The Mindy Project 2.05: "Wiener Night"

“This was an entertaining night, so why don’t we call it pro bono. For underprivileged Manhattan doctors.”
-Cliff

“Wiener Night” was a rather unassuming episode of “New Girl.” It set up and advanced a few options for Mindy’s love life, and it also put a bit of a focus on Danny, which was a nice change. The centerpiece of the episode was an art exhibit of nude photos of Danny taken by his ex-wife Christina. Everyone’s reaction to the photos was kind of amusing in a juvenile kind of way. I did feel bad for Danny, though. He didn’t deserve to be violated like that. On the Mindy’s love life side of things, Mindy started exploring her options in life after Casey. She’s still determined to have that perfect romantic comedy meet cute, though, which I think will probably be a source of frustration for her for a long time to come. It’s obvious that Mindy and Danny are endgame, but it will likely take a while for Mindy to get over her romantic comedy notions of what her love life should be like and realize Danny’s potential. I suppose if she realized it right away, though, there would be no story to tell!

Anyway, the episode begins on an airplane, where Mindy has yet another meet cute on a flight home. Mindy is so hopeful that she even tells the flight attendant that she hopes a cute guy sits next to her. Unfortunately for Mindy, the person who sits next to her is Kevin Smith. I don’t really know much about the real life Kevin Smith, but the character Kevin Smith was playing in this scene was exactly the type of person you hope doesn’t sit next to you on a long flight. He’s an obnoxious seat hog. Fortunately for Mindy, Kevin ends up switching seats with a culture journalist named Jason, and they hit it off much better. The TV in Mindy’s seat doesn’t work, so Mindy watches Jason’s TV while Jason reads some high brow hipster book. It’s pretty much a perfect meet cute in Mindy’s book, and I think that leads her to overlook a lot of Jason’s flaws at first. Mostly that he’s kind of a pretentious douche.

Mindy’s coworkers immediately see her relationship with Jason as heading for trouble. Jeremy in particular points out just how different Mindy and Jason are. Mindy and Jason end up going to the movies together, and it’s pretty clear that the office was right. Mindy is completely bored by the movie Jason decided they would see. Mindy is not at all happy when Jason calls of the budding relationship, saying he can’t see that they have anything in common. Which is actually kind of excusable in my book. He is a hipster culture writer for an alternative newspaper, afterall. And Mindy is not at all hipster or alternative. She should have known he’d be super judgey. The heart wants what the heart wants, I suppose! He takes it a step too far, though, when he implies that even though he doesn’t see a future with Mindy, he still wants to sleep with her. Mindy shuts that down right away.

In more serious news, Danny learns of the aforementioned photography show through a copy of Jason’s newspaper. The rest of the office finds out through new, bro-tastic doctor Peter. Peter announces the news to the whole office, which does not make the rather prudish (in an endearing way) Danny happy at all. The rest of the office thinks Danny’s predicament is hilarious, and they can’t wait to go see the show. Mindy is just as enthusiastic, but she has an extra reason to want to go to the show. She wants to take Jason with her and show him how cultured she is. Clearly this relationship is doomed if Mindy is already having to try and change herself to keep Jason interested. Hopeless romantic Mindy doesn’t seem to care, though.

Danny, meanwhile, really, really does not want this photography show to happen. He contacts Cliff the lawyer for help. Unfortunately for Danny, Cliff says that because Danny signed a release (before he and Christina broke up), there is nothing that can be done. Christina can legally show the photographs. Cliff doesn’t seem to take the whole thing too terribly seriously, though. Could it be more obvious that the creative team will be setting up Mindy and Cliff at some point? Again, it’s also obvious that Mindy and Danny are endgame, but I guess the creative team just isn’t ready to pull that trigger just yet. We’ll have to at least see Mindy work her way through Jason and Cliff first.

We next see the actual photography show. Jeremy, Peter, and Morgan all find the photographs absolutely hilarious. There are many jokes about how Danny is pretty fit for an “old” guy. Poor Betsy doesn’t really know what to make of it all. She thinks Danny’s photos are perfect, and she gets really uncomfortable around him. Mindy, also, is kind of horrified. I think I’d have to go with Mindy on that one. I mean, we’re all very close and friendly in my own office, kind of like the Shulman and Associates crew, but I would most definitely draw the line at seeing a naked photograph of a coworker. There are some things one just does not need to see. As they say on Futurama, “you’ve seen it, you can’t unsee it.”

Danny deals with the situation by drinking. A lot. Cliff gets a little concerned that while intoxicated, Danny might do something he’d regret. Cliff tells Danny that the only way he might possibly get the show shut down would be if passersby could potentially see the artwork from the street. Danny takes this advice and places a call to the police, pretending to be an older woman who saw the art and is offended. Meanwhile, some video screens turn on with a message from Christina basically saying how terrible Danny is. Mindy goes up in front of the crowd to both defend Danny and herself. She emphasizes that Danny is a good guy, and she also says that liking Katy Perry doesn’t make her shallow. The crowd boos Mindy’s love of Katy Perry, and Danny stands up for her. He’s had it with the judgeyness of the crowd, so he starts to take of his clothes. Of course, at that moment, the police walk in, and Cliff has to diffuse the situation.

Later, Danny and Mindy talk about their problems while sitting on the curb, and Danny starts to feel a bit better once a model approaches him and says she was impressed by the photos. Mindy takes that as her cue to go home. When she arrives at her front stoop, she is surprised to see Jason. He apologizes for being such a douche, and he tries to show he’s made an effort to learn about pop culture. He makes a reference to “Pretty in Pink,” and he starts playing a Katy Perry song on ukulele. He gets a little uptight when Mindy tries to stop the song with a kiss, but then he thinks better of it and goes in for the kiss anyway. Something tells me this is not going to be a long-lasting relationship.