Mindy Lahiri and Cliff Gilbert are primarily known as a couple from The Mindy Project (2012).
Mindy is portrayed by Mindy Kaling and Cliff is portrayed by Glenn Howerton.
Background[]
Mindy and Cliff worked in the same building in New York City for years before they initially met. They first met when Mindy tripped over Cliff's mail in the doorway of the entrance of the building. Mindy tried to sue Cliff, but she quickly realized he was a lawyer and that would be impossible.
Timeline[]
Enemies[]
Partners[]
Cliff broke up with Mindy when she was away in Los Angeles for a business trip because she met up with her ex-boyfriend, Casey. Although the pair did not hook-up, Cliff cited lack of trust as the reason for the break-up. Mindy, with the help of Danny, wrote him a letter on the plane ride back. Cliff decided to forgive her, but Mindy realizes she has been in love with Danny all along.
Crushes[]
Friends[]
Enemies[]
Mindy and Cliff did not like each other at first because Mindy tried to sue Cliff for leaving his mail outside on the building door-step. She quickly admitted to going through his mail, which gave him more of a reason to sue her, versus her suing him.
Appearances[]
- S2 E4 Magic Morgan Mindy and Cliff do not get off to a good start based on first impressions. When Mindy (who has just broken up with Casey) trips over Cliff's mail and packages, she confronts him and threatens to sue. He, in turn, is not impressed with her threats or her tampering with his mail and makes fun of her appearance, personality and intelligence. Their second encounter happens because Morgan tries to sue Mindy for sexual harassment: the situation is settled with Mindy agreeing to go on a date with Morgan who, much to Cliff's frustration, refuses to pay him for his services. The third time, Cliff runs into the elevator with Mindy and Morgan just as the doors as closing. This time he acknowledges that she's better-looking when dressed nicely and seems less irritated, perhaps even interested in her.
- S2 E5 Wiener Night Danny hires Cliff to help him take down an art exhibition of nude photos of himself taken by his ex-wife. Cliff develops a friendly banter with Mindy and Danny at the exhibition and talks them out of trouble with the police when Danny is caught nearly exposing himself in front of the main exhibit.
- S2 E8 You've Got Sext On the way home from work, Mindy and Morgan run into Cliff and his model girlfriend Yana in the elevator. Morgan, who suspects Mindy and Cliff might like each other, and Peter catfish Cliff, texting (and then sexting) him as Mindy on her phone, which they find in her unattended handbag in the lounge. Meanwhile, Mindy tells Danny she likes someone she fights with a lot from her workplace, meaning Cliff, but misleading him into thinking she means Danny. Cliff comes over to Mindy's but she is out with Danny, so Morgan and Peter throw a party at her place with the keys left in her purse to hold him off and stop him realizing they were catfishing him. Cliff is about to leave, so they force him to meet Heather; when he finally realizes he was never speaking to Mindy the whole time, he is frustrated and goes back to Heather's place. The next morning, Mindy reveals to Danny that she is crushing on Cliff. When she finds her bag at work, she sees all the texts (since Morgan does not delete them) and realizes what transpired the previous night.
- S2 E9 Mindy Lahiri is a Racist Mindy, Cliff and Morgan have an awkward meeting in the elevator on the way to work — Mindy reveals that she reads the sexts and Cliff tells Morgan he is a bad person. Morgan accidentally gets Cliff punched in the face while trying to goad Cliff into punching him to make up for the catfishing; while cleaning up his face, they talk and Morgan tells Cliff about the mutual feelings between him and Mindy. Cliff relents: Morgan is not a bad person, just unbearable.
- S2 E11 Christmas Party Sex Trap Mindy throws an office party for the whole building so she can invite Cliff, seduce him and then kiss on the balcony. She lies and tells him she's seeing someone else. Cliff breaks up with Heather and meets Mindy out on the balcony at the end of the episode; he calls her crazy and they kiss while Danny watches from a window, realizing that he may have missed his chance.
