The How I Met Your Mother Blog

How I Met Your Mother (specifically, Barney) has brought back the catchphrase, we all know this and love the show for it. Now we can see them all, rapid fire. Whoever put this video together is a genius and hats off to them for their effort. It’s nine minutes of pure HIMYM awesomeness.

UPDATE: In got taken off YouTube pretty quickly but I snagged it beforehand so I’ve hosted it here myself. Click the image above to view.

How I Met Your Mother Season 4 debuts in just a couple weeks. Based on the buzz surrounding the show at the close of last year brought on by high profile guest stars like Britney Spears and Sarah Chalke, I think that HIMYM is sitting on the bubble, and not the one where it might get cancelled, like it usually is. I think it’s set to pop this year in a big way. Season 4 will be the break-out season where HIMYM goes from underground critical darling to mainstream success. I already hear the change in the air—so many people have told me they’re getting into the show and catching up on the first seasons. That’s great news.

I know that some people, however, won’t have time or just don’t want to watch three seasons of a show. Being that How I Met Your Mother is considerably more serialized than your average sitcom, I thought it’d be nice to offer some background for those just joining the ranks of How I Met Your Mother fans.

Legendary reader Kevin helped me out with this project. What follows are his brief summaries of seasons 1-3. Think of this as a cheat-sheet, a read-along, or a “previously on How I Met Your Mother”. There’s even a handy truncated playlist of episodes for those of us who want just the gist.

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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 fourteen’s.

Season 1: Zip, Zip, Zip

After agreeing to take things slowly and not have sex for a month, Ted and Victoria decide that they have waited long enough.

This is one of my favorite episodes from Season 1. We get to see Marshall and Lily stuck in the bathroom while Ted puts the moves on Victoria (“They’ve been out there for 45 minutes. We could’ve had sex three times by now.” “Try five!” *High five*) and Robin fills in as Barney’s bro for a night on the town.

I love all the Marshall and Lily moments in this episode, it was a great way to focus on them without totally ignoring Ted. Cooler trivia: the B&B that Marshall and Lily had planned to go to was in The Berkshires which is a small community in North-Western MA. It also happens to be my hometown. Having grown up there, I’m not sure being stuck in a bathroom is much worse.

The Barney B-plot was almost the best in the episode, him and Robin have a great chemistry. This was the first time we saw cool, bro-Robin. She loves cigars and scotch, suits up, plays laser tag, and even makes a great wingman. Of course when she wanted to play Battleship Barney took that as a metaphor and started to birthday suit up. When she shot him down it was revealed to Barney that Robin had feelings for Ted, something we learned the week before.

This episode showed the chemistry between Marshall and Lily as well as Robin and Barney. These are combos we don’t get to see too often since the format of the show usually pairs at least one of the four with Ted. This episode is a milestone as it set in motion all of the Barney + Robin theories that are still swirling today.

Season 2: Monday Night Football

When a funeral conflicts with the Super Bowl, the gang vows to avoid hearing the score and watch it together on Monday. This proves difficult, as Marshall is threatened with the score by a boy in Lily’s class, while doing the news puts Robin in danger of finding out who won.

This episode was supposed to air right after the super bowl. The CBS switched it with something else. It was a shame because this is a great stand-alone episode. It doesn’t really deal with any of the serialized plots in the show but has enough laughs that it might have brought in new viewers. There are some great jokes (Ted’s sensory depravator 2000 is great) and an appearance by Emmitt Smith.

The premise of this episode was that a funeral for someone the gang didn’t really know kept them from watching the Super Bowl as it ran live. At the funeral, Barney sweatsuited up (regular suits are for joyous occasions.) Joe Nieves also had some good lines as Carl the Bartender which, looking back, makes me ask again where is Joe Nieves?

Season 3: The Bracket

Barney’s efforts to hook up with women are being thwarted by a mysterious woman from his past. Barney and the gang must sift though his many past flings in an attempt to find out who she is.

This episode was great, as Barney episodes always are. Check out the recap last week for all the details. After No Tomorrow and Ten Sessions, it was nice to get away from the main Ted storyline and have a few good laughs at Barney’s expense this week.

