(S03E06) The more I watch HIMYM, the more I realize that Marshall and Lily are the backbone of the show. Sure, Barney is fun, but like any sidekick, he can only really carry a few episodes per season. But Marshall and Lily, on the other hand, have an interesting-enough relationship to carry the whole season. Heck, they put half of last season on their shoulders; the story of their breakup, reconciliation, and wedding was funnier and more heart-warming than any of the tortured relationship angst that had been thrown around by Ted and Robin.So to see an second consecutive episode that was very Marshal-and-Lily-centric was very encouraging, since I really do think that when we shift to the loving husband and wife, a lot of funny and interesting events happen.
I mean, how can you not watch a couple who's so devoted to each other that Lily texts Marshall while he's in the bathroom just to tell him that she's rooting for him to be productive in there? They're so adorable it hurts. Yet, there are secrets between them that, when they come out, make them look like more than the typical schmoopie TV couple.
Like Lily's shopping addiction. Did you ever ask yourself that same important question Robin asked Lily: how could she afford all those expensive clothes on a teacher's salary? Believe it or not, I didn't; I just assumed that, like most TV characters, her wardrobe was unrealistic for someone with such an income. But at least it was refreshing to see a TV character admit that he or she couldn't afford the designer clothes or unbelievably huge apartment or other unrealistic possession. Before this revelation, though, we knew there was something amiss, because even last year, Lily subtly encouraged Marshall to take corporate internships and jobs, citing the fact that those jobs will help secure their future. But little did we know that those subtle encouragements were because Lily has a mountain of credit card debt (she's such an emotional shopper that she breaks out the credit card after she gets a humongous credit card bill).
Then again, Lily still knows what's important to Marshall, which is why she still finally encouraged him to take the NRDC job instead of that job with the evil corporate attorneys. Little did Lily know that other forces were at work, ones that looked suspiciously like Harold from the Harold & Kumar films. John Cho does a good job playing the partner / seductress from the big evil firm (though where he got the name Jeff Coatsworth, I have no idea). It's fitting that Barney knew exactly the moves that Jeff was going to make to suck Marshall into the vortex; I'm sure he's used those methods with both women (naturally) and his company's clients.
Anyway, so now we know that Marshall has taken the evil corporate job, defending the seemingly "least evil place in the world", the Tuckahoe Funland. Little do we know that the Funland not only has a lousy safety record but the corn dogs have e.coli. Lily did a lot of texting the night Marshall found that out.
Why haven't I talked a lot about the Ted Mosby porn star plot? Because it was basically filler. It had a couple of amusing moments, mostly Barney's giddiness over the fact that he found a porno starring Ted Mosby. And I liked how he compared porn to Shakespeare. "Four hundred years from now, some high school will be putting on a production of Beef Party 7," he said in the Best Barneyism of the week. Oh, and his location scouting for Lance Hardwood: Sex Architect starring Ted Mosby was deviously fun. But the best part of that story was this subtle line from Robin: "That Ted Mosby really knows what he's doing!" Ah, it's all in the emphasis, isn't it?
Other stuff:
- Marshall: "It's kinda weird hugging with porn on."
- Ted's interview with the Adult Video Weekly, thinking it was the Architecture Vision Weekly. The coincidences never end with him, do they? The list of now-double-entendres he gave during the interview were very unfortunate for him. Though I don't know why Porn Ted didn't get upset that Real Ted said he was doing a project with a group of guys.
- Boy, when Ted saved that kid Steve Beale in grade school, I'm sure he never envisioned the guy would grow up to be a porn star. But a nice save to make up the name Lance Hardwood on the spot. Usually it's your street name and the name of your first pet, right?
- When Lily saw the massive salary Marshall was going to make, we see her fantasize about being rained on by a torrent of boots. Will she ever tell Marshall about the debt? Between the shopping addiction and the Funland cases, no wonder why Marshall went bald.
- Robin was mostly an observer again this week, but we got to hear her tell a couple of really bad jokes. One of them -- a dated one about Clive Owen Jude Law's porn-star-esque movie output -- was greeted with Ted giving her a comforting "shhhh...."
- Who didn't mouth the words "walk of shame" as Bob Saget's voiceover was explaining the phenomenon? I'm pretty sure that the Walk isn't just a New York thing, though in most of the country it's probably known as the "drive of shame."
- I just read a good observation by Alan Sepinwall: John Cho was in the episode and he didn't share one scene with is Harold & Kumar co-star Neil Patrick Harris?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
10-29-2007 @ 11:13PM
Mike said...
I always assumed the apartment was mostly being paid for by Ted. Architects (the non-sex variety at least) make a good deal of money.
Also, it's possible the apartment is rent controlled.
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10-29-2007 @ 11:17PM
Justin said...
I hate to be the guy that goes to the extreme, but this was the worst episode of the season. Just horrible. The plot line was almost an exact duplicate of when Marshall was debating taking the internship at the evil corporation, and Lily secretly needed him to take because she inherited a ton of debt from the wedding dress. Huge let down.
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10-29-2007 @ 11:18PM
mike said...
I thought Robin referenced Jude Law's prodigious output... oh, and the "walk of shame" is well practiced on many a college campus.
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10-29-2007 @ 11:22PM
justin said...
Yeah, I agree with Mike about Ted probably paying the rent. We already know that Ted does most of the grocery shopping and owns most of the furniture from previous episodes.
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10-29-2007 @ 11:23PM
charles said...
Lots of the typical porn-movie puns. However, I have to say, Robin's "what kind of plane? A boing!" sold me on the notion that she and Barney have a something going on.
