Tag Archives: Marshall

October 19, 2009 · 10:14 pm

How I Met Your Mother – “Duel Citizenship”

himymtitle

“Duel Citizenship”

October 19th, 2009

So, this was pretty awesome, eh?

I don’t know if there’s many episodes of an American comedy series that likely work far better for Canadians than Americans, but I think this is probably one of those examples. Much of “Duel Citizenship” took the form of a pretty standard episode of the show, with Ted turning into an unwilling third wheel on a trip with Lily and Marshall, but the story of Robin’s need to consider becoming an American citizen turned into a love letter to Tim Hortons (which is a famous Canadian coffee chain, in case you weren’t aware) and in many ways another sign that this Robin’s character (and the show) has more of an appreciation for Canada than the jokes might initially indicate.

The result is a solid episode of How I Met Your Mother from the perspective of someone who finds the jokes to be at Canada’s expense, and a kind of fantastic episode for those of us who “get” the Canadian side of the storyline in a way that others cannot. All in all, it’s an episode I had a lot of fun with, albeit for the love of my country more than my love of the rest of the episode.

Continue reading →

Season Premiere: How I Met Your Mother – “Definitions”

himymtitle

“Definitions”

September 21st, 2009

How I Met Your Mother (How-Eye-Meh-Ett-Yo-Err-Mah-thur) Noun.

1. CBS Comedy Series.

2. Probably the most “anticipated” comedy return of the fall season for this particular critic.

While The Office might be more consistent, and 30 Rock might be more uproarious, I think that I find myself most honestly excited about How I Met Your Mother, a show that just a few years ago I didn’t even watch on a regular basis. I think it’s because while The Office thrives on awkward comedy, and 30 Rock plays the absurdist angle, HIMYM tends to operate most often by either charming us as viewers (something The Office can do but which 30 Rock rarely attempts) or by introducing some really interesting intermingling between serialization and concept episodes of unquestionable quality.

So heading into its fifth season, more successful than one could have imagined two years ago, How I Met Your Mother finds itself closer than ever (we presume) to the identity of the Mother, and finally pulling the trigger on a long-gestating relationship (Barney and Robin). This means that, quite similar to the Office’s premiere, “Definitions” is more about defining (Yeah, I went there) how the show is going to handle Ted’s new job and Barney and Robin’s relationship rather than surprising us with anything even remotely considering a twist.

But, done in typical HIMYM style with plenty of flair and a whole lot of laughs, one can’t really complain about the execution, although the evasion of definition and expectation is certainly a theme.

Continue reading →

How I Met Your Mother – “As Fast as She Can”

himymtitle

“As Fast as She Can”

May 11th, 2009

After “Right Place Right Time” was sold as a rather ‘epic’ episode in the grand scheme of things, evoking the titular story while providing one of those stories that separates itself amongst the various characters, “As Fast As She Can” was perhaps necessarily slower and less eventful. While it doesn’t directly connect the dots as to how these events relate to Ted’s discovery of the future mother of his children, it does provide events that feel like they put Ted into a particular location where those events could take place.

I just wish that it could have been a stronger episode overall: whereas last week was ostensibly about Ted but realistically more about Robin, Marshall and Barney, this week’s episode was primarily Ted and more Ted, and that’s problematic. I don’t mean to rag on poor Josh Radnor, who really wasn’t bad in thise episode in terms of acting like a total tool, but the character just isn’t that funny, and since we’ve already established Stella (Sarah Chalke) as a black hole of comedy it meant that the drama and the comedy were isolated within the episode.

So while I’m still excited for the finale, this didn’t do anything to build any momentum and, in actuality, probably slowed things down a bit too much.

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under How I Met Your Mother

Tagged as 2009, 2010, Alyson Hannigan, As Fast As She Can, Barney can't drive, Barney Stinson, Bump this, Continuity, Entertainment, Episode 23, Jason Jones, Lily, Marshall, Mrs. Patson, Murder House, Sarah Chalke, Season 4, Speeding Ticket, Stella, Television, The Wedding Bride, Tony

May 4, 2009 · 9:49 pm

How I Met Your Mother – “Right Place Right Time”

himymtitle

“Right Place Right Time”

May 4th, 2009

[Spoiler Alert: Don’t read the Episode Tags if you don’t want to have the episode spoiled! – MM]

When it comes to the combination of comedy and mythology on How I Met Your Mother, the show has always operated on a tight rope of sorts as it relates to the identity of the eponymous mother. The reason for this is not that the mystery isn’t interesting (it is the very premise of the show, of course), but rather that the character at the center of the drama is the show’s least funny, often least interesting, and at times most frustrating. Ted Mosby is really only tolerable when he’s being sweet and romantic, and even then he’s rarely funny in those scenarios. He’s better when he is taking a supporting role, not so much the center of the drama than he is an observer who just happens to be our “lead” character.

