Photo Credit: Prashant Gupta/FOX

In this holiday-themed episode, MINDY (Mindy Kaling) throws an office Christmas party at her apartment and is eager for her colleagues to finally meet her boyfriend, JOSH (guest star Tommy Dewey). However, her plans go awry when she discovers a secret that Josh has been hiding. Meanwhile, JEREMY (Ed Weeks) deals with doling out the office holiday bonuses, much to everyone’s chagrin.

Christmas themed episodes of my favorite television shows, especially freshman shows are what I look forward to the most once each new TV season begins. “Josh and Mindy’s Christmas Party” does not disappoint! I laughed, I had my jaw drop on the floor, and I felt for Mindy in ways that were there before but not as prominent as they are now. As soon as the camera focused on Mindy’s boyfriend, grinning from ear to ear in her apartment, my mind immediately went to Betty & Henry’s relationship on Ugly Betty. While what happens here is slightly different, the slime on Josh’s hands is the same. We can’t have two jolly holiday episodes, so Christmas was the one that drew the long straw here. Speaking of, I couldn’t bear Danny not being involved in Christmas activities with the gang since he was all alone on Thanksgiving so good job on including him this time around!

Ellie Kemper (The Office) guest stars but if I tell you who she plays, that would ruin the fun. All I will say is I did not know Kemper was so scrappy! What a sight! Every time I see Kemper in something other than The Office, she gives me another reason to be amazed by her and love her even more. Anyway, drama unfolds at Mindy’s Christmas party as one major discovery is made and relationships are challenged in front of the entire crowd.

The balance between drama and comedy on a comedy is not easy to balance and the writers did a fabulous job keeping us on our toes for all of the right reasons. I love comedies that have heart. Love them. “Josh and Mindy’s Christmas Party” starts off light, with gags that will have you laughing for days. Then it casually moves into a more dramatic tone and somewhere there the two mix and it’s beautiful! Sometimes the funniest moments, the saddest moments don’t even have dialogue. That was exemplified well, as it is every week.

Kaling clearly took more than a few notes from her time as a writer and actress on The Office. At one point in this episode, Mindy is dancing in her office chair facing her partners and while I was looking at Mindy, all I could see in my head was Michael Scott. But those moments are rare, this show is totally Mindy’s. She has her own voice, her own style, her own hysterical chaos that makes this show my favorite new show of this TV season. I believe that “Josh and Mindy’s Christmas Party” is just the introduction to the even more amazing Christmas episodes The Mindy Project will have in store for us as the seasons go on. You don’t want to miss it!

The Mindy Project airs Tuesdays at 9:30 ET on FOX.