Episode 15 - Rabbit or Duck
10 February 2010
Review
Synopsis: Barney holds up his cell phone number during the Super Bowl and it won’t stop ringing. He loves the possibilities but it starts to make him go crazy. Ted gets tired of searching for women and asks Marshall and Lily to arrange his marriage. Robin agrees to go out with Don on Valentines Day and denies that she has feelings for him.
The Good: If you are going to be silly, then go all out I say. Well sometimes I say that. Although I generally recommend this strategy to shows like 30 Rock and Family Guy where a sense of reality has long since slid away. Sadly it has too for How I Met Your Mother but the show still hangs onto its core as a romantic comedy. For that to work the show needs to stay more real than ridiculous. This episode veers violently into the ridiculous but it was entertaining.
The pace is a great deal quicker than your average episode and the twists and turns keep piling on top of one another so quickly that there is a car wreck fascination with what is going to happen next. And in amidst the swift developments are some nice jokes and good moments.
Barney’s plan to hold up his number during the Super Bowl is typically clever writing and the resultant influx of calls seems to vindicate his genius. The upshot is though that he is constantly taunted by the knowledge that an even hotter girl may be calling while he is chatting up someone else. It’s actually a pretty philosophical point and one that jabs at the heart of the player mentality. If there is always a hotter girl to chase then when does the game end? This thought literally terrorises Barney and he hams it up with all his might, leaping into a dumpster to retrieve his phone and crying down it “Go for Barney (sobs)! D-cups really?” Or indeed begging Marshall to give him the phone “It could be an emergency, she could be trapped in a giant bra!” It seems fitting that he is carried off a trembling wreck having learnt his lesson.
It was also a good episode for Ted who channelled his inner-Ross (Friends) to really play up the geek inside and the over confidence which his assets bring. On the geek side he displays his crossword knowledge before disappearing upstairs to grab a book to demonstrate a point rather than explaining it. That was a very funny moment, both because of the “22 minutes later” tag on Ted returning (very realistic) and the fact that he was so happy with his Rabbit-Duck idea but no one else much cared. Then later on he joins Robin as they head to Don’s “party” and he is again very smug about his plan to say he has a dinner “res” and then “duck out!”
Once they walk in Don is attempting the “Naked Man” (409) which was a fun bit of continuity and allowed Ted to amusingly announces “Well I got a dinner res” and indeed duck out. Don being older and recently divorced is starting to develop the kind of character one can imagine Robin falling for, so this plot was a step in the right direction. Ted’s Duck-Rabbit concept wasn’t entirely convincing but it did allow for the metaphor to be weaved throughout each plot to provide for an easy reference point for people’s emotions.
Ted becoming obsessed with the phone was ridiculous (see The Bad) but it did add one more stir of the pot. Similarly Lily and Marshall searching for a date for Ted was an awful idea (again see The Bad) but it did lead to the best joke of the episode (see Comic Highlight). It also allowed for one of those easy but fun moments when they hope allowed that Ted has forgotten their agreement to find him a wife. Cut straight to Ted singing “Here comes the groom...”
Ranjit is a fun character to bring back now and again. He also provided the plot excuse for Ted’s arranged marriage idea.
The Bad: Of course the arranged marriage idea is as dumb and implausible as you could possibly get. Are we expected to believe that any of the characters bought into that at all? Even if Lily and Marshall had found a girl they thought was perfect for Ted, none of them would agree beforehand that he would marry her. You might think they are just exaggerating for effect and what they are really talking about is a simple setup with the hope of more to come. But no, instead of asking girls in the bar if they want a date Marshall and Lily actually ask them if they want to marry their friend Ted! It makes no sense. Who would say yes to that? The answer of course is an illegal alien looking for a green card. Marshall and Lily seem super excited about this plan as if the exercise was simply about marriage rather than finding Ted a soul mate. I don’t know what the writers were thinking but this whole story was beyond credible.
Of course so is Barney’s story really. Why exactly so many women would throw themselves at him just because he looks nice in a suit in the crowd of the Super Bowl makes little sense. The fact that he can then get them back to his place so quickly and ditch them so quickly is all ludicrous. But it’s par for the course with him. It shouldn’t be for Ted, who in yet another bizarre twist gets hooked on “the phone.” Or in other words meeting the women who called to meet Barney. So why would they be interested in meeting Ted? Again it makes little sense and although Ted is a heterosexual guy, his “addiction” to the phone seems hastily thrown in and out of character.
Can you get a pint of scotch? I don’t want to rehash my hatred of Don goofing off so unprofessionally on air but he was at it again. The intense argument over rabbits and ducks doesn’t work for me. It’s too silly and there just isn’t anything quite like it in real life to make it seem believable.
Comic Highlight: Lily and Marshall scour MacLarens for girls who might want to marry Ted. Marshall approaches one at the bar a little too aggressively and she maces him in the eyes. Cut to Lily saying “Ted’s right, it’s tough out there.” The shot wheels around to Marshall who has huge red marks around his eyes and tears down his cheeks.
How I rate your episode: How can you sum up this episode? It was thoroughly entertaining and yet ultimately pretty damaging. I liked watching it more than the average episode but it also made the show clearly less real in my mind. If next week Ted is falling for some new girl why should I care after his stupid marriage idea this week?
I’m giving it a flat good score to represent it’s strengths but also to give it no more credit than I feel able to as a critic.
Feedback
Add your comments on this episode below. They may be included in the weekly podcasts.
’)