The How I Met Your Mother Blog

So it was called The Bracket after all and not The Final Four. Whatever you call it, it was a great episode. Barney episodes are few and far between but they’re always extra awesome. While we might never have found out who the girl was or why she was sabotaging Barney (two mystery girls? This IS turning into the sitcom version of Lost) we did get some quality Lily/Barney time, more hints at a Barney Robin hook-up, and a window into the disturbing mind and capabilities of the Barnicle.

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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 thirteen’s. Sorry it’s late.

Season 1: Drumroll, Please

Ted finds a new woman at the wedding. They want to remember the evening so they don’t exchange last names or numbers; but Ted takes a big fall when he tries to find out her name.

I have a confession to make. I didn’t really like this episode for a long time. I have always been a Robin devotee and therefore never really warmed up to Victoria. After starting this site and talking with other fans of the show, I noticed a trend in this episode being a universal favorite. I’ve gone back and re-watched and I’ve finally come around. It’s a great one.

We get to see Ted at his most smooth and romantic as he woos Victoria (or Buttercup, as she’s only known to us in this episode.) We also have a wonderful counterpoint with Robin admitting her interest in Ted to Lily. In Victoria the episode gives us this wonderful new girl that Ted might actually have a chance with, but then plays with our emotions by forcing us to chose between her and Robin.

The editing on the climatic scene where Ted and Robin immediately, simultaneously realize that she baked the cake is superb and creates one of the biggest, best dramatic moments in the series. On top of all that we get the passionate kiss as Ted enters the bakery and Victoria says “oh, thank god” while “Spit on a Stranger” by Pavement plays.

Also, this episode has one of my favorite jokes in the series. As Ted finishing playing the song on the piano that Victoria was dancing to, they lean in close, she tells him “we’re not going to kiss tonight”, and he hits a dramatic minor chord on the piano. Classic. I also liked that this episode was the first time we saw Robin show some sensitivity and real emotion. Smulders played it well, as a woman who wasn’t used to feeling this way, a way she’d spent her whole life developing shields to avoid. Major character development there.

Season 2: Columns

This isn’t a great picture but it’s from the iTunes free preview and it’s the best I can do for right now. I’m not going to pay for an episode I don’t like

When Ted is constantly insulted by his former boss, who is now working for him on a project, he is told to fire the man, but he finds that a hard thing to do. Meanwhile, Barney offers Lily a lot of money to paint a nude portrait of him.

The discovery of a nude painting of Marshall led to the “new dart” bit which was actually quite funny. Unfortunately this was the B plot. The A plot followed Ted, the new boss in his office, dealing with his old supervisor Hammond Druthers. I hated this plot line. I thought it was cliche, unsophisticated, and very sitcomy. Overall, this is my least favorite HIMYM episode of all time.

Season 3: Ten Sessions

Ted pursues a woman named Stella, but only gets attention from her receptionist Abby.

I think I covered just about everything on this episode in the recap last week. This episode had another monumental moment when we saw the return of romantic Ted and the adorable two minute date. Bonus points for Sarah Chalke’s appearance.

Advantage

This is a close call, but for I think “Ten Sessions” wins it by a nose. It had a great performance by Sarah Chalke, was as funny an episode as we’ve seen (despite what other reviewers say) and, in the real world, was an important week in the show’s run. “Drumroll, Please” is a wonderful, classic episode but knowing what we know now I think there are better Ted/Robin/Victoria episodes (Nothing Good Happens After 3am comes to mind.)

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Previous Season vs. Season Showdowns

• Episode 1
• Episode 5
• Episode 6
• Episode 7
• Episode 8
• Episode 9
• Episode 10
• Episode 12

I’ve removed the scorecard for now. I’m going to go back and make sure the tallies are correct for each episode and hopefully get the earlier ones posted that are not up at the moment.

This Moday’s episode is titled “The Final Four” (or maybe “The Bracket”, depending on where you look) and, much like the super bowl episode last year, uses a current sporting event as its focus. But in classic How I Met Your Mother fashion, basketball teams won’t be the only competitors.

Reader Courtney had this tidbit:

Barney tries to find the mystery woman who’s out to ruin his reputation, by using the NCAA 64 person bracket. An interesting name comes up in the casting info for the episode:

“Anna” Dawn Olivieri.

Thanks to Courtney’s research we know that Dawn first appeared on the show in last season’s episode Ted Mosby, Architect as the girl “Ted” picked up by bragging about “his” job. At the end of the episode Robin and Lily, who think it is a cheating Ted in the apartment with this girl, bust in with the intent to kick her ass. Instead they find Barney tied up in bed and learn he’s used Ted’s name since he’s recently had some bad press on the Internet. In a rush to leave before the girl finishes her shower, Barney leaves a form letter he keeps with him for one night stands. Forgetting Anna’s name he addresses the letter to “resident”. The tag at the end of the episode shows Anna fresh out of the shower reading the letter—in which Barney proclaims to be a ghost who only appears once a year on the date of his death, and that he might one day return provided she keeps her figure—and asking aloud “who’s Barney?”.

The fact that they’ve brought Dawn back is wonderful news. I love how the show makes call backs to not only previous episodes but previous seasons. It’s a real reward for the fans. Who else might we see return from Barney’s past? Are there any other girls we know he’s scorned? Any victims of the lemon law? Could Wendy the Waitress be in the bracket? Tune in Monday to find out.

PS. If Dawn looks familiar to any of you it’s probably because she’s been a model on Deal or No Deal several times.

“The Final Four” (or, “The Bracket”) airs Monday March 3/31 at 8:30 EST on CBS.

Of the shows that have returned from the strike How I Met Your Mother has continually done well for CBS. This week’s episode was the highest rated yet for the show. From the Hollywood Reporter:

A guest appearance by Britney Spears on Monday gave the CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother” its highest rating ever.

“Mother” spiked to a series high 4.5 preliminary rating among adults 18-49, even as the rest of the CBS comedy lineup fell from last week’s record-setting return to original episodes.

The second week of strong “Mother” ratings (10.6 million, 4.5/12) assures the one-time bubble comedy will be renewed for the fall. “Mother” was the fourth-highest-rated show of the evening, and CBS won the night (averaging 12.5 million, 4.4/11).

It’s not official, but I can’t see CBS canceling a show that’s doing so well. This is great news for us fans. Good work to those of you who wrote letters and signed petitions, but at the end of the day it all comes down to ratings and, lucky for us, the numbers don’t lie.

If you’d told me a year ago that Britney Spears would save How I Met Your Mother I’d have laughed in your face. I guess strange things do happen.

Now, for a bit of talking shop. I’ve heard readers suggest they’d be interested in a weekly ratings section, where we can track the shows stats in real time. Is this something you’d like to see?

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Bonus points for the first person to get the reference in the phrasing of that poll question.

Well it finally happened. The Britney Spears episode. While I found her to be mediocre; a much needed return of Romantic Ted, not one but two appearances of Charlene Amoia, and the hilarious twosome of Barney and Robin—complete with an allusion to whether or not they’ve hooked up—this episode has it all. I think it is one of the best this season.

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