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This week’s How I Met Your Mother sees Robin sporting a skin-tight purple bodysuit, Ted sneaking into Lily’s room in the dead of night, and Barney trapped in an air vent.
Lily has not checked the most recent text on her phone, and therefore still does not know about Marshall having accepted a job as a judge (which will prevent them from moving to Italy and Lily doing her dream job). In order to delay the inevitable, Marshall enlists the help of Ted, Barney and Robin. They of course all want to know why Lily can’t check her phone, but Marshall wants them to do this for him “no questions asked”. When they start to protest, he reminds them all of times he has helped them out of sticky situations, “no questions asked”.
What follows is a series of flashbacks involving different members of the gang in increasingly ridiculous situations interwoven with their present attempts to separate Lily from her phone. There is also a minor-subplot in this episode involving Barney and Robin learning to work together as opposed to independently, but this was resolved almost as quickly as it was mentioned.
This episode was fun and light-hearted (in preparation for the coming storm between Marshall and Lilly no doubt). I bet the writers had a ball coming up with these scenarios, knowing they would never have to provide explanations for them. In all honesty though, this episode just felt like padding. I know they can’t have plot-heavy episodes every week, but the majority of this season has been filler. They’ve got a clear end in sight, and some plot points to sprinkle in every few episodes (just like every other season), but I think the problem comes back to the confined structure of this season. They’ve got limits on what they can and can’t do (they can’t have drama every week, but have to be doing something different in the hotel every few hours…), and that’s really taking it’s toll on the quality of the show. We’re only seven episodes in but still 42.5 hours away from the wedding - they have to sleep some time!
Anyway, they’ve managed to drag out the Marshall-Lily drama for another week, so I guess we just have to keep watching to see how that all goes down!
Review by Heather Bale.
It’s all about romance, errors and equations on this week’s The Big Bang Theory.
Sheldon figures out “a new method for synthesising a new stable super heavy element”. This new method spreads like wildfire through the world of physics, and Sheldon is really pleased with himself. While he is bagging and marking all of the items he used to make the discovery (the whiteboard marker he was using at the time, the textbook he referred to), Sheldon realises he has made a grave error: he was out by a factor of ten in his equation. Sheldon is mortified, but Amy consoles him saying that the equation was tested and yielded results, so it was a “lucky” mistake. Sheldon does not believe in luck, and starts to abhor all of the praise and accolades being heaped on him.
Although this is not the first time Sheldon has made a mistake in his work (see S01E05 and S05E21), this is one of the few times we have seen him making a discovery and being praised for it. Sheldon has often exhibited jealousy and/or derision towards others when they have been successes, but we have rarely seen him as one. It was nice to see Sheldon being recognised as the prodigy we have often been told he is.
Meanwhile it’s the anniversary of Bernadette and Howard’s first date, and in order to celebrate Howard enlists the gang to help him perform a song he has written to mark the occasion. Although there is a minor hiccup on the night of Howard and Bernadette’s date, the song still goes ahead. This is undoubtedly one of the most romantic things I have seen on The Big Bang Theory, and to think it came from Howard of all people (remember what he was like in season one, remember?)!
Leonard is impressed with the lengths Howard has gone to in order to show his love for Bernadette, and challenges Penny to do something romantic for him. Penny struggles with this, and it looks like she won’t be able to come up with something. Everything all comes together in the end though, and we get two incredibly romantic scenes in one episode.
Although the moment between Leonard and Penny was not quite as sweet as the one between Howard and Bernadette, it was certainly up there. I have long been on the fence about the Leonard and Penny relationship - ultimately I want them to be together, but I feel that they got back together too soon - Penny has never seemed as ‘in love’ with Leonard as he has been with her. Admittedly Leonard has had feelings for Penny longer than she has for him, but it’s often seemed like she has been taking advantage of these feelings and has just kept him around to make her feel good. Anyway this episode has dulled my concerns, as it seems Penny has been feeling more than she has been letting on, meaning there may be hope for these two crazy kids yet.
There was a perfect balance between laughter and ‘aww’ moments in this episode, making it one of the better episodes this season. Scientific discoveries were made, romantic bonds were strengthened, all in all this was a great episode… and yet… what about Raj? Even Amy had her own moment at the end of the episode (how the audience gasped!), but Raj’s presence was somewhat limited in this episode. I know they can’t give every character a storyline, but methinks a Raj-heavy episode will be up in the next few weeks… stay tuned…
Review by Heather Bale.
This week on How I Met Your Mother Barney and Robin have some minister issues, Ted keeps making poor decisions, and Marshall still can’t tell Lily about his potential new job.
When the minister for Barney and Robin’s wedding arrives, Lily thinks he looks a tad surly and takes it upon herself to cheer him up. When Lily tells the minister about how she met Marshall, he becomes quite angry because that’s how Barney and Robin told him they met. The minister does not like liars, and will refuse to marry Barney and Robin if they have been lying to him. Will Barney and Robin come clean? And will the minister come around if they do?
The whole ‘strict minister’ thing was very predictable and not very amusing. However watching the cast recreate some of the more memorable moments of the show with the characters swapped around was definitely the highlight of this episode and more than made up for the disappointing ‘strict minister’.
