Tuesday, September 22, 2009
FLUGELHORN!
How I Met Your Mother: DefinitionsSeason 5, Episode 1
Barney: "Lily, can't you just let us be happy?"
Lily: "You're not happy! You Just think you're happy because you feel happy."
Yes, How I Met Your Mother is back for it's fifth season and though many things have changed through the course of the series, Definitions felt like a proper return.First of all I do have to get something off of my chest, we mistakenly forgot to delete the series recording on our DVR for Heroes and it recorded instead of HIMYM. Apologies to show creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas for getting my hands on HIMYM in a shady way, I promise it won't happen again. Trust me, I'm NEVER watching Heroes again. There might be people who still like that show, I like to think these people's parents are related.
Right, back to the topic at hand! When we last saw the gang Marshall and Lily had already moved out to their Dowisetrepla apartment, Ted was offered a position as a college professor and Robin and Barney had finally sort of become an item. Interestingly enough, Ted's story here has less of an impact than the supposed 'B' plot of Robin and Barney.
Don't get me wrong, Ted's story is great. It's wonderful to get that tantalizing little clue to the mothers identity and the moment with Ted questioning himself over the correct spelling of 'professor' while standing at the front of the lecture hall was probably the biggest laugh-out-loud moment for me. Hey Ted, it's okay, we've all had trouble remembering if professor has one 'f' or two, it's cool. The problem with Ted's story is that he is...kind of a douche. Which is to say that he acts like ninety-eight percent of all college professors I've had the displeasure to attend class with.
The parts of the episode with Ted spastically jumping from cool-guy-"call me Ted" professor to authoritative dictator professor all felt true to the character of Ted Mosby, but didn't hold much laughter because it's exactly where I expected Ted to go. Though we are creeping towards the eventual culmination of the series with Ted finding his future special-lady-friend, it's hard not to feel like Ted and Marshall are being slightly marginalized.
Ted at least has the new job driving him, Marshall, who hasn't really had much to do since the wedding in season two, continues to be trivialized here as he mostly just acts as a sidekick to both Ted and Lily. Jason Segal can handle more than he's being given here and some of Marshall's best stuff was the drama at the end of season one and beginning of season two. Marshall is my favorite character, so it's hard not to feel slighted when we see him used mostly as a punchline.
At the end of last year we lost Alyson Hannigan when she went out on maternity leave and I can't really say that the show hurt from the loss of her Lily. We don't really gain much from her return (aside from a smaller role for Marshall to play) except for some classic 'Aldrin Justice' as Lily locks Robin and Barney in the bedroom until they define their relationship. As much as Lily annoys me, it's good to see that her characterization has been kept fairly consistent. I like the fact that Lily is a kindergarten teacher who essentially acts like a 5-year-old around her friends.
And of course we have the the supposed 'B' plot - Robin and Barney's relationship. Going into this season I was worried about how these two being a couple would neuter the Barnacle. I can say with confidence that after tonight I don't have that worry. Essentially to placate Lily, Robin and Barney decide to "lie" about their relationship to escape the room. I loved the fact that to these two the lie is the relationship. They may not even realize it at a conscious level, thinking instead that they are perpetrating an elaborate lie (which they indicate earlier turns the two of them on) but when Barney suggests brunch... yeah, they're a couple. But it works, Robin won't get angry if Barney says some disgusting thing about a woman and Robin can hold her own with Barney in drinking and smoking. It was actually sort of sweet in a twisted and disgusting way, which is to say just like Barney and Robin.
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1 comment:
I wish I could go back to college, in college you know who you are.
Why do I see in our fav monday five's future a frat party?
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