What “Right Place Right Time” does is position itself as an episode about Ted but really spend almost all of its time with the characters that are more capable of being funny. Utilizing a traditionally unique structure (at what point does it become its own cliche? I remain unsure), the show lets Bob Saget take us through how a series of random and ridiculous events force Ted to end up at the right place at the right time where, holding the epic yellow umbrella we’ve seen in previous episodes, when a woman taps him on the shoulder.

I like this approach because it minimizes being repetitive with Ted’s various destiny speeches, but the show at this point is running a serious risk with its mythology. What happens in this episode appears to actually answer the titular question, but I don’t think it does: there is more than enough wiggle room for them to pull the rug out from under us yet again. Considering who ends up tapping him on the shoulder, I’ll be happy when I’m vindicated and they pull out the “Just kidding!” next week, but the more the show does this the less we’ll be able to trust them, and the mythology will only be getting in the way of the comedy.

And that’s the last thing the show needs.

Continue reading →

26 Comments

Filed under How I Met Your Mother

Tagged as 199, 200, Barney Stinson, Bars, Bob Saget, Cecilia, Charts, Comedy, Dan Castellaneta, Entertainment, Episode 22, Fish Jokes, Galoshes, Glad Girls, Goliath National Bank, HIMYM, Hugging Montage, Intervention, Marshall, Petra Petrova, Pies, Right Place Right Time, Robin, Robin Pregnant, Sarah Chalke, Schlagel's Bagels, Season 4, Song, Stella, Ted Mosby, Television, Who is the Mother, Yellow Umbrella

March 24, 2009 · 1:25 am

How I Met Your Mother – “Old King Clancy”

himymtitle

“Old King Clancy”

March 23rd, 2009

As a Canadian, I’m kind of madly in love with the pastiche rendition of Canada that How I Met Your Mother has been propagating, in particular this season: between “Little Minnesota” and “Old King Clancy,” Canada has become something entirely unrealistic but, through the show’s sheer exuberance, a fairly powerful force within the show’s universe. When Barney, towards the end of this week’s episode, curses Canada for ruining what should have been a momentous story by making it as obscure and Canadian as possible, we fundamentally disagree: for us, it only makes it funnier.

That part of “Old King Clancy,” ostensibly the B-Story, was definitely its strongest, especially when combined with the latest viral website that the show has so wonderfully put together: CanadianSexActs.org. The rest of it wasn’t particularly inspired, but the show used its jokes to good effect, throwing enough of the show’s hallmarks into the equation that it never felt like a simple sitcom story, always maintaining something that makes the show distinct. The show was essentially doing its “economic downturn” storyline with this one, but it always felt like they were doing it in a way that only this show would do, and showing it to us in the most narratively interesting fashion.

Of course, considering that the Halifax Fudge Badger made it into the list of Canadian Sex Acts (I’m from outside of Halifax), I was going to love this episode regardless.

Continue reading →

11 Comments

Filed under How I Met Your Mother

Tagged as Alan Thicke, Barney Stinson, Canadian Sex Acts, Employee Transition Room, Entertainment, Episode 18, ETR, Goliath National Bank, Greasy Kayak, Harvey's, Lily, Marshall, Musty Goaltender, Old King Clancy, Robin, Saskatoon Totem Pole, Season 4, Ted Mosby, Television, The Fish List, The Frozen Snowshoe, Two-Handed Zamboni, Website

March 16, 2009 · 9:38 pm

How I Met Your Mother – “The Front Porch”

“The Front Porch”

March 16th, 2009

In bringing in Karen, Ted’s ex-girlfriend from his high school days, How I Met Your Mother has returned to the temporality that often sets it apart from other sitcoms. The show’s basic premise is one of its defining legacies, as the very idea of this being one large story told by Future Ted to his own children has given the past (and memory, and revisionist history) a very important meaning. Even further, episodes on occasion create alternate futures, showing that Ted and the rest of the characters are just as concerned with their own prospective futures as we are about the future we know is inevitable.

