How I Met Your Mother Review: The Locket/Coming Back

I can’t believe that was the last season premiere of How I Met Your Mother ever. I can’t believe that this whole season is taking place of a weekend. A WEEKEND! Yeah I wasn’t to thrilled about that either. I can’t believe that they are still trying to deal with this whole Ted in love with Robin idiocy. I can’t believe that we FINALLY met the mother and you know what? She’s kinda wonderful. But most of all, I can’t believe that we got a scene with Ted and the Mother. That really made this premiere special.
I have to say, I love the Mother. I mean REALLY love her. Cristin Milioti’s performance was downright perfect. From her scenes with Lily (and the fact that they both use the phrase ‘sumbitch’) to that beautiful last scene with Ted, I knew instantly that she was the right choice. I instantly felt like she could easily fit in with our lovable gang and not feel like an odd man out. She’s charming, beautiful, and just as awkward as the rest of them. And you know what else I loved? The mother’s confidence. This is a lady who is pretty sure about herself and we’ve only seen her for two episodes. I can’t wait to see the rest of her meetings with Robin, Barney, Marshall, probably even James, and finally that moment when she meets Ted. Adding the mother to the series this season was a smart move and I am glad the Bayes and Thomas decided do it!

The rest of the episode was typical HIMYM silliness. Marshall is stuck on a road trip with Sheri Shephard, which I think might actually be pretty great, Barney and Robin are going to have many many hiccups before the walk down that isle-including Ted. I really wish they would just move on from that story line. I really don’t care about Ted and Robin anymore, especially now that we’ve met the Mother. Can they please get rid of that storyline quick? That would be awesome.

So if my calculations are right we have about 53 hours and 30 minutes (and 22 episodes) until Ted meets the mother. It’s going to be a lonnnnng weekend. But I think they are going to make this work. I hope we get to see an episode where the mother gets to narrate. And I hope that we maybe get to see Rachel Bilson’s character back as well. Also…now that we know that Ted went to Los Angelos, does this mean we are going to see the return of Stella? That would be interesting. I guess we’ll have to wait and see!

How I Met Your Mother Review: Farhampton

It’s been a while since I last wrote about How I Met Your Mother.  Last season had a lot of crazy ups and downs and I just got distracted. But seeing how this season is likely to be its last I figured I needed to keep up with my thoughts on this show.  It is one of my all-time favorite shows after all!

The truth is I don’t have a lot to say about the premiere except that it did advance a lot of the storyline and we actually now know the where and when Ted met the mother of his children. We also know that even though Barney proposed to Quinn and they are engaged, he and Robin still have deep rooted feelings for each other and will eventually make it to that church to get married…as long as they don’t run out on each other.

The premier picked up exactly where it left off at the end of last season, where we learn that Robin is Barney’s bride. As expected both of them are experiencing pre-wedding jitters. They both want to run for the hills. And that reminds Ted of the time when he escaped with Victoria from her wedding.  As we know, Ted helped Victoria escape her wedding to Klaus. But after he learns that she didn’t leave a note, they turn around to go back. This leads to a series of complications with Ted having to deliver the note because Victoria couldn’t bring herself to do it.  It’s typical Ted and it’s also typical that he runs into Klaus bolting from the church as well.  So what does Ted do? He follows Klaus to the train station to ask him why he couldn’t go through with the wedding.

Klaus and Ted’s conversation leads to insane foreshadowing. Klaus tells Ted that he couldn’t marry Victoria because she just wasn’t the one. I would have said what he really said but it was in German and Im not even going to bother figure that whole wording out. But he said he couldn’t feel that Victoria was the girl of his destiny, that he didn’t feel it in his gut. And the look on Ted’s face said it all; it wasn’t going to work out with Victoria. But knowing Ted, it’ll take a while for he actually figures that all out.

Klaus’s speech also foreshadowed what we also knew about Barney and Quinn; that they weren’t going to work out either. Barney neglected to tell Quinn that he and Robin used to date. In fact he told Robin that he had erased any evidence of ever being with Robin so Quinn wouldn’t find out. And of course that hurt Robin, who we know still, has feelings for Barney. But Barney can’t ever stand to see Robin sad and what does he do? He gives her a key to a storage garage. There Robin finds a box that Barney had hidden of all their times together. It seriously made my shipper heart melt. I really love these two and I can’t wait to see how they get back together. I like even though this season is focusing on how Ted met the mother but it’s also going heavily focus on Barney and Robin and I just love that.