Barney persuades Ted to hook up with one of the guests at the wedding, pointing out three potential candidates. Barney warns Ted to choose correctly, saying Ted won’t get any sex all weekend if he chooses wrong. Just as Ted is about to go for the girl Barney has most highly recommended, he changes his mind when option number two, Cassy (guest star Anna Camp), walks in. As soon as this happens we know Ted has chosen wrong, and are forced to watch as disaster upon disaster fall upon this poor girl, greatly reducing Ted’s chances of sex with her each time something goes wrong.
Since the show is trying to pave the way for the mother and wean Ted off Robin, we knew straight away that nothing would happen between Ted and Cassy, but they seemed to really want to eliminate all possibilities of Ted finding happiness with her. We already know how the story ends, surely Ted can have some happiness until he meets the mother? If they keep going down this path, Ted’s meeting of/courting the mother may seem like the act of a desperate man (if it already doesn’t to some...). I’ve expressed concern over this before: they just need to stop throwing ‘potential’ love interests at Ted, and really squash his feelings for Robin once and for all (easier said than done, I know, but if they don’t start setting up the groundwork now...). Speaking of the mother, I really thought we would have seen more of her by now. They threw her in the early episodes (meeting Lily, and her future happiness with Ted), but that’s been it. By no means does she need to be in every episode, but surely we are due for another dose of the mother by now?
Daphne preps Marshall for telling Lily about the job offer he has received to be a judge (his dream job) which will prevent their going to Rome (and prevent Lily from doing her dream job). When Marshall lets slip to Daphne that he has already accepted the job without telling Lily, Daphne becomes enraged and reveals part of her own past to Marshall. Can Daphne keep quiet to Lily about what Marshall has done?
This week’s episode continues on in the same vein as those from previous weeks, good without being great. There’s enough in the episode to keep me mildly amused, but not enough to keep me on the edge of my seat/rolling around on the floor laughing. As I noted earlier the best part of this episode was watching the cast recreate some memorable moments with different characters, but the cliffhanger of this episode was certainly right up there as well. I won’t spoil it here, but it seems we could be in for a big fight...
Review by Heather Bale.
This week on The Big Bang Theory relationships are tested after a change in proximity.
Amy is offered a temporary position at Caltech, but is concerned that this may affect her relationship with Sheldon. She brings this up with him, but he does not understand why she is worried so raises no objections. Howard then explains to Sheldon that having Amy working at Caltech means they will be seeing one another a lot more, and that they may get sick of one another, claiming he would get sick of Bernadette if she were to work with him.
Sheldon, being the tactful person he is, tells Amy he no longer wants her to work near him. Amy has already accepted the job, so Sheldon suggests they not spend any time together at Caltech so they don’t get sick of one another. Bernadette questions why Sheldon would think they would get sick of one another, and he tells her what Howard said.
Here, the story diverges. Bernadette has words with Howard and kicks him out of their apartment for the night, so Howard stays with Raj. Meanwhile Amy is offended by what Sheldon has said to her, but again Sheldon does not understand. Leonard and Penny attempt to make Sheldon comprehend what he has done wrong, but he seems to think it is Amy who is in the wrong. Can Sheldon make amends with Amy? And can Howard make amends with Bernadette?
It was nice to see a story involving relationship drama that was not about Leonard and Penny, and it was good to see Howard and Raj hanging together once again. I miss seeing Howard and Raj together (though some of the jokes about the precise nature of their relationship are wearing thin), not that I don’t enjoy seeing Raj with Stuart, I’m just a sucker for the classics. Despite the somewhat predictable storyline there were plenty of witty one-liners to keep the audience amused (the award for best line goes to Amy when she is referring to Sheldon’s love of repetition - I won’t spoil it, you’ll just have to watch it for yourself and see). Overall, this was a pretty good episode, and I am looking forward to seeing what they serve up to us next week.
Review by Heather Bale.
It’s Robin versus the Stinsons and Ted versus Marshall and Lilly in this week’s episode of How I Met Your Mother.
After finding out that Ted is getting Barney and Robin not one but three wedding gifts, Lily is outraged because she thinks Ted did not get her and Marshall a wedding present. Of course it’s not as straight-forward as all that, because Ted is certain that he gave Marshall and Lily a wedding present, and is annoyed that they never sent him a ‘thank you’ note for doing so. In order for this mystery to be solved, cue the entrance of recurring characters Stewart and Claudia...
Meanwhile James keeps making cracks about how awful marriage is, and Robin takes issue with this (understandably). Robin has words with James, who runs to mummy (Loretta). Loretta is not going to let Robin be nasty to her son, and tries to take Robin down in a poker game. Robin wins, leaving Barney in the uncomfortable position of ‘choosing’ who to side with, his future wife or his family. Being Barney he is not able to deal with such emotional turmoil, and can’t seem to make things right between anyone. Loretta takes it upon herself to solve the problem by declaring war on Robin.
