The pilot episode of “The Mindy Project,” which aired in 2012, quickly established Mindy Lahiri (creator Mindy Kaling) and her love of romantic comedies, which set some unrealistic expectations for her own love life.
Still, it should come as no surprise that the series finale of “The Mindy Project,” which started streaming on Hulu on Monday night, ended in typical rom-com fashion:
• The main character has a light-bulb moment when a complicated question about a soul mate becomes crystal clear.
The past six seasons (on Fox and then Hulu) centered on Mindy and Danny Castellano (Chris Messina) as the will-they-won’t-they-couple. Both brilliant doctors and self-centered weirdos, they went from workplace enemies to begrudging friends to boyfriend-girlfriend.
Though they were polar opposites, they fell in love. They got engaged after Mindy got pregnant. Once the baby was born, however, Danny had a personality transplant in the third season and became terrible, as he pressured Mindy to be a stay-at-home mom and was furious when she wanted to open her own fertility clinic. They broke up in the fourth-season premiere.
Danny showed up as a guest star occasionally, and in the sixth season, he appeared again after his mother, Annette (Rhea Perlman), was diagnosed with breast cancer. As Danny watched Mindy take care of Annette, he realized he might have made a mistake in leaving her. In the series finale, he even came to the stunning realization that owning a fertility clinic did not get in the way of Mindy’s parental responsibilities. When he discovered that the clinic was on the brink of closing, he decided to invest in the company.
While Mindy was reeling from this unexpected generosity, she was forced to give a toast at a wedding. The bride and groom were also strange opposites but over time came to the conclusion that they were soul mates.
• A dramatic romantic gesture.
Mindy sprinted to the hospital, where Danny was with his mother, recovering from her mastectomy. While Annette could tell exactly why Mindy left the wedding early (she wanted to tell Danny she was in love with him!), Danny was oblivious. Mindy left the room, dejected.
• A kiss and happily ever after.
Danny frantically searched for Mindy, and finally found her with her arm stuck in the vending machine in the doctor’s lounge. After Danny helped her successfully retrieve candy, he asked, “It was brought to my attention that you might be here to tell me something?”
“Oh no, I said what I needed to say,” Mindy said breezily. “I wanted to check in on your mom, get some sour straws and head home … wait, what did you think I was going to say?”
“I don’t know. This is dumb,” Danny said. He paused. “But I thought maybe you’d say that — you love me again? And that you want to try to make things work?”
Another pause. “And if I had said that,” Mindy responded, “What would you have said?”
“I would have said that I’d like that,” Danny said immediately.
“But I didn’t say that,” Mindy pointed out.
“Well I really misjudged this,” Danny said, turning to leave. “Sorry. Have a great night.”
“I wasn’t going to say that I loved you again,” Mindy said. Danny turned around. “I was going to say that I never stopped loving you,” she said. “And I don’t think I ever will.”
The show closed as the two of them cuddled on a couch — an ending very much fit for a rom-com.
