The Mindy Project 2.06: "Bro Club for Dudes"

“Morgan, please clear this trash so I can storm out.”
-Mindy

“Bro Club for Dudes” was an interesting look at the extent of Mindy’s girlyness and how and why her coworkers put up with it for so long. I have mixed feelings about this. I have a wide range of interests, some of which are classically girly, and some of which are not. I am just as at ease rattling off celebrity gossip trivia or singing along to pop music as I am gushing about favorite episodes of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” or listening to Arcade Fire. I just like what I like. I think there’s a bit of that in Mindy, too, which is why I didn’t completely hate the premise of this episode. Once her self-centeredness is brought to her attention, Mindy does genuinely try to participate in some of the things the guys want to do. It still grated on me a little, though. The Morgan B-plot, for once, however, was pretty entertaining. Morgan makes a play for hot nurse Tamara and gets in a bit of trouble with Tamara’s boyfriend, Rayron. Oops!

Early in this episode, we see just how immature the guys of Shulman and Associates have become since Peter joined their ranks. They’re playing with what appear to be some sort of Nerf dart guns. Mindy calls them on the immaturity, wondering why playing with Nerf guns at the office is okay, while making a birthday video for Meredith Vierra is not. Danny tries to make the excuse that the former is not on the clock, while the latter was. Peter, of course, is the most immature and bro-ish of the bunch, and he starts shooting Nerf darts at Mindy’s chest, then he makes snide comments about the size of her chest. The guys call the event “wings and stings,” which I thought was kinda funny. Mindy is understandably pissed. The bro-ishness continues when Mindy unveils her plans to turn the lot behind the office into a tranquil gazebo area for patients to enjoy. Peter thinks that’s stupid, and the other guys go along with that. Peter thinks a basketball court would be better.

Mindy can’t stand the fact that Peter doesn’t like her, so she asks Danny for advice. Danny suggests that Mindy try being nice to Peter. Maybe take him out for lunch or something. Mindy does just that, but she does it her way. She takes Peter to the girliest restaurant in New York City, the “U.S.A. Girl Café.” There’s even a pink “friendship cake” with sparklers. Peter is not amused. He accuses Mindy of being extremely self-centered and only planning activities she would like. He says that the other guys at the office only went along with her craziness all these years because they didn’t have anybody to plan anything better. Now they have him. Mindy is upset by this, especially because it means that the next stop on their friendship afternoon, “Tiara’s Champagne Palace,” is obviously off the table.

Mindy thinks she has the key to winning Peter over when the guys tell her that Peter is participating in an amateur MMA fight that night, she agrees to go along to support him. She agrees even though it means delaying her date night with hipster culture critic Jason. She blows off the date night by calling Jason from a cab when he’s already at the restaurant, and she cuts the phone conversation short due to a text from Danny. Mindy is a little horrified when she first arrives at the MMA fight. Then she tries to get into it for the sake of befriending Peter. She makes jokes about the fight being a bit homoerotic (which she sees as a positive thing), but the other guys don’t especially appreciate it. Things go from bad to worse when the whole Shulman crew is trying to pump up Peter before his fight by saying silly nasty things to him. Shit gets real when Mindy looks at her phone and tells Peter that his ex, Becky, just got engaged. Peter still isn’t over Becky, so he takes this news hard, and he’s kind of a wreck. Not a good state to be in when you’re about to fight a really scary-looking dude.

Meanwhile, Morgan tries to act on his crush on nurse Tamara. He tells Tamara that he thinks Mindy’s idea for the gazebo is a good one, and he wants to know if Tamara will help him with it. Tamara agrees to help because she’s pissed of that her long-time boyfriend, Rayron, has forgotten their 20 year anniversary. She was expecting dinner and a nice car, but Rayron’s just a fool. Anyway, the gazebo-building goes well, and afterwards, Morgan asks Tamara if she wants to go get Chinese food. Not sitting down in the restaurant, but by waiting for patrons to hand over their leftovers. Oh, Morgan. Just when you start to seem sweet, you go all creepy again. Anyway, Tamara declines the invite, reminding Morgan that she’s still with Rayron, even if Rayron is an idiot who forgot their anniversary.

The Morgan B-plot continues at the MMA fight, where Morgan goes backstage and is confronted by none other than Rayron. As Peter deals with his real fight out in the arena (more on that in just a bit), Morgan and Rayron have their own fight. That fight ends with Morgan throwing Rayron in the dumpster. Rayron starts to cry, and Morgan feels bad. He tells Rayron that he missed his anniversary, and he encourages Rayron to do something nice for Tamara to make up for it. Rayron does actually end up doing something kind of nice at the very end of the episode. He shows up at the office, and she says he looked up the gift for the 20th anniversary. It’s china, by the way. He ends up giving Tamara a panda bear (because of the China connection), and he says he’ll take her to a “menu restaurant.” Tamara really wanted that new car, but she’s touched Rayron tried to do anything at all.

Anyway, Mindy does eventually prove her worth to the guys. Peter is fighting horribly because he’s so distracted over Becky. Mindy knows the ring girl (who I believe is played by former “Girl Next Door” Kendra Wilkinson-Baskett) because she’s a patient, and Mindy convinces her to let her (Mindy) take over ring girl duties for a round. Mindy takes the opportunity to give Peter a heck of a pep talk. She tells him to pretend his opponent is somebody he really hates, like she hates “that Michael Jackson doctor.” Peter, of course, pictures his opponent as Becky’s new fiancé, and he starts kicking ass. Later, to prove she isn’t completely self-centered, Mindy turns the gazebo into a basketball court. Mindy and Peter also have a kind of sweet conversation about how while she doesn’t do bro things, if Peter ever needs to vent about exes, she’s his girl. Unfortunately for Mindy, all this new coworker approval comes at a cost. Jason breaks up with her.