How I Met Your Mother: "Challenge Accepted"

Season 6, Episode 24

A season finale that decides to fuck with us

Tonight’s episode decided that it was going to take our presumed expectations for the show and effectively use them against us, producing moments that are both moving and frustrating. Yet even if I am aware that the show fucked with us tonight, I still liked the episode, and in many respects, I actually liked the episode because it was ballsy enough to do it.

Instance of Fucking With Us #1: The episode opened with one of my favorite of the show’s gag – two or more members of the gang arguing over something innocuous – and then quickly switched over to something I hated: Zoey. Now, Zoey’s part in all of this was actually downplayed to an acceptable level, as the storyline was never really about her anyway, but considering that she and Ted broke up last week, I thought we were rid of the blight once and for all, and so it was a bit jarring to see her pop back up in the opening minutes.

But instead the Ted focus of this story was a strong one, and a big step for the character. The show has gone through many periods where Ted has been treated listlessly, as if at time the show doesn’t know what to do with Ted apart from his quest for The Mother, even if he originally set up as the main character/heart of the show. Yes, they have given him plots about starting his own business, or trying to be a professor, but these plots either pale in comparison, or are tied tangentially to the master plot.

But tonight’s episode, with Ted realizing that he’s not happy with this life because for so long he’s had no part in making it. Even if his quest for The Mother is the strongest of the show’s elements, a close second – and the reason that I think the show could survive after we’ve met The Mother – is the theme of these characters growing up, this path that they are on to true adulthood. And Ted’s realization that he needs to be more active in his life, that “new is always better,” is an important step in that journey. More importantly, it’s a step that sees Ted refusing to go back to old girlfriends. And that means no Zoey. Fine by me.

IoFWU #2: It was fairly obvious from the outset of the Marshall and Lilly plot that she was pregnant. (And if you didn’t figure that out, than clearly you don’t really pay attention when you watch this show.) So it was a bit frustrating to me that it took THE WHOL EPISODE for us to get to that point, and the storyline began to peter out somewhere around Marshall’s interview with his new boss. Clearly Dave Folely is being brought on as the replacement for Bob Odenkirk, which is fine by me, but it makes me a bit sad that a man so funny was wasted on a scene that didn’t work as well as it should. (And yes, I know Odenkirk’s scenes weren’t always hilarious, but still.)

Yet I still liked this plotline, even if felt as if the episode was toying with those of us who knew where it was going, mostly because a majority of the jokes here were still solid, and were this plot located in a episode that was not the finale, it could still have worked even without the last minute pregnancy reveal. Or at least it would have worked for me; I know some people get worked up when Marshall and Lilly are kept on the sidelines, but as long as it’s funny, I’m usually on board. (Of course, if this plot had aired elsewhere, it might have been slighter and not as funny, but such is the current state of this show.)

IoFWU #3: My reaction to tonight’s Barney/Robin plotline is split between intellectually-driven respect and emotionally-driven hate. I have stated a few other times in reviews of this show that while I liked the change that Nora would most likely bring about in Barney, I couldn’t help but feel that Robin was a better match for him, and that the show should just put those two back together again, even if the first time was a bit disastrous. The show has had plenty of time to mull this one over and figure out what they did wrong, so that they could come back to this thing right the second time.

So for most of this story’s running time, I was extremely happy watching these two get yet another chance to bounce off of one another, as the show somewhat subtly began to build up the idea that they could get back together again. I was so happy, in fact, that I was able to just kind of push aside the fact that the Nora plot was still dangling. But then Nora showed up again. I know that I should be angry about this, about the fact that the show took away from me something that would make me really happy. Yet that moment of gut-punching, as Barney too embraces the motto “new is always better”, leaving behind a saddened Robin, was just so well-orchestrated, a beautiful letdown that effectively moved me, and one that deftly played into tonight’s themes, and for that, I must give this ending a big, enthusiastic pass.

And then there was that twist, that remarkable twist that will keep us respectfully frustrated over the summer. Way back in the fall, when the premiere set up that Ted would be the best man at the wedding, many people predicated that it would be Robin and Barney who were getting hitched. (See? Everybody wants this to happen.) But then, a couple of months later, Punchy returned, Ted became his best man, and it became the basic assumption that that would be the wedding we would see Ted at (and where he would meet the mother.)  But now we know that Barney is the groom, but who’s the bride? Is it Robin or Nora? And given that we still don’t know when this wedding takes place (I was a bit disappointed that it didn’t take place tonight, considering that’s where I thought the season was headed), what does that mean for the time between here and there.

Is it frustrating? Sure. But do I want to find out more? You betcha. And that’s what I consider to be the two elements of a successful cliffhanger.

Quotes, Etc.:

That was Chi McBride as the construction worker. I realize it was a small role, but I wished he had gotten more to do. Although, I always want McBride to have more to do, so maybe I’m not the best judge of such things.

“It’s out printing a whole new batch of resumes because he misspelled ‘detail oriented’.”

“Are these people Irish? Polish? Blondes? What are we dealing with here?”

Lilly sounds like a velociraptor when she pukes.

“I wonder what end it’s coming out of Lilly right now.” “I bet it’s her tushie.”

“I love and believe I you too, babe.”

“Can I borrow an adult diaper?”

“Ted really can go on about a bitch.”

“Marshall told us you were busting and both end like an exploding fire hydrant.”

“You were the only boyfriend I ever motor-boated.”