The final episode of season 4 of the hit sitcom The Mindy Project left the future of Mindy’s relationship with her fiancé Danny up in the air. While the once budding romance began with promise, it has since become clear that the two are far from a perfect match. Danny’s attitude and actions towards Mindy have been on a slow and steady decline since the birth of their son, Leo, leaving even the biggest fans of Dr. Danny Castellano to question Mindy’s decision to remain in their relationship. Here’s why Mindy needs to stand up for herself and dump Danny once and for all.
1. Danny puts Mindy down
Danny is constantly trying to change Mindy, which he makes very apparent by putting her down with subtle jabs. He teases her about everything from her diet to interest in pop culture. While his tone may be joking, his criticism is clear.
2. Danny is a huge hypocrite
While Danny claims to be traditional, his traditional values only seem to apply to Mindy. He disproves of Mindy’s past because she slept around, while at the same time admitting to sleeping with multiple women before her and being a stripper.
3. Danny encourages her to give up her dreams
On multiple occasions, Danny tries to sabotage or hinder Mindy’s professional career so that she can devote her life to his and Leo’s needs. When that doesn’t work, he manipulates Mindy into staying at home with Leo even after she states her desire to go back to work. Danny even goes so far as to force his own wish to have more children onto Mindy, who has expressed only wanting one child.
4. Danny doesn’t trust her
After manipulating Mindy into staying home with Leo, Mindy discovers Danny has been watching her from a Nanny-Cam. This is not only a total invasion of privacy, but it also shows Danny doesn’t even trust her to be at home with their child unsupervised. This is unsurprising, as Danny often calls into question Mindy’s parenting skills, even calling her a “bad mother”.
5. Danny doesn’t value Mindy’s opinion
If all of the other reasons weren’t enough to end their relationship, Mindy can’t escape the glaring reality that Danny doesn’t truly care about what she thinks or how she feels. Every time Mindy expresses her opinion, Danny states his more aggressively and it’s the end of the discussion, regardless of her feelings. More seriously, it is suggesting that Danny doesn’t care about her well-being or personal entity.
Hopefully, a departure from this unhealthy relationship would mean the return of the confident, fearless woman viewers were introduced to in season 1.