Our guester KT is up for another Monday night…
HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER: 4.06 “Happily Ever After”
Let’s get something straight. I love flashbacks, especially on this show. I think it’s fun to explore why our characters are the way they are, and I think it’s neat when a story is told in a not-quite-linear fashion. Some of the best of HIMYM episodes are flashback-heavy: “Game Night.” “Arrividerci, Fiero.” “The Pineapple Incident.”
But a device is just a device. And when the story behind it is flimsy, a few flashbacks can’t prop it up. So instead I’ve been sitting here wishing that the gang would get out from under the table already, and wondering why no one on the show can convince Jason Segal to get his hair cut. I mean, seriously! And couldn’t they have pulled actual footage from season 2 for the Marshall flashback instead of pretending that his hair hasn’t changed?
Here is Ted’s story in this episode. Ted is repressing his pain. Ted is avoiding Stella. Ted hides under a table to avoid Stella. Ted chases Stella in a cab. Ted visualizes yelling at Stella. Ted sees the adorable family picture is that Stella, Tony, and Lucy, and Ted lets go of his pain. I appreciate the attempt at emotional realism – showing Ted getting over Stella – before moving on to the next thing, but this should have been a subplot with a main plot about Robin (who is back in New York, but living and working where exactly?) or about Marshall and Lily.
Instead of a layered Moving Things Forward episode, instead we have an Everyone Tells a Story episode. And though I always like seeing Black-Haired Teenage Lily, the only flashback that stood out was Robin’s. In fact, while Stella going home to her family and Ted accepting it was sweet, Robin’s story may have been the most interesting part of the episode.
We knew before (from “Zip Zip Zip”) that she developed an interest in scotch and cigars as a way to get her father’s attention, so it was nice to see that addressed again, though they almost went over the top with it. The stone mansion? Um, okay. Her father’s accent was odd to me too. He became the stereotype of the stiff English father, which I suppose is all right (though seems like lazy characterization), except that high-brow Brits don’t usually have family names like Scherbatsky. She does seem to get her sense of composure from him, though. And yes, Robin. Becoming a pop princess is totally just a part of normal teenage rebellion.
I’m looking forward to next week, though. Looks like we may get an answer to the questions Raked posed a couple of weeks ago!
There’s never been a more patriot character in our television shows–no war veteran, no governmental figure, no fan of democracy–than our very own Sam the American Eagle. Today, as we consider the changes that our country is facing, let’s think back and just ask, What would Sam suggest for our moral and political needs?