If this season is How I Met Your Mother’s last season then I am not going to complain. I think it is time. Especially now with Marshall and Lily becoming parents. Realistically this show was never going to be about our favorite group being parents. I don’t know how many episodes I can take with Marshall and Lily being crazy parents; especially if they don’t sleep. I mean, Quinn is a pretty sane chick, how did she not offer to take care of the kid and let them sleep???  It makes sense that Barney and Robin wouldn’t but I kind of expected more from Quinn. Oh well.

Overall it was a pretty decent episode. Wasn’t their best premiere episode they’ve had but I liked it. I especially loved the ending with the mother standing at the train station with the yellow umbrella. I got total chills as they played Band of Horses, Funeral, in the background. It was just a very awesome ending. I can’t wait to get back to that point! Only like 23 episodes left!

What I am Thankful For, 2011

Soo I did this a year ago and thought I would do it again because it was so much fun! Here is what I have been thankful for this year on television!

~For Leslie Knope, Ron Swanson, Tom Haverford , Andy Dwyer, April Ludgate, Ann Perkins, Ben Wyatt, Chris Traeger, Jerry Gergich, and Donna. Parks and Recreation please continue to be one of the best comedies on television. I don’t know what I’d do without you.

~For Lincoln Lee on Fringe. He won my heart over last season on Fringe and I have been his ever since.

~For Suburgatory and their hilarious yet charming depiction of the horrors of living in a wealthy suburban neighborhood.

~For Rookie Blue really stepping it up in their second season, bringing interesting cases of the week and mixing it with some amazing character development. Can’t wait for season 3!

~For The Good Wife as it continues to be oh so awesome in its third season. Also thankful for Cary…and Kalinda…and ELI GOLD.

~For Breaking Bad creating Gus Frig. May one of the best TV characters ever, rest in peace…with only half a face.

~Thank you for Aaron Paul.

~Thank you for Jon Hamm-even if Mad Men has been off the air for over a year.

~Thank you for Neil Patrick Harris and Jason Segal on How I Met Your Mother.

~For the amazingness (yes I just make up words now) that is Raylan Givens and Boyd Crowder on Justified. I am also thankful to the Emmys who nominated Walton Goggins, Timothy Olyphant, Margo Martindale, and Jeremy Davies for their outstanding work in season two. This show has one of the best casts on television. Do yourself a favor catch up and tune into Season 3 come January.

~For Troy and Abed on Community. If you have to ask, than you need help ASAP.

~For Big Carl on Cougar Town.

I AM NOT THANKFUL TO ABC OR NBC FOR BENCHING BOTH THESE AWESOME SHOWS! NOT COOL, and its best you fix this problem SOON.

FOR THIS:

I am also thankful to Direct TV for giving Friday Night Lights the chance to live on for 5 seasons. That finale was fantastic. Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose.

~For the blossoming Bromance between Chuck and Dan on Gossip Girl.

~For Once Upon a Time making Fairy Tales cool again.

~For Hart of Dixie giving Rachel Bilson her own show where she can be cute and hilarious. I am also thankful that the show has brought back the awesomeness of small town charms and quickness.

~For Stana Katic who has become so amazing over these past couple of seasons on Castle

~For Revenge being the amazing primetime soap opera I hoped it would be.

~For Game of Thrones, Direwolves, Daenerys Targaryen, Peter Dinklage. Oh and most of all, thank you for dragons.

~For Teen Wolf providing me with some pretty damn entertaining supernatural teenage fun while TVD was off the air and True Blood was destroying itself from within.

~For Switched at Birth for not being to overly preachy and actually bring some refreshing and compelling drama to ABC Family.

~For The Secret Circle taking a page out of The Vampire Diaries playbook and creating an interesting story with interesting characters while not being afraid to kill some off when it needs to.

~For Homeland being the best new show this season and for showing us this complex world we live in depicted by complicated and flawed characters. I couldn’t have asked for a better show.

~For Sons of Anarchy having an incredible season four. In my opinion this is their best season yet.

