#passingpleasantries

haha thank you!! I do love the classics but that’s mainly because my parents started early and always bought beautiful copies of them for me and my siblings so that we would want to read them. FUN FACT: there was a girl in my class who decided she didn’t like Jane Austen (before she’d even read Jane Austen) and she was very stubborn and liked to argue about it with me so every year on her birthday I bought her one of Jane Austen’s books and then she’d read it and we’d talk about it. She now owns all of them. XD They’re great gifts too! People love getting books especially if you write them a letter in the inside. I’m getting carried away.

Okay…thank you so much!!! This message makes me so happy I’m going to answer it publicly so I don’t lose it. :) THANK YOU. It’s an extremely unpopular opinion and I know that but sometimes (a lot of the time) I’m tired of feeling like I’m not allowed to say what I believe. So this means so much to me that you agree and like what I have to say. 

Ah I love this message and I’m so happy you agree with me! It has so much potential as a show but it keeps wasting it. I feel like it lives solely for its jokes and its jokes are funny and endlessly quotable but the story lines and characters feel like they exist to serve the jokes instead of the other way around.

Remember Peter? I loved Peter! But I really wish they would have taken the time to develop his character and give him a love interest that the audience really cared about. And it’s like…they almost did? But then they didn’t. I know he ends up with Lauren but I’m not sure that’s actually her name and that’s a bad sign! I should have cared about Lauren; I was ready to care about Lauren but they just didn’t convincingly develop that relationship. It felt like everything about it, all of the insights into them as a couple, all of their dynamic was crafted solely to be a series of punchlines. And I remember the punchlines and I love them! Remember when Peter went out to dinner and he got into a fight with Lauren about something and then he stood up to leave and said “I’m going to pay my 1/3 of the bill and leave now.” (Because she had a son.) And I laughed so hard but it’s pretty indicative of the show that I remember this line but I don’t remember what they were fighting about and I? Don’t? Remember? Lauren? or liking her at all because I’m pretty sure she had no character. Ugh.

And now I’m on a roll and I’m writing way too much anyway so I will keep going and say that I feel like there is so much wasted potential for cute and satisfying story lines. Everyone is pretty talented and charismatic but they’re never given anything to work with but jokes. Every big plot point, every breakdown, every thing that happens just feels like a vehicle for Mindy’s one liners. Take Jeremy. Do you remember the episode where Jeremy spends the weekend at Betsy’s house with her family for thanksgiving? (Maybe?) I’m probably just overly sentimental and want everyone to get together with everyone but I thought there was real potential for a surprising and sweet love story there. Maybe I’m crazy but I don’t think I was totally making it up. At the very least they could have developed a friendship or something. But none of them ever do.

I love that this show is surprising and doesn’t always go where you think it’s going to even in its jokes. I love all of the weirdly specific tidbits we get about the characters’ inner thoughts. But the only person besides Mindy that I feel really has a character is Danny and so his jokes are funny because he actually has a distinct personality. When he says something in or out of character both are delightful. But characters like Tamra and Jeremy are just punchlines most of the time. And I want more people to care about than just Mindy and Danny. (Also get rid of Morgan. He is no longer funny. He’s funny in small doses. Not continuously.) Maybe I’m expecting too much from a 20 minute sitcom but I know Mindy wrote on the office. I know she can do better so it’s frustrating.

Also she really really needs to stop with the Catholic punchlines. And just because I’m Catholic doesn’t mean I can’t at least see the humor in an occasional funny, even irreverent, Catholic joke. Danny’s joke about Pope Francis “being way too chill” made me laugh so hard. (Does that make me a bad person?) But sometimes she goes way way overboard and it stops being funny and becomes not only disrespectful but just plain predictable and boring. Pick on another religion Mindy.

Nick Name(s): The last two I heard were Shirls and Squirrely. Birthday: November 21st Sexual orientation: Polysexual, since it includes nonbinary attraction. Height: 5'1'' maybe?  Favorite color: Blue and dark teal One place that makes me happy: Thrift stores/used bookstores Favorite movie: I finally saw Blue is the Warmest Color, so let's say that. It was gorgeous. Last book you read: Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine. I would encourage everybody to read it! If you get bored by technical writing, don't worry about it because the book just drips with sarcasm. 

I love that people call you Laney! And I would never sue you for Harry Styles fanfiction. Never.