Tuesday, November 12, 2013

How I Met Your Mother 9.09 Review: Only One Real Challenge to Accept


For all those that have yet to watch last night’s episode of How I Met Your Mother, entitled ‘Platonish’, now would be a good time to go and do that. This is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.
We’re now up to thirty-one hours before the wedding, and we’re up to episode nine of the season. I have to say that this week’s episode was a much more solid episode than most of this season so far. Maybe it’s because the narrative of it relied heavily on flashbacks to sixth months before when these characters were all still in New York City in their usual haunts, or maybe the writing was just more solid, but either way this was a good episode.
The way Ted was written this week, Josh Radnor was really killing it with the humour. His phone conversation with Hammond Druthers was just plain hilarious, and his and Marshall’s yelling at the ref and team with all those remarks was just great. Plus, I really enjoyed his whole speech about having time with Robin, which he really didn’t have because Barney was already beginning his play for her. But then, those two really are better suited for each other when Ted really wants kids. I think my whole issue with the flash-forwards with the mother and him together is the fact that he hasn’t really gotten over Robin yet in the present, so it’s hard to see that change in direction with the flash-forwards. But otherwise, this guy is just great and has developed so intriguingly over the series.
This week, we saw how Barney met the mother, which technically – so far – means that he met the mother first time wise. I was really happy with their interactions, a lot more so than I was when Lily met her. The scenes between Barney and her were just really well written, and I finally saw more depth to the character that made me understand how her and Ted fell in love. The fact that she inadvertently set the path for her and Ted to be able to end up together by helping Barney set his eyes back on Robin was perfect. It just helps this series wrap its characters into one another so brilliantly. I love the way this show is able to do that.
All in all, I really enjoyed this episode. Marshall’s song about the five dollars was great, and all these challenges were very old school Barney. While I think this series should’ve concentrated more on flashbacks and flash-forwards rather than the twenty-ish hours that have been spent in only nine episodes, it does seem to have a track in mind. I’ll just have to try my best to trust the creators of this series to know what they’re doing. That’s something that is hard for me, as a writer myself; I often think I know a better way to do something than the individual that created it when it begins to disappoint me. But it is their baby, so I’ll try to put my faith in their vision.
My rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Best Lines:
“Boogedy boo!” – Lily shouts. “Lily, it’s not the hiccups.” – Ted explains to her, relating to Robin’s crying.
“Yeah, ‘cause it’s 1994 and I’m going to pick up a call without knowing who’s on the other end.” – Ted sarcastically remarks to Lily.
“Yeah, but then we could haunt the bar for all eternity like we always planned.” – Marshall states to Ted.
“More challenges, more challenges!” – Barney exclaims like a child wanting to continue the game.


All right, ladies and gents, I’m off to watch Bones now, so stay tuned for that. Later on, my reviews of Sleepy Hollow and The Blacklist.

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