~For The Vampire Diaries,  Ripper Stefan, Caroline Forbes being a bad-ass vampire barbie, the Originals-especially Rebekah and Elijah…ok and Klaus, and for the growing relationship with Elena and Damon- thank you for making it grow organically and not forcefully.

And most of all:

~ For Awkward. This charming, yet totally raunchy, teen comedy on MTV completely swept me off my feet this summer.  Jenna Hamilton became one the best teenage characters to root for as she battled her way through high school drama (that Letter!), mean girls (Sadie Saxton gives mean girl a whole new definition), and love triangles (Team Jake all the way).
Also, I want to say Thank You to some of the cast members (Jessica Lu, Molly Tarlov, Greer Grammer, and Nikki DeLoach) who retweeted my Awkward. reviews. You have no idea how grateful I am for your support. You guys truly are one of the best casts on television!

MTV is running a marathon on Friday starting at 11am and they are airing all 12 episodes. Make sure you watch! You’re Welcome.

~One more thing, THANK YOU to all my readers. You are the reason I do this, thank you so much for your support!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

How I Met Your Mother Review: Disaster Averted

I still have a grin on my face from watching that last scene of How I Met Your Mother last night. OK…maybe it’s because I’ve rewatched a bazillon times now but still…it was sooo Legen..wait for it…DARY! Even if it was totally wrong on a whole bunch of levels (but I am choosing to ignore that for right now.)

This episode was a HUGE improvement from the last couple of terrible episodes. I think it was a combination of Barney and Robin, Barney being Barney, the slap bet, and the flashback story. The stories work best when they aren’t trying to be too funny and just let it happen naturally.

Soo what is this crazy scene I am talking about? I’ll get to that in a minute. First let’s talk about the gangs experience during Hurricane Irene (I still hate you by the way…you ruined my fun beach vacay!!!)

Apparently during that crazy event the gang did something pretty crazy with a boogie board in front of McLaren’s and it resulting in a NO BOOGIEBOARDING sign in front of the bar. Kevin wanted to know the story and it really wasn’t all that special, it was basically that Ted wanted to flee NYC before the storm hit and they missed the evacuation period due to Barney being..well…Barney. There were other things going on, like Marshall losing his health insurance and clinging to Lily’s every move but that resulted them in them making a baby in Barney’s bathtub. Sooo there was that.

While this story is being told Barney is trying to figure out a way to get out of wearing the Ducky Tie because in a couple of day’s he is meeting Nora’s parents and he wants to make a good impression. This results in the creation of a new Slap Bet. Barney ends up agreeing to giving Marshall an additional 3 Slaps tagged on to the original one slap he had left. We got to see Marshall slap Barney TWICE which was extremely entertaining. Now there are two (for now) final slaps left. Oh this should be fun!

However the biggest development and shocker of the night was Barney and Robin. Back during the hurricane Barney did something kind of cruel. He called Robin pretending to be her father after everyone else’s parents had called them. Robin was really pissed. But then towards the end of the day, Barney said he was sorry and told her something beautiful: “when I let a day go by without talking to you…um…that day is just no good.” Man They almost kiss but are interrupted when Robin’s father calls her. Honestly that would have been enough for me. That told me all I needed to know, that Barney still has feelings for Robin too and that eventually they would make it work.

But then as they flash-forward back to the present and we see Robin and Barney laughing about how that could have been a disaster; this happens:

And all I can say is ABOOT DAMN TIME!!!!!

Yes I wish it had been under different circumstances but still. I NEED Barney and Robin moments from this show. They are like one of the top couples I actually Ship and that kiss was damn near perfect. But I do admit that it is going to create a gigantic mess seeing as they are both in committed relationships and Robin still works with Nora. I have a feeling this is also going to cause problems for Ted and Robin and Barney as well, which was predicted back in the third episode this season. Soo I have a feeling that we are in for some pretty interesting next couple of episodes.

How I Met Your Mother Review: The Stinson Missle Crisis

I don’t like seeing Robin suffer but I will be the first to admit that she was pretty darn funny in this week’s episode of How I met your Mother.

