Episode 13 - Jenkins
25 January 2010
Review
Synopsis: Marshall tells stories about a hilarious new coworker called Jenkins. But he feels guilty because he allowed Lily to believe it was a man when it’s actually an attractive woman. When Lily finds out, she isn’t jealous at all and Ted thinks it’s because Lily is the “settler” and Marshall is the “reacher” in their relationship. Marshall wants to prove her wrong and when Jenkins kisses him Lily gets mad. Meanwhile Ted’s students all watch Robin’s show but only for a drinking game.
The Good: What I like most about these two stories is that they seem plausible and relatively down to earth. In a show about five friends there probably will be some stories which don’t involve ridiculous sex or relationship shenanigans. Instead the drinking game idea is a nice extension of Robin’s career rut storyline where she has to cope with a lack of fame or interest in her work. And as for Marshall and Lily’s relative status compared to the other, that is actually a very interesting idea. It’s a conversation a lot of people may have had when it’s clear one person in a relationship could have “done better.”
I also liked the way many of the lines flowed nicely from the characters established traits rather than seeming forces. I liked Ted complaining about Robin not cleaning her hair out of the shower, an entirely plausible sounding incident. Then Ted tries to put Robin down by explaining the drinking game and ends up bragging about vomiting on himself, typically misplaced bravado on his part. Then you have the “but um” phrase itself which is just the sort of thing we all say when trying to move from one conversation thread to another. And finally Marshall screaming and running out of his office after kissing Jenkins, despite being so overacted, seemed to fit his ultra-loyal and loving character.
The jokes too were flowing from the characters, with Ted’s lame “What can I say except ‘But um’s up!” And a fun scene at the start (in the bar where Marshall is known as Big Fudge) where one of Ted’s students, Scotty, comes up to the table and instead of wanting to talk to his professor he wants to meet Robin. Ted gets increasingly annoyed at the lack of recognition he’s getting so he sends Scotty away. But as he leaves he says “Wait a minute, you’re Big Fudge!” to Marshall and Ted yells at him to leave.
The Bad: Despite much good work the show still lets itself down with other details. Marshall’s endless stories about Jenkins would surely have provoked Barney to comment on hot she was. Then we had Jenkins doing a French accent when she met Lily, clearly trying to hide something. But instead of asking what that was about Lily just moved straight to “not being jealous.” Slips like these just undermine the sense of reality a little.
Of course not remotely as much as Robin’s morning show. I’ve said it before when there were more egregious incidents, but once more I will say it. Robin’s unprofessional behavior just wouldn’t be tolerated in the real world and as this episode proved, no matter when a TV show is on, someone is watching. I don’t really like Lily being the voice of reason and toleration and then beating a girl up. I don’t understand why the show thinks scenes like that are funny. We can’t see the fight and it’s not like Lily has never got threatening before so it’s just an exaggeration which makes the show seem less authentic and consistent.
Comic Highlight: Marshall tries to casually bring up the issue of “reachers“ and “settlers” to Lily in typically unconvincing fashion. He then “casually” asks her who she thinks is the settler in their relationship. Lily sensibly says neither but Marshall keeps upping the stakes to try and force her to admit what she thinks. Finally he settles on “Our two kids, our eight grandkids, our eleven great grandkids are all on a plane, piloted by Oprah and it’s about to crash into an art museum with all of your favourite paintings and the only way, the only way to save everything is to just answer the question: are you the reacher or the settler?” Reluctantly she says “Well I guess if I had to say, then maybe I’d say, I’m the settler.” To which Marshall of course exclaims “How could you say that!?” A joke you know is coming but it’s so well built up and his emotions are so clear that the punch line works out beautifully.
How I rate your episode: A solid episode for the show, plenty to enjoy, little to get annoyed about.
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