When it comes to watching a TV show a few seasons in (especially a show where continuity is important), I almost never dive in blind. I prepare. Usually I've been reading reviews of the show (As I mentioned way back in the opening post, I love reviews.) for most of the previous season, plus I look the show up on Wikipedia and TV Tropes. This way when I'm finally ready to commit to watching, I have a knowledge of the characters and major events that have happened thus far and can jump in immediately and not feel lost. Then I catch up on the show later. I did this for Lost. I did this for Breaking Bad, and as you've probably already guessed, I did this for How I Met Your Mother.
Actually I'm still technically doing this for How I Met Your Mother. I've only seen part of seasons 5 and 6 (I'm working on it. I should be done by the end of the year.). I've seen seasons 1-4 though, which meant I got (and enjoyed) all the references to those seasons and I've basically seen every major episode of season 6, so I knew how last season ended (with pregnant Lily and about-to-be-married Barney) was fully prepared for tonight's episodes. And the episodes in question were pretty awesome. Plus it looks like one of the show's longest running loose ends is about to be resolved. But before we get to that reveal in question, let's talk about the episodes. If you haven't seen it yet, be warned. Spoilers are coming.
So The Best Man starts with Future Ted reiterating one of the main lessons of this story he's been telling (and the theme of the episode): timing, while being vague and confusing on how much of the story is left. We then return to the day Ted meets the mother: Barney's wedding, where Barney is having pre-wedding jitters, worried about if he chose the right "tie". This leads to a nice moment between the two of them as Ted calms him down. And when Barney's worried he'll have the worst wedding ever, Ted points out they've already been to the worst wedding ever: Punchy's wedding, which takes us back to the past of September 2011, as Future Ted tells us the story of how Marshall ruined Punchy's wedding.
Before we can get to the wedding though, the plots for the episode have to be set up. Ted is trying to have a good best man speech, because at the last few weddings of high school friends where he's been asked to give a speech, he's melted down because- in a case of bad timing- they've happened during some of the worst times of his life (getting left at the altar, losing his job, his company failing. All moments from season 4 by the way.) AND they've all been put on the internet by Punchy who wants Ted to melt down at this wedding too. Meanwhile Lily and Marshall are trying to keep their pregnancy a secret for a couple months, which is difficult because- in a case of bad timing- Lily can't drink alcohol at the wedding, but has to act like she is or people will get suspicious so Marshall has to drink her drinks for her. Also meanwhile, Robin is encouraging Barney to call former flame Norah who he had recently ran into and seemed interested in (though he denies it.), but- in a case of bad timing- Robin has rediscovered her feelings for Barney, as much as she tries to hide it. There's also a plot of sorts about Barney testing out pick-up strategies.
These plots all work pretty well (except the Barney pick-up plot, though even that had a couple good gags including one where he gets a woman to fill out a feedback sheet) and as you may have guessed, they all had to do with timing in some way. Ted is hoping (though he hides it) to show off his success in being one of the youngest architects ever to design a skyscraper and has a magazine with his face on it, but is trumped by most of his high school friends having babies. Marshall is drunk and comes close to ruining the wedding a couple times (though since I'm TV savvy, the "will he ruin it now?" misdirects didn't really work for me, as he obviously wasn't going to ruin the wedding before the end). Robin is encouraged by Lily to tell Barney if there's nothing left between them, which leads to a dynamite dance scene and then a sad scene when before she can admit she has feelings for him again after all, bad timing takes over when Norah calls (turns out Barney HAD called Norah. Several times.) and Robin feeds Barney exactly what to say (and you can tell she means to tell it to him).
Ultimately Ted and Robin have a great scene where Ted realizes that as he sees all his friends with families, he's stopped believing in destiny and that he'll find the one. Robin encourages him to start believing again and it looks like he'll be able to make his speech without crying... when Marshall and Lily announce their pregnancy. So he cries again, which leads to a great comedic scene where a drunken Marshall announces Ted is only crying because of this pregnancy. Except Lily, who he points at is really close to the bride, who is also pregnant and isn't sure how Marshall found out. This revelation leads to a fight and... Marshall ruined the wedding!
Back in the future, Ted assures Barney he picked the right tie and at least he didn't pick the ducky tie. This leads to Future Ted pointing out that we're nowhere close to finishing this story.
This already would've been a sweet premiere if they had stopped there, but there was another episode immediately after! And it was also awesome!
This episode picked up some threads from the previous one. A hungover Marshall makes a sweeping declaration to never get drunk again (a declaration we're told shortly afterwards that he'll break by the next day.). Barney goes to meet Norah and tries to win her back. Ted jumps back into the world of dating and goes on two dates. It also continues the story of Marshall trying to find work as an environmental lawyer as a senior partner at a prestigious environmental firm (played by Martin Short) expresses interest in him as long as he passes the background check.
Of course as Marshall makes sure nothing negative will come up, he comes across a video of him from college streaking during a news report and calling himself Beercules (It was a dare for a frat that didn't actually exist) that a friend from college has put up. His efforts to get the video taken down leads to him getting drunk again and making a new, worse Beercules video. Luckily, he gets the job in spite of this. For me, the only weak spot of this plot was the running joke of Martin Short's character saying something about the swamp he was in that also could've been about Marshall's job chances, because it got old fast (Until the end when it became funny again.).
Barney's plot was pretty good, but probably the weakest part of the episode for me. Mainly because when he's telling Norah every lie he's ever told women in an effort to be honest, the lies just weren't as inspired as previous insights into all the horrible things Barney has done (Though there were a couple good laughs. I wish we got the full story on The Soul Man, but it probably wouldn't be as great as the set-up. Also Barney has a thing about a need for venom to be sucked out of him.). It gets better once Barney resolves to not leave the diner until Norah gives him another date and doesn't actually order anything that costs money while he's waiting. Plus the fake neck brace he brought to get sympathy actually comes in handy when he hurts his neck sleeping at the diner. Classic.Lastly we have Ted's plot which didn't really have any low points for me. Ted has to decide who to bring to the Architect's Ball. Of his two choices, the one seems like a better fit but the other reached for the check, so Ted's torn. This leads to some good things of him trying to decide, mixed in when Robin tries to become his date soley because he says Lenny Kravitz will be there (It's a different Lenny Kravitz.). Ultimately Ted realizes that if he's choosing between two girls instead of leaping towards one he has an obvious attraction toward, neither girl is right for him. So he takes Robin (as a friend of course), and everything resolves. Until he see's Victoria, who we haven't seen since season 1 when she left for Germany and their long-distance relationship failed. Twist!
All-in-all, this was a great way to start the season. There were plenty of good jokes and plenty of things set up for future episodes. Let's hope that the rest of the season is as good as this opening.
Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
-"We’re totally, really, almost, not really that close to the end"
-“The happy couple needs to hear this: Things end!” -Excerpt from one of Ted's meltdown toasts.
-Robin uses a high-pitched sarcastic voice to disguise the truth. This is shown in a series of moments. The funniest involving her daddy issues on her birthday. “All I really want is for my dad to tell me that he loves me." Then in her normal voice she adds: "No, I’m kidding, the pen is great.” before adding in the "truth voice": "I'm not kidding."
-"You didn't ruin a wedding. Just the reception". "And the Bar Mitzvah next door." "And my dress. And your dress. You were wearing a dress at one point."
-To get the Beercules video taken down, Marshall competes in a game of Edwards Fortyhands, which involves malt liquor.
-I almost forgot that Marshall makes another sweeping declaration to stop getting drunk, only for the show to flash to a drunk Marshall at a casino whiles Narney's nearby wearing a ducky tie. Hmm.
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