Over the summer we heard that the creators that this season would be about Robin pining for Barney the way Barney pined for Robin back in Season 4. In doing this they casted Kal Penn as Robin’s therapist, after she’s sent to court mandated therapy for assaulting a woman. It all stemmed from Robin’s unrequited love for one Barney Stinson. Poor Robin she just can’t win these days, can she?

I really liked Kal Penn as the therapist. He has great chemistry with Cobie Smulders and I loved seeing him call Robin out on all her issues. I don’t think they even touched on her daddy issues this week and already he could tell that Robin had more issues than just jealousy and unrequited love.

And then there was Barney who has no idea that Robin still feels this way about him. I mean, he let her help him out in de-Barneying his apartment and lifestyle while Nora was out-of-town (thanks to Robin who had Nora sent to the G8 summit in London, plan didn’t really work out that well though.) We learned last week that somewhere down the line things were going to blow up for the Ted-Robin-Barney triangle that apparently still existed, unbeknownst to all three of those characters. It will be interesting to see what happens if Robin and Ted end up back together for a short period causing Barney to wonder if he made the right decision with Nora. Again, this is just a theory…but it is possible.

Somehow in the midst of all the Robin and Barney drama, Robin found time to tell her therapist about Marshall and Lily’s baby storyline of the week. It really didn’t connect with the rest of the episode but it’s revealed who Lily’s baby doctor was and that when Lily has her baby, Marshall is going to be missing.  It also dealt a little with Ted always being the third wheel in Marshall and Lily’s big moments in life. As I said, it really didn’t connect well to the rest of the story this week but it was still pretty funny.

Overall I thought this was a pretty solid episode of How I met your Mother. I look forward to seeing Kal Penn again and I also look forward to seeing more Team Baby moments. What did everybody else think?

 

How I Met Your Mother Review: The Ducky Tie

Last Night’s episode of How I Met Your Mother was fantastic.

Ever since it was revealed that Lily was pregnant, we knew that the writers of HIMYM would have lots of source material. This week’s episode involved Lily’s chest. You know how the woman’s chest gets when she’s pregnant and considering Lily is one of two girls in a group of 5, there was no way Barney and Ted were not going to take notice.

Not only was this episode splendidly funny but it was also very emotional and touching. I had no idea what was going to happen after last week’s reveal that Ted had run into his ex, Victoria. We all knew that she wasn’t going to be the mother but we also wondered if she was going to be around for more than episode or two. Thankfully, Bays and Thomas saw fit to only bring her back for an episode, an episode that really opened Ted’s eyes to what his current situation is inhibiting him from; which is finding the mother.

But before we get back to Victoria, let’s get back to Marshall and Barney. I always love when these two make bets because you know it’s going to lead to something epic…always; especially when Lily sets herself up as the negotiator.

Barney, being the master manipulator we know and love has been waiting for years to trick Marshall into giving him something he wants. In preparation of this, Barney trained Marshall to crave a Japanese steakhouse, Shinjitsu, whenever Barney sneezed. Barney then went through 6 months of hibachi grill training, and befriended a Japanese chef named Takumi so he could manipulate Marshall into a bet; a bet Barney knew he couldn’t lose. Too bad Marshall figures out this master scheme at a group dinner at Shinjitsu and Barney ultimately loses his bet and has to wear Marshall’s Ducky tie for an entire year. Though to Barney’s credit, he did get to see Lily’s boobs for about 3 seconds; which Barney would probably see as a success.

During their group dinner at Shinjitsu, Ted tells the gang about his run in with Victoria. I have got to say this storyline was one of the best Ted and a girl story’s I have seen in a while. Was I sad when Ted told us that Victoria was about to be engaged to a man named Klaus and that even though she still had what if feelings for Ted, she ultimately chose Klaus instead because Ted still had one major issue he had to tackle before he could settle down with girl. That issue? Robin.

I always loved Josh Radnor and Ashley Williams chemistry and last night’s episode played that chemistry up beautifully. That kiss they shared? Electric; and I was devastated when Ted watched Victoria get on that bus to leave for the Hamptons.

It is an interesting theory that Victoria brings up, that it is weird that Ted, Barney, and Robin are all still best friends; even after all the drama they have shared with each other. Victoria says it’s not healthy and that it will cause problems for all of Ted’s relationships if he didn’t admit that his friendship with Robin didn’t work. I also wonder what future Ted meant when he said that he would finally realize it because we all know that Robin and Barney are both around in his future seeing as the kids know them as Aunt Robin and Uncle Barney. Hopefully we will find out sometime this season and not later on next season.

