“Door #3†is a fairly standard table-setting episode that moves the necessary pieces as Master of None heads into the final stretch of the season. There’s not a lot going on beyond some developments in Dev’s professional life, leaving time for some brief interludes into the lives of Dev’s father, Ramesh, and Brian’s father, Peter. It’s a nice episode that has some funny bits, but it’s nothing too special and doesn’t hold up to the best of the season.
First, there’s Dev’s continuing struggle with Clash of the Cupcakes. As the show heads into the end of the season, Chef Jeff informs Dev that the network wants to lock him into a seven-season contract. Generally frustrated by his Cupcakes experience, Dev tells Jeff that he’s not really passionate enough about the show to commit to seven seasons. Jeff, as intense as always, understands Dev’s position but tells him to sleep on it because Cupcakes might open up some opportunities for him in the future.
Dev has lunch with Ramesh and tells him he wants to quit, mostly because Clash of the Cupcakes kind of sucks. Ramesh tries to tell him that all jobs suck on some level, even his job as a doctor isn’t always fulfilling. Dev visits as his father does his rounds and discovers that his job largely concerns pulling foreign objects out of people’s bodies. Ramesh even has a collection of items in his office that includes a plastic SpongeBob, an army figure, a spoon, and a wedding ring (though Ramesh admits he shouldn’t have kept that one.) Dev goes back to work with renewed confidence in his job.
But then, the general mismanagement and horrors of Clash of the Cupcakes strikes again. Lawrence, the show’s terrible producer, messes up a booking and relies on a magician named the Magnificent Kenny (Cedric the Entertainer). Dev soon learns that Kenny is terribly nervous to perform on television and he wants out, but Dev eventually convinces him not to think about the cameras and focus on the studio audience. Though this initially works out, a three-card Monte trick goes horribly wrong and Kenny ends up screaming bloody murder with a sharp spike through his hand.
Meanwhile, Brian’s father, Peter, has begun to date, much to the delight of Brian. The problem? Peter is seeing two women at once: Linda, a Korean woman who makes great food, and Ellen, who has a fun dog named Coco. He can’t choose between the two and eventually decides to date both of them at once after Linda and Ellen inform him that they’re fine with the arrangement. Arnold asks Peter for his secret. Peter replies, “People my age often feel very alone. This makes them open up to situations that are not ideal in exchange for temporary companionship.â€
In the end, Dev pitches Jeff a travel show called Best Food Friends that involves both of them circling the globe, learning about different cultures, and eating food together. Jeff enthusiastically agrees, but news of Francesca’s engagement tempers Dev’s general excitement about his career. Finally, both Linda and Ellen break up with Peter when they independently decide that neither are comfortable with the arrangement, so Peter settles and just gets a dog instead. (He names the dog Coco, for consistency’s sake.)
“Door #3†posits that choices aren’t exactly always binary. Dev ostensibly has to choose between staying with Clash of the Cupcakes or leaving it behind entirely, but he finds a third option that suits all parties involved. Peter has to choose between Linda and Ellen, but decides to pick a dog instead. Life presents options and yet it’s always up to people to find choices that best suit them. It’s an interesting idea in a middling episode of Master of None, but it looks like Dev will soon have to face a more difficult conundrum: Should he pursue Francesca or leave behind another woman of his dreams?
Jack of All Trades
• On the day of Dev’s visit, one of Ramesh’s patients has an electric toothbrush stuck up his butt. His nervous wife visits Ramesh’s office to discover what went wrong while Dev makes inappropriate comments about her husband’s condition. “Is he supposed to be here?†the woman asks of Dev. “Not really, a lot of things are ending up where they don’t belong today,†Ramesh replies.
• The episode opens with Dev taping Clash of the Cupcakes promos written by Lawrence. One plays off the term PTSD, which in this case is an acronym for Pretty Tasty Sweet Delights. Dev tells Lawrence it’s offensive, even though Lawrence thinks he was doing something nice for the troops.
• Leave it to Lawrence to tell an already-sensitive Magnificent Kenny that he was their 15th choice for judge. “I’m sorry,†Dev tells him. “He shouldn’t be saying stuff like that.â€