How I Met Your Mother: I Heart NJ
By fred | October 7, 2008
(S04E03) There is this unwritten rule in TV land (or maybe it is written somewhere in the write a TV show for dummies handbook, I honestly have no idea) that applies to about every show out there, but is even more true when it comes down to sitcoms. It states that things should not change and characters should not evolve, not really. Of course it’s not always true, Lost is the perfect example where you want and need things to change and evolve, constantly.
And yes, on Seinfeld George did get engaged at some point, but it was all done in a way that wouldn’t break anything. Because you love House because he’s cranky and addicted to Vicodin, he can’t just turn happy and drug-free. George was able to move, lose a job, get a job (or not, he wasn’t exactly sure), go back to his parents, get engaged, it never changed the character and the dynamic of the show.
Thing is, while it has been the Lost of sitcoms, I don’t think changes are necessarily a good thing for this show either. It seems that on How I Met Your Mother the writers are in a bit of trouble these days, because they had those two situations that needed to be addressed, that could risk changing things, and so far it hasn’t really been handled so well. First off, we have the Ted & Stella situation. What this episode showed is that despite being engaged and getting married, they still don’t really know each other, they haven’t talked about the important stuffs (like who moves in with the other), and it’s getting problematic.
It needs to be addressed, hence this week’s episode and the whole Ted moving to New Jersey thing. By the way, is it me or is Stella not quite fitting well into the group ? It looks to me almost as if she was actually better when we first met her, but since then haven’t been really moving forward in that area. She’s supposed to have hang out with the gang for a while (though we were only told about it, we didn’t get to actually see it, but it was said to be somewhat of a perfect match), and today felt like she never really been with the gang or knew them that much… is it a sign that has to go ? Someone trying not to have us fall for her too much ?
Anyways, the other situation is of course Barney and Robin. Barney encouraged Robin to try to get the job, and this week he was all the more truthful when he tried to kept her from calling back for her old job, he really wanted her to believe in her, to bank on her, like he does. And of course, it all came down to bite him in the ass.
But, here’s the problem : it wasn’t funny. This didn’t feel like an episode of How I Met Your Mother, this wasn’t like the so great, hilarious, clever, inspired and creative show we all fell in love with a few years back. It used to be filled with self-references to past or future stories, filled with hilarious jokes and great one-liners, with flashbacks and flash-forwards, they were constantly moving places, moving stories forward, things were happening and it was awesome.
Not anymore. Not this week at least. Oh sure, some things did work, I loved to see Barney out to get the Lesbians and how could you not love his exchange with Marshall, “I know I can land that Lesbian plane. - No snakes on that plane !”
Last week was a bit of the same, though it worked better for me. But it was already like this week, in that we don’t get to things moving, we don’t get all those flashbacks/flash-forwards that made the show so unique in its storytelling. Oh yes, the “I Hate Jersey” jokes were in flashbacks, but they were also not funny. It didn’t feel natural, but forced. It was like Lily telling Ted she’d haunt him if he killed her and buried her in New Jersey, but not if she was buried elsewhere; it was like Ted asking the ex-New Yorkers who then just realized they were Jerseyans now, it was not funny, and it was all so predictable it really wasn’t good.
It’s the kind of stuff you’d expect in any regular sitcom, in any other sitcom on CBS, but not here, not in How I Met Your Mother. I felt like they needed to advance the storylines of Ted & Stella as well as Barney & Robin, and they’re trying to get there, but in the mean time we don’t get our usual episode of this little show we loved, in the mean time the funny is gone.
This show has something unique that no one else has : Barney Stinson. Neil Patrick Harris is awesome, no question there, but while Barney used to be just as awesome, seeing here like that this week, his arm up in the air desperately looking for someone to help him, it wasn’t the great Barney I look up to, it was hilarious, actually it was for us, or for me at least, just as it was for him : painful.
Even Robin’s ride to get her old job back in time didn’t feel right. It was too underdeveloped, maybe rushed, I don’t know, but it didn’t feel right to me. So I really hope for the sake of the show that the writers manage to get Ted & Stella wherever they want them to be, that they get (Barney &) Robin where needed as well, so that the show can be back to being great, hilarious, and just awesome. Because I miss it.
What do you think ? Am I wrong, was this episode just as awesome as the show used to be, or were the laughs indeed fewer this week ? Did this episode feel like another episode of How I Met Your Mother, even though less funny than it usually is, or was there something different, something missing ?
Posted in Reviews
Shows: How I Met Your Mother
