Episode 21 - The Three Days Rule
14 September 2009
Review
Synopsis: Ted gets a girls number and despite Barney’s warning about waiting three days he texts her right away. After two days of texting he thinks he is falling for her. Robin finds out that it is really Barney and Marshall who swapped her name with Barney’s in Ted’s phone. Once he finds out Ted begins messing with them by texting that he had a gay dream about his best friend.
The Good: This is a good example of when an engaging and focussed story can compensate for a lack of humour. The twist that Holli’s texts are coming from Barney and Marshall is a good one. The messing back and forth keeps viewers interested because only they know exactly what is going on. It’s that feeling that we know exactly why everyone is behaving the way they are but they don’t that can absorb you into a story. You instinctively want to see what will happen once they all discover what you know.
Barney’s explanation of how Jesus invented the “Three Day Rule” (for calling women) by the example of his resurrection was a clever idea. Particularly when he points out that if Jesus had risen the next day no one would have believed he was dead.
Barney and Marshall getting carried away by how successful their deception was was very plausible. In the excitement of how well they had fooled Ted they end up trying to sexually excite him before realising how weird that is. The flashback to the pilot episode was a nice touch to reinforce how falling quickly for women is what Ted does. It says a lot about texting and how much people read what they want to from them that Ted thinks he is falling for a girl when it is two guys texting him. The images of Barney and Marshall taking Holli’s place (in the bath etc) were good for a cheap laugh. As was Ted wearing his red cowboy boots again (319).
Ted wraps up the story nicely by first taking revenge on them and then saying that being himself is how he will find the right girl. It’s a nice “moral of the story”, fits his character and gives the episode a nice sense of purpose.
The Bad: Stan plays his role fine. But the campy overacted way Marshall and Barney take to him is less good.
Comic Highlight: Ted pretends he had a gay dream about his “best friend.” So Marshall and Barney get competitive about which of them he dreamt of. Marshall asks Ted who he would sleep with were machines to kill all other humans except the three of them.
T: “Why do I have to ‘get’ with one of you?”
B: “The machines are forcing you. They wanna watch. That’s just how they get down.”
How I rate your episode: A nice fun story.
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