How I Met Your Mother: The Stunt-Casting Episode

Last week's St. Patty's Day episode: not as strong as the show usually is.

This week's episode featuring Britney Spears and Sarah Chalke (I would feel ever so slighted if I were her--did anyone know she was going to be on the show? I didn't--all I heard was Britney Britney Britney. Anyway) was not only a return to form, it was one of the funnier, more tightly written episodes of the series. There were plenty of scenes with all five of the friends--something the previous week's episode lacked--and Ted more than made up for his asshat behavior of last week with a "guys just don't do this in real life" display of romance. In fact, it's possible that last night's two-minute date marked a return for Ted to his pursuit of his future wife--he had been kinda floundering after the break-up with Robin. Not that I'm analyzing a fictional character or anything. (Then again, I'd rather have fictional characters worthy of analysis than 2-dimensional cardboard characters.) Add to that the "Manos: Hands of Fate" shout out and the show could not have gotten much better.

A lot of us were worried about the Britney Spears cameo, I know. It smacked of the Paris Hilton guest roles on The O.C. and Veronica Mars. If I recall correctly, Paris didn't ruin those shows (though she wasn't much fun to watch) and I have to say, not only did Britney NOT ruin How I Met Your Mother...she was kinda fun to watch. There, I said it. I thought she was...adorable. Yep. There were times when I thought she may have been rushing her lines and may not have been comfortable, but it also may have been her puppy-love-struck character. She plays a receptionist, see, who has a crush on Ted. An unrequited crush, for those of you who didn't watch last night because you were afraid she was the Not-Mom of the week. No, that would be Sarah Chalke, who was also very fun to watch.

Favorite moments:

Robin's "Hmmm...she said 'no'...what could that possibly mean..." Which to me is an obvious reference to "no means no." And yet, Ted did turn a "no" into a "yes"--in fact, he announced to his kids, "that's how you do it." This made me a little uncomfortable, frankly, and yet the process of getting that yes was textbook "wooing," and not subterfuge, roofies, or physical pressure. So it did have an old school 1940s cinema "I will win her heart" feel to it.

Lilly making Barney take a time out.

Marshall predicting what he's going to eat...which is what he's eating in the final scene. Except for messing with the timeline a bit, that was really funny. All the callbacks were funny--that's another thing this show does incredibly well. Lilly's nails got progressively longer. Barney's the angry caller.

The reappearance of Ranjit. I love that they can apparently call on this guy for their private taxi needs. I also love this show's fantastic sense of continuity.

And, of course, the moustache bet. I love it when the friends make these kinds of wagers. That and it led to the great line "You look like Tom Selleck only a hundred times handsomer."

Comments

[Netter]

I may have missed it because Hubby likes to flip, but Ted didn't say she wasn't the mom. I did note that she said she went out for St. Patty's with the girls and left early. I wonder if she forgot her umbrella. Ted did make the point that the mom was at the bar.

[Cathi]

Didn't you think that they laid the groundwork for her to be the mom? Especially with that whole 'I went out for St. Pat's Day but left early' thing? It would be great if she were- I am a huge Scrubs lover and feel like no one besides ZB gets much credit for making the show what it is.

[Michelle]

I think the St. Patty's Day reference is a red herring. There's way too much mystery with the yellow umbrella, for one thing, to have it all be resolved in the next episode. For another, Ted sets the story up by introducing "Stella the dermatologist," which would completely break with the show's inner logic if Stella winds up being the mom. Wouldn't the kids say right away, "Oh, you mean mom?"

[Cathi]

You're probably right- I just figured that Sarah Chalke wouldn't be on again, but would be available after this season- with the whole 'I'm too busy to date' thing, it just seemed like they set the scene for them to run into each other again and date in earnest in the future. Plus there's that whole half-sister issue....

I'm really not all that anxious for them to show who the mother is- because HIMYM isn't trying to be a dramedy or whatever pomo word fits these days, I don't feel like the conflict is ever-present.

[maryse]

totally unrelated.

friday night lights is in for a 3rd season.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080402/ap_en_tv/tv_nbc_new_season