Here’s the thing about fertility treatments: Many people who seek help with their fertility are already at what is termed “advanced maternal age” (not “geriatric obesity,” but similar). So they don’t really have time to mess around with someone just starting a fertility practice. Personally, I would be in just for the spa-like surroundings of Lahiri Fertility, but I could see how it could be a hard sell. And didn’t Mindy help people get pregnant at Stanford? Couldn’t she have brought that up?
Once again logic fails us on The Mindy Project, and we are forced to take a tiny step back and just enjoy the ride. Because this is a pretty entertaining episode overall, that uses the entire cast, and even pulls the A and B plots together at the end.
Now with Peter gone, Morgan is pretty much standing in as Mindy’s best friend. And he’s a good one. You can throw a stapler at him! He’ll try to jump in your arms when he’s surprised! He’ll bring you your first client, and is still such a fan of your boyfriend that he’ll call you out for underestimating sperm counts! Even Morgan’s fertility scrubs and party outfit are in the same hue. I know the character can be polarizing, to say the least, but he’s grown on me. Come on, he’ll even break a car window to make sure you haven’t swallowed your tongue! A man of action, to be sure, even if some (most?) of it is misguided. (“You are not a partner. You are a handyman, and you’re not even good at that!”) But for Mindy and her domineering persona, she needs someone she can boss around unconditionally, and the besotted Morgan surely fits the bill.
But the verdict is still out on Dr. Adrian Bergdahl. A lot of people posted Dan Bakkedahl’s impressive credentials in the comments last week, but everything the support staff was saying, I totally agree with (I agree with Beverly! This is not a logical thing to have happen). He doesn’t really jibe with the rest of the office. Apparently he’s going through some troubles at home (“I did not become an ob/gyn just to deal with a bunch of whiny babies!” Ha.). But to make matters even worse, he’s condescending to the nurses, plus he smells bad (although I loved Danny’s suggestion that he take the staff out “for coffee or deodorant”). But the fact that he’s setting up shop on Mindy’s apartment indicates that he’ll be around for awhile.
A much more welcome face this episode: Cousin Lou! Rob McElhenney continues to make the most of his life as a Tookers. He’s very open in his Mindy visit, explaining how not wearing an apron while getting X-rays at the dentist may have affected his sperm count: “It’s ironic in that by trying to avoid being a girl, I became less of a man.” Although he’s a substitute teacher, he can easily identify Mindy’s future perfect tense, but misidentifies “dude diligence.” Lou is also delightfully encouraging of Danny when he suspects that have similar fertility problems. McElhenney’s appearance is so much better, in fact, than the Kris Jenner cameo, which was pretty pointless.
There are a lot of throwaways like that, and the entire main plot is ludicrous. At this point in The Mindy Project, has Mindy ever been able to keep a secret from Danny ever? (There might be something there with that diary… ) Isn’t it just an inevitability that he will find out, and she knows it, we all know it? Still, that didn’t keep me from laughing out loud during Danny’s toast to Mindy at the clinic, with all the double entendres (“I couldn’t conceive it.” “I popped the cork and nothing came out.” “Happens to all of us!” yells Jeremy.) And the conception story of knocking boots under The Lion King billboard while wearing 2015 glasses on New Year’s Eve: one for the ages.
Is it futile to keep looking for logic when there’s none to be had? Although The Mindy Project has offered some deeper themes over the past few weeks (he life changes, nature vs. nurture), I have looked and looked at “Fertility Bites” and I can find none. But even in a straightforward episode like this one, there are still all these wonderful one-off lines, like when Mindy tells the staff not to dismiss Dr. Bergdahl because he’s a grump: “You know else is? Chris Christie, and he’s our vice-president.” Line for line, this show still makes me laugh harder than just about anything else on TV right now, as Mindy and Danny inch their way closer to parenthood.
Stray observations:
- Danny pushing the kale salad is a nice continuity from last week.
- Mindy’s Best Outfit: I loved that gray plaid dress with glasses that Mindy was wearing at the end of the episode. Perfect work outfit.
- Mindy’s Worst Outfit: Was not a fan of the gala dress. A bit too busy, and not gala enough.
- In Mindy Hair: How do we feel about the ombre? I find it distracting, like those few episodes when she had bangs.
- “I’m supposed to see a psychic about my missing shoe, but I think I can move that around.”
- I believe the gala invitations were shaped like fallopian tubes.
- “Doesn’t that just make you wanna come get impregnated by me?”
- “This is the longest I’ve ever gone without getting hit by a car.”
- That pranking scene was kind of mean to that older lady, and really pretty foolish for someone who doesn’t have any clients yet.
- The Al Pacino fragrance line: Scent of a Man
- Dr. B is wearing Lahiri Fertility merch as he sleeps in the car.
- Another nitpick: Would a practicing Catholic like Danny Castellano be so readily approving of living together without the sanctity of marriage? I’m assuming, due to Danny’s Catholicism, and the upcoming baby, this is all leading up to a wedding at some point.
- “There’s more people here than were at my trial!”
- Beverly had tons of good lines this week, which was nice to see. Like that Dr. B’s fake name for her was Madison. And she can even spot her lifestyle in others: “He’s living in squalor. He’s a total Beverly!”