Once I determine what Wendy The Waitress' future vocation is (I'm betting a nurse), I'll offer up a review of tonight's episode, after the jump....
I am formulating a theory that the best episodes of HIMYM, the one's that can be considered “classic” in style, hearken back to the character elements introduced sometime in season 1. Tonight, for instance, we had Ted reflecting on the perils of love (in 2011, 2021, and 2030 – how's that for multilayered?), Marshall feeling the urge to protect the environment through the legal system, and Barney once again giving into his deep-seated desire to find love.
But before we get to the episode proper, can I just say how happy I am that the show managed to bring Kyle McLaughlin back into the action? Once Zoey and Ted got together, I was afraid that we would never see The Captain ever again. But there he was again tonight, his bold, showy style even bolder and showier than ever before.
Or course, I realize that The Capitan isn't everybody's favorite character, as his broadness tends to make the rest of the show go just as broad. (I'm thinking specifically of “The Mermaid Theory.”) Yet tonight managed to work Tennille's Better Half into the story in a natural way, by having Ted react to The Captain rather than ape him.
Admittedly, part of me thinks that this plotline shouldn't have worked as well as it did. Ted ruminating over love has been somewhat of a mixed bag over the past 5 ½ years, giving the show some of its best and worst moments. And Ted making more of his relationship than it was? That's the douchey kind of Ted that rankles my nerves. But Ted's love life wasn't the main focus, it turns out – it was mainly about the other side of the story, the side we don't see. We saw this Ted and The Capitan, and we saw it again with Wendy the Waitress and her future husband.
And this has always been HIMYM's strength – it is not that the show has managed to mix pathos and comedy so well, it's how they keep managing to pull it off. The trick is that while the show has us looking left, it's slowly forming this emotional curve on the right. The audience does it see it coming, as it is occupied with the story's superficial elements, so when the emotions work their way to the surface, it's far more powerful.
Marshall and Lilly's storyline followed this model as well, and it saved a storyline that could have sank if handled differently. It was obvious of course that Marshall's disinterest in sex/renewed vigor for the environment had something to do with his father's death (and here I commend the show with being bold and sticking this character arc all the way through), but it wasn't quite clear exactly what the connection is. But after a lot of sex-based humor, – which Hannigan can always pull off, for some reason – some potshots at French accents that was funnier than it had any right to be, and a roll through the dumpster, we find out what is going on. Marshall, ashamed that this dad never saw him reach his peak, doesn't want to have kids and thus cement his mediocrity in place. And that is what we call a one-two punch, as the show managed to plug into both the storyline that's on our mind – Marshall's dad – and they one that's not – Marshall and Lilly trying to get pregnant – at let's us know that it is adroitly juggling all of these character arcs, never forgetting where these people came from, and where they are going.
The Barney storyline was the weakest of the three, but with an episode this strong, that's not really that big of an insult. Unlike the other two, it didn't try any emotional trickery; there wasn't going to be any twist in Barney's feelings for Nora, and he was going to end up with her number. Still, it was a fun ride to get there, and having Barney trying to fight the smile that happened every time he said Nora's name was a great small bit of physical comedy for NPH. I continue in my assertion that this storyline it's really going to hit it's stride until Barney and Nora finally get together (and the heartbreak that I assume will make an appearance some time after that), but for now it's endearingly entertaining, and it is is a good way for the the show both to give us a light storyline, and to add a new component to Barney and Robin's relationship.
What did everybody else think?
Additional Thoughts:
“She's tiny, so she's allowed to push kids.”
“I mean this in a super manly way...that guys scared the panties off me.”
“At least I'm making the world a...place.”
“You've been pork-free so long, you're practically kosher.”
Texas x 2 = Canada/8
“We had great big boners for each other!”
“I don't get smitten. I smite.”
“I thought I met Sting.” “You did meet Sting.” “Yeah, I met Sting.”
"And then there's his glorious mustache.”
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