How I Met Your Mother s06e19 review

Barney met his dad... because of a letter he sent. I don't even remember him sending that letter, but the season had aired weirdly this year with some weird long gaps.

John Lithgow plays Barney's dad. I couldn't really get behind that as the last thing I saw him in was Dexter, and he was a crazy evil serial killer in that, just pretending to be a nice family man. So, when he was a a nice family man in this episode I couldn't shake the feeling he was planning to kill Ted and the gang in horrible ways as soon as he could. Who knows, maybe he sliced Ted up a bit off camera. He'd deserve it.

This seasons been a bit heavy, Marshall's dad died and now Barney meets his dad who's been missing for something like 25 years. Marshall's dads funeral was a moving moment, but this episode just seemed hollow. I don't like Barney as a interesting three dimensional character, I want him being funny and banging chicks. Its what he does best. We have the rest of the cast to have deep moments, just let Barney be funny. Jesus wept.

I did quite like the idea that everyone has a gap in their general knowledge that makes them seem like idiots - Robin thinking that the North Pole is not a real place, Ted mispronouncing chameleon etc. Its true, we all have things like that. I thought that the Rolling Stones were American 'till I was 19. When people found out they ridiculed me for days. The ones that the cast brought up seemed a little forced though... maybe I just didn't like the episode much.

Not much to say about this episode really, not many gags, weird casting and Barney not being funny enough.
FOUR THUMBS UP

Watch it all on Amazon: How I Met Your Mother: Season One

How I Met Your Mother s06e14 review

How I Met Your Mothers back! They've taken some massive gaps recently, which is weird 'cause there's some serious shit going down. Baby's and death and such.

The show, I've found, is a love it or hate it kind of deal. Some people can't get behind it, saying its just another sitcom that's not that funny, others love it. People who love it seem to think the same as me, which is that is a great show with an awful main character. Does anyone really care about Ted? I really don't care about his life at all. People have said the show should be called 'How I Know Barney Stinson', but I love Marshall and Lilly just as much. Just not Ted. Fuck Ted.

The shows strength lies in knowing what modern friendships are like. There are pop culture references, but not too many. The group has a lot of in-jokes which come up time and time again, which is so true to life. The way the characters interact with each other seem real to me.

This episode showcases the shows strengths brilliantly. At the end of the last episode we found out Marshalls dad has just died. This episode is at the funeral. Firstly, I love it when comedy shows have a serious episode. The juxtaposition between the serious subject manner and the shows usual comedic tone make the tragic events seem more intense. This was done perfectly in this episode.

They used a classic How I Met Your Mother technique of having a couple of jokes that echo through the episode. Firstly there was Robins 'vice' bag - the bag where she kept anything Marshall might need to get him through the day (smokes, booze, drugs), the second was Marshall trying to remember the last words his father said to him, lastly Ted and Barney looking up 'men being hit in the groin' videos on the Internet to try and get Marshall to laugh. They spaced the gags out well, there was never a laugh too close to the serious stuff.

The ending was heartbreaking. Marshall had been trying to remember his dads 'last words' all day. Most of them seemed lame and pointless, he had trouble dealing with the fact the last thing his father ever said to him was 'Rent Crocodile Dundee 3'. It turns out his dad had left him a voice mail. He debated listening to it for ages before finally checking... only to find it was a pocket dial. Marshall then makes this amazing speech about how unfair death is, how his dad was his hero and how much he's going to miss him. My girlfriend, who hates the show, said the ending really ''pulls at heart strings", and I for one really felt the emotional impact of the moment.

It all works out in the end, Marshalls dad realizes his phone had rang him five minutes into the message and tells Marshall he loves him. Thank Christ. (before things get to sloppy there's some joke about foot fungus or something).

Oh, also there was a guest star - Johnathan from Buffy - what the fuck?

EIGHT THUMBS UP

Catch up on previous episodes here:  How I Met Your Mother: Season One, How I Met Your Mother: Season Two, How I Met Your Mother: Season Three, How I Met Your Mother: Season Four,How I Met Your Mother: Season Five