(S04E05) Ah... now I get it.
Now I get why Bays and Thomas wrote Sarah Chalke's character of Stella to be so incredibly dull that it invokes tears. I get why, despite the fact that Chalke has comedic acting skills to spare, she essentially played straight man to Ted and the rest of the Scooby gang. And I get why, even though Ted has professed that he was in love with her and wanted to be with her forever, it seemed like this was the worst chemistry Ted's ever had with a girlfriend.
I get all of it now, and now it all makes complete sense.
Carter and Craig didn't want us to like Stella.
You heard me. At the end of last season, too many people were starting to buy into Stella being the Mother, even though something about that didn't feel right. So instead of making Stella even more charming in her four episodes this year, the guys decided to make her even more dull, so no one had any doubt that a) Ted was going to get his heart broken and b) he was going to rebound quickly.
Heck, they even had Old Ted say "and that's how I met your mother!" to two blond kids, representing what would have happened if Stella told Robin to leave instead of Ted. It's almost as if the guys were acknowledging all the Mother speculation right there.
Don't get me wrong; I support Stella's notion that you shouldn't invite exes to a wedding. And, as you can see, she was really bitchy about it because she was more afraid of what she might do with Tony, rather than what Ted might do with Robin. But it's pretty obvious that her bitchiness leading up to the big reveal made her look even more unsuitable for Ted than before, and puts the fan in the position of cheering Robin on as she lectures Ted about how he's rushing into things and that this isn't the proper conclusion to his grand romantic quest.
Oh, about the rushing in part: the "let's get married in three days!" gambit seems to me to be Sitcomland code for, "Let's make up an implausible situation to clear this off our board as quickly as we can!" Just the fact that the wedding was on Shelter Island to begin with just so Robin can be on the ferry to see Stella and Tony's reunion was also a bit on the contrived side. Both contrivances took away from the usual emotional gut punch that Bays / Thomas and company have been good at conveying in these moments.
Don't get me wrong, though; it was a relatively funny episode. I just think there was too many turns to get to the destination we all thought we were going to, anyway.
Other funny stuff:
- Poor Barney: he had the formula to get back with Robin (achieved Numb3rs style); he resisted the advances of Stella's recently-jilted and horny sister ("I was a vegan for two years. I want some meat!"); he even had Robin outside his room with a bottle of scotch, thus bringing "Get Robin Drunk at Ted's Wedding" to fruition. Too bad the crunchy desk clerk got to him. His failure to resist on the lowest levels is the Best Barneysim of the week.
- Robin's job in Japan didn't last long, did it? Chimps with marshmallows, "Giant fan!"... just the background behind her desk told us that Robin wasn't poised to become the next Lara Logan.
- I think every groom has sympathized with Marshall's plight before his wedding. And I bet it all became noise to them, too.
- Jason Jones was perfect as the over-the-top macho but pathetic lovesick Tony. Too bad we didn't see more of him this season.
- This thing with Robin and Ted isn't done yet, is it? She'll move in with Ted and now Barn will be going after her while she tries to win back Ted. My, my.
- One more thing: Lara Spencer, talking about the CBS comedy lineup while cooking bagged pasta dinners? Creepy as hell. Hope I never see that again.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
10-20-2008 @ 11:18PM
JBCheese said...
I know! I was having scary flashbacks to Lara Spencer's WABC days.
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10-20-2008 @ 11:13PM
Cody said...
I wholeheartedly agree about Lara Spencer. I had to stop watching partway through that commercial. It was revolting in the truest sense of the word. I hope that's not where the networks are headed.
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10-20-2008 @ 11:17PM
Chrysee said...
Glad to see Stella gone, but I gotta say I did not expect it to happen this way. I almost wish Ted would have come to his senses on his own since she was such a bad fit for him, instead of having to see him completely willing to go through with it. Ugh.
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10-20-2008 @ 11:19PM
Chrysee said...
BTW, isn't Victoria due to be finishing up her fellowship? Any clue as to whether or not she'll ever be coming back to the show? I miss her and their relationship ending was just unfortunate, as opposed to Ted and Stella which never made any sense.
10-20-2008 @ 11:45PM
Stacie23 said...
BTW, isn't Victoria due to be finishing up her fellowship? Any clue as to whether or not she'll ever be coming back to the show? I miss her and their relationship ending was just unfortunate,
Good call, I totally forgot about her. Ashley Williams is her name. I loved her and Ted together and they ended in an interesting way where they can definetly bring her back.. They had great chemistry, she was fun and they were funny toegher. That would be great if she came back, she could easily be the mother. Plus now we know that the mother is definetly not blonde or brunette, because those kids' hair changed because Stella's hair was blonde, so that means the mother's hair has got to be dark, which is what Victoria had.
I really doubt Robin will be with Ted. After all the pining with Barney I think that they will end up together in some capacity eventually. I don't think it's a Ross and Rachel thing with Ted and Robin. It was what it was. they are just 2 completly different types of people.
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10-21-2008 @ 12:17AM
Dominic said...
