Monsters of Television

“Magic phone, guys. Magic. Phone.”

After last week’s lackluster performance, I was happy to see HIMYM getting back to fighting form, with a narrative trajectory that (mostly) came together and one that, I think, may finally be leading to something of a resolution concerning Robin and Barney’s break-up from the start of the season.

So, the question is: Rabbit season or duck season?

The episode kicks off with a call back to the HIMYM Super Bowl ad from Sunday night, thus proving yet again that the show wants to be a post-Super Bowl show, but keeps missing the chance (Undercover Boss was bad, but at least not grossly manipulative like Extreme Makeover Home Edition, though it clearly wants to be). Thankfully, the episode aims not to