The Mindy Project: Annette Castellano Is My Nemesis

September 23, 2014 10:24 PM - Season 3, Episode 2

Danny's mother, Annette (Rhea Perlman), drops in to visit her son, and Mindy only assaults her once.
posted by filthy light thief (10 comments total)

Meh. Comedown from the season premiere.

Good: Mindy being unable to see that Annette either thought she was the cleaning lady or is hella racist. Mindy's perfect plan to win over Annette (and her friend).

Bad: Morgan's totally sitcommy subplot (minus Tamra and Peter sharing their insane theory on why women are manipulative). Also, Annette being so badly and baldly manipulative.

All in all, I give this one a B-. Funny, yes; fits well into the series, no.
posted by Etrigan at 3:35 AM on September 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

It was nice to see Rhea Perlman out there having fun. Good for her!

Also liked Mindy reading the Wikipedia of Castle and learning enough to make small talk with mom. I have done that sort of thing before!
posted by onlyconnect at 5:55 AM on September 24, 2014 [4 favorites]

It was nice to see Rhea Perlman out there having fun.

Is it just me, or are Rhea Perlman and Mindy Sterling morphing into each other?
posted by Etrigan at 6:33 AM on September 24, 2014

Not as good as last week, but still okay for some smiles. I laughed at Danny's assumption that Mindy would be wrapped in so many robes at their wedding that his Mom wouldn't see her. I think "nobody knows what religion Mindy is" is a recurring joke. And oh my goodness the "now he knows the layout of the house!" had me rolling because it's something my grandmother would have said.

I didn't like the dogs subplot, and I guess we're getting no explanation as to why Betsy left the practice.

But I hope to see more of Rhea Perlman and Danny's loser brother in the future.
posted by kimberussell at 11:22 AM on September 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

Am I the only one who is still not certain whether Tamra is actually allergic to dogs or was just fake pratfalling to keep up her ruse?
posted by donajo at 3:35 PM on September 24, 2014

You are not. Especially given her total lack of reaction to Morgan hitting her with the "EpiPen."
posted by Etrigan at 5:06 PM on September 24, 2014

I think she was allergic because she missed up her hair! That's verboten for Tamara.
posted by viggorlijah at 8:24 PM on September 24, 2014

I liked that Mindy was actually right about being good at winning over parents. I'm so used to people on sitcoms claiming to be good at things right before disaster strikes. (Also, that her jokey present was apparently exactly Annette's style, even though it didn't seem to be Mindy's normal style.)
posted by Margalo Epps at 9:27 AM on September 25, 2014 [3 favorites]

I recently binge watched all the eps. I found season 1 to be much better than season 2. The first season the show was very self-aware and felt like a sendup of typical sitcoms; now, not so much. However, at least a couple of episodes were aired out of filming order and season 2 didn't appear to have that issue.

What happened to Mindy's best friend (the actress from True Blood)? I liked her in this role.

Didn't Mindy once refer to constellations painted on the ceiling of her bedroom? I ask because she recently said she wasn't into astronomy and that surprised me.

Why is it good that Mindy can't see she's being insulted? Doesn't that make her incredibly stupid?
posted by Ik ben afgesneden at 10:44 AM on September 28, 2014

Ik ben afgesneden: Why is it good that Mindy can't see she's being insulted? Doesn't that make her incredibly stupid?

I considered her to be more self-focused/vain, and maybe less cynical than the viewers (like you and me) who picked up on the fact that she was being insulted before she picked up on it.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:37 AM on October 1, 2014