Mindy, when a couple tells her they're boring: "OK, I'm on to you. I know that when you say you're a boring couple you really mean you're the luckiest, and most happy couple ever."
Morgan, to Danny: "One time, to get a girl back, I drove a motorcycle through a flaming hoop."
Out of context and amazing one-liners:
"Best friend isn't a person, Danny. It's a tier."
"Wouldn't Prince Harry's Instagram be so good?"
"Indiana Jones? I think you mean Mindyana Jones."
"I'll see you in the temple of doom. That's what I call my apartment."
"The Mindy Project" airs on Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m. EST on Fox.
