The How I Met Your Mother Blog

Tonight we were caught up on what LAME have been up to (that’s Lily Aldrin and Marshall Erikson for new readers.) Turns out Marshall hates his job and Lily is randier than a band geek on prom night. Ted has a girlfriend and a new car, Barney faces his demons, and Robin eats a Canadian sized ice cream cone. All that and more in “The Chain of Screaming”.

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Monday’s episode “The Chain of Screaming” formerly known as “The Simmons Report” centers around Marshall and, much like “I’m Not that Guy”, we get a cool guest star:

Marshall gets shouted down by his boss, “Artillery Arthur” (guest star Bob Odenkirk) – or, as Segel put it, “The wheel of abuse finally lands on Marshall.” The traumatic moment leads to the end of Marshall’s brief career as a high-paid corporate lawyer and sets him back on course to become a do-gooding environmental lawyer.

Segel, whose movie “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” opens April 18, said he’s happy to see his character on track again.

“Marshall has such a pure heart, so I like to see him achieve his goals,” he said. “I’m happy he ends up turning his back on the corporate world. I’m very proud of him.

“And I’m glad we get to see me at work. You get to see Marshall in ‘schlubby husband’ mode most of the time. It’s nice to see me in a suit. I’m finally suiting up.”

The entire list of guest stars for the episode:

Ferguson – Jordan Black
Arthur – Bob Odenkirk
Bilson – Bryan Callen
Blauman – Taran Killam
Waiter – Avner Garbi

How will L.A.M.E. be able to afford their new place if Marshall doesn’t have the high paying job? It’ll be interesting to see what Bays and Thomas do with this development.

In that same article we got some cryptic hints at what the future has in store as we move toward the finale which, I hear, will end with a cliff hanger that has “real emotional weight” for the characters:

The overarching story will be that Ted, whose romantic relationship with Robin ended at the end of last season, comes out of his tailspin. In the process, he begins to question why he hangs around with a lothario like Barney.

“Ted had been turning into Barney, so we’re putting him back on track as the nice guy we all fell in love with in the first place,” Bays said. “The second half of the season will move him a little closer to what Marshall and Lily have, but as a result, it will make him question having a Barney in his life. Some big events will put that in motion.”

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Lothario is a great word. I wish I had more opportunities to use it. What do we think? Will “The Chain of Screaming” be as good as similar episodes about Marshall’s job such as “Life Among the Gorillas” or “I’m Not That Guy”? What type of event is coming up? The hints given so far have felt pretty ominous.

I really hate copying directly from the source but I don’t have a ton of time so here we go:

The April 21 episode of How I Met Your Mother is turning into a wonderful ’80s flashback. Already marking the return of Robin Sparkles, the outing will feature visits from former teen popstress Tiffany and Growing Pains‘ Alan Thicke, playing Ms. Sparkles’ gal pal and father, respectively, in a newly unearthed video for “Sandcastles in the Sand,” a ballad Robin wrote upon being dumped by her backup-dancer beau (Dawson’s Creek‘s James Van Der Beek).

HIMYM co-creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas wrote and composed “Sandcastles in the Sand” as the B-side of “Let’s Go to the Mall,” using iconic ’80s breakup ballads such as “Foolish Beat” and “Toy Soldiers” as inspiration.

With Michael Gross (Family Ties) having guested as Ted’s pop and Bob Saget (Full House) playing narrator, Thicke represents the third classic ’80s dad to get involved with the CBS sitcom.

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I think this episode is shaping up to be truly legendary. What do we think?

I leave you with this, which is quite possibly the most insane commercial I’ve seen lately. It’s got Meatloaf and Tiffany selling Go Phones. I love it.

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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.

Vote

{democracy:18}

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.

Spoilers follow, do not read if you’re not into that sort of thing.

Without a new episode this week lets take time to look at what’s coming in the future.

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