Episode 24 - Doppelgangers
29 May 2010
Review
Synopsis: Marshall and Lily think they have seen Doppelganger Barney and plan to have a baby. But it turns out to be the real Barney and so they put their plans on hold. Ted decides to dye his hair blonde and Robin gets a big job offer.
The Good: I did like that the writers went to the effort of working the doppelgangers idea into one of Ted's speeches to sum up the changing life circumstances of the gang. It allowed Ted's generic reassurance to Robin to sound a little more interesting. There were some other nice bits of logic in this episode too. It was established that Lily had a questionable memory for what she had seen which set her up to see what she wanted to see when she was ready to have children. Similarly the story made it clear that Robin and Don were a good on-air team and hence when she turned down the job offer they went straight to Don, a very similarly placed presenter.
There weren't too many jokes (as usual) but one or two landed nicely. For once the imaginary exaggeration of Barney, Robin and Ted walking in on Lily and Marshall making babies worked. Their anticipated reactions to the news helped explain why Lily would want to keep the news quiet. I liked Ted bragging about his blonde hair while he was a lifeguard and admitting "there were a few senior citizens who pretended to drown on my watch. And sadly one who did." Then later on he defends the blonde hair, claiming he is getting tons of compliments and tries to switch the conversation to Robin's job offer. "Tell him" he prompts as they talk to Barney "He's not getting tons of compliments" Robin instinctively responds.
The Bad: That Estonian street performer scene is why this show can be so annoying to watch and is about as lame as televised comedy can get. The whole doppelganger concept remains incredibly dumb.
It would be nice if Robin had talked to Don about the job offer. We have barely seen Don and now he is already leaving? It feels like he will probably come back soon and it will be groan inducing if it's because he discovers that she turned down the job. If they had talked about it and he had still taken the job it would have been a far sadder and more authentic story.
Comic Highlight: Barney explains why he is wearing a wig and driving a cab. He wants to sleep with a woman from every country in the world. So he became a cabbie and started picking up women from the UN building. "It was the perfect plan" he explains "except for one small detail I didn't take into account." Marshall spots it immediately, says it and Barney repeats it over the end of his sentence making the point emphatically "Chicks do not want to bang cab drivers!" The emphasis and the obvious truth behind the idea make it a very well crafted joke.
How I rate your episode: A better than average effort to end the season.
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