I was thinking of reviewing 5×12 (the one with the mother’s sister that ends with the Barney musical segment), but 5×14 has the same basic flaw: It’s really about Barney.
I’m not saying the occasional episode where Barney gets the A-plot is a bad thing, but the character could certainly use less screen time. This episode had Old Ted telling a story about Barney telling a story to a fictional character, which just didn’t work – by the time the show pointed to Barney’s low reliability as a storyteller, it was too little and too late.
If that sounds irrelevant to a show like HIMYM, it isn’t. Despite it’s frequent trips into the realm of imagination, it’s the show’s rather strong grounding and romantic tendencies that allow those trips. It’s true that Neil Patrick Harris is probably more talented than the other folks, but without Ted there can be no Barney. I recently watched the episode where Ted meets Victoria, and it almost seems as though the show has lost something since – The laughs are still there, but the show doesn’t bother to earn them anymore. In other words, the show’s beginning to look like the standard American sitcom.
Also, it didn’t help that each of the plots had one joke that was repeated over and over.
The Alias award for teaser length: The teaser hits at 5:54, which is after 1/4 of the show. By this time, all four jokes are set up.
The Futurama “Scruffy” award for recurring character: Wendy the waitress reappears. For those of you not following the show’s web presence, Wendy the waitress is the mother.