How I Met Your Mother has certainly been setting up many issues to be dealt with in later episodes, so I am curious to see what will be the biggest of them all/whether they will perhaps snowball somehow. Anyway, next week’s episode looks interesting with Barney apparently stealing Marshall and Lily’s story of how they met and passing it off as his and Robin’s. This looks quite entertaining, but I am still hanging out to see the mother meeting more of Ted’s friends...
Review by Heather Bale.
On this week’s The Big Bang Theory Leonard’s mother makes her return, Sheldon makes a revelation to Amy, and Raj and Stuart make online dating profiles.
As part of her psychology class at school, Penny is required to read a book by Dr Beverly Hofstadter (Leonard’s mother), which contains some less than flattering stories about Leonard’s childhood. Leonard begs Penny not to discuss what she reads with him, but she does anyway. This upsets Leonard greatly, so to make it up to him Penny does whatever Leonard wants her to. Realising he has found a way to manipulate Penny, Leonard pretends to be sad a lot. He reveals his secret to Howard, who tries it out on Bernadette. Bernadette sees through Howard’s attempts to manipulate her straight away, and tells Penny what Leonard has been doing. In order to set Leonard straight, Penny seeks a higher power: Beverly Hofstadter.
Christine Baranski as Leonard’s mother is always an amusing guest-star, so it was good to see her again. However, all of these continual references to Leonard’s ‘mummy issues’ are wearing a bit thin. They were funny the first few times Leonard’s mother appeared, but it seems she is only bought back in order to embarrass Leonard rather than to develop his character.
After watching Raiders of the Lost Ark with Sheldon, Amy reveals a large plot-hole that ruins the movie for him. Determined to get his revenge on Amy, Sheldon starts trying to find something she loves that he can ruin for her.
Although this seemed like a rather light storyline following a petty thing that Sheldon would do, it led to a rather touching scene wherein we learn a bit more about the way Sheldon ticks as a result of his upbringing and the example set by his parents about relationships. Sheldon has been taking baby-steps in opening up to Amy since meeting her, and I found this one to be the most genuine so far. (See, this is the type of character development they should be doing for Leonard when his mother next appears, something subtle yet believable).
Meanwhile, Raj and Stuart sign up for online dating. After going through the hurdles of taking an attractive picture and writing an alluring profile, they realise that online dating may not be all it is cracked up to be...
I always enjoy seeing Stuart and Raj hanging out together, and some of the funniest lines in this episode were spoken by Stuart. It’s good to see that Raj and Stuart have continued to hang out, even if Stuart is not always included with the rest of the gang.
This was a good, solid episode of The Big Bang Theory. Last week’s excellent episode was a tough act to follow, so I am satisfied with this episode overall and will continue to be optimistic about the rest of this season.
Review by Heather Bale.
This week’s How I Met Your Mother is all about friends... or a lack of friends... or how simply to be a good friend...
Barney replaces Ted as his best man with (guest star) William Zabka because he is angry that Ted held Robin’s hand two weeks previously. Ted tries his best to get reinstated, but this may not happen when he lets slip to Barney that he does still have feelings for Robin...
It was good to see Zabka again, but even better to see Ted become his nemesis. This could make for an amusing plot in a later episode, and I am looking forward to what the writers are cooking up.
Meanwhile Lily confronts Robin about not having any female friends, and encourages her to try and make one before Lily goes to Rome. Of course this is easier said than done, as Robin seems to hate every woman she sees.
This was an average episode of How I Met Your Mother. It was good to see ‘Marshpillow 2.0’ interacting with everyone (instead of just Daphne), but I feel the show will benefit from his arrival in the flesh. I am not naive enough to think he will be here soon, it will be several more episodes at least, unless they time jump forward a few hours. Regardless, I will continue watching to see how everything pans out.
Review by Heather Bale.
In one of the funniest episodes of The Big Bang Theory I have seen in a while, the gang compete in a scavenger hunt designed by Raj.
After nobody attends Raj’s murder mystery party, they agree to do whatever it is he wants next. He suggests a scavenger hunt - not the traditional kind that involves searching for a list of items, but the kind done at elite universities which requires the participants to solve a series of puzzles to complete the challenge.
Not wanting to be saddled with Penny (the “liability”), Leonard suggests they draw names out of a hat. What ensues is a delightful ‘getting to know you’ kind of episode, where each character is paired with someone they normally would not hang out with: Amy and Howard; Bernadette and Leonard; and (somewhat predictably, but it’s okay, it’s always gold seeing these two together) Penny and Sheldon.
The highlight of this episode was definitely seeing Amy and Howard singing Neil Diamond together (multiple times!). I never picked those two as having anything in common (which is something the writers play with to start with), but once they clicked it was brilliant. I’m not saying I want to see these two hanging out together in every episode from now on, but it would be nice to see them together every so often as they have amazing on-screen chemistry.
About the only thing I can fault with this episode is Leonard moping when he thinks he has offended Penny, but Bernadette’s method of spurring him into action more than makes up for this.
Last week I was lamenting about the declining quality of The Big Bang Theory - consider those concerns gone! If the seasons continues with episodes nearly half as good as this one I will be satisfied.
Review by Heather Bale.
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