“The Front Porch” is ultimately a mediation more on this last idea than the former, the past serving as evidence for the concern for the future. The result is an episode that is less about Karen and more about what Karen could represent, and a more subtle than expected refocusing on the answers to the episode’s central question: how does Ted, exactly, meet this mother? Flanked by some simple but effective little pieces of comedy, the episode avoids sending Ted into a place too annoying, and Lily to a place too mean, in its navigation of what is quite an important issue in the show’s future, and one that could well be heading to a conclusion before the season is over.

Continue reading →

4 Comments

Filed under How I Met Your Mother

Tagged as Backup Wife, Come On Wake Up New York, Creed, Delivering a Baby, Entertainment, Episode 17, Flying, Front Porch Test, Heart Attack, HIMYM, Karen, Kim Jong Il, Laura Prepon, Lily, Man on Fire, Marshall, Morning Show, Nightgown, Nightshirt, Robin Cherbotsky, Sabotage, Scrooge, Season 4, Stella, Suit Pyjamas, Suitjamas, Ted Mosby, Television, The Front Porch, Victoria

March 2, 2009 · 10:50 pm

How I Met Your Mother – “The Stinsons”

himymtitle

“The Stinsons”

March 2nd, 2009

Listen to any fan of How I Met Your Mother talk about why they think other people should watch the show and, chances are, they are likely going to eventually say something along the lines of “this is not a traditional sitcom.” This is something that causes some people some doubts: the show has a multi-camera format and utilizes a laugh track, looking and sounding like any traditional sitcom they’ve ever seen.

Astute fans, though, will point out the show often evolves beyond its sitcom qualities through the use of things like the manipulation of time, copious amounts of flashbacks, and even the general conceit of this all being one big memory told by Future Ted. The show has a lot of tricks up its sleeve that, often, leave it looking nothing like a sitcom at all. There are other times, though, where these elements aren’t as present, and where anyone spotchecking the series for the first time might leave thinking that this is a funny, but not particularly original, sitcom.

“The Stinsons” is an episode that, if I had to put it into one of these categories based on its basic concept, would be in the latter classification. This is the very definition of a situational comedy: after Barney leaves the bar suspiciously, the rest of the gang follow him to the suburbs where they discover a secret about his life that could forever change the course of their lives…or, more accurately, the course of the following twenty minutes.

But what this extremely odd, but extremely entertaining, half hour does is prove that HIMYM isn’t just capable of fundamentally altering the sitcom DNA to make itself standout: in the development of Barney Stinson as a character, and through Bays/Thomas’ great grasp of the sitcom conventions, they are subversive just in delivering this scenario in the most dysfunctional but hilarious fashion. That the episode actually ends up boiling things down, even in its lunacy, to an important point of character realization is testament to the show’s strength: being awesome.

And that’s the Stinson family motto, after all.

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under How I Met Your Mother

Tagged as Actors, Barney's Mom, Betty, CBS, Die Hard, Entertainment, Episode 15, Fake Family, Frances Conroy, Grant, HIMYM, Lily, Loretta, Marshall, Mrs. Stinson, Neil Patrick Harris, Pregnancy, Robin Cherbotsky, Season 4, Ted Mosby, Television, Terminator, The Breakfast Club, The Karate Kid, The Stinsons, Tyler, Tyler No Likey

February 2, 2009 · 10:22 pm

How I Met Your Mother – “The Possimpible”

“The Possimpible”

February 2nd, 2009

I feel at this point that Bays and Thomas have conditioned us long term viewers on how to watch an episode of HIMYM: the second Barney announces that he has an online video resume, I’m in Firefox typing in the address and making a note that the site is, of course, real. If the show had a resume, it would include many of these types of moments, the little throwaway lines built into entertaining side projects or the quirky facts we learn show up on each person’s resumes emerging as quick flashbacks.

“The Possimpible” doesn’t try to be overly sentimental, or even overly ambitious: it just looks back on its past, makes a reel of the various ways the show has been charming in the past (most related to Barney) and then crafting an episode around them. It’s something that doesn’t always work for the show, sometimes feeling more like a pastiche of its better episodes, but this one really worked for me. Between the invented words, the humorous websites (Barney’s Video Resume and Ted’s Mysterious Dr. X Website), the continued tension between Barney and Robin and the clever and humorous way of working Alyson Hannigan’s pregnancy into the episode, this one earned a spot on the show’s resume.

