Episode 6 - Happily Ever After
12 January 2009
Review
Synopsis: Ted suppresses his pain over Stella and tries to avoid meeting her at all costs. But when she arrives to get takeout from the restaurant where the gang is eating, he dives under the table. The others join him and he challenges them over the equivalent people in their lives who they might hide from. Eventually though he decides to confront Stella.
The Good: This is a really good story for Ted and the gang. Showing him getting over Stella is important and again they use her reunited family as the excuse for him getting over her with greater ease than he ought to. It’s a good excuse because it not only justifies Stella’s poor behaviour but it reminds us that Ted is a good guy who is putting a family’s happiness above his own needs.
The story works because the writers find a logical argument for why Ted should hide under a table. The under the table setting is a really good one for the show. Just production wise it is cheap and easy to shoot and comedically it is a funny image. The reason you can just about believe it could happen is that Ted was jilted at the altar and so his desire to avoid Stella is easily understandable.
The genius in the story of course is for Ted to point out to his friends (and therefore make the audience think about it too) that we all have someone we might want to avoid if they walked past us in the street. The fact that most of the audience can relate to that idea makes it plausible and the examples of each member of the group are a clever way to provide comedy and backstory at the same time.
Robin’s story is the best because it reveals why she has a tom-boy side to her (with cigars and guns) and provides some gentle humour. Barney’s is cheap and easy fun while Lily’s reveals a sadly plausible glimpse into her past. I have been hard on the show in the past for the makeup job in the flashbacks because the characters so often look no different thus ruining any sense that they didn’t just film those scenes in the same week. However this week both Robin and Lily look appreciably younger in their flashbacks and in different, authentic looking settings. It does help that Alison Hannigan can look so young naturally and it is the one comedic role she plays exceptionally well.
Stella living in New York with Tony is a really clever way of making Ted angry. It links back to several episodes ago (403) thus effectively demonstrating the passage of time and rewarding viewers who have invested in the story. It also of course provides Ted with ideal reason to throw off his calm demeanour and allow the rage to take control.
The Bad: Just the usual complaints. Again the breakup with Stella takes only one episode and now Ted gets over her in one episode. It’s all too quick to really make you buy into it and adds to the show’s overall weakness of not convincingly showing the passage of time.
Then there are the old-style sit com jokes which jar. The opening shot of Ted reminiscing about Stella only for Lily to tell us that the wedding was the day before is groan worthy. Even Barney suffers from overkill when he brings two hot women to Ted’s apartment and then goes off to have a threesome with them. The exaggeration is so great that it ruins the joke (that Barney wasn’t trying to cheer Ted up, just get laid in his apartment).
Comic Highlight: Barney describes how he visited a girl in prison just for the conjugal visits: “What I had with Becca was a perfect relationship. She was only allowed by law to call me once a week. If she ever got clingy the armed guards stopped her and I never had to pay for dinner. Well that’s not true. I paid taxes. Then again I guess we all paid for dinner. Thanks a lot guys.”
How I rate your episode: Two good episodes in a row is a nice return at this stage. I won’t say I am getting my hopes up but it is nice to see that the writers can still tell a good story. The hide-under-the-table story is a good one based on solid relatable emotions and the comedy flows from it. Good stuff.
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