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- Review -- How I Met Your Mother: Do I Know You?
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- Review -- How I Met Your Mother: Do I Know You?
Review -- How I Met Your Mother: Do I Know You?
- By Jason Toomey
- Published 09/30/2008
- How I Met Your Mother
- Unrated
Jason Toomey
A talented--though still aspiring--fantasy novelist, Jason spends many hours a day lost in dark, tumultuous worlds filled with magic, adventure, and cute sword wielding girls. Born the humble son of a shipper, his affinity for math paved the way for his ascension to dual-class Engineer/Writer (levels 20 and 25, respectively), allowing him to pay the mortgage as a technical writer while he awaits the publishing deal that will one day declare him, once and for all, the Pumpkin King. [Jason's Blog]
View all articles by Jason Toomey
Overview:
When we last left How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM) Ted (Josh Radnor) had just popped the question to Stella (Sarah Chalke) in a large indoor kid fun zone that was definitely not a Chuck E. Cheese. After a brief montage of all the possible negative responses Ted can imagine, we get a heartfelt "yes" from Stella -- and cue theme song.
We then get to catch up on the gang's activities over the summer through a brief montage / voice over. Marshall (Jason Segel) is still unemployed (and apparently has far too much time on his hands). Lily (Alyson Hannigan) has been painting up a storm (ostensibly for her art-for-the-K9-set online business). Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) is recovering from his accident (and still secretly pining away for Robin). And Robin (Cobie Smulders) is slowly starting to lose her mind as her job degenerates into reading a series of hack news teases off of a teleprompter.
From here, the episode splits into two legs:
Story A -- Ted struggles to get to know more about Stella, ultimately resulting in the Star Wars test. The two sit down to watch A New Hope as a compatibility test. After all, how can Ted spend the rest of his life with a girl who doesn’t get Star Wars? Marshall (with not much else to do this episode) hovers around like a nervous lab assistant. After some effort, Stella finishes the movie and tells Ted that she loves it -- putting all right with the world again. Well ... sort of. Marshall uses his super lawyer powers (I would guess) to see through Stella's lie. She didn’t love the movie, but she's prepared to fake it for the rest of her life. Oh mighty foreshadowing metaphor, Batman!
Story B -- Lily helps Barney make a legitimate play for Robin after he agrees to stop sleeping with other women in the meantime. This leads to a slightly awkward dinner where Robin gets to meet a romantic, sensitive, oblivious-to-innuendo Barney. At the end of the dinner -- over which Barney convinces Robin to apply for a job she wants (gee, I wonder if that will be far away?) -- Barney's hopes that they have made some sort of connection are dashed, as Robin (apparently oblivious to Barney's affections) decides to play wing-woman and help Barney score their hot waitress.
Thoughts:
I don't think there is a single fan watching the show who honestly believes Stella will turn out to be the titular mother. But still, isn't Sarah Chalke (in my mind still the best Becky) ridiculously awesome? I enjoy her so much on this show and am trying to savor every moment before this whole rushed engagement thing blows up in Ted's face.
Romantic Barney was cringe-inducingly awesome. As was Robin's horrified reaction to him. I think it played so well because even though Barney is over the top by definition, Neil Patrick Harris has done such an amazing job of keeping an air of believability to the character. During the scene where he is comically oblivious to the waitress' cleavage, for example, we honestly get the sense that he's not just pretending to ignore her -- his infatuation is just so strong it overrides his innate Barney-ness. Dare I say it was de-wait for it-lightful?
I actually gave my wife a limited version of the Star Wars test soon after we were married ... with similar results. She does let me keep a Master Replica lightsaber in our living room, though. (And puts up with my mild infatuation with Alyson Hannigan).
If it doesn’t make me seem too sappy, I thought the scene towards the end where Barney convinces Lily that he doesn't want Robin anymore was really touching (while still hilarious -- the "1,000 things I love about bimbos" speech rocked). I think it really adds to the dynamic of the show that we (as the audience) "get" Barney better than anyone else on the show.
