Episode 12 - No Tomorrow
12 January 2009
Review
Synopsis: It’s St Patrick’s Day and Barney is decked out in green ready to go. Ted joins him and he begins to do bad things and be rewarded for them. Lily and Marshall take Robin to their new apartment where they discover that the floor is slanted.
The Good: Finally we get some developments about how Ted met his children’s mother. At one point he apologises to a girl while passing her in the club which may well be her.
As with many “Ted at a party” stories the writers do a good job of making you curious about what is going to happen next. The show has a moral centre and so you know Ted will not be forever rewarded for doing bad things. Barney is funny throughout the bar scenes as his comic delivery is as strong as ever. He is especially amusing when he can’t choose which of the girls he brought is hotter and ends up telling the bouncer that “mine’s the hotter one.”
Marshall telling Ted off for kissing a married woman makes total sense for a newly married man. Using Ted’s phone autodialing Marshall is plausible and a clever way of allowing him to find out what really happened (see below).
The Bad: Marshall and Robin try to convince Lily that there is a ghost in their apartment so that she won’t notice the slanted floor. I have three problems with this story.
First we know that they already can’t afford this place because of Lily’s debt. Then we discovered that it was downwind of the sewage treatment plant (307) and now we find that the floor is slanted. Did Marshall and Lily really need another slightly implausible problem with their first home? It seems like overkill on silly reasons why married life is not easy.
The second problem is with them lying at all. There is no chance she wouldn’t discover the floor eventually, so you would think they would just tell her. So we sit through a story with no relevance because you know the truth is right around the corner. The third fault is obviously that Lily even listens to their lies at all. Even if Marshall believes in ghosts, Robin doesn’t and is deliberately unconvincing so there is no reason to believe her. That whole story feels like a waste of time.
Ted being immoral is a little bit of a stretch for his character. It is easier to accept when he finds adultery a step too far and then gets his comeuppance. However the flashbacks imply that he was really drunk the whole time. While that adds a necessary feeling of rock bottom to his actions it seems unnecessary and inconsistent.
Unnecessary because him choosing to be immoral is a stronger statement about where his life has ended up. By being drunk it almost gives him an excuse for his poor judgement. And inconsistent because the flashbacks imply he was already wasted outside the club and at the bar. Both of which clearly took place before he had a drink. You could suggest he drank on the way out but I think it’s more likely a production oversight.
Comic Highlight: A girl comes up to Ted and pinches his butt. She says that was punishment for not wearing green on St Patrick’s Day. Barney (in a full green suit) says “I’m not wearing green either. This is um, deep teal.”
How I rate your episode: Barney and Ted have a fun story which keeps you interested and they supply decent humour. But it is has some holes in it and the slanted floor plot is such time wasting that this episode disappoints more than it delivers.
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