How I Met Your Mother: Happily Ever After
By fred | November 4, 2008
(S04E06) One thing most - if not all - people would agree on, when it comes to How I Met Your Mother, is that it is not a sitcom like any other. Not just because of its characters, but because it has a different way of telling a story, they use storytelling devices that are unusual, not only but even more so for sitcoms. That’s how the show is done, and successfully did for years already.
As a result, it’s possible that many of us viewers/fans of the show have higher standards or expectations for this show that we might have for others, but it only seems fair to expect from the show nothing less than what it’s been delivering for many years now.
For instance, people hiding under the table at some restaurant because they want to avoid someone, that’s your usual sitcom-esque move you don’t expect, or want to see, on How I Met Your Mother. On occasions in the past, the show has been “accused” from time to time to fall back to such easy and cheap stunts, and I’ve not always agreed with everything, but I’m pretty sure people will “attack” the show for that one, and it makes sense.
I mean, it’s been done too many times before, and the show is better than this, better than five people hiding under a table, and everyone either not noticing it (see Stella or every other customers in there, not to mention the girls at that other table Barney eventually got to hide under!) or just being fine with it, as if it was totally normal (I guess the same girls could be mentioned again, or obviously the waiter going down there as well to take orders, like this happened every day).
Now, I don’t live in New-York City, so if you do maybe you can tell me : is this actually very common stuff there, people hiding and eventually eating under their tables ? I’ve heard of restaurant in complete darkness, so maybe it is no big deal after all. Or maybe, that was just a little too much, really. Thank God we had those hilarious flashbacks that kicked-in while they were hiding there, to remind us that first, the show is no usual sitcom, and second, it can be absolutely hilarious. That was a much-needed thing at that time.
And yes, in the end this episode wasn’t bad, it was actually good even. Of course we had to deal with Stella one more time, just to put it all behind us once and for all. And what became clear, I’d think, is that Barney was right : Ted really wasn’t in love with Stella, Ted really didn’t want to get married, Ted really was fine. Even in the end, to Marshall’s greatest pleasure, he didn’t get mad and angry because he lost Stella, or because he loved her, or because of what she did to him that day, because he actually did not believe that, he did not believe she was the one, or that she made the greatest mistake of her life.
He knew he is a romantic guy and a wedding like that, like the one he was about to have, wasn’t his little girl’s dream. He knew he didn’t know Stella all that much, they never talked about anything seriously, and they weren’t ready to compromise and work it all out together. They both got caught in this, and it was a blessing that they both managed to get out. Now I can only hope we’ll stop on the whole “tracking the mother” bit, because as I said previously I don’t really see that as a mystery myself.
Posted in Reviews
Shows: How I Met Your Mother
The worst episode of the season, in my opinion. I didn’t laugh a single time. Come back, show!
Oh no, not the worst of the season! I mean hiding under the table wasn’t worth this show, but other things actually worked and it was funny.
I think if I had to pick one as worst episode of this season so far, I think I’d go with I Heart NJ, and having to painfully watch Barney doing nothing but holding his hand up for half an hour…