How I Met Your Mother – Episode 4-9 Review

After two weeks off, due to some unfortunate family matters, I’m back and raring to go… And since my Colts won another big game, I’ll do it Monday Morning Quarterback style.

The Naked Man and all Its Glory

     This show has started to really get going in recent episodes, ironically, or maybe not so ironically, the same time as my beloved Colts have gotten it going. However, this episode, might have been the best one yet. The show has started to take on a much more serialized feel, which is what most of us expected once the Stella story finally ended after six episodes, and now the are coming close to perfecting it. This episode had no real central character, and quite a few storylines; all not as important, but certainly, as funny.

     What the show has really done recently is create a theme, a central idea, last week being Woo Girls, the week before being the sock, and this week being the Naked Man, that served as the catalyst of the whole show. This time was easily one of the best, the funniest and the most exciting, interesting and playful creation in How I Met Your Mother history. Its varied creations, with the pitiful Mitch, Robin’s reaction, Barney and Ted’s donning of the NakedMan-ness. It was, in every way, a great story and a great creative element.

Joke of the Week

“I-DOnt-Actually-Have-A-Cough.-Robin-is-a-Slut… Can I have a losenge” – Marshall

As Barney would say, well palyed Eriksen, well played. Marshall hasn’t had many great lines this year, and none of the episodes have really focused on him since Burger, but he can still bring it on any joke. What made it especially funny was the way he did it, he made it, a cliched line if I ever saw one, original, innocently obvious and hilarious.

Runner-Up

“Curiousity. Say there was a tall woman, not a big one, just a tall one. Like normal everything, just maybe seven or seven and a half feet, in a plaid miniskirt. I would just need to know what its like” – Barney

Once again, it is all about delivery. Neil Patrick Harris says it so casually, so blase. It truly was brilliant. The only reason its relegated to the second-level, was because it is too easy to wax poetic about Barney every week, just as it is way too easy and annoying to wax poetic about Brett Favre (Peter King, you listening).

Enjoyable/Aggravating Alyson Hannigan Fashion Note of the Week

     Nothing aggravating at all. She may be pregnant, but there is no bump to be seen. She is still one stunning woman. The pigtails today really gave her a young, cute look. It was very Willow-esque, even though the hair color was different. Also, the naked man would definitely work, if the man was Alyson Hannigan in pigtails.

5 things I Think I Think (changed to Five, because I’m sure Peter King has copyrighted it with 10)

1.) This is a callback to a pre-season Craig Thomas interview. He said at that point that the show would, after the Stella storyline ended, that the show would become more serialized, with more stand-alone episodes. So far, there have been three of these such episodes, “Not a Father’s Day”, “Wooo!!” and now “The Naked Man.” They all have been better than the one before. It is a great sign to see this, since more and more of the future episodes, and especailly future seasons will be of a serialized nature.

2.) 50 Reasons to Have Sex. That was a brilliant idea. It played out well in the beginning, with the rapid fire jokes that the show do so well. I loved how they didn’t drag it out like Not a Father’s Day and the Sock. It could’ve easily become old and stale, however they used it well. It was sweet, although strange, to see the “Have Sex Because We Are In Love” saved for last, even though it was Marshall making that exact point that started the whole list. It is always great to see the Eriksen’s interact, since they make playing a loving, happy married couple so easy and believable.

3.)  Would the Naked Man really work. It sounds good in theory, but I’m sure the ladies will have a reaction similar to the one that Barney got, than the one that Ted got from Vicky. To see Robin fall for it was a change of character that didn’t play too well, although if she had not succumbed to its charm, we never would have had this episode. Robin is not a slut, she is not someone who will easily have casual sex, so for the show to portray her as one was dissapointing, and really the only part of this episode that I would have tried to alter.

4.) The Naked Man poses was genius. THat was the best running gag I’ve seen on the show EVER, and I’m not just saying that, like people are about Matt Cassel being the biggest surprise QB EVER. That is a lie, this is not; the poses were so creative, and so ingenious. My favorite was the “Gymnast Sticking the Landing.” It really was a very un-How I Met Your Mother-like, but it was done brilliantly.

5.) This is dragging, so I’ll make it drag even more, and offer my rapid-fire thoughts.

     a.) Marshall needs to cut his hair. I’m sure not even the ladies like it.

     b.) Mitch was casted great. The fattish guy did a great job of playing the weird, pathetic nerd.

     c.) “Well you shouldn’t have told me the shadow on the wall was shaped like a clown” that was a great  line. They really are in every respect, the cutest couple on TV.

     d.) I’ll say this now, Vicky is not the mother. Anybody who would consider pretentious Ted’s favorite poet to be a turd is no perfect match. Stating this, let’s not start anything with her, please, Carter and Craig.

Who I Like Next Week and I Do Mean Other than Aly Hannigan’s Pigtails

It’s a rerun of the Bracket, so nothing really, except a “One Shining Moment” clip, which will get me ready for March Madness!!!!