Favorite Quotes

“Lily, are you really suggesting that Barney spent six months commuting back and forth to Hoboken to learn a signature cooking style of a restaurant he doesn’t even like to win a bet he hadn’t even made yet? Yeah, the whole thing stinks.”

“You make it sound like I dated a series of Stieg Larsson novels.”

“Lily, it’s like you have a butt on your chest.”

“I invited you into a porno.”

How I Met Your Mother Review: “The Best Man”/“The Naked Truth”

After a really shaky final couple of episodes last season, How I Met Your Mother started off their seventh (can you believe it?) season with two strong and solid episodes.

I have gotten to the point with this show where I really no longer care about who the mother is to Ted’s children. It’s not what keeps me coming back week after week, season after season. What keeps me coming back are the characters; I am emotionally invested in the lives of these characters and their stories.

We left off last season with it being reveled that Ted would meet his future wife at a wedding and whose wedding was it? Barney’s. That’s right, somehow Barney manages to find a way to settle down and tie the knot. However still don’t know to whom (though they did throw some clues at us.) However, even though How I Met Your Mother has thrown yet another mystery at us; one that may not be even answered this season, I am still smitten with this show.

In the premiere episode we see that the gang all follows Ted to Punchy’s wedding. If you remember Ted was asked to be Punchy best man and he fulfills theses duties. Much of the premiere episode takes place at Punchy’s wedding and I have to say it was quite a fun thing to watch, mainly because the episode primarily focused on my favorite on/off couple, Barney and Robin. They really stole this premiere episode away with their undeniable chemistry and heart. Did anyone else die of a little sadness when Robin helped Barney with his phone call to Nora? I was nearly in tears. I have a feeling Robin is going to break my heart the same way Barney did back in season 4. Gahh if she is not the bride to Barney I am going to be very upset!!

The second episode focused primarily on Marshall, which I have to say I loved. Jason Segal is just a phenomenal actor and I love that he has become to really carry this show in much of the way Neil Patrick Harris did during the first four seasons of this show. As we learned at the end of last season, Marshall and Lily are having a baby! Which means Marshall really needs to find a job. Luckily he gets a call from one of the top environmental law firms in NYC. They are ready to hire him but they need to run a background check first. So Marshall Googles himself and finds a video of himself streaking back in college. It is a hilarious video and he spends much of the episode tracking down the uploader and trying to get the video taken down. It was funny and it made me laugh but it also taught us that Marshall is ready to grow up and be a father. I personally can’t wait to see how this goes down because you know it is going to be a hilariously touching transformation.

Then there was Barney, who spent much of the second episode trying to convince Nora that he wanted to be with her still and that he wanted a second chance. He spent over 24 hours at a diner to tell her that he has changed and that he wants to commit to just her. Eventually she gives in and accepts his offer for a second date. All I am going to say is she better not be the one he marries. That is all.

Now we’ve come to Ted and that little curveball Carter Bays and Craig Thomas threw at us at the end of the episode. You guys!!! Victoria is BACK!!!!! For those of you who may have forgotten, Victoria was Ted’s girlfriend from season one, played by the charming and beautiful Ashley Williams. Victoria was the cupcake chick whom Ted had explosive chemistry with yet cheated on with Robin.

Where this is going to lead is anyones guess, especially since its become pretty clear that she is defiantly not the mother. However I am curious to see where this return leads and it sure as hell makes me excited for next week!

Other Thoughts:

~ Barney and Robins Dance was EPIC!

~ Bow down to Beercules!

~The color coded charts Ted made=hilarious and oh so Ted.

~Edward 40 hands!!!!

What did everyone else thing about the premiere?

 

 

How I Met Your Mother Review: Hopeless

Last week I was really harsh on How I Met Your Mother; the episode just wasn’t up to par with the rest of the season and it kind of left me bitter. After seeing this week’s episode, I think I may hate last week’s episode even more…but that’s not the point. The point is this week HIMYM came back with a really great episode and it all started with this:

Yes, that’s right people: for the first time in I think all 6 seasons, HIMYM surprised us all with new opening credits and I am sure I am not the only one in saying this but I hope we see them again!

Aside from the new opening credits, the rest of the episode was great as well. Barney’s Dad is back which meant we got another episode with John Lithgow and anything that man is in automatically makes the episode that much better but what was great about seeing him this time was how he began to bond with Barney and teach him that growing up is just a part of life. When Barney claims that “We’re not getting too old for anything!” Ted responds by saying “I feel like we collectively learn the exact opposite lesson at least once a year.” The rest of the episode moves along to prove to Barney that while he may be too old to continue partying the way he has been, he will never be too old to grow up.

After Barney’s dad tells him that once he finds that right girl, he’ll be ready to settle down, Barney lets out that he may have already met her. Now after letting it slip earlier in the episode that the reason Barney can’t let his Dad think Robin is single because he would say “‘deep down you know you were never happier than you were with her.’ Uh, no thanks!” I can’t help but hope that Barney means Robin, even though the last girl he was with was Nora. I know it’s my shipper heart wanting Barney and Robin to make it work, even if they did introduce Michael Trucco as Robin’s secret crush, but I mean, come-on they wouldn’t throw hints out like that if it wasn’t meant to mean something would they? This is a show that has built a large fan base in which they listen to almost every word that comes out of our characters mouths. So when Barney says that he may have already met the one after hinting at earlier that he was never more happier than when he was with Robin, than that has to be a clue, Right??? I think I need to stop thinking about this before I make my head hurt again.

Anyways, the episode also brought back the return of a happy Marshall who seems to finally be moving forward after his father’s death. He and Lily make a bet to see who can get the most numbers on their night out on the town. It was cute and sweet and I am pretty sure Marshall purposefully lost which made him even more charming. We also saw the return of Douchy Ted who sabatoged Robin’s chances of reconnecting with her secret crush after she told Ted that when they once had really great sex it was because she was imaging her secret crush instead of Ted (she even made him cover his face with his shirt!)

There were other good things the episode did as well: the magicians talk between Barney and his Dad, the elaborate “Who’s On First” parody/ gag about Manhattan Club names , the return of Ted’s red boots, and NO ZOEY, which I was very thankful for considering I am pretty sure she’s going to be around for the rest of the season…ugh. However, if there are more episodes like this one than I think I am going to be very satisfied with this season overall! Just no more stupid exploding meatball subs please.

How I Met Your Mother Review: The Exploding Meatball sub

I don’t even know where to begin in regards to this week’s How I Met Your Mother. It’s not that it was super complicated and really good; it’s more that it just really fell flat, especially after the great string of episodes that preceded it. I have no idea what happened. It was like they had a really really bad off week and just decided to come up with some of the lamest stories ever.

They had a great opportunity to write a great story between Barney and Robin (and still not have to make it romantic) and instead they use it to make Barney look stupider than ever.  I have to agree with Robin on this one, what’s wrong with you Barney?? I would like to see Barney take a step towards admitting he wants to know more about his Dad. I feel like they have completely lost track on what to do with Robin as well. They gave her that new job earlier in the season and they sort of abandoned that storyline to focus on everyone else. I really hope, with this new two season renewal, that they start giving her more stuff to do again. You’ve made some great progress this season!! Why are you holding it all back? I hate to say but I think Robin needs to somehow get Nora back to shape Barney back up again. I’d love for Robin to help, but I am coming to the conclusion that the writers no longer want to go back there with her and Barney. It’s sad because these two have great chemistry together, but I just don’t think they want to put them together.

I’d really wish they’d just end Ted and Zoey now that we know their relationship ends disastrously, I’d rather not see them fight and then make up for the rest of the season. Also, why did Marshall have to quit his job at GNB to work for the NRDC only to realize he needs a stable income to support him and Lily? Nothing seemed to fit and nothing was funny and there was nothing great about that whole “10 years later” but either.

I have no idea where the rest of this season is headed and with the season almost over, I am really hoping this was just one of those episodes they throw in their before the last leg of the good stuff. I know what this show is capable; we all do, so I have hope for the rest of the season. I just hope they don’t prove me wrong.

How I Met Your Mother Review: Legendaddy

After what seem like a really long break, How I Met Your Mother came back with another solid episode about Barney finally meeting up with his father, played wonderfully by John Lithgow.

While we were led to believe that this season was going to lead to more development in the Mother Storyline, somewhere along the way, the season transitioned into being about father-son relationships. We first learned about Barney’s father back in the episode called Natural History in which he discovered that his Uncle Jerry was in fact, his biological father. Since then we’ve seen him struggle with wanting to meet him and with the death of Marshall’s father back in January, that struggle became more recurrent. This week we finally saw development when Jerry reached out to Barney after getting his letter. Unfortunately, Barney’s father wasn’t exactly what he wanted or expected him to be.

In all honesty, I never expected Barney’s father to be just like Barney. Barney is the way he is because he grew up without a father; he just had his mother and his brother. We knew he was someone special growing up and that it wasn’t until he lost his virginity and was burned by that chick that he turned into a playboy. So I wasn’t in the least bit surprised when it was revealed that Barney’s story about how awesome his dad was turned out to be a lie. Barney meeting his dad wasn’t going to be that easy. No, in fact Jerry was the polar opposite of Barney; he had a family, a wife and two kids, lived in the suburbs, and above all he was a driving instructor.

So when Barney went to dinner at Jerry house and he met his new stepmother, Cheryl and his new brother, J.J, 30 years of jealousy, hurt, and anger came spilling out of him like wildfire. I have to say that dinner scene was beyond fantastic. I mean, Neil Patrick Harris, John Lithgow, the kid who played JJ, and the wonderful Nancy Travis realllllllly acted the hell out of that scene. Barney trying to compete and one-up his 11-year old brother as Jerry tried to support Barney and Cheryl who kept trying to defuse the situation was utterly perfect. You could really see the pain and hurt seeping out of Barney. And then when it was just Barney and Jerry in Jerry’s driveway, as Barney tried to take the basketball hoop, How I Met Your Mother, made me cry again.

The interaction between these two was flawless that I even started forgetting that John Lithgow was the Trinity Killer. Both of them showed the perfect blend of heartbreaking emotion and laugh out loud comedy (which is something I forgot John Lithgow could do thanks to Dexter.) The scene in which Jerry apologized for not being there for Barney growing up as he taught Barney how to use a screwdriver was so poignant and touching. It showed that yes Barney didn’t have his father while he was growing up but that he had him now and there was still a lot to learn. I am glad that they left their story open and that we will have the option to see Lithgow again (in April I believe!) Now that HIMYM has been renewed for two more seasons I expect will be seeing him more and more which in my opinion, is a GREAT thing!

The B-Story this episode was in typical HIMYM fashion, i.e. the flashbacks. This week theme was gaps in our characters intelligence which started when the gang learned that Barney didn’t know how to use a screwdriver (which he now knows thanks to his dad!) From there we learned that Ted doesn’t know how to say Chameleon, Robin somehow didn’t know the North Pole existed even though she’s from Canada (huh?), and Lily has no aim (apparently she’s the one who misses the toilet.) Marshall then wants to know what his intelligence gaps are and the gang pauses. Apparently they’ve been trying to act nice around him to not upset because he’s still grieving his father’s death.  It was one of two great scene for Jason Segal this week; the first was when he played the dead father card to Barney when Barney refused to see his Father again (nicely done Marshall!) In the second scene we see Marshall telling his friends that it’s time to stop treating him differently and to let him have it because he needs the humor again. While some may find this B-story silly, I found it perfect. I mean, the fact that he brought home a possum and Lily said OK was HILARIOUS! I nearly fell off my bed laughing.  It was the perfect balance of humor and emotion for Barney’s emotional storyline with his father. It’s episodes like these that really make me love this show more and more.

Folks, we have an Emmy race on our hands. Jason Segal has really stepped up his A-Game this season thanks to his storyline with his father’s death but now Neil Patrick Harris is back in the race (well he never actually left, he just reloaded his ammunition.) I think as long as they both get nominated, I’ll be fine. John Lithgow should be nominated/win for best guest actor because well, he’s awesome at everything he does and was amazing as Barney’s father. Man I am glad this show is back. I can’t wait to see how Barney will change from this point forward. It’s going to be difficult but he has a great support group to help him through it. I am super excited to see where the next five episodes are headed.