TVSquad

(S02E04) A sign of a show that's starting to hit its stride creatively is that it starts using storytelling techniques that are not only unconventional, but they're also completely unexpected. We know How I Met Your Mother has used flashbacks since almost day one to tell the story of each episode (heck, the entire series is one long flashback), but in this episode, things have been taken to another level. Not only does Ted's night get reconstructed in flashback form, we end up finding out that "Ted Mosby, Architect" had a great night, but it wasn't the night we thought it would be.

Which leads me right away to the week's Best Barneyism. You could say it was when Barney told Ted that "There's nobody hotter than God," but the entire episode was a Barneyism. He used the theory that Ted's profession, used correctly, can attract women. How does he do it? By pretending he's Ted all night. "Ted Mosby, Architect" picked up a hottie at the bar, went to Marshall's law student party (where a future Supreme Court justice was running around naked asking to have his ass shaved, and the future Attorney General was funneling beer), danced at a club, and slept with said hottie.

Through all this, Lilly and Robin were thinking that the actual Ted was doing this. Which is where the "to the next level" part comes in: Barney's entire night is told with Ted in place of Barney. It gets to the point where every spot along the way, when Robin asks people about Ted, she gets the same response: "You mean, Ted Mosby, the architect?" Because Robin and Ted had gotten into a fight about his job , we actually somewhat believe that Ted could do all this stuff. Even at the point where Robin is so enraged she says she's going to kick the hottie's ass, you think Ted might be in there. It's only at the last second does it hit you: only Barney would go this far. Of course, the conclusion to all this is that Barney bolts and leaves the hottie a form letter -- made out to "Resident" -- that says he's a ghost.

Oh, we've glossed over the fact that this is the first time we see Ted doing his job. Yes, he's bitching about how this building his firm's erecting (heh) is shaped like... um... let's just say it has a round top and two globular entranceways at the bottom. "It's the whole package," as Marshall put it. Of course, some of the episode revolved around "shaft" jokes and lines like "if you trim the bushes around it it'll look bigger," but they didn't dwell on it. It was even funnier when the guys gasped with horror when Ted told them that Robin hated Field of Dreams. It was also funny when, on the girls' side, Robin was so clueless about the fight and Ted's supposed reaction, Lilly has to say "I feel like I'm teaching Love as a second language here."

Really great episode all around. We even find out that Robin was the first to see drawings of the first building Ted ever designed. That was nice.

Some things I noticed:

• No more blazers and goofy shirts for Ted: are the fashions of 20-somethings changing? I'm too old and too comfy in my t-shirts to notice.
  
• Also, not much Lilly/Marshall story here; Marshall breaks the news of their breakup to his law school buddies, and all they want to know is if he's going to sue her.
• Lilly's dark hair is really growing on me.