The Mindy Project: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

The Mindy Project: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman February 4, 2020

Mindy Kaling not only created The Mindy Project, she also stars in the medical RomComDram that bears her name right in the title, a title that doesn't exactly hint at what the show is about, except that it's about herself (albeit a character based on her mother), seemingly all but playing herself, in a medical setting. That's a lot of emphasis on the person rather than the content. And why not? The Mindy Project follows the exploits of a New York OB/GYN both in the office and around her personal life with emphasis on her romantic expectations, frustrations, hopes, dreams, successes, failures, and anything and everything that cycles through her head and her heart. Originally titled It's Messy, the show deals with the inner workings of the body's physical functions but also its soulful cries for need, its desire to find its place, and the heart's yearning for companionship, all built around an affable, humorous, and somewhat raunchy front.

Official synopsis: Mindy Lahiri is a talented obstetrician navigating the tricky waters of her chaotic personal life as she pursues her dreams of becoming the perfect woman, finding happiness, and getting her perfect romantic comedy ending. Mindy shares a practice with a ground of doctors, none of whom makes life any less complicated for her. There's Doctor Danny Castellano whose on-again off-again romance with Mindy keeps the office staff on their toes, Doctor Jeremy Reed the office's managing partner and resident punching bag, ex-con-turned-nurse Morgan Tookers, the gossipy Tamra and the grumpy Beverly. [It's] packed with amazing guest stars, unexpected challenges, and hilarious, heartfelt moments on Mindy's road to perfection.

The Mindy Project began life on FOX, airing its first episode in May 2013. Three seasons later, FOX canned the show. As happens more than infrequently these days, the show found a new home for its fourth, fifth, and sixth seasons on streaming service Hulu. And the show never missed a beat. Whether in its maiden voyage on FOX or its journey into the streaming service world, The Mindy Project maintained a minty (Mindy) freshness, defined by its core character beats and fresh-angle approaches to life, love (within the prism of all of its complex emotional and sexual moving parts), work, play, and what it is that makes people tick in the big city in the modern world. The show's ability to blend together a humorous beat with a romantic current, all the while soulfully exploring its lead character's essence, saw the show thrive on several levels. This combination is certainly not new or exclusive to The Mindy Project, but Kaling and company pull it off with charm, grace, and accessible heart and soul.

Right out of the gate, the show builds its lead as a RomCom quoting hopeless romantic in love with the idea of love perhaps more so than love itself. Finding the right man -- for emotional and sexual satisfaction -- is her life’s pursuit, even beyond her medical profession, which, of course, requires some amount of near total dedication in its own right. That’s one of the areas where the show finds so much of its character, when she’s forced to live her two lives -- one as a medical professional, another as a hopeless romantic in search of the next man-fix -- and how she does, or does not, juggle those often disparate and nearly incompatible pursuits. But Mindy thrives talking shop, whether on the hospital floor or in the bedroom, and Kaling’s command of character, while surrounded by a cast that absolutely understands the dueling simplicities and complexities that drive the character and steer the show, sees The Mindy Project thrive through six fruitful, funny, and fulfilling seasons.

The Mindy Project: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

All six seasons of The Mindy Project: The Complete Series arrive on Blu-ray in this 10-disc 1080p Blu-ray complete series collection from Mill Creek. This is a fairly good television show Blu-ray presentation from the studio. It looks good at-a-glance, and in general, but reveals some compression issues upon closer inspection. The presentation does fare rather well overall despite the macroblocking, which is not usually egregiously intense or to the level of plain visibility and distraction as seen in some other Mill Creek TV shows. This one's fairly well balanced given the compromise of content versus disc space per disc. Macroblocking is generally light with modest background density but rarely does it compete with, never mind overwhelm, foreground fine detail and overall image clarity and integrity, which all fare surprisingly well. Facial textures are impressively sharp, always revealing relatively high yield clarity and intimacy of pores, hairs, and other features. Various medical doodads and hospital location textures are sharp and revealing, while clothing -- from scrubs to Mindy's splashy, flashy date attire -- is pleasantly well defined throughout the series run.

Colors are nicely reproduced as well. Core tones such as bright white hospital jackets or the scrubs worn during more intensive work find good, accurate tonal clarity and fidelity throughout. City details spring to life with fine complimentary colors, and there is rarely a time when locations don't splash with color to pull the viewer into any given scene. The image handles intense tones and subdued shades with equal precision. These may not be the most robust, richest, or truest colors ever seen on Blu-ray, but all appear rather faithful to the show's intended contrast and post production color adjustments. Skin tones are healthy and full while black levels aren't concerning for being raised, nor are they prone to crush. This isn't a bad effort at all. There's room for improvement, yes, but all things considered this is one of Mill Creek's better releases of a digitally photographed television show.

