Photo: Fox
One Of These Things Is Not Like The Others
In The Mindy Project's supersized cast, one character seems to be visiting from a different show, and maybe it's time for her to head home.
Last week, I gave a little flak to The Mindy Project for its addiction to stuntcasting. But after watching the latest episode, I realized that guest stars like Glenn Howerton or Bill Hader actually fit better into the show's plots than does one full-time, opening-credits, in-promotional-posters-level cast member. Betsy: I'm not sure we'll be needing your services any longer.
The problem isn't Zoe Jarman, who plays her. Jarman has been one of my favourite actors since Huge (R.I.P.), and, at first, Betsy fulfilled several important supporting-cast-member-type functions: to be jealous of and borderline hostile to the bridge-and-tunnel-y Shauna (Amanda Setton), and to hero-worship Mindy (Mindy Kaling). But as the show has gone through its many reboots, the need for Betsy to exist has gotten smaller and smaller: she's now being doubled by a second office administrator, Beverly (Beth Grant), so even her job is redundant; and between her actual little brother (Utkarsh Ambudkar) and her program-assigned "Little Sister" (Francia Raisa), Mindy's figurative-tongue-bath needs are being met elsewhere.
But the bigger issue for Betsy -- other than the fact that even though I've seen every episode, I had to go on IMDb to find out what her character is even called -- is one of temperament. The arrival of Adam Pally has caused some commentators and critics to worry that his weirdness risks giving the show one Morgan (Ike Barinholtz) in two bodies. Pally's Peter is definitely weird, but that's the direction the show has been going for a while: everyone is weird. Beverly's barely functional and may still live in her car for all we know. Tamra (Xosha Roquemore) is at least as unprofessional as Morgan, if not more so, since at least Morgan knows everyone's name. You think things might settle down when Mindy starts dating a progressive, philanthropic minister (Anders Holm), but psych, he actually wants to be a DJ.
In the midst of these weirdos, Betsy stands out for being normal. She hasn't even been part of any storyline this season, never mind having one revolve around her: what could she possibly do that any of her co-workers would even pay attention to? This is the closest she gets to delivering a comedic line in the latest episode.
Betsy: They are a GREAT couple.
Morgan: YOU'RE a great couple!
Betsy: Oh, thank you!
It's not that a show can't work with a cast full of psychos: I enjoyed it for the entire series run of 30 Rock. But if that's the direction Mindy is going, then it needs to give Betsy -- its Kenneth -- some interesting quirks so that she can hang. I'm not saying she necessarily needs to be an immortal who's also subject to donkey spells. But I'm also not saying she doesn't.
If the show's producers insist on keeping her a simp in matching sweater sets, then she might as well just go the way of the Gwen. And then, once Betsy's gone, we can turn our attention to Jeremy (Ed Weeks). That poor bastard must be bored as shit.