'The Mindy Project' Season 2 Episode 2 Recap: Why the Internet is Up in Arms

In this week's episode of The Mindy Project, "The Other Dr. L," Kris Humphries throws major shade at Kim Kardashian, and the internet is up in arms about rape jokes.

Let’s start with the basics. Mindy faces off with her replacement at the practice, sex therapist Dr. Paul Leotard (James Franco). The new Dr. L does not care that Mindy has decided to return early from her year in Haiti with Casey, which was, in Mindy’s words, "a service trip to the worst place in the world."

Paul and Mindy battle for a spot at the practice. After she's relegated to working in a modified janitorial closet, Mindy wins her office back from Paul by defeating him in a drinking competition. This is where things get problematic. After the drinking competition concludes, Mindy unceremoniously deposits a wasted Paul outside Danny's old apartment, where he's staying. Danny’s ex-wife Christina finds Paul there when she is returning Danny’s stuff.

The next morning, Paul tells Mindy that he slept with Christina while he was blacked out. He fears that Danny will be upset that he slept with Christina. As a number of people noted, a blacked out Paul could not have consensual sex with Christina. Unfortunately, the show treats the sex as consensual, and Danny blames Paul for sleeping with Christina. The two men fight, and Danny quits the practice after Jeremy refuses to fire Paul.

Danny retreats to the safety of the Getting Over It Gang, a solidarity group and basketball league for men struggling with difficult breakups. In the show’s funniest scene, Humphries makes a cameo as a member of the aforementioned gang, and mocks the Kardashians. He convinces Danny to rejoin the practice with Mindy.

At the end of the episode, Paul chooses to quit the practice in deference to Danny. This returns the show to the equilibrium it had Season 1, before Mindy departed for Haiti. While I’m sad to see Franco go, I’m excited to see Mindy back at the practice for real.

Quick Hits

Mindy Madness: 2/10

Sure, Mindy's demand that the practice immediately fire her replacement after she changes her travel plans is unreasonable, but it's relatively mild on the Mindy scale.

Star Power: 8/10

The show packed a lot of big names into a 20 minute episode, with appearances by Chloe Sevigny, Franco, and Humphries. Still, Humphries is the only one we haven't seen before.

The Ex Factor: 10/10

Two exes in a single episode? To be fair, Mindy’s ex-boyfriend Tom was pretty funny.

Problematic Points: 10/10

It’s hard to get around the whole rape thing. Also, Tamara continues to be a big racial stereotype.

Morgan Time: 4/10

We need more Morgan. Period. Ike Barinholtz provides a great comedic foil to pretty much every character on the show.