The Mindy Project: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Mindy Project: The Complete Series' DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack delivers a fruitful, vibrant listening experience. While it's not a full-on surround extravaganza with endless moving part, the core components present with pleasant stage engagement and solid overall clarity which extends to all elements including, predominantly, music and dialogue. Music plays with impressive fidelity and delightful stage penetration. It's wide and clear and folds in back channel and low end support as needed. Whether light score or popular music, musical positioning is effective and detail is superb. Dialogue is likewise a strong point highlight, utilizing the center channel to carry while delivering with exceptionally lifelike detail. The track offers a good bit of support ambience, both inside the hospital and across various city locations, including general exteriors and restaurant and other date arenas where so much of the action so often takes place. The track is very efficient and professional. Listeners will find it to be an agreeably complimentary experience that has all of its moving parts in good working order.

The Mindy Project: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Mill Creek's 10-disc Blu-ray collection of The Mindy Project: The Complete Series includes deleted scenes and gag reels scattered throughout the set. See below for a breakdown of what's included and where. The set ships in a single oversized Amaray-style case inside of which each disc appears on its own hub, most on one of several interior leafs. The set ships in a basic slip box. No DVD or digital copies are included.

Disc One:

• Deleted Scenes (1080p): Included are scenes from the following episodes: "Hiring and Firing" (3:29), "Halloween" (3:21), "Danny Castellano Is My Gynecologist" (0:47), "Josh and Mindy's Christmas Party" (0:48), "Bunk Bed" (2:25), and "Hooking Up Is Hard" (0:43).

Disc Two:

• Deleted Scenes (1080p): Included are scenes from the following episodes: "Harry & Sally" (1:22), "Danny's Friend" (1:53), and "Frat Party" (0:38).

Disc Three:

• Deleted Scenes (1080p): Included are scenes from the following episodes: "All My Problems Solved Forever..." (1:22), "The Other Dr. L" (4:15), "Music Festival" (0:56), "Magic Morgan" (2:07), "Wiener Night" (1:37), "Bro Club for Dudes" (4:31), "Sk8er Man" (1:19), "You've Got Sext" (1:40), "Mindy Lahiri Is a Racist" (1:01), "Wedding Crushers" (1:15), and "Christmas Party Sex Trap" (1:16).

Disc Four:

• Deleted Scenes (1080p): Included are scenes from the following episodes: "Danny Castellano Is My Personal Trainer" (1:37), "L.A." (3:57), "The Desert" (2:12), "French Me, You Idiot" (1:53), "Indian BBW" (1:43), "Girl Crush" (2:04), "Think Like a Peter" (1:10), "An Officer and a Gynecologist" (2:51), "Girl Next Door" (0:29), and "Danny and Mindy" (2:12).
• Gag Reel (1080p, 12:00): Humorous moments from the shoot.

Disc Seven:

• Deleted Scenes (1080p): Included are scenes from the following episodes: "Leo Castellano Is My Son" (2:23), "The Departed" (0:38), "The Lahiris and the Castellanos" (1:12), and "When Mindy Met Danny" (0:33).

Disc Eight:

• Deleted Scenes (1080p): Included are scenes from the following episodes: "Will They or Won't They" (2:05), "2 Fast 2 Serious" (1:51), "Bernardo & Anita" (1:38), "Baby Got Backslide" (1:33), "There's No Crying in Softball" (0:33), and "My Kid Stays in the Picture" (1:02).
• Gag Reel (1080p, 14:46): Humorous moments from the shoot.

The Mindy Project: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

At its core, The Mindy Project is fairly content to simply keep plowing through familiar RomCom/raunch territory, but there's a heart and soul deeper within that elevates the material a good bit. Kaling is excellent as the lead, delivering perfectly executed work as a lovestruck romantic at heart, a fulfillment seeker who wants her desires satisfied in the moment and in the larger picture of love and marriage. There's plenty of other strong character beats and humor to be found. It's a well balanced show. The Mindy Project: The Complete Series delivers surprisingly strong video and audio qualities. Extras are limited to deleted scenes and gag reels, which are fairly multitudinous, if not a bit scattered. Recommended.