Mindy Lahiri should have no problem going to Los Angeles. Her entire life circles around celebrity culture and her hopes that one day her life will become a romantic comedy. So sending Mindy to L.A. is a perfect idea, yet somehow it’s not funny in the ways you would expect it to be (and doesn’t really make sense as much as it should).
“L.A.” sends Mindy, Danny, Morgan and Peter to Los Angeles for a doctor’s conference, yet we never see it since the show jumps the entire week. One minute they’re heading to L.A., the next, Morgan is making sure Danny doesn’t spend his last day in L.A. locked up in his hotel room. What happened to the last six days?
You would also think there would be some focus on Mindy’s pop-culture obsession and the fact that she’s in the mecca of said pop-culture, yet she’s more focused on the fact that she asked Cliff to move in with her right before leaving for California. Making it even more difficult is that she’s ran into her ex Casey, who now owns a shoe store called Dope Feat.
Meanwhile, Peter is trying to rekindle his relationship with Maria Menounos, while Morgan takes Danny on an Old West Hollywood tour and calls up Danny’s father for the two of them to meet for the first time in years.
Granted, “L.A.” is a funny episode, but the more I think about it, the more it all just felt sort of “off.” I would’ve much rather have seen Peter and Mindy trying to recreate their Entourage aspirations then have Mindy running into Casey who has no purpose anymore other than to break up Mindy and Cliff at the end of the episode. I will say though, Glenn Howerton is quite good this episode, showing a sense of uncertainty that I didn’t expect this character to have. Frankly, I imagined Mindy would come back to find him cheating on her, but instead, his instincts as a divorce attorney have made him much more wary of the signs of break ups.
Frankly, it doesn’t even really make sense for Morgan or Peter to be there at all (besides that Morgan should be in every scene of this show). However, pairing off Danny and Morgan does have promise, it just hits the brakes as soon as it’s taking off.
It should be pointed out that “L.A.” is just the first part of this two-parter, but it already feels like there’s already been too many missed opportunities. I mean, we seriously missed six days of this vacation? Was it really just all seminars like vaginal rejuvenation for obese women? Even so, that could totally work! I also imagine that in those six days, Kevin Smith has been following Mindy around everywhere. I must admit, I really love this recurring joke that whenever Mindy leaves New York, Kevin Smith is there to call Mindy fat.
Part two is setting itself up as a heavier episode, filled with breakups and family reunions, so it doesn’t seem likely that the vacation aspect is going to get any more attention next week. It’s also sort of funny that a show that takes place in New York, yet is shot in Los Angeles, has decided to have a “vacation” episode that takes place in the city the show it actually shot in. I wish “L.A.” would have taken more advantage of its new surroundings, but maybe I’m wrong. Maybe next week will be all Turtle impressions and not painful moments for these four. For once, this show should have been having fun, but instead decided for meaningful character moments. Some vacation this turned out to be.