At post-work happy hour, Mindy stews in the corner while Nurse Morgan tells her all the ways that she’s better than Paul–none are too promising until Morgan reveals that Paul is an alcohol lightweight. Mindy, who drinks like “an Irish police captain,” sees her chance to hustle Paul for the better office. A Dropkick Murphys shots-off montage ends with Mindy’s victory. “I ate an entire loaf of bread before I came here,” Mindy says before downing a flaming shot and blowing a smoke ring in Paul’s face.
In the other part of the bar, an unhinged Tom rejects the advances of two well-meaning women, and has an awkward moment with Mindy. Jeremy criticizes Danny’s friendship with the relationship rejects: “If I wanted to be depressed, I would’ve stuck to my original plan to eat a waffle in the bath.”
Mindy carries a wasted Paul back to his home (which is, incidentally, the bachelor pad Danny leased to Paul after moving in with Christina), and Mindy doubles back after leaving Paul in front of the door him, tenderly kisses him, and runs away as a drunken Paul calls the neighbors for help after being taken advantage of (it’s funny because it’s absurdly shoe-on-the-other-foot satirical). Later, Christina finds trouser-less Paul in the hallway while returning some of Danny’s belongings.
Paul confides in Mindy the next morning that he had sex with Christina and swears Mindy to secrecy after blaming her as “an accessory to sex” for getting him drunk in the shots-off, but abruptly quits the practice to “join the Army” when he’s unable to face Danny. Mindy hilariously lies to save Paul by saying she slept with him, but Paul comes clean and earns a punch in the face from Danny.
Jeremy breaks up the fight, but refuses to fire Paul. Again, Jeremy nails his comedic high-maintenance British foppishness with a one-liner: “Be a gentleman, call him a Welshman and move on.” Danny quits and goes back to his sad group of basketball divorces, but earns a pep talk from both Mindy and Kris Humphries to return to the office.
Paul records his resignation, and so ends James Franco’s story arc on “The Mindy Project.” I have to admit, as a James Franco critic, that I found his cameo to be better than I expected. But I’m also looking forward to episodes that show off more interaction between the central cast, since they do just fine without special guest stars.
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