This season of The Mindy Project kicked off with a bang. Viewers worried that Mindy Kaling’s rom-com–inspired sitcom would fizzle in its third season were in for a pleasant surprise. Kaling more than delivered on her promise that the show would be just as interesting now that the central couple moved from “will they/won’t they?” to “oh, snap, they definitely did.” The episode's most talked-about scene will be its closer, which featured Chris Messina’s character Dr. Danny Castellano performing a lengthy striptease for his girlfriend, Dr. Mindy Lahiri. While there was plenty of crowd-pleasing eye candy for all the Messina fans out there, this scene was about more than just titillation. It’s not just about the candy, it’s about the eyes.

Chris Messina Mindy Project Dance



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Mindy’s role as spectator and the gender dynamic flip at play here might be more significant than you realize. In a post–Magic Mike world, Danny on display may not seem all that groundbreaking. But don’t forget that when it comes to network sitcoms, women are still often seen as objects and prizes to be won. And even in a broader TV landscape increasingly populated by strong and complicated women, the female gaze that Kaling pulls off here is actually fairly rare.

What, exactly, is the female gaze? It’s the yin to the male gaze’s yang—the decidedly female viewpoint that can objectify its subject but, more importantly, empowers the person doing the gazing.

As the writer, creator, and star of her own somewhat autobiographical show, Kaling is often compared to Lena Dunham of Girls. Dunham does great work with the female gaze, but prefers to use it as a mirror and a tool for self-examination. Even in the much discussed Season 2 episode “One Man’s Trash,” for which some accused Dunham of indulging in female “wish fulfillment” by pairing her character with a handsome stranger played by Patrick Wilson, Dunham’s Hannah, more than Wilson’s Joshua, was the one on display. Though Hannah took a dominant role, she was still more naked than he was and more emotionally vulnerable. This was the female gaze turned inward. And for all its backlash, the episode is actually quite dark and hardly the frivolous, self-serving fantasy it was made out to be.