Episode 22 - Right Place Right Time
14 September 2009
Review
Synopsis: Ted heads out to get a bagel and runs into Stella. He then tells his kids the story of how he ended up in that exact spot. This involves Robin getting food poisoning, Marshall playing with charts and Barney seeking to bed his 200th partner.
The Good: This is what some would call a bait and switch. The show strongly implied that Ted was about to finally meet his kids’ mother but instead ran into his ex, Stella. I don’t have a problem with this tactic because anyone following the show in some detail could suspect that this wasn’t going to be the end of the story. But the build up is so strong that it ought to lead somewhere significant.
Ted grabs the umbrella (301) which we know will play a part in how he will meet the mother. We also see him wishing he could have hugged everyone in sight because he ran into Stella. We know she isn’t the mother (405), so this meeting must lead him toward the mother, otherwise this episode was a bait and switch, a con which disrespected its audience. But I suspect the producers have more sense that that.
The strong implication that the end of the episode would be a huge moment meant viewers were going to stick around to see what happened which is a good tactic. Fortunately the stories in between were pretty engaging too and they all slotted together nicely by showing the events which led Ted to be in the exact spot.
Barney’s story effectively brought home how meaningless sex can be and how his milestone might make him feel. The fact that Barney ran out to have sex with someone he didn’t want to just to get a statistic was a sad moment, even sadder when his muscled lover turned out to be his 200th after all. What brought home the tragic nature of all this was that Robin was the one who saw the mistakes in his list. He was rushing around trying to complete a task that might make the woman he loves think even less of him. The final scene was neat and poignant, well played as ever by Barney as he tried to cover his rapidly shrinking confidence. It’s not often that sex obsessed characters on TV get called out as he does here. The shift in his focus more fully to Robin should be a good story and the writers have done a good job of scripting her to giggle and react well to Barney’s jokes (as she does here) throughout this season. Implying a shared intimacy and comfort that will make their inevitable relationship more plausible.
I enjoyed the nicely exaggerated article titles which Ted reads out from “Bro’s Life” magazine. Including “That last five pounds - how to get her to lose them.”
Marshall’s visual gags with his charts was a fun idea. There were little jokes to enjoy on each chart. The one that got me was “Bush” being on the list of President’s names which sound dirty, twice. Logical that there should be two but the fact that Marshall included both separated by six places definitely had my imagination giggling at his possible explanation. We also got references to previous episodes with Marshall’s fish stand up routine (418) and the group interventions (404) which are nice to see and help establish the How I Met Your Mother universe as a consistent place.
The Bad: I’ve said it once and I will say it again. Would you tell your kids about how your best friend slept with hundreds of women?
The Barney story could and probably should have had its own episode instead of being forced into this one. There is so much exploration of his feelings that would have been interesting to see. The addition to his mythology of a twelve year old Matthew Panning needs to be fitted into his established reason for becoming who he is today (as we saw in 115).
I wasn’t happy with either Ted or Barney’s reactions to Robin’s “pregnancy.” Ted’s character can be so uneven when the writers try to make him funny. His offer of marriage is so fast and so immediately qualified that it looks like a lame joke and makes him seem like an idiot. Similarly Barney runs away from the apartment which doesn’t make it clear how he is reacting to this news. While not bad in and of itself it just seems like such a natural moment to draw out who the characters really are and instead the bad jokes are a waste of time.
Marshall’s charts are fine. But they demonstrate perfectly what is wrong with the way How I Met Your Mother tells most of its jokes. Yes the occasional line is funny within the charts. But the joke is so in your face. It’s saying so loudly – “Look at how witty and silly and clever we are.” There is nothing subtle about it, nothing to catch you off guard and make you laugh. It’s only capable of drawing a small laugh from you because you are so aware that you are meant to find this hilarious. Then we have Marshall overacting like an addict and Ted dealing with a crazy homeless man (Dan “Homer Simpson” Castellaneta FYI). There’s nothing more contrived than “insane” characters in sit coms.
Comic Highlight: Robin mentions that her TV station has a clown for a weather man. A few minutes later in the episode we cut to her on air throwing up. She yells at her production team to cut away to the weather. We jump to a flamboyantly dressed clown doing a cross word and leaping into his weather report in a hurry. See now that catches you off guard and gets you laughing.
How I rate your episode: A solid concept episode with plenty of entertainment along the way. Now the show needs to deliver a payoff. If How I Met Your Mother is going to go on for several more seasons (and it is successful enough to do that) then they might as well introduce the mother now and just stop dragging it out. The premise of the show has trapped their main character from really developing any new relationships.
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