The Mindy Project has earned a reputation for subverting normal television tropes. Perhaps it was for this reason that the rebellious (yet still adorable) show was canceled by Fox in 2015. Thankfully Hulu swooped in at the eleventh hour and saved The Mindy Project, which premiered its first episode of the season on October 4th.
Mindy Kaling recently sat down with Indiewire to discuss the craziness and love-addled-ness of last season. After an unplanned hookup with her ex, Danny (played by Chris Messina), Mindy is torn between her past and her future, as her new colleague Jody decided to win her affection via real estate by buying her an adjoining apartment. The drama is even more heightened when its revealed that Danny had a fiancee during the time of the romantic elevator tryst. What does all this mean for Mindy?
According to Kaling, “The three characters in this love triangle are incredibly flawed. They’ve done hugely wrong, immoral things time and time and time again. I like dramatic irony, so for me it was really fun for my character to go through the finale without knowing that the former love of her life was engaged. It makes things very complicated.”
Kaling goes on to say, “I’m hoping that when you watch the premiere, you’re like, ‘I hope one of these characters behaves in a good way and makes the moral choice.’ They kind of all redeem themselves, and it’s I think a very satisfying and romantic conclusion to that triangle.”
Character growth is a huge strength for The Mindy Project, given that the titular character of Mindy started out the series by going to her married ex’s party before drunkenly crashing her bike into a pool. The show has grown with Mindy, giving her a husband and a kid before taking apart the marriage in a very organic way.
Its even willing to make more controversial choices for its plot lines. Kaling describes an idea for an episode she’s been experimenting with for quite some time: “We decided the most fun way to do it for us was I’m still in it, but I wake up as a white man. We get an actor to play me with my voice in his head, so that I’m present throughout. We get to see the fun of a really funny comedy actor, who we have not cast yet, get to do his inspiration of what [I] would be like in a white man’s body.”
With the hundredth episode nearing, it’s heartening to hear that the world of The Mindy Project is still looking to expand its horizons.
The Mindy Project airs every Tuesday on Hulu.