How I Met Your Mother - "Trilogy Time"

Season 7, Episode 20

There are sometimes when I don’t really have a lot to say about How I Met Your Mother, times which are usually brought on by frustration with whatever the show decided to do on a particular week. This is one of those times.

I don’t particularly hate the conceit of this episode, which see the guys reliving all of their past disappointments through the lens of their triennial marathoning of the original Star Wars trilogy. (In true, classic sitcom style, this is an event that we’ve never heard mention of before, and are only slightly more likely to hear about again, but let’s just let the little things slide for now, shall we?) The show has often focused on the road that these characters are taking as they hit the classic markers of adulthood, and the disappointment that they feel which they have trouble reaching those checkpoints, so there’s nothing wrong with turning a whole episode over to exploring that idea.

The problem comes from just how much of the episode is turned over to these flashbacks, and how quickly that grew old and brought the episode to a screeching halt. It’s a joke that’s so one note that there’s really not a life to it: every three years (2003, 2006, 2009, 2012), the guys get together to watch the films, reflect on how they failed to meet the expectations of their past selves, and then make outrageous plans for the future. There are funny jokes within each of these fantasies, and I like how the show is willing to have them change and evolve with the characters state of minds, and even have callbacks between them. However, like so many of those flashbacks episodes that Everybody Loves Raymond did, so many of the laughs are supposed to come from what we know in the future versus what the character fail to realize in the past. It’s a tactic that I guess is supposed to be touching in theory, but in practice becomes depressing and unfunny very quickly.

Admittedly, the show cuts this elongated flashback out about 17 minutes into its 30 minute running time, and I have to admit that the show picks up a bit – but just by a bit. The episode seems like it’s going to go in the direction of Ted’s budding depression at the realization of how many times he’s fallen short of dreams. It’s the sort of stealth reveal, since the flashbacks had relied so heavily on Marshall’s disappointment, that it’s a moment that actually lands. However, after one more hypothetical sequence (bringing the total to four), the show quickly shift focus back to Barney, even though by this point you’ve probably forgotten that the episode opened up with a focus on him. Barney realizing that he wanted Quinn to stay with him, mugs and all, was somewhat sweet, but it was a sweetness diminished by the lowbrow fart jokes and the knowledge that Quinn won’t be around forever.  

And that’s where the episode ends, with so little having changed. Yes, Barney is now fully committed to being in a serious relationship, but it feels like the show took an overly complicated route to get there. It was a route that involved Ted and Marshall, yet didn’t have anything significant actually happen to them, and also in the process managed to relegate Robin and Lilly to the sidelines. This was an episode that began and ended with Barney, yet I have a hard time saying that this was a Barney-centric episode, given how much screen time the other guys got. It was an episode that made a lot of motions toward character development, yet ultimately went nowhere.

But hey, at least we know that Ted’s daughter is born sometime late 2014 or early 2015. So the end is in sight, and that has to count for something. Right?

Quotes and Other Thoughts:

“Isn’t that right honey?...Oh, that’s right, I’m alone.”

“If you’re not trilogy-ing it at least once every three years, the Dark Side wins.”

“Guys, you remember my girlfriend who was a virgin until we met?”

“‘Satisfaction’?” “‘Hot Cross Buns.’”

“A baby in a trucker hat. That’s awesome.”

“Guess what? I’m pregnant with baby number five.” “Baby number four isn’t even out.” “I’m just that good.”

“And just know this: Han shot first.”