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10-29-2007 @ 11:26PM
Joel Keller said...
Yeah, it was Jude Law... I seriously mix him and Clive Owen up all the time. I'll fix it.
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10-29-2007 @ 11:46PM
Ryan said...
Charles, I thought the same thing when she said Boing! Man we NEED a Barney/Robin pairing. NEED.
I liked this episode a lot. Maybe, like you Joel, I do like it when Marshall and Lilly have things to do. I like the continuity of Lilly needing Marshall to take the evil internship/job because she's a shopaholic. What some people see as repetitive, I see as good continuity.
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10-30-2007 @ 12:51AM
diego said...
I wanna see old Barney, i mean does anybody wonder what happens to him, kids?, wife? Also imagine if the final slap is given by Marshall but in the future, would that be funnier, like barney not expecting it after so many years. lol, good show
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10-30-2007 @ 1:48AM
Blair M said...
I would think they made Marshall-of-the-future bald because they cast Bill Fagerbakke (aka Dauber from Coach) as his father and he's got a pretty righteous baldness about him.
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10-30-2007 @ 3:05AM
n.p. said...
blairM - bladness is inherited from the mother.
as for the rest of the episode, it made me laugh and the final slap will probably come when the series ends or near there -- all depending on how well the show fares in the future.
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10-30-2007 @ 6:46AM
John D\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'arc said...
I cant believe Robin felt the same way about Jude Law as I did.
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10-30-2007 @ 8:13AM
KMF said...
This one was another great one! 'Beef Party 7' hilarious because it's true. Though I plead the 5th as to how I know how tacky these porn dvds titles are.
I thought the Ted porn star side plot was funny but not nearly as funny as Lily and Marshall. I sort of figured that porn Ted would be someone Ted knew way back in the day.
Walk of Shame. Priceless.
Maybe I'm just biased but I do think the episodes are getting better by the week.
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10-30-2007 @ 8:40AM
Alicia said...
Shout out to Shaker Heights Ohio!! We knew Ted was from Ohio... but Shaker?? One cool little town!!
Anyway... I dug this episode.
As for the Robin/Barney connection.... I want to see her be his wingman again. They are just perfect that way for each other.
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10-30-2007 @ 9:49AM
CoryB said...
First I want to go on the record as thinking Robin and Bareny as a couple is just a bad idea that would lead to a repeat of season two. Robin and Ted seem to both be interested in living life as a young single person without settling into a relationship.
As for the future episode mix I think the season should consist of 9 Marshall/Lily centric ones, 9 Ted centric, 2 Robing centirc ones and 2 Barney focused ones.
My thinking on the split is Bareny centered episodes like Game Night, Life Among the Gorillias and Moving Day show that Barney can carry and episode.
For Robing episodes like Slapbet and the time she was Barney's wingman show that to some extent her character can carry an occasional episode as well.
Robin's "a boing" line from last night's episode felt more like something written for Barney that was given to Robin so she would have something to do in the scene. As proof it is very similar to the top ten list Bareny gives the group at the end of Moving Day.
I think the best long term plan for Robin is to have her move into the same appartment building as Ted et al. much like Krammer and Neuman on Seinfeld or Monica, Rachel, Chandler and Joey on Friends.
The final thought on this season is that we have yet to really focus on Robin's job at all. That tends to be something that shows up in the story arcs of the past seasons.
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10-30-2007 @ 10:21AM
diego said...
http://www.slapcountdown.com/
the slap will take place when the counter finishes. But will it be in the future or will barney piss marshall off very soon.
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10-30-2007 @ 11:06AM
Justin said...
I liked this episode quite a bit. I think John Cho fit in perfectly with the crew and I'd love to see him come back or even become a series regular. The porn star plot was rife with great one liners and it's always a pleasure to see Marshall squirm.
I have a full recap as well as exciting news about an upcoming episode on my How I Met Your Mother blog:
http://www.have-you-met-ted.com/
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10-30-2007 @ 11:08AM
nattyff said...
Great episode!!, they are improving, i was geting nervous with these show, but now im cool, they are delivering good episodes every week, hope that they keep the god job. I want to see the birthday episode of ted when they end with a goat in their bathroom... just wondering how that coud really happen!!! lol
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10-30-2007 @ 12:31PM
shmuffin123 said...
I only recently started watching HIMYM. I played catchup watching the previous seasons on DVD and the most recent episodes from this season online. Needless to say my past few weeks have been filled with HIMYM shenanigans. And I have to say I disagree with the reviewer stating that Lily and Marshall are the backbone of the show and that Barney is "just" a sidekick. IMO Barney makes the show, it's usually his commentary and scenes that make me laugh out loud.
Marshall and Lily may add a bit of a dramatic plot but lets remember this show...this LEGEND-wait for it-DARY show...is a comedy.
I liken Barney's character on this show to that of Jack and Karen from Will and Grace...in the end it was their character(s) who made the show worth watching and I feel the same about Barney.
Now Suit Up!
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10-30-2007 @ 1:37PM
Puck said...
I love the fact that Ted's "dopplebanger" was Kevin Heffernan from Broken Lizard. Officer Farva/Landfill as "Lance Hardwood, Sex Architect" going at it on Ted's couch? Legen - wait for it - dary!
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10-30-2007 @ 4:46PM
sabercat said...
Diego, The slap coming when the countdown ends is only slap number 3. Marshall will still have 2 more slaps to give out before the show is over. I agree that having one at the very end of the show would be great! I really liked this episode, but I was upset that the Harold and Kumar co-stars didn't share moments on the screen.
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