How I Met Your Mother 9.14 Review: The Simple Pleasures of Anticipation

Anyone that has yet to watch last night’s episode of How I Met Your Mother, entitled ‘Slapsgiving 3: Slappointment in Slapmarra’, then now would be a good time to go and do that. For this is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

This one’s going to be short and sweet, so here goes. I really enjoyed that this episode was mostly told in flashback sequences because I’m still not completely sold on the whole wedding weekend season. As long as they stay away from the inn the wedding is being held at, I’m happiest.

So, there’s only one slap left after this episode, and this episode basically went through the torturing of Barney and his anticipation with the second last slap. I have to say I love this whole slap bet thing that this series came up with, they’ve managed to come up with so many great things over the years – including the infamous Challenge Accepted. I’m going to miss this series when it’s gone; it’s my second favourite sitcom (behind Friends), so it will likely live on like my first favourite and be watched numerous times.

All in all, this was a nice and funny episode. I love how the whole gang enjoys torturing Barney and making him feel like he misheard what was said. This series really is such a brilliant thing, again behind only Friends in its sitcom-y brilliance. It’s funny how I’ve actually been able to watch the last few seasons as they aired, and it’s still almost as great as Friends.

My rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Best Lines:

“Think of it as a high five, (pause) for your stupid face.” – Marshall tells Barney.

“In the far off mystical land of… Cleveland.” – White Flower explains to Marshall.

Okay, so I’m off to watch Bones now, so check back later for that.

How I Met Your Mother 9.12 Review: Life is Full of Surprises

Anyone that has yet to watch last night’s episode of How I Met Your Mother, entitled ‘The Rehearsal Dinner’, now would be a good time to go and do that. For this is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! Proceed at your own discretion.

This is going to be short and sweet, because I am very tired, and I have two more reviews to catch up on, so here goes.

Last night’s episode was much better than the episode before it, mostly because it didn’t have anything to do with rhymes. Honestly, I have no plans to ever rewatch that episode; it was terrible. But anyways, I really enjoyed how flashback heavy this episode was, particularly the flashback sequence where the gang all spits off the many bad ideas Barney has had. I’m definitely happiest when there are more flashbacks in an episode, so that I get to see the gang in New York City, versus the terribly situated inn where the wedding is being held.

That being said, this series is about halfway through its final season and only twenty-two hours are left until the wedding, and it’s feeling a bit hokey. As anyone that has read my previous reviews regarding this season will know, I’m still not happy with the way this season is going. It just feels like it’s dragging on and going nowhere. This is all just a bit too much for me. All of this could honestly have been settled in a handful of episodes.

My biggest problem with this season is not that everything is occurring over this one, really long, weekend, but more so that almost all of the episodes have felt like unnecessary filler. We really didn’t need that one poker episode, or most of the terribly done Halloween episode. We also didn’t need to include Anna Camp’s character, or the Friday night cocktails where Ted chose a woman unwisely. A lot of these things were completely unnecessary, so much so that I’ve only really liked about three or four episodes this season. It really is disappointing.

All in all, I’m wishing that the writers would pick up the pace a bit and get to the juicier stuff. While it was funny watching Ted dress like Liberace and almost be able to figure skate, but otherwise this episode was too hokey for my taste. I really am hoping the second half of this season is better.

My rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Best Lines:

“Puppies!” – Barney enthuses, after pretending to break off his engagement to Robin and surprises her with the bundles of joy.

“You’re a fricken weirdo.” – Lily calls Barney, to which Ted concurs.

“Isn’t that right, Theodore?” – Barney questions Ted, getting up in his face.

“Poppycock!” – Barney utters.

“Well dog my cats, what are the chances?” – Barney expresses.

Okay, that’s one Monday show down, two to go. Check back shortly for my review of Almost Human, and afterwards The Blacklist.

How I Met Your Mother 9.11: Everything in Rhyme

All those that have yet to watch last night’s episode of How I Met Your Mother, entitled ‘Bedtime Stories’, here is where I suggest you go do that before proceeding ahead. For this is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

Well, I have to say that I thoroughly did not enjoy that. That may have been the worst episode this series has ever done. That the entire episode was done in rhyme ridiculously annoying, and that it focused entirely on the Marshall half of this tale (plus his flashbacks) was utterly disappointing.

There’s not much more I have to say concerning this episode other than how much of a failure an entire episode dictated in rhyme was. Honestly, some of the stories could have been good, had they not been spoken the way they had. This really made me angry that they thought this was creatively good for the story. What on earth made them think this was good?

My rating: 5.5 out of 10.

Okay, folks, I’m off to watch Almost Human now. Afterwards it’s Sleepy Hollow and The Blacklist. Stay tuned.

How I Met Your Mother 9.10 Review: Delusional Thinking

Anyone that has yet to watch last night’s episode of How I Met Your Mother, entitled ‘Mom and Dad’, now would be a good time to go do that. For this is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! Proceed at your own discretion.

Well, I think I’ve finally come to the point where I’m just trying to appreciate this season’s final season – that or I just found this episode good and funny. More than likely, it was a bit of both. There’s a limited amount of new episodes this series is going to have, and I’m trying my best to enjoy seeing this series on my television every week.

This season still does feel a bit like an extra season we were lucky enough to get, and in ways I am quite appreciative of this season. We get to see these five people together, as close as they are, and get to say goodbye to these beloved characters as they bid us farewell. That being said, I am still a bit disappointed in the wedding weekend long season, but I think it is just because I miss more of the year long pacing that this series is more familiar with. Plus, this means we probably won’t get to see these people celebrate Christmas one last time (and Christmas is my favourite holiday; only 36 days left).

Am I the only one that thinks Alyson Hannigan looks better this season than she has in years? I absolutely love her hair, it suits her perfectly, and I no longer think she looks like a new mom – you know, the kind that always looks exhausted. I’m loving getting to see her and Ted spend this much time together, being that her husband is still on the road to the wedding. They’ve had a lot of quality episodes together, and I think that’s great, although I would like to see more of the full group together, especially as soon as Marshall finally gets there.

I just want to mention some of my favourite funny moments of the episode. The first one was definitely the stairs sign, very much something Barney would do. Also, I loved watching Barney and his brother fighting like girls with their hands the way they did; these two are such awesome brothers. Another thing was the song that played during the scene where Ted and Lily realize Zabka framed Ted; nice to know they can throw in some quality rock music. And finally, I really enjoyed Barney’s rendition of a suicide note as his dad read it to the police; he didn’t even spell Cheryl right.

All in all, I am enjoying this season. I do wish a little more would happen and that it wasn’t so concentrated on the wedding as much as it was about Ted meeting the Mother, but it is still good. Maybe it’s just sad knowing there’s an end date for this series.

My rating: 7 out of 10.

Best Lines:

“I now pronounce your asses saved.” – Reverend Gibbs proclaims.

“I win!” – James shouts.

“I’m telling all of y’all, it’s Zabka-tage!” – Ted exclaims.

All right, folks, I’m off to watch Almost Human now, and after that Sleepy Hollow, so stay tuned.

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.