Katie, I’m confused. You Don’t want the characters to change seemingly from their old selves, yet you think the jokes are growing stale and lame. It’s a duplicitous argument.

I, for one, like a change in Robin….and it is deliberate, no doubt about it….not just writer’s malaise. They’re setting something up. I like the change because it’s to see her vulnerable and weak side. Reminds me of how wonderful she was in “Nothing Good Happens After 2am”.

I loved the show. Can’t say much more than that. It was wonderful.

Theodore

i agree that lately the show has felt like “the life and miracles of barney stinson” but barney’s eccentricities have stolen the show since season one (sweet taste of liberty, cmon, he was in a suitcase). and it works because he’s an entertaining character and NPH is brilliant at bringing him to life. the musical number was AWESOME (mostly because that was the gayest barney has ever been, but also because barney would totally have insane fantasies about suits).

the thing that is bringing me down the most (for all of season 5 actually) is robin. what is up with her?? she’s totally lame now, her jokes aren’t funny, and shes constantly acting like a sad puppy. what happened to gun-totein’, scotch-swilling, red meat eating, New Yorker Robin?????

I like what you said here: “Your hopes get let down because once you have been watching/reading something for such a long time you believe you know the characters so well that you could write it better or think up a better outcome in your head”.

I think sometimes i do that. Nice point

This show is still my favorite and everyone whom I have introduced to it still loves it as well.

I’ve said this before to all of those who rant on the show becoming terrible. Your hopes get let down because once you have been watching/reading something for such a long time you believe you know the characters so well that you could write it better or think up a better outcome in your head. And maybe that outcome would have been amazing, but at the end of the day you have to realize that someone else created this book/show and that THEY get to decide what happens to the characters that they created. I hate not being able to control the show to the outcome that I wish it, but I trust in Bays and Thomas and I know that this show will always bring a smile to my face.

Does anyone know if Bilson is scheduled to be back again this year?

YES!! thanks, that’s exactly what i’m trying to say and basically what i mean by “the jokes seem forced” or “the just sit around actually making jokes”, cause it used to be so different. those were cool, funny people that happened to be caught in funny situations

wouldn’t agree with robin looking “soooo nasty” but i, too, wondered what happened to her in that episode. i mean, she was basically back to (healthy) skinny after having her baby but in this ep she looked a lot bigger to me, maybe it was the outfit

That exchange was neither hilarious nor fantastic. and yet it was these little delightful moments that added to the charm of the show. I feel like we have lost those witty, yet believable, exchanges. It is a lot less funny when everyone is trying to deliver a punchline all the time.

My thoughts. Loved the review format though. In my mind, I review shows the same way- by what I feel at each moment. JD, it is really great that you wrote it in a such a relate-able way.

I have to say my main concern was that expectations would be un-achievably hi. I am glad to see that many enjoyed it.

As much as I like Cobie Smulders on the show and in person, she’s not what you’d call “my type” so it’s difficult for me to really comment on rises and falls from a personal point of view. That being said, she still looks beautiful to me. Especially considering she had a child and is back to working full time, that’s enough to earn my respect, no matter what she looks like.

The show’s entire cast is much more believable as real people than most shows (save for NPH who is ripped) which adds to the enjoyment of the show. Any group of regulars in a bar would have one woman who was “the hot girl” that might feel jealous if a new bartender entered the mix.

I’ve said it a lot before but I don’t think you’ve commented before so I’ll catch you up. Be wary of what you say on the Internet as it has a way of making it to people to whom you would not say the same thing to their face. “She looks soooo nasty” does nothing for your credibility, which is unfortunate because it was a great comment otherwise!

I’m excited that we’re getting closer to meeting the mother but I too wonder, how are they going to weasel their way out of this?! I keep hoping the writers will know a good thing when they see it and actually plan out the whole mother thing instead of showing her to us in the very last episode-or worse, not at all.

OMG – I loved this episode. I think it was really funny, smart way to show us the mother without doing it.

I have to say that today I’m even more fan of the show that I was yesterday.

how do people come up with stuff like this? LOL

my thoughts exactly, so that’s what i’m gonna do from here on in.

rewatched the episode though and did found some bits funny: barney in the suitwater-skiing and him going “yes, we’re into the rhyming section now”

and, leigh, i think those people who seriously think robin/stella/victoria/lily(!) is the mom will cling on to their ideas until someone beats them over the head with it. they’ll just go on saying robin secretly moved or something. i mean, i’ve read on imdb opinions of people that said ted’s probably not even the dad or weird stuff about artificial insemination..when it comes to “who’s the mom” himym fans get really freaky and usually can’t be convinced

The Musical – I loved it, but did anyone else feel like it really “separated the men from the boys”? NPH’s talent far outshone the work of the others’ in this scene. Even Segel, who is a musical kind of guy, fell far short of NPH. All in all though, great.

The Mother – FINALLY all of the groups who are convinced that Robin/Stella/Victoris are the mother can give up. Robyn is not Rachel’s roommate (obviously), and Ted would have mentioned that Victoria was in a band and read the same books as him, and we know that Stella is in LA with Tony. Speculators, cool your engines!

Robyn/Marshall/Lily – I think that their characters reflect the changes that people go through in life. Even the most awesome people go through less awesome stages. Marshall is clinging to his ‘my wife is the most beautiful woman in the world’ bit, which is annoying, but feasible. Lily is still into hot women and has her lesbian tendencies, I really don’t see how she has changed to much. And to those who said that Robyn was way cooler in the first two seasons – people change. Robyn has been dealt some blows to her self-confidence lately (failed relationships, crappy/no jobs, etc.) and now this bartender is trying to take her Hot Girl Crown?

I realise that this makes me sound like an idiot who thinks that the characters are real people, but I’m just trying to point out that maybe the writers are trying to write characters who evolve, and not keep it like the Simpsons, where the characters are static and never age or change.

JD, I loved the format this time!

She can move to the apartment across the hall from Ted next week… every girl could still be the mother. Bilsson’s roomate could be Victoria or Trudy for all we know… (granted they’d have to also be students of Ted’s that night, so that probably doesn’t fly)

They gave us tons of stuff but in the end gave us nothing. All we know is that some girl that used to room with Rachel Bilsson will end up being the mother.

They gave us nothing but intrigue and that is why Bays/Thomas are creative geniuses!