Now that we’ve had sufficient time to slow our heart rates in the aftermath of the season 2 finale of “The Mindy Project,” it’s time to tone down the squealing and take a closer look at the episode, “Danny and Mindy.”
Mindy Kaling, who is both the creator and star of the series, is a noted Nora Ephron fanatic. That should come as no surprise to anyone who watched last night’s episode, which may have been more accurately titled “When Harry Met You’ve Got Catfished In Seattle.” When she started out writing, Kaling even adopted the pen name Mindy Ephron as an homage to the writer, who was responsible not only for funny and fantastic essays, but also the endlessly quotable movies Kaling — and her on-screen alter ego — love so much, such as “Sleepless In Seattle,” “When Harry Met Sally” and “You’ve Got Mail.”
To woo Mindy and win her back on “The Mindy Project,” fellow doctor Danny (Chris Messina) takes Mindy to “any place that Meg Ryan had ever laugh-cried.” (“And, boy, was it white,” he adds in voice-over.) He also paraphrases the most famous line from “When Harry Met Sally,” meets Mindy at the top of the Empire State Building in a grand romantic gesture, visits Mindy when she’s sick in bed a la “You’ve Got Mail” and more little nods noticed elsewhere on the webosphere.
There’s one reference that seemed to escape everyone’s eye, however, to the point where Kaling herself had to point it out on Instagram: Instead of the usual Kaling International logo for Kaling’s production company accompanying the show’s closing credits, Kaling added a lit-up Empire State Building to the usually empty view outside the logo’s window. The ESB is, of course, a famous Ephron locale and Kaling’s character’s favorite place in New York City. D’awww. How’s that for an I <3 NY moment?
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