Continue reading →

7 Comments

Filed under How I Met Your Mother

Tagged as Alyson, Alyson Hannigan, Barney Stinson, barneystinsonsresume.com, College, Dancer's Hip, Deportation, Dr. X, Episode 14, Hiding Pregnancy, Hot Dog Eating, Invented Words, Lily, Linkitivity, Lottery, Marshall, Mysterious Dr. X, Possimpible, Red Deer, Resumes, Robin Cherbotsky, Season 4, The Possimpible, Vanilla Thunder, Video Resume, Work Visa

January 27, 2009 · 7:09 pm

The Anti-Cult of Personality: The Controlled Chaos of Showtime’s United States of Tara

taratitle

The Anti-Cult of Personality:

The Controlled Chaos of United States of Tara

When it was first announced, there was one word that could best described United States of Tara, the new Showtime comedy starring Toni Colette: quirky. Not only was it about a woman who has multiple personality disorder, and as a result becomes various different people depending on the situation, but it comes from Diablo Cody, the Oscar-winning but divisive writer whose work has been attacked for being too precious, too desperate to be bizarre that she was losing sight of what is realistic.

But in my opinion the skepticism about this was was unfounded: yes, the concept is quirky, and Cody’s dialogue is present albeit in a less obvious form than the earlier scenes in Juno, but there is a real sense of control here. The family at the show’s center is not a quirky family so much as it is a normal one who is forced to maintain that normality by controlling their reactions to the matriarchal struggles of our protagonist. The appearance of the various alters, whether it’s male vietnam war veteran Buck, teenaged T., or the 50s housewife Alice, is not a sudden shock to this family but rather something they have learned to deal with. Each of the alters have their own benefits and downsides within their family dynamic, and the point is not that this is a crazy or quirky show but rather that these people have to try to maintain normal lives in the face of those struggles.

There is a danger here that the show will become all about these wacky alters, and the craziness they represent, but the show isn’t fixated on them so much as it is on Tara, her life, and the reasons these alters emerge. It’s not a concept that would work if it was entirely let loose, or with a lead actress who isn’t able to pull off four separate characters, but through the strong setup and some great work from Toni Colette it’s hard not to be drawn into the United States of Tara.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under United States of Tara

Tagged as Alice, Buck, Comedy, Diablo Cody, Entertainment, Juno, Kate, Marshall, multiple personality disorder, Nate Corddry, Patton Oswalt, Rosemarie Dewitt, Showtime, T, Tara, Television, The United States of Tara, Toni Colette, Tony Hale

January 19, 2009 · 11:07 pm

How I Met Your Mother – “Three Days of Snow”

himymtitle

“Three Days of Snow”

January 19th, 2009

There comes a time in the life of every sitcom that tries to be something different than your traditional sitcom that you stop thinking of its unique qualities as unique and start to view them as cliches, crutches the show uses to pretend that its storylines are something more than they really are. And considering that this is the umpteenth time that I will talk about how charming the show’s use of time in order to disrupt storylines, perhaps this is the time for How I Met Your Mother.

Now is not the time.

What makes “Three Days of Snow” such a strong episode is that the time-twisting trait of sorts was intertwined with the characters who hold this show together, returned to their simplest forms. Lily and Marshall use this three-day storm of the century to re-engage with the innocence of their married days, Ted and Barney try to pick up co-eds and investigate the futility of male fantasies, and Robin is forced to confront her robotic tendencies and perhaps open herself up to some sense of emotional connectivity in the future.

The result is, yes, the very definition of a sitcom episode: characters we know and love put in situations where they get to demonstrate why we love them. But HIMYM continues to shine when it uses these scenarios as a display for a unique comic voice and a unique sitcom structure that’s time is not up by a long shot.

Continue reading →

5 Comments

Filed under How I Met Your Mother

Tagged as Arizona Tech, Auld Lang Syne, Barney, Entertainment, HIMYM, Kokomo, Last Call, Lily, Marching Band, Marshall, Puzzles, Robin, Storm of the Century, Ted, Television, Three Days of Snow