How I Met Your Mother: The Stinsons
By fred | March 3, 2009
(S04E15) It is not the first time that, when talking about How I Met Your Mother, one ends up discussing the differences between this very show, and other sitcoms. Because while obviously being one, How I Met Your Mother isn’t your usual sitcom, far for it. It doesn’t have the same stuff you find everywhere else, it has its own unique voice, tone, characters and, of course, storytelling devices – including flashbacks, flash-forwards and other such oddities.
Of all the characters of the show, Barney certainly is the one who looks the most “standard” in terms of classic sitcoms, he’s the one character who could be straight from your usual sitcom and brought into the world of HIMYM, added a slice or two of awesomeness of course. But this week, everyone followed our great Barney into the world of classic sitcoms…
So Barney somehow managed to have a fake family for 10+ years or something, and his mother never saw anything, and neither did his friends, and I’m not sure how that can be or if it doesn’t contradict previously introduced information about Barney’s life, but let’s pretend it’s all fine. This was clearly a “parody” of your typical sitcoms, and in case you didn’t noticed (or are too young to remember), that house was pretty much exactly the one (though redecorated) from Who’s The Boss?
I’m guessing this episode either worked or didn’t work for you, there’s probably no real in between. As far as I’m concerned, it did not. I’m sorry to say, because it’s been such a long time and I was really looking forward to have this show back, but once they walked inside that house, we were pretty much in one of those sitcoms, but there wasn’t much of a parody.
Maybe it makes sense for Barney to put such a lie in motion, but it’s hard to believe it’s been going on for so long without anyone noticing anything. Especially since they introduced it as if he had recently been behaving in odd ways, like it was something new. Adding to that how, except for that last phone call at the end, the whole plot about Marshall getting angry over Lilly’s admittance that she doesn’t like (or, hate) his mother felt extremely silly (and not in a good way), same could be said about Robin getting hit on by the kid, or how as soon as Ted told Barney’s “wife” how he recognized her, we just knew exactly what would happen next, it just wasn’t funny.
Predictable, yes, but funny, I’m afraid not.
Sure, a few things did work. Frances Conroy did a good job at Barney’s mother (and she certainly is his mother alright!), hearing Barney ranting about how child actors were better in the 80’s is always fun – especially when the little music right after does sound like Doogie Howser, M.D. - and I also loved him tricking a mother into having sex with him, only to conclude he’s a much better actor than her kid!
But I don’t think it could save the episode. What probably did, however, was Barney’s own interpretation of all the movies of the 80’s (or is it not limited to that period?), and how he always rooted for the villain. Once they finally left that house which was indeed straight from the 80’s itself, and always had that typical sitcom feeling, then things got better.
First we had yet another loving look from Barney to his gorgeous soul mate, Lilly’s phone call of course, and then that last scene at the bar saved things for me. Because when the episode ended, I was still laughing out loud, laughing at how Barney was rooting for Johnny Lawrence who was, clearly, the Karate Kid; or Hand Gruber, the one who did Die Hard; or the suited up teacher in Breakfast Club; or of course the Terminator… That was just a perfect-fit for Barney, and hilarious.
At least the episode ended on a high note and left me laughing, so I can’t really say it was all bad. Yet, I have to admit most of it that, while in the Bowers’ house, it didn’t work for me. I was really looking forward to have the show back, and quite frankly that was disappointing… so I’m still looking forward to the next episode, and hopefully soon enough the goat will come back…
What did everybody else think?
Posted in Reviews
Shows: How I Met Your Mother