Victoria's culinary fellowship (or was it a cupcake scholarship?) was for two years, and that started in season 1, episode 16. She's back in America at this point.
10-21-2008 @ 12:30AM
Sarah said...
As much as I like Victoria, I don't think she'll be the mother. Ted really hurt her by not breaking up with her and trying to sleep with Robin. I can't imagine her trusting him enough to start up again.
So glad that Stella is not the mother. She seemed cool, but not right for Ted.
Have to say, I wish that Marshall and Lily had more of a storyline so far this season. To me, they're the most relatable part of this show and to have them as background so much of the time has been a bit disappointing.
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10-21-2008 @ 1:01AM
Tom said...
The sad part is, of all the other stuff going on this episode, my favorite part was one single line.
Ted's emphatic "I did make it rain" That just floored me for some reason.
Anyway, good episode. and Count me among the folks who would like to see Ashley Williams return. Though I don't think she can be the mother (there are some stories you don't tell your kids no matter what and the time you cheated on their mother with their Aunt Robin would be one of those)
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10-27-2008 @ 3:05PM
WhoElseButME said...
I am pretty sure Victoria isn't the mother. Your reasoning is good but I doubt the writers would have thought of that.
I am glad Stella is gone. She had no chemistry with Ted, wasn't funny, didn't gel with the gang, came with too much baggage and was really unattractive - well as much as a thin blue eyed blonde can be anyway!
Bye Bye Sarah Chalke, See You Never!!
10-27-2008 @ 3:16PM
WhoElseButME said...
Just one more thing...I think Stella would definitely show up again - what with all the St. Patrick's Day party references and the picture from her house being there in future Ted's living room. He'll prob marry her sister or friend.
Also I don't think the future wife will be blonde. We saw what the kids would look like if he'd marry Stella. Nitpicking? Probably..hehe
10-21-2008 @ 7:10AM
Ryan said...
I loved "Tokyo Ichi" which was a nice sight gag (Ichi is Japanese for "One"). So Robin wound up working for Metro 1's ridiculous cousin.
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10-21-2008 @ 11:59AM
Dan said...
Awesome catch, I was hoping there was a meaning to those words...I thought this episode was great, I loved all the callbacks and the way it all ended. Things will be back to normal next week.
10-21-2008 @ 7:38AM
Cincinnati Mike said...
I don't watch Numb3rs, but I could have sworn Barney was doing A Beautiful Mind. The music was similar, too.
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10-22-2008 @ 6:25PM
Jesse said...
Jason Jones looked a lot of Jeffery Dean Morgan at first and I geeked out for a second before I realized it wasn't him.
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10-21-2008 @ 8:22AM
Dave said...
Joel, this was way more than "a relatively funny episode". This was HIMYM at it's best. I loved all the callbacks - the blue french horn, Ted making it rain, Marshall's dream wedding, zitch dog, Barney's feelings for Robin, who's Ted's best friend, Robin's feelings for Ted, etc. This was a reward for long time viewers going back to the very first episode.
When HIMYM has a subpar episode or two, they stop being subpar and be awesome instead. True story.
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10-21-2008 @ 8:27AM
Martin said...
It was more of a beautiful mind thing (though I also don't watch numb3rs.
Best part of that scene was the flash of the variable Suit Up (the up being an upward pointing arrow!) great shoutout to a classic barneyism.!
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11-15-2008 @ 8:47PM
Tom said...
It absolutely was a parody on A Beautiful Mind. The Charlie-cam effect from Numb3rs is always with a black background and light blue text in the font, Trebuchet. This was burning gold written text floating around the main character, exactly as in A Beautiful Mind. Of course, the clincher is that the music was only different enough from James Horner's score to A Beautiful Mind to avoid a lawsuit (which, if you're familiar with Horner's music, is just ironic).
Oh, and not to be *too* much like Ted Mosby, but: it doesn't "invoke" tears, it evokes tears. (sorry)
10-21-2008 @ 8:44AM
Diego said...
When HIMYM has a subpar episode or two, they stop being subpar and be awesome instead. True story.
LOL!
And I do watch numbers, and it was indeed similar. Other things in the board was relationships = freeway (though it was the curved 'equal' sign), hot-crazy scale, between others.
And yeah, a good episode. Zitch dog took me completely on surprise, and I laughed out loud
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10-21-2008 @ 10:33AM
Happy Steve said...
My favorite was: CH3CH2OH = OHOHOH
or simply: Alcohol = Oh! Oh! Oh!
That and "Suit" and then an arrow pointing up.
10-21-2008 @ 9:18AM
Courtney said...
I was a little disappointed because I was starting to be a Stella fan (though I knew she wouldn't be the mother and that they wouldn't get married), but this entire episode was so out of character for her. She was always so cautious and then she said that she'd get married in three days.
And I was disappointed that Tony wasn't in it more. It'd be a great episode to have a Ted meets the ex episode. You know? They clearly had met before based on their exchange. There's a whole episode right there!
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