Season vs. Season: Volume 8
This is a weekly column where the episodes from seasons one, two, and three will go head to head in a humor cage match. This week, the episode eight’s.
Season 1: The Duel
As Lily becomes more of a permanent fixture in the apartment, Ted feels like he is being edged out of the mix by his engaged roomies. Petrified of being left alone and homeless, Ted tells Marshall that when he and Lily are married, he wants the apartment. The problem is that Marshall wants to keep the place too, so they settle it like real “grown-ups” — launching into a sword fight that leaves one man down for the count.
Going into this week I did not have many fond memories for this episode. I rewatched it and while I still don’t love it, it’s not as bad as I remember it being. A few good moments I’d forgotten: Ted’s Tollbooth, Marshall’s use of ‘anhedonic‘, Robin’s date with yet another Freaks and Geeks alum (who has changed a lot between then and now), Barney’s Lemon Law, Lily’s apartment becoming a Chinese restaurant. At the time, I like this episode because I couldn’t yet imagine the greatness that the show would offer in the future.
Season 2: Atlantic City
Marshall and Lily drag the gang to Atlantic City to elope, and their quest to overcome the three-day wait for a marriage license crosses them with some Chinese gamblers, a ship captain, and a sexy novelty shirt.
Just like “The Duel” I didn’t have many memories from this episode. It was outside the normal setting and kept the whole gang together. Win or lose, this episode has the distinction of featuring Robin’s bikini shirt. The only thing better was Ted wearing it around the apartment later. “Is Robin even here?” Lily asks. “God, I hope so” Marshall replies. The crazy Asian game that Marshall immediately understood was funny too.
Season 3: Spoiler Alert
Marshall awaits his bar exam results; Ted introduces his latest girlfriend to the gang, who all see the flaw that Ted has missed.
This was a strong episode, one of the strongest this season. We got to see the game fight with each other which makes everything seem much more realistic. We also got what might be the most quotable episode of the whole series. No huge plot developments but, then again, the other episode eights didn’t have those either.
Advantage
Due to mediocre entries from both season 1 and 2, season 3 is the winner.
Scorecard
| W | L | T | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1: | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| Season 2: | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Season 3: | 1 | 5 | 2 |
Vote
Start getting excited. Next week is the ultimate showdown between Slap Bet and Slapsgiving. It’s gonna be legendary. Belly Full of Turkey doesn’t stand a chance.
Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this post subscribe to Have You Met Ted. You can also have new posts delivered to your email. Subscribe in the sidebar.
Wait for it…
8:30pm Mondays on CBS.
Subscribe via RSS
steve | November 15, 2007 @ 1:57 pm
Aww, but I liked Belly Full O’ Turkey.
I still haven’t completely warmed up to this Monday’s episode, but I think my vote falls in line with yours. The “A plot” in both “The Duel” and “Atlantic City” were pretty poor, the only real savior being Barney.
I kinda like the ensemble stories that the writers went to for some of this season, it makes things interesting (and gives Fryman the opportunity to flashback the world).
eduardo | November 16, 2007 @ 9:00 am
I have to say I’m a bit surprised with the poll results, I thought “Spoiler Alert” was going to win this one easily, but it only has about 60% of the votes.
I would love to hear from someone who voted for seasons 1 and 2; it’s no surprise that the show is funny for many different reasons, and this seems like a nice opportunity to know what people like about the show.
I guess I prefer “Spoiler Alert” because I like when there’s a little secret about one of them, this seems to always start a nice group dynamic. “Atlantic City” had a bit of this with Barney and his chinese friends, but this weeks episode was an overdose of glass shattering secrets, pure awesomeness.
JD | November 16, 2007 @ 10:04 am
I agree with Eduardo, when you vote, throw down a comment saying why. It seems like “The Duel” was a bigger favorite than I had expected.
Secrets revealed is always great for character dynamic. Spoiler Alert just moved along really fast and was different in that no one was safe. Normally the team gangs up on one person and makes fun of them throughout the episode. This time, daggers were flying in every direction.
frans | November 16, 2007 @ 1:20 pm
thanks bro for checking my site
i really love this tv series a lot, it makes me laugh so much ,haha 
hm , and i really like ‘the duel’ episode, bcoz its so cool when to see 2 of them fighting 
…
The Mix | November 19, 2007 @ 3:53 pm
Ok, finally got some time to chime in on this one.
I don’t really have a whole lot in depth to say concerning these three episodes, I didn’t care for Atlantic City at all, and the other two were ostensibly in a dead heat for me.
The Duel was one of the first episodes I ever saw, so it holds a special place in my mind. I think it was just the idea of actually having a sword-fight. Parents always told us never to play around with sharp objects and then actually getting to settle an argument with swords and whatnot. I think it was mediocre in the sense that no one was jabbing at other people in the group, but seeing my friend Hannah’s face light up when I told her that one of the friends from Knocked Up was in that episode also had a bearing on my decision.
I liked Spoiler Alert very much as well for the simple fact that it showed friends being able to work past their respective flaws….all of them seeing the flaws and then being ok with it. I’ve found that over the last couple years friends in my circle have been less and less accepting of one another, especially when they point out their character pitfalls. Everyone’s so incredibly narcissistic these days so it was good to see a group of people working out that battle within the span of an evening. Let’s just ignore the fact that they aren’t real
So I had a tie between Duel and Spoiler Alert.
Jason
Alex | December 14, 2007 @ 2:58 pm
I voted for the duel for a couple of reasons. Obviously, the sword fight. But, during the sword fight Marshall calls Ted out for why he is still single. He summarizes Ted perfectly when he calls him “overly picky, easily distracted and utterly anhedonic”. The whole basis of the show is Ted’s pursuit of a wife, and this is Marshall explaining why he hasn’t settled down yet.
Then, Lily gets stabbed and chastises the guys about how she has to tell her kindergardeners that she got stabbed with a sword by her fiance but they can’t run with scissors. She also explains that she doesn’t want to live in the apartment once they get married, thus setting up a continuing plot line about Marshall and Lily looking for places.
Also, Barney trying so hard to set up the Lemon Law that he doesn’t notice or care that it gets used on him because he is so proud of it. That’s a perfect Barney moment: only concerned about himself.
And anytime someone from the Apatow world comes into any show, it gets extra cool points. And when it’s a Freaks and Geeks cast member, that’s double points for me.
As a side note, I loved the part in Atlantic City when Marshall knows how the game is played. It’s a great call back to when we learned he was the Game Master.