(S03E01) Welcome to season three of How I Met Your Mother. If you read my Early Look post on the season premiere, you'll know that season three picks up where season two left off.
Well, kinda. Yes, Robin and Ted have gone their separate ways after a year together. Yes, Marshall and Lily have just gotten married (and I guess are back from their honeymoon, but they never say).
But something didn't happen --at least not right at the start of the episode -- that I think almost every HIMYM fan expected to happen.
The episode didn't start with Barney saying "...dary."
Oh, don't get me wrong, it happened... eventually. Actually pretty quickly. The completion of the final scene on the terrace after Marshall and Lily's wedding happened about twenty seconds in. But I think everyone who watched the finale thought the premiere would literally pick up where the finale left off. Instead, we got yet another Bob Saget narration and the picture of a yellow umbrella. Is this Bays and Thomas changing things up to be unexpected, or blowing what might have been one of the coolest opening scenes ever put on a season premiere? I'm leaning towards the latter, because I was a bit disappointed that they didn't start with "...dary".
Anyway, this season, we're going to get to see Wild Ted, a Ted who's not concerned about finding "the one" or about maintaining a relationship with Robin. It's a Ted who's going sow the proverbial wild oats, and it doesn't look like he's going to need Barney's help with that, much to the suited one's chagrin. It's interesting that Ted for some reason thought the break-up was a competition, while Robin, who went to Argentina and hooked up with a very handsome guy named Gael (Enrique Iglesias), was just trying to survive it.
But first we get to see what Ted does after a break-up. He doesn't get drunk; he grows a beard and paints the apartment. I think the only reason the beard was there was so that Marshall, Lily, and Barney could make fun of it as he shaved it off. The mutton-chop-mustache phase generated cracks about Chester A. Arthur, Around the World in 80 Days, and barbershop quartets. A mustache-only look reminded Barney of a Persian nightclub owner. That's an intelligent and quick bunch there, isn't it?
Ted's first post-Robin conquest is Amy, a tattooed bad girl played by Mandy Moore. On second view, I don't think she did as bad a job as I thought she did when I wrote my Early Look post. But still, it really wasn't such a big role that having Moore in it was necessary. Neither was Iglesias' role. They just served as distractions, keeping the five main players apart from each other. The best scenes in this episode were where at least four of the five group members interacted with each other, which means Cobie Smulders was pretty much the odd person out. Hopefully, this break-up isn't going to be as torturous as the one it is most compared to (hint: "We were on a break!"); we need to have all of the Fab Five together as much as possible.
What was funny about the Amy storyline was her interaction with Barney. She calls him a "nerd" and "dork" with a "huge vagina;" he calls her "Tommy Lee" and "1994 Courtney Love." He was just jealous that Ted found her without his help, since he was so looking forward to being Ted's wingman. Which leads me to my choice for the season's first Best Barneyism: his wingman-ish plans for Ted:
"As your wingman I'm going to get you a 12. Or at least two sixes. Failing that, four threes. And, break glass in case of emergency, we'll go to Staten Island and get you twelve ones."
Second place is Barney's reaction to Ted's new tattoo: "That, dear boy, is a tramp stamp. You know, a ho tag. Ass Antlers. A Panama City license plate." The tramp stamp is the funniest part of the episode; I just love how the members of the group revel in each other's comic missteps. Barney's knees buckle when he sees the butterfly that Ted drunkenly got tattooed on his lower back. Lily whispers "He's gonna say it!" with unfettered glee as Barney leads Ted to the horrific discovery. That's best friends for you: completely supportive but unafraid to bust chops when the occasion calls for it.
Other fun stuff:
- New season, new hairstyle for Lily. This year: bangs-o-rama.
- Barney's best entreaties to get Ted going: Joggers in a 10K: "Salty girls on an endophin high who just want to lie down." Acrobats from Montreal: "We're gonna get cirque du so laid!"
- Lily: "The girl never marries the hot guy." Marshall: "Well, you did." Lilly (quickly recovering): "I'm one of the lucky few." God Bless Marshall's ego.
- I'd like to see that episode where Barney breaks into the Smithsonian so he can check the Apollo 11 space capsule off his list.
- Wild Ted's new motto: "A dark path is my driveway."
- Barney after Ted and Amy leave to get Ted a tat: "This is so going in my blog!"
- Barney had a suit but no tie the next morning! Is he loosening up?
- Ted, when he confronts Robin about Gael, had this fun call-back to his previous lovesick self: "There'll be no statling confession of love, no sweet indie rock song that swells up just as we're about to kiss, none of that crap. Got it?"
- The sweetest words Ted could ever hear: "Ted... you're bigger."
- Marshall calls Gael "male Gayle," calling back how they mangled his name right after Robin introduced him, in solidarity to their hurt friend Ted. He couldn't resist the man's charms for long, could he? The fruit interception was the funniest part. At least Lily admitted her weakness with him.
The second item is the introduction of the Slap Countdown Clock into the plot. We've known about the clock for a few months, but we didn't know that Marshall was going to make Barney aware of it. So... is the slap coming? Is the clock there to fake everyone, including the viewers, out? Let me know in the poll below.
Again, this wasn't a great episode. But the promise of Wild Ted and more clues about the mother definitely have me intrigued. It'll be hard for Bays and Thomas to follow up last season's excellence, but I hope they can match or exceed it. Either way, I'll be along for the entire ride.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
9-24-2007 @ 10:01PM
CPav said...
Not a big deal, but Robin's new boyfriend's name is spelled Gael.
Other than that, great episode.
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9-24-2007 @ 10:01PM
s said...
