This Is How Danny & Mindy Ended Things On 'The Mindy Project' Finale

SPOILERS ahead for the series finale of The Mindy Project, which is titled "It Had To Be You" — and us fans of the series know exactly what that When Harry Met Sally reference means. Any other ending would be slightly disappointing. Despite the show's thorough takedown of romantic comedy tropes, Mindy ends up with Danny on The Mindy Project as we always knew she would.

While the wedding in the series finale belonged to Morgan and Tamra, the big romantic moment was for Mindy. After getting married and divorced and kind of giving up on romance all together for a spell, she took another chance and got a new version of the ending she always wanted with the love of her life. She even had a sign in the form of a necklace from Danny that said "run" in Italian. At the end of the episode, Mindy runs to Danny at the hospital, but the opportune moment to make a declaration of love passes. His mother, still receiving chemo treatments, is awake. His brother is there, and Danny himself is awkwardly oblivious to Mindy's intentions. So Mindy backs out of the room. Thankfully, Danny's family tells him what was supposed to happen, and he runs after her as well. Mutual running! That's a romantic comedy dream that's rarely realized.

Anyway, Danny says to Mindy, "This is dumb, but I thought maybe you'd say that you loved me again. That you wanna try to make things work." It's a hypothetical, and the moment almost passes a second time. "I wasn't gonna say that I loved you again," Mindy then replies. "I was gonna say that I never stopped loving you and I don't think I ever will." Just like that, simply and honestly, they're back together.

Them getting back together still doesn't follow the insane (albeit romantic) logic of a Sandra Bullock flick. There are no fireworks. It's not like the scene cuts to Danny and Mindy getting married, or breaking out into a musical number. They argue for a minute about where they're going to live together, and what their surname should be, but then just settle down in front of the hospital waiting room television for the night. The fact that Danny and Mindy are choosing to spend their lives together is what matters — not any of the artificial details. The fact that Mindy doesn't care about those details in the moment is a huge sign of growth from her character. That's what "happily ever after" should be all about, the person instead of the milestone.

Danny and Mindy's romantic reunion has been built up throughout Season 6. Not in a "will they or won't they" kind of way, but in an honest way. The two of them have a lot of history. They're a good team, whether they're fighting a private school parents' group or taking care of Danny's mother. They also have a child together. Not only does Danny help financially support Mindy's business when Jody suddenly leaves to follow his own romantic dreams, but Danny apologizes for his past problematic behavior. He's making amends and making it better. The two of them are more than just a bickering OTP. They really love each other.

Many of Mindy's ex-boyfriends showed up in the final season, but it always had to be Danny. Your 'shipping instincts way back in Season 1 were not wrong. A show about romance was probably always going to have a romantic ending, even if Mindy Lahiri learned a lot of hard truths about dating and marriage along the way. This wasn't the splashy, sparkly romantic ending that the Mindy of seasons' past would have preferred. It's not the strong anti-romantic comedy convention statement that audience may have predicted either, especially after that Reese Witherspoon episode. Though it's an expected ending for the series, that doesn't mean it also wasn't the right one.