How I Met Your Mother: Not A Father’s Day
By fred | November 11, 2008
(S04E07) Last week things were odd in How I Met Your Mother land, because the episode felt like just another sitcom with the big “let’s hide under the table” trick. So I was expecting a lot better this week from this little show, I was expecting to see it back to its very unique style and, now that (finally!) Stella is out of the picture and we can forget about Ted’s quest of the love of his life, maybe focus on the real mysteries of the show.
I have to say that in the end, I’m not sure sure how I feel about this episode, I’m having very mixed feelings. On the one hand we had things that are typical of this great show, things that worked very well and were absolutely hilarious – in short, Neil Patrick Harris - but at the same time, some other things didn’t work out that well for me, starting with the main plot.
I have to say, I was shocked to see Lily & Marshall in their new apartment just like that. I really was, and I actually needed a minute to remember that yes, a few weeks back we heard they were packing and going to move out to their new place, just as Ted was moving to New Jersey and Robin to Japan. But if we saw Robin spend a couple of days there, and we all know how Ted’s plans went down, we never saw anything about Lily & Marshall.
One day they were packing, and now they’re installed in their new place, have been for a while. No moving, no first time they walk in or invite friends over or anything, and no mention of the smell either. Now it’s all perfect, and everyone acts as if it’s always been that way. Not that there’s anything wrong with that of course, plus this being How I Met Your Mother who’s to say we won’t find out more about it in a later flashback, but surprising at first for sure.
Moving on, now that we all know Alyson Hannigan is pregnant, and we’ve all this in the future how she does not drink, we all assume that in less than a year Lily will be pregnant, too. We’ve all been there for some time now, and this week the writers addressed this issue right now, playing with that idea and ending with the conclusion that while they will be great parents, they weren’t ready just yet. Of course, we all pretty much know give it a few months and things will have changed… right?
But for now, I didn’t find that story all that great, or funny. Hannigan played the drunk very well, but her behaving like a baby, crying when you take the bottle away and everything, that was once again the usual sitcom move you don’t really expect from this show, just like the fact that no one but Marshall and the guy from China would actually see Lily coming and going, all drunk, right there next to them. (By the way, did Marshall ever get back to his very important meeting ??)
It’s like everyone under the table, it’s been overdone before and you just expect more from this show. The good thing, though, is that this week Barney wasn’t under the table with the rest of them, so he could save the show. He did so from the start, by presenting us one of his many theories, “the Cheerleader Effect. Also known as the Bridesmaid Paradox, Sorority Girl Syndrome, and, for a brief window in the mid 90s, the Spice Girls’ Conspiracy — Scary Spice indeed.”
And then, the shock of the episode : could Barney become a father ?? That was a scary thought indeed, so scary that Barney had to head to church no less, to have a little chat with God himself. “God? It’s me, Barney. What up!? I know we don’t talk much, though a lot of girls call out your name because of me… awesome! But God, if you could get me out of this, I swear I will never ever ever ever ever ever ever e… (His phone rings.) Oh, hang on Bro!”
The news came, Barney was not a father, and he was so happy about it he just had to rub it in everyone’s face (”Hey Nollen, how are the kids? ah!-ah!-ah!“) and create a new holiday, Not A Father’s Day. Awesome, be sure to send those postcards to all your friends… Plus, in a clever writing as the show loves to do, we got to see the Cheerleader Effect applied to Bros, as adepts of Not A Father’s Day were all, except for Barney, not really celebrating this holiday by choice.
Barney is just awesome, and yet the sock effect worked on him too, as he ended up wondering about having kids himself. I’m not sure where this come from, but it’s interesting to see two people clearly not wanting kids - Robin’s fear of kids was just hilarious, from her getting the kid and passing him on to Ted right away or putting out her hand so she doesn’t get bitten – both ending up on the softer side of things in the end.
They’re not just perfect for each other but also completely in sync, just how awesome is that? Of course, things might get even more complicated now that the gorgeous Robin is moving back with Ted — The answer to the goat mystery, and a perfect solution as Robin was homeless and Marshall and Lily recently moved out.
All in all this wasn’t the best of episodes, and I was disappointed by Marshall and Lily’s story, but other than that there was a lot to enjoy and it was funny, especially thanks to Robin and Barney.
What did you think of this episode ? Do you still think Lily will get pregnant soon ? What’s up with Marshall’s hair exactly ? Who’s NOT your daddy ??
Posted in Reviews
Shows: How I Met Your Mother