His name is Gael, not Guyelle... :)
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9-24-2007 @ 10:02PM
Joel Keller said...
@CPav, @s: Thanks. I fixed it.
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9-24-2007 @ 10:49PM
Nathan said...
Holy crap what a funny episode. I am going to say this episode was better than the Slap episode. I didn't think it was possible, but I think they did it.
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9-24-2007 @ 11:18PM
Ryan said...
Whew. Your "early look" made me expect for the worst, and thus I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe it's because I have missed these characters so much, but I really enjoyed the episode.
I do agree that Mandy Moore's character was meh. I don't blame her, it's just wasn't a big role. I enjoyed Enrique though. The whole "Gael, Gayle, Kyle, Girl" thing was hilarious. Anyways, viva HIMYM!
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9-24-2007 @ 11:32PM
marko said...
If Barney has no tie in the morning that means he's coming right from his one night stand. Thats what kept happening in the Scorpian and the Toad.
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9-24-2007 @ 11:41PM
allykat said...
i so have to figure out how to weave cirque de so laid in to a conversation
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9-25-2007 @ 12:02AM
Justin said...
What a great episode. Really, I was worried but guest stars be damned, you just can't hold the show down, no matter how many pop stars are on screen.
Great recap Joel. You hit all the good moments. What made Robin's confession about Ted being bigger even funnier is all the press coverage surrounding Enrique which suggests that that wasn't a creation for the show...
I wrote up my reaction on my blog. Be warned: it's effusive.
http://www.have-you-met-ted.com/2007/this-is-totally-going-in-my-blog/
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9-25-2007 @ 1:15AM
Chester said...
Joel,
I agree with you it wasn't a great episode, but it was a great welcome back viewers episode.
The type that takes last season's last episode and inches us forward to what is about to happen in the up-an-coming episodes. It's letting the viewers know that the writers heard the viewers and will continue with the slap bet storyline as this was possibly thought of by many as one of the best skits from last year.
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9-25-2007 @ 2:16AM
BStu said...
Like Justin, I blogged my recap...
http://ymiab.blogspot.com/
I actually really like Mandy Moore in theory, but do think she came off too self-conscious in the episode. I liked it better the second time around, though, so maybe I'll soften more on her, too. It wasnt' bad, just a little too aware. I did like the episode, though, and think it spent plenty of time on the gang's interpersonal relationships with lots of funny character moments like Marshall lawyering Male Gayle and drunk Ted's pretenious philosophizing.
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9-25-2007 @ 5:38AM
KMF said...
I thought this was a great episode maybe not legendary but it was great. I love Ted's tramp stamp!
The only scene that brought me down was 'Gael' with his guitar singing, until it pans to Marshall and his love struck schoolgirl expression totally saved it.
This is so going in my blog. . .
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9-25-2007 @ 6:45AM
hub said...
My favorite part of the show has always been that the actors/characters actually laugh at jokes. They don't just deliver them, but laugh as though they're actual people. Didn't realize how rare it was until I saw it here. Very humanizing.
I was thinking that they should do something with the slaps on the season premiere, and then the slap counter showed up. F-ing. Awesome.
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9-25-2007 @ 9:05AM
SpaceVenus said...
I agree, not the best episode, but still pretty great.
I thought the guest stars were distracting as well. I really don't find Enrique all that hot, and I don't like Mandy Moore. Is it me, or has she gotten bigger? Not a criticism, just an observation. The lower portion of her body looks larger than before. Oh, and I don't really like Lily's new hairstyle.
But I'm just so happy they're back!
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9-25-2007 @ 10:33AM
Porchland said...
A solid B/B+ episode. (They're not all going to be "Slap Bet.") I loved the pan shot over the Marshall when Gael was playing the guitar; you KNEW Marshall would be in full swoon, and he was. The heavy thriller-ish sound effect during the Marshall coda at the end of the episode was funny. Be afraid Barney!!
Will Ted keep the tramp stamp?
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9-25-2007 @ 11:04AM
Akbar Fazil said...
To me, this episode was a perfect mix of bring back the fans and introduce new viewers to the concept.
The wife and I both hate Lily's new hair.
I seriously doubt the slap bet was brought back because of fans enjoying the story line. Thomas/Bays knew a great joke with the Slap Bet would work so well for present and future telling.
I would like to remind everyone back to "Ok, Awesome" when Lily was trying to get Marshall to be excited about Fondue... and they now own a fondue pot.
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9-26-2007 @ 10:55AM
Hank said...
There are PLENTY of 6, 8, and 12s on Staten Island.
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9-25-2007 @ 12:32PM
MrTim said...
I hope I'm not going crazy here . . . am I the only person who heard Barney say "-dary" at the start of the show? We watched on Channel 11 in NYC, and that was definitely the first syllable I heard.
Joel, maybe your TiVo clipped the beginning or something?
Anyway this was another great episode, although I'm sorry not to see The Class next . . .
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9-25-2007 @ 12:35PM
MrTim said...
Sorry, that should be Channel 2 not Channel 11.
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9-25-2007 @ 12:40PM
Akbar Fazil said...
MrTim, the version I watched totally had Barney saying "..dary" as the first word. Don't know what Joel missed.
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9-25-2007 @ 12:53PM
mb2456 said...
I think the Mandy Moore's introduction was just a way of her promoting her new album, (advertised at the end of the show). I did enjoy her "bad girl" character especially when the four were in the hot tub and the comments that Ted made about her "tats". She thought he said something about another part of her anatomy that she proudly proclaimed "The're real". Very funny.
I agree with most everyone who said it was a very good episode, not great, just very enjoyable. Looking forward to more with the slap bet clock...
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