- S2 E12 Danny Castellano is my Personal Trainer Mindy and Cliff have been in a relationship and having lots of sex for a while, when he invites her to a skiing holiday with a bathtub. Mindy panics and wants to lose weight so she can look hot and no longer worry about strategically hiding her body from him when they sleep together.
- S2 E13 L.A. Mindy asks Cliff to move in with her when he loses his flat due to a historical society intervention in the building. When she brings up the fact that she moved in with Casey on fairly short notice, he gets anxious that she keeps bringing him up and says he'll consider it. Mindy is worried he doesn't say yes and once, but Danny reassures her that it is an important decision worth thinking about seriously. While in LA for a conference, Mindy bumps into Casey and tells him about Cliff. He invited her to a Hollywood pool party. Later that evening, Cliff calls to tell her that he managed to find a new apartment; when Mindy tells him about meeting Casey, he asks her not to hang out and have dinner with him. Mindy technically agrees, but goes to Casey's party with Peter anyway. A photographer catches her and Casey in an awkward position in the pool — Cliff sees the photo and breaks up with Mindy for lying to him.
- S2 E14 The Desert Mindy decides to win Cliff back when she goes home, but misses her flight when Danny drives her out to meet his father instead. Back in NY, Morgan and Peter, who are locked in a bathroom, overhear Cliff miserably cry-singing about his break-up, so they take him out for drinks. When they realize that he was the one who did the dumping, they tell him he made a giant mistake because she was always talking about him and never did anything wrong at the party. When Mindy yells at Danny for making her miss her yet another flight home when he gets lost in the desert, a drunk Danny tells her Cliff would not have dumped her if he really wanted to be with her. Danny's little sister tells her to write a letter to Cliff to win him back and Danny helps her with her apology on the flight back home. Cliff sees her message and resolves to get her back. Unfortunately for him, Danny and Mindy end up making out when the plane hits turbulence.
- S2 E15 French Me, You Idiot When Mindy and Danny get home, they are met by Cliff, Morgan and a Mariachi band, Cliff's grand gesture to ask her back. He tries to apologize over the noise and when they finally go indoors, she tries to break up with him, but he misunderstands it as a cheeky joke and thinks they are back together. Mindy tries to snog Danny at work, but he feels very guilty because she's technically still with Cliff; so Mindy settles on a plan to get Cliff to break up with her. When Cliff comes home at the end of the day, she acts extra crazy to throw him off. Unfortunately, his grandmother has just died and he asks to stay the night with her to get over his grief. Mindy goes to Cliff's grandmother's funeral with Danny (he wants to confirm that she is not lying about the death and keep an eye on her). Cliff delivers a long eulogy written (very poorly) by Mindy, during which she sneaks out with Danny to make out. They end up knocking over a candle, setting the church on fire and disrupting the entire ceremony. When Danny goes off to get them drinks, Mindy confesses to Cliff that she kissed Danny and wants to pursue her feelings for him, thus breaking up with him. Cliff punches Danny and curses them with his grandmother's spirit.
- S3 E3 Crimes & Misdemeanors & Ex-BFs Mindy pretends to have broken up with Danny to get Cliff to do her taxes. In the process, she realizes that Danny is still married. When Danny confronts Cliff, he ends up taking him on as his lawyer to finalize his divorce with Christina; as payment, Cliff takes his Yankees stadium seat to go light it on fire as he is a Red Sox fan. He also points out that Danny should be letting Mindy leave her stuff at his apartment, so Danny buys a chest of drawers for her.
- S3 E16 Lahiri Family Values Cliff is moving his office out of the building as he has become a very successful divorce lawyer since the legalization of gay marriage. Mindy takes over his office space to set up her own practice.
- S6 E2 A Romantical Decouplement Mindy reaches out to Cliff, who is now practising in Philadelphia, for her divorce from Ben.
- S6 E3 May Divorce Be With You Cliff gloats over Mindy's failed relationship with Ben but agrees to represent her despite his intense dislike for her. At the end of the episode, he congratulates her for getting Ben to back down through his daughter (which was not Mindy's intention) and lets slip that he's also handling Danny's divorce and it's not going so well.