Great Moments / Lines:
When we last left How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM) Ted (Josh Radnor) had just popped the question to Stella (Sarah Chalke) in a large indoor kid fun zone that was definitely not a Chuck E. Cheese. After a brief montage of all the possible negative responses Ted can imagine, we get a heartfelt "yes" from Stella -- and cue theme song.
We then get to catch up on the gang's activities over the summer through a brief montage / voice over. Marshall (Jason Segel) is still unemployed (and apparently has far too much time on his hands). Lily (Alyson Hannigan) has been painting up a storm (ostensibly for her art-for-the-K9-set online business). Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) is recovering from his accident (and still secretly pining away for Robin). And Robin (Cobie Smulders) is slowly starting to lose her mind as her job degenerates into reading a series of hack news teases off of a teleprompter.
From here, the episode splits into two legs:
Story A -- Ted struggles to get to know more about Stella, ultimately resulting in the Star Wars test. The two sit down to watch A New Hope as a compatibility test. After all, how can Ted spend the rest of his life with a girl who doesn’t get Star Wars? Marshall (with not much else to do this episode) hovers around like a nervous lab assistant. After some effort, Stella finishes the movie and tells Ted that she loves it -- putting all right with the world again. Well ... sort of. Marshall uses his super lawyer powers (I would guess) to see through Stella's lie. She didn’t love the movie, but she's prepared to fake it for the rest of her life. Oh mighty foreshadowing metaphor, Batman!
Story B -- Lily helps Barney make a legitimate play for Robin after he agrees to stop sleeping with other women in the meantime. This leads to a slightly awkward dinner where Robin gets to meet a romantic, sensitive, oblivious-to-innuendo Barney. At the end of the dinner -- over which Barney convinces Robin to apply for a job she wants (gee, I wonder if that will be far away?) -- Barney's hopes that they have made some sort of connection are dashed, as Robin (apparently oblivious to Barney's affections) decides to play wing-woman and help Barney score their hot waitress.
Thoughts:
I don't think there is a single fan watching the show who honestly believes Stella will turn out to be the titular mother. But still, isn't Sarah Chalke (in my mind still the best Becky) ridiculously awesome? I enjoy her so much on this show and am trying to savor every moment before this whole rushed engagement thing blows up in Ted's face.
Romantic Barney was cringe-inducingly awesome. As was Robin's horrified reaction to him. I think it played so well because even though Barney is over the top by definition, Neil Patrick Harris has done such an amazing job of keeping an air of believability to the character. During the scene where he is comically oblivious to the waitress' cleavage, for example, we honestly get the sense that he's not just pretending to ignore her -- his infatuation is just so strong it overrides his innate Barney-ness. Dare I say it was de-wait for it-lightful?
I actually gave my wife a limited version of the Star Wars test soon after we were married ... with similar results. She does let me keep a Master Replica lightsaber in our living room, though. (And puts up with my mild infatuation with Alyson Hannigan).
If it doesn’t make me seem too sappy, I thought the scene towards the end where Barney convinces Lily that he doesn't want Robin anymore was really touching (while still hilarious -- the "1,000 things I love about bimbos" speech rocked). I think it really adds to the dynamic of the show that we (as the audience) "get" Barney better than anyone else on the show.
Great Moments / Lines:
- Adorable Lily / Marshall Moment of the Week: "Chimichanga" (their new secret code word for sex)
- "What's up Turd?" / "It's Ted!"
- "Eyes the color of the ocean after a storm!" / "Which is...?" / "Beautiful."
- "I caught feelings bad. And I used protection and everything!"
- "You left a voice, but it wasn't male."
- (Lily talking about Robin) "I can't pretend I've never noticed her body..."
- (Marshall poking his head up from behind the couch) "Should I leave too?"
- "I choose bimbos ... bimbos make me want to pretend to be a better man."
- The waitress poking her head out of Barney's bedroom at the end was awesome ... even more so because we all knew it was coming.