Advantage

I love “The Bracket” and “Monday Night Football” has a lot of laughs, but “Zip, Zip, Zip” wins. It had a lot of character development, and gave us some unforgettable moments. It was also a nice switch-up having Ted out of the picture so Marshall and Lily could spend a night in the bathroom while Barney and Robin bro’d out.

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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
• Episode 13

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 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.)

Vote

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 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 twelve’s.

Season 1: The Wedding

Robin accepts Ted’s invite to a friend’s wedding, but thanks to Ted, the couple may never make it down the aisle.

This was the first episode in the Victoria arc—one of the best plot lines the show’s ever had. I liked it, but the ones to follow were superior. This was also the first episode where Robin started to really warm up to the idea of dating Ted. It was at this time that we first met Stuart and Claudia (Matt Boren and Virginia Williams)—when Ted almost inadvertently stopped their marriage. The theme of the episode was how Ted saw himself—how any of us see ourselves: as a single person or someone looking for a relationship. Bonus: the last moment of this episode was our first view of Victoria, smiling that charming smile she has.

Lily got most of the good lines in this episode:

Ted: “We can’t sneak her into the wedding, we’re not ninjas.”
Lily: “I wish we were ninjas.”

Lily: “Jeez, don’t “Ted” out about it.”

Lily: “Claudia is getting married tomorrow and so help me God if I catch you even so much as breathing the same air as her I will take those peanuts you’re trying to pass off as testicles and I will squeeze them so hard until your eyes pop out and then I’ll feed them to you like grapes.”
Barney: “Wait… my eyes? Or my testicles?”
Lily: “One of each!”

Fun trivia: In the scene where Ted runs into Claudia on the street and she’s screaming at someone on the phone about her wedding cake, it’s actually Victoria she’s yelling at even though we haven’t met her yet. Victoria was later revealed to have made the cake.

Season 2: First Time in New York

Robin wants to tell Ted that she loves him, but she can’t tell him. Meanwhile, her sister visits and brings her boyfriend, and Robin doesn’t know how to react when her sister says she’s ready to lose her virginity.

This is one of my personal favorite episodes. The premise is clever and all the flashbacks are hilarious. From Ted’s switcheroo story of a love ‘em and leave ‘em tryst to Robin’s gay first boyfriend to Barney-as-Swayze Dirty Dancing fib I think this was one of the funniest episodes ever. We learned a lot about all of the characters and everyone was involved in the same plot—no lame B plot to cut back and forth between.

Robin’s sister was adorable (she’s gone on to star in Bionic Woman) and her accusations of promiscuity were perfect little-sister embarassment for Robin:

“Oh come on, you’ve slept with like 100 guys.”
“It’s not 100 guys! It’s not 100 guys! I had different levels of affection for each of the very reasonable number of guys.”

This episode also focused on how hard it is for Robin to say “I love you”. To use Barney’s highway metaphor, Robin didn’t want to “get off the freeway, but saying ‘Hmm hmm hmmm’ is like getting into the car pool lane. And what’s in that lane? A big diamond”. Ted, on the other hand, turns out to be an “I love you” slut. By the end, Robin managed to say it. In a lesser show this could have been a corny moment but this is How I Met Your Mother—Ted replies “I’m gay” and it all feels so much more natural and authentic.

Marshall and Lily had their moments too. When Marshall found out that he might not have been the first person Lily slept with—turns out Scooter had splashed around in the shallow end—he didn’t take it well.

Season 3: No Tomorrow

Ted lives like there’s no tomorrow during a St. Patrick’s Day celebration with Barney. Lily and Marshall spend the evening at their new apartment with Robin.

I liked this episode. I think the future of the show will prove that this was a real turning point in Ted’s life. I think he’d been still recovering from his break up with Robin up to this point and maybe realizing how much of a “Low Point” he’d hit will snap him back on track. Say what you will about Marshall’s lecture to him at the end, but it was necessary and Ted’s face showed that it had sunk in.

The weak part for me here was the B plot. It was cute and funny, but I like LAME better when they’re not such a charade-playing cliche married couple. Robin needs something to do too, maybe now that Ted’s back on the wagon she can spend another night as Barney’s bro.

Advantage

This is a close call, but for me “First Time in New York” is just a killer episode. Its’ in my top three of all time and I have to give it the nod. I have a feeling you might disagree so be sure to vote for your choice below.

Vote

Previous Season vs. Season Showdowns

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

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.