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How I Met Your Mother: The Fight

By fred | December 9, 2008

(S04E10) Last time I was left somewhat disappointed by the show, so I was really hoping this episode would be better, get back to the level of awesomeness that only How I Met Your Mother can offer. Having watched this episode, I’m not exactly sure that we got there, but I’m more than okay to pretend we did because I felt this episode was just great.

It’s was too sitcom-esque as we’ve been complaining in the past, and while not perfect it certainly worked great, from beginning to end, and was simply very funny. Plus, there were quite a few things just for us fans of the show that I just loved. I don’t know about you, but I laughed a lot, and maybe it’s also because The Big Bang Theory wasn’t really funny, but I really had a great time watching this episode.

Barney unable to focus because there was a hot girl in the room, and simply using titles of black sitcoms from the 70’s and 80’s was great, though I was surprised some part of his brain didn’t actually switch him back to reality with Lily’s proposal. And then came Doug. We had never seen Doug before, but a few revisited flashbacks and now Doug has always been around ever since.

It’s no big deal, because what we’re seeing isn’t the reality of what happened, but the way Future Ted remembers it, so it’s all good — just like what Lily’s hair color isn’t always what it should be. What was wrong, however, was Marshall and the fights. Now I saw it coming, I knew the fights he mentioned with his brothers weren’t just friendly ones with cocoa breaks in the middle, I knew it was some hardcore stuff, and I’m sure you did to.

After all, it’s not hard to imagine this, when you remember his family back when Lily had her pregnancy-scare around Thanksgiving I think. Those guys are all giants, friendly, and violent. But the real problem was that it was actually a continuity error, wasn’t it? Because I’m pretty sure that I remember Marshall almost getting in a fight one day, he was in the bar and ready to fight, even though he was really scared of it.

And when the guy bailed out, he just hugged him in relief — which incidentally sent the wrong message to the guy’s boyfriend, who hit Marshall in the face, or something. Am I crazy or did that happen some time back ? If Marshall really had this heavy-metal hard-core fight history in him, then that episode back then don’t make sense. It’s maybe not much, but it bothered me, especially because I feel this show was so good at avoiding such things in the past…

Anyways, I loved this episode. So many things just worked great. Sure, maybe the “Robin loves violence” joke might have gotten a little old, but I’m not really sure it did. Made her look a bit desperate at some point, yes, but just how awesome was it before that, when she was looking with those killer eyes at Barney, ready to go fight for her ?? And once he came back, when he let her touch his black eye, how great was it to see her at his arm like that ?? I’m one of those who’s rooting for Barney & Robin to eventually get together, even though I worry about how it’ll affect Barney I just know those two are perfect with each other, and man this episode was a treat there.

Barney was a little slow to start, I thought he would have gone in the fight right after mentioning his missing tooth, but he got there because he still has strong feelings for Robin, and he barely tried to hide it this week. And Robin was all over Barney, and loving it. “I’m surprised to see you had it in me, you.”

Also hilarious was the whole gang making fun of Marshall, because he refused to fight :
Marshall: You know what I was doing while you guys were out there being immature ? I’ll tell you what I was doing…
Barney: Your nails ?
Marshall: No, I was doing…
Ted: The relationship quiz in this month’s Cosmo ?
Marshall: No, I was doing…
Barney: Your best not to cry when Big came back for Carrie at the end of the Sex And The City movie ?
Marshall: No – spoilers much! – no… I’ll tell you what I was doing…
Robin: The captain of the football team because he gave you his promise ring and you look so pretty in your open-back homecoming dress ?

And there was lots for everyone, Lily being a poor teacher – I mean really, if she can’t even stop a couple of kids from fighting, or insulting the guests’ going a speech, she’s got a problem… – and still as horny as ever, Marshall convinced he would – and he really would – use actual light sabers in 3 to 5 years [man I can't wait for that day!!], Barney going all Fight Club on himself before making Ted cry, Robin getting out of a date with Barney with the best excuse she could come up with, “I can’t I have that a… that a… that a…”

One last thing: we saw the goat again, and I just hope they really have a story there all ready to go and pretty awesome, because they keep building it up again & again, and I sure do have a lot of expectations about that one, I can’t wait to find out what the whole story behind it is, and that better not disappoint!

All in all I loved this episode, I thought it was great, really funny, loved the Robin/Barney bits, nothing but great stuff! What did you think ? Were you excited about Robin and Barney getting closer, even for only a minute ?

Posted in Reviews
Shows: How I Met Your Mother