Episode 1 - Definitions
22 September 2009
Review
Synopsis: Ted is nervous about his first lecture as a college professor. He can’t choose between being cool or being authoritative. He ends up in the wrong lecture hall and makes a fool of himself. Meanwhile Lily discovers that Barney and Robin have been hooking up all summer. She demands that they define their relationship but they refuse. So she locks them in Robin’s bedroom and forces them to have “the talk.”
The Good: Ted’s fear about his first lecture is entirely understandable. I like that in his dream one of the students called him out for “failing” as an architect as that’s certainly an insecurity he would be likely to have. Though the attempts at humour largely fail (see The Bad), the moral of the story, that his passion for architecture will carry him through, is fine.
Ted panicking over how to spell professor was actually pretty clever. We’ve all been under great stress and forgotten simple things.
Robin and Barney are very likeable characters. They are both laid back and generally involved in fun stories. So it doesn’t matter so much how they got there but their new relationship should be a lot of fun to watch. Lily is fine in the role of “mother” to the group. Her incessant demands for Robin and Barney to conform to her standards might have become tiresome, but the writers through in a little balance which was nice. When she confronted Barney he was able to point out that if he and Robin were happy then why did they need to change anything, to which Lily didn’t have an immediate retort.
Brad is a nice side character to throw into the plot as a device here. By using a character we have seen several times before it feels much less contrived than it otherwise might. It was a consistent touch to have Canadian Robin yelling at the ice hockey and not seeing it as loud behaviour. Barney’s rules all flowing from movies like Gremlins and Predator despite the most spurious links was typically inventive writing.
Finally the “mother” of our story got another mention and her presence in economics, rather than architecture class is a neat trick to keep her close but out of reach for a little while longer.
The Bad: As usual though the details with these stories are less than adequate.
Now that Ted has become a college professor, the comparisons with Ross Gellar (from Friends if you didn’t know) are very striking. And Ted is very much a poor man’s Ross. As I have said before, Ted looks most natural and believable when he is laid back and sensible. Which he is most of the time. Both the actor and the writing then throws him into fits of enthusiasm and pomposity when it comes to certain subjects, including architecture of course. It almost always comes across as unconvincing and forced. The key to Ross being funny was that he took himself a little too seriously all the time. Ted doesn’t.
So here we have to sit through Ted humiliating himself in front of a huge auditorium of college kids as one joke is rinsed for all it’s worth. It’s hardly a big deal in this episode, let alone the whole show, but it just wasn’t very funny and that’s something I say too often about How I Met Your Mother.
Speaking of characters who flit back and forth, just glance at Marshall here. It’s also not really a big deal but it’s just another example of why this show doesn’t fire on all cylinders. In order to service the writers need for a joke, Marshall acts all coy and embarrassed to be part of Lily’s scheme. She is after all invading the privacy of two of her friends, so you can imagine his embarrassment. But in the next scene, again to provide the joke, he is suddenly cracking a whip violently against the bedroom door in full support of Lily’s plan. A character being consistent can generate so many more laughs than one who is used as a mouthpiece for writers trying to fill joke quotients.
Anyway, on a more serious subject Barney needs more characterisation than this. He has not had one single girlfriend in the previous four seasons. And his alleged streak of one-night stands goes on back before that. In fact he hasn’t had a girlfriend as far as we know since the one (see 115 for more) who turned him into the suit wearing son of Satan we know and love. So for him to be in a relationship of any kind for a few months is a huge deal. Not just for him to talk about but for all his friends to comment on. To have no mention of it feels false. So often, just a word or two, like Ted’s fear about being seen as a “failure” can be enough to make a story seem that bit more convincing. This is a gaping hole.
I know it must be a lot of effort for the production team, but once more I return to the show’s flashback structure being unconvincing. Here we have Robin with a new haircut. We flashback to the day we last saw her when her hair was different and yet she has the same haircut as in the present. Ditto Ted and Barney. Again not a big deal, again chipping away at the consistent sense of reality.
Comic Highlight: Barney tries to excuse his punching of Brad and make it clear it isn’t a sign of his affection for Robin. “Come on, that’s my thing. I’m always punching guys…girls…I’ll punch a baby I don’t care.”
How I rate your episode: How I Met Your Mother is a feel good show and I go easy on it when it creates a happy story in lieu of actual good jokes. The familiar failings are ever present but this is a decent story to kick off the new season.
Feedback
Add your comments on this episode below. They may be included in the weekly podcasts.
’)