Tuesday 17 January 2012

How I Met Your Mother: 46 Minutes

What Happened, Yo!:

-Marshall and Lily finally move to Long Island, leaving Ted, Robin, and Barney depressed that they won't hang out with them as often and afraid that they'll eventually just drift apart. Barney becomes undepressed though, when he realizes that no Marshall and Lily mean no married couple to oppose his awesome ideas. He declares himself the new leader of the group (complete with a re-imagined title sequence) and suggests they go to a strip club. Ted agrees, and so do Robin and Kevin who are in a game of new relationship chicken (Doing things they don't want to do so they don't seem boring.)


-At the strip club, Barney runs into Lily's stripper Doppleganger and decides she's the new Lily. When it turns out she has a tough Russian boyfriend, Barney makes him the new Marshall. Ted won't go with this at first, but when Marshall and Lily don't take his calls (unbeknownst to him, their cell reception is out), he gets drunk and happily embraces New Marshall and Lily. So the gang follows the pair to an underground poker game in a mostly abandoned insane asylum, where Ted almost gets himself killed (Bragging about his winnings and bluffs, plus nicknaming most of the other players), and then to a "party" at a slaughterhouse where Ted convinces the gang to give them 200 dollars for cover charges, only to realize to late they've been robbed.

-Meanwhile Lily's dad Mickey has been staying with Lily and Marshall, and refuses to leave, being pushy and giving them unwanted advice about how to do things in their new home (which is Mickey's old home). When they finally demand that he leave, he tampers with the fuse box and taunts Marshall through an intercom system he installed as Marshall navigates his way through the pitch black house. After Marshall falls down the basement steps, Lily convinces Mickey to help Marshall reach the fuse box instead of impede him. Marshall is successful (And the adventure of him trying to reach the fuse box leads to Aldrin Game's one successful board game: Lights Out) and Mickey finally agrees to leave, but Lily says he can stay for a while. He says he'll only be there a couple weeks top but we learn that that's not true.

-After being robbed, Ted apologizes for being drunk and naive, and says that he misses Marshall and Lily. Barney also admits that he misses Marshall and Lily. Ted decides that they should just make the 46-minute trip to be with them and they all agree, except Kevin who finally ends the game of New Relationship Chicken, much to Robin's relief. So they all go to Long Island and spend time with Marshall and Lily. Future Ted closes the episode by saying that although they weren't always at their regular booth at the bar, their real booth was wherever the five of them were together.

I Liked This: 46 Minutes was the 150th episode of How I Met Your Mother, and as a milestone episode, it didn't disappoint. I'm glad that the writers seem to be sticking with Marshall and Lily moving to Long Island, and it led to some good material here. I was excited by the return of Stripper Lily and the introduction of her intimidating boyfriend, and the entire scene at the poker game was hysterical. I enjoyed Ted and his willingness to go along with Stripper Lily and her boyfriend. His Naivety was great here. The idea of New Relationship Chicken was a fun one and I enjoyed seeing the escalation of events up to the point where Kevin decides to say No to him going to Long Island. And of course, I liked the emotional throughline of the episode and how it ends with the gang all together, which was touching.

But...: It wasn't that bad, but the subplot with Lily's father didn't do that much for me as a storyline (Though it had it's moments. I appreciated the horror-movie vibe given off here).

The Bottom Line: 46 Minutes was a splendid episode of How I Met Your Mother with lots of laugh and a nice ending. Definitely worthy of being episode 150.

Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)

Memorable Moments

-I loved both variations on the theme song, though the best one was probably the second one with Stipper Lily and her boyfriend.

-Ted: "It's like when they cancelled Party of Five for the second time. I mean when they cancelled... sports."

-Barney: "I'm your two best friends!"

-Ted's Empire State Building made out of poker chips was great. As was his parody tune "We Built Chip City".

-Why does everyone at the poker game get a nickname except Larry (who has such features as an eyepatch, a handlebar mustache and a ferret)? "You have too many things. You only get one thing!"

-Ted gives the 200 dollars to get into the "Yankee Coca-Cola" party because it "totally sounds like a real thing". Oh Ted.

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