How I Met Your Mother: "Legendaddy"

Once I make sure that my future progeny will never mispronounce the word “chameleon,” I’ll offer up a review of tonight’s episode, after the jump….

In case you haven’t heard, How I Met Your Mother was renewed for two more seasons, much to the chagrin of many critics/fans of the show. In the past couple of years, though especially during the fifth season, there has been a vocal minority of viewers who have been calling for the show to pull a Lost, to set an end date and work towards it. This would hopefully give the show a new burst of creative spirit as it races to the finish line, and it would also provide a sense of direction that had been missing for a while. But what should that end be? If Ted is going to meet the mother at the wedding at the end of this season, does that mean we're actually going to spend time with her for two or more seasons? (Personally, this is an acceptable scenario for me.) In this interview Mo Ryan did with Carter Bays, for instance, while he admits that they have started breaking down the beginning of season seven, he’s not yet sure if (or how) the show will end in 2013; he’s only guiding light seems to be that the show will we keep going if they “feel we have stories to tell.” (And despite his claim that all cast members are still happy with their jobs there, might I remind everybody that Jason Segel seems to be getting restless in his role?)

But at what point do the stories continue to be worth telling? Ever since season two, we have known how much Barney has been affected by his dad’s departure, and while this plotline has wrung some good moments for the character (including a handful in tonight’s episode alone), and given that this storyline still has a few good episodes left to play out, I can’t help but feel we are nearing the end of the line for Barney. Sure, he has his relationship with Nora (and, let’s face it, eventually Robin) to deal with, but I’m not sure if that is good for more than another half a season. So where does that leave him, but with a full season or so of nowhere to go? This is of course relative; sure, he can still go on little adventures that don’t take up more than an episode or so, but if we’re closing in on the end – which I think we are, and I’m betting will be in two years time – then I can’t escape the fact that they’re aren’t quite enough larger character arcs left  - for any of the characters - to make sure this show goes out strong.

But as heavy as all of this meta-discourse about the show’s future is, and as much as it was on my mind during tonight’s episode, the outing was luckily bright enough to shine through all of this heady talk. Neil Patrick Harris’ two best modes in his role as Barney are petulant child and affected sadness, and he lucky got to play both here tonight, to great effect. But the bigger surprise was Lithgow. Not that I am bashing Lithgow’s acting chops – admittedly, the man has skills – but in that past decade or two, he has mostly been stuck in roles that require him to be at his hammiest (I am of course thinking of 3rd Rock From the Sun and the thankfully failed Twenty Good Years), and I was afraid that he would be asked to do the same on this show. Luckily, the show must have caught him on Dexter fourth season, where he was both subdued and funny - well, he mostly played creepy, but he did provide some (probably unintentional) laughs:

(Warning: Clip is NSFW)


(Actually, according to this TV Guide story, Lithgow claims that he partially channeled his Dexter character for this role. So there’s that.)

Even when Lithgow could have gone broad – his depiction in Barney’s lie of a story – he still effectively reined it in, so that he was still able to provide laughs without making it seem like he was trying to show up the enthusiasm the NPH was spewing as Barney.

Yet despite my joy at the acting Lithgow displayed here, NPH is still gets the main credit for making this episode work as well as it did. After the revelation that Barney’s dad wasn't the awesome bro that his son has always dreamed of – and thank god he wasn’t, because not only is Barney’s-dad-as-a-womanizer an obvious direction for the show to go in, but it also completely disregards the fact that Barney didn’t become a womanizer until long after his dad left – the show seemed to be headed in a more realistic direction. Of course Barney would be disappointed in a dad who doesn’t share his interests, and of course he would try to run away from this, and of course he would bristle at the domestic bliss that his dad seems to revel in. But then the show took it a step further, and it was a good thing it did. While all of the previous stuff made sense, it still lacked the powerful emotional current that we would expect from such a storyline.

But that scene in the driveway of Jerry’s house, where Barney lays into his father for not giving his first son the suburban life he seems to enjoy with his second, was just beautifully tragic. Not only was NPH’s delivery of those line terrific –as was Lithgow playing a highly admirable second – but by coming after the twist from earlier in the episode, the show caught us off guard, giving that much more power to this already moving scene. Of course, all of this was undercut by the fact that the show actually had Jerry teach Barney how use tools – and if you didn’t see that coming after the cold open, then clearly you weren’t actually watching your TV – but given how good everything was that came before it, I’m willing to forgive this moment of predictability, especially given (once again) how well these two actors played the scene.

As far as the other four characters, they were wisely kept out of the main action, resigned to a delightfully non-distracting runner about how each of them has a “gap” in their knowledge. Any attempt to cram another actual plot into tonight’s episode would have appeared too cluttered and/or would have taken away the power from Barney’s story. Yes, this eventually dealt in part with Marshall's continuing quest to move past his dad's death – and I once again must laud the show for sticking to the seriousness of this development – but considering the obvious parallels that exist between Marshall and Barney’s situation, it would have been more distracting if the show hadn’t made this observation. But overall, this was a good way for the show to service both this storyline and the whole of its cast.

Despite the future problems that this episode may create for the show, it was a fantastic outing in and of itself, and I would much prefer that the show attempt to keep going strong now and possibly whimper out later, as opposed to limping along now and trying to cram all of these good episodes into the last leg of its run.

What did everybody else think?



Additional Thoughts:

“Don’t ask. You’re not ready.”

“And I am not going to try and stick it in the TV…again.”

“Expelliarmus!”

“I still think about him in the shower.”

“By the way, nice tie, is that Italian silk?” “I LOVE YOU DADDY, I’M SO GLAD WE’RE BEST FRIENDS NOW!”

“That dude high-fives people with his face now.”

“This is going to be the second most fun I’ve ever had on a Asian leg.”

Was that the first time that McClaren’s has had beer glasses with its own logo?

“You ever bang Stevie Knicks?”

“The Father Knows Breast. The Bush Dynasty. The Lick Father, Lick Son.”

“JJ, I’m talking to Dad right now, god!”

“Yes, I drown the son of a bitch.”