Episode 17 - Life Among the Gorillas
25 March 2012
Synopsis: Ted is feeling guilty because Victoria has sent him three care packages and he hasn’t sent her any. Then he falls asleep while on the phone to her. She emails to say they need to talk and he fears the worst. Meanwhile Marshall goes to work for Barney’s corporation and doesn’t like the guys he is working with. They behave in an immature frat boy way and Marshall decides to quit. Barney convinces him to stay and adapt so that he can pay for a nice life for Lily. He wins them over and they offer him a job. Lily is upset and he tries to make it up to her while out at karaoke. It’s gone 2am and Robin calls Ted to ask if he wants to come over.
The Good: The Ted and Robin situation is an intriguing cliff hanger. And the whole critique of long distance relationships was spot on. From Ted running out of things to say on the phone to not being able to remember her properly. Most viewers will be able to relate entirely to those situations.
The Bad: As for Marshall, I think his plot tried to cover two different plots in one episode. With Ted getting his own story there just wasn’t room for that. The first part of the story was Marshall learning to adapt, like an anthropologist living with gorillas, to bonding in the frat boy corporate office. He succeeds in one scene and suddenly they offer him a job. Considering Ted’s plot appears to take place over about three days, this seems strangely fast.
But Marshall is only winning them over because of the second part of the story. That is Barney’s suggestion that he keep the job in order to provide Lily with the comfortable middle class lifestyle that she would obviously like. It’s just too important a story to try and cram in here. There are several levels to it.
First off is the fact that Barney brings it up. In the previous episode Barney deliberately saddled Marshall with debt in order to force him to come and work at his company. Now Barney is saddling Marshall with theoretical debt by putting doubts in his mind about how Lily will behave in the future. I suspect the writers didn’t mean to imply that Barney was deliberately manipulating Marshall once more. But that is how it came across and makes you wonder when Marshall will start questioning what Barney tells him?
Second is the power behind Barney’s suggestion. He is tapping into deep insecurities within Marshall. Anyone getting married has to ask themselves questions about whether their partner will change over time. Couples have to talk about their goals and desires and how they see their future panning out. Barney is bringing up a potentially huge question surrounding Lily and Marshall’s future, which needs addressing. But it isn’t addressed, instead Lily tried to reassure Marshall that he already provides her with everything she needs. But the writers needlessly use the word “package” to get a cheap laugh. The repeated use of it ruins the seriousness of the conversation.
The third part of this is the environmental issue. Marshall has always said he will fight to save the planet by working for the National Resource Defence Council. But now he decided instead to work for Barney’s company for the money. For this decision to have a real impact, we need a more thorough examination of Marshall’s life and values. Ted steps in to say that if you preserve every rainforest then where will people park their cars. It was a deeper point than it sounds but it was still thrown in flippantly and not explored further.
It’s not even clear at the end of the episode whether Marshall is still going to work for Barney’s company or if by making up with Lily he won’t.
Comic Highlight: Barney’s karaoke song gets interrupted. So he turns to Marshall and says “Um, roccupied!”
How I rate your episode: Despite the amount I had to say that was wrong with this, this isn’t a bad episode. It just did what so many TV shows do and tried to rush through an important issue too quickly.
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