Now THIS is how you do a great traditional sitcom. How I Met Your Mother delivered one of the funniest and most heart wrenching episodes in its entire run while sporting one of the most clever meta gags ever seen on television.
But before we get to all the fun stuff, lets get the boring out of the way: Robin. Robin has started her new job where, unfortunately, her boss has insinuated they have had previous carnal relations (his insinuation: “We’ve had sex.”). This would be bad enough but before long the entire newsroom has dug up all of Robin’s considerably embarrassing moments caught on camera. Light and fluffy, these didn’t necessarily take away from the main story; they were easy enough to overlook. I just found myself wanting to get back to the A-story.
The thematic connection to the A-story (because everyone goes through the same type of challenge at the same time and we all learn the same lesson together) was dealing with adversity head on. Ted likened it to turning into the skidding on an icy road and thankfully it wasn’t handled with a heavy hand. The sentiment was saved for the end.
And holy hell what an ending it was.
Diving right it, the running meta gag were the numbers 50 – 1 counting down in sequential order. It wasn’t called out or mentioned by the characters at all. In fact, it was quite easy to overlook. I didn’t notice until we were at 43, but once I did I couldn’t help but look out for the digits, which created an interesting effect. I was so caught up in the numbers (without losing focus on the happenings in the show) that it became a game. I was so happy when we caught the rest of the numbers that by the time it counted down to one I was so giddy that it happened, the news Lily delivered was even more powerful. The sudden shift from happy game to terrible news ignited an emotional reaction that multi-camera, laugh-tracked sitcoms haven’t done in a very long time.
Still, the stories were as emotionally satisfying (and funny) as the running numbers. Lily and Marshall are unsuccessfully attempting to have a child, so Lily goes to a fertility doctor to get checked out. He’s Barney’s doppelganger, Lily’s last sign for having a child. When she finds out that Marshall lied about seeing Barney’s doppelganger, she’s worried that she screwed with the universe. She gets checked out (and is fine) which means that Marshall must be the problem. This causes him a lot of stress when he tells his father because he only wants to share good news with his Dad. Their relationship is sweet, funny, charming and all the more heart breaking in that final moment.
When I first saw that Jason Segel joined the cast, I was worried that he might have chosen the wrong show. Surely this wasn’t the best fit for a man of his talents. After this episode, I now know he made the right choice. Sure, it’s making him a butt load of money but it also offers the emotional component that Segel’s movies have.
And to round it out, the episode was plain funny. From Barney admitting that he’d give up his first born to not have children to Marshall’s mother vividly describing her bikini to her son while he tries to produce a sperm sample – great stuff all around. If this show can keep up producing episodes like this, who cares if we ever meet the mother?
Question – I’m not as caught up on HIMYM canon as I should be (though that will be rectified soon), so I ask: Is there a possibility of Ted’s kids having two mothers?
