Oh joyous Tuesdays. It was a good night when The Mindy Project returned to our lives, and all of our hopes and dreams were confirmed when Mindy and Danny survived the summer hiatus and were still a couple in the first episode. After what felt like the longest wait for the happy couple to get together, it was nice to see that these two entered into a zone of couple normalcy, where it's OK to go through each other's underwear draws and keep huge secrets from each other — because that's what normal couples do, right? Sure. As long as it ends with Danny Castellano stripping to "American Woman," that can be normal.
On Tuesday's premiere, Mindy was rifling through Danny's top drawer when she found a hot pink thong with rhinestones that spelled out "Diamond". Now, if she had put two and two together and realized that 1) Danny is full of surprises and 2) Danny did an amazing dance to Aaliyah's "Try Again" last season, she probably would have realized right off the bat that that thong was not Danny's ex-girlfriend's. But what fun would that have been if we knew right away that Danny was an ex-stripper. Answer: no fun.
When Mindy found out that Danny used to "dance" to earn money to get through school, the two got in their first couple fight of the season about trusting each other. Danny said he didn't trust Mindy, and Mindy acted like she didn't just tell the entire office that Danny's mouth "is like a thirsty camel at a desert oasis." After Danny realized he can trust Mindy, he "proves" it to her by revealing his secrets. The first secret was that he was a stripper named "Diamond Dan", which helped him get through medical school. Diamond. Dan. Let all of the "Diamond Dan" glory sink in and then watch Danny key in on his "Diamond Dan" skills and strip for Mindy to "American Woman" by Lenny Kravitz.
First of all, Danny would be dancing to a song called "American Woman." Have you ever "met" anyone more patriotic that Danny Castellano? I didn't think so. Secondly, whoa. I think we all grabbed our glasses — real or imaginary — to get a better look at Danny's dancing skills. This isn't the first time Danny has proven to be a man with great moves. Last season, Danny's secret Santa gift to Mindy was a self-choreographed dance to "Try Again" by Aaliyah, and it was a close second to this dance.
Let's hope that Danny has a more moves to show us, because I am really hoping he has a strip dance to Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark".
Images: Isabella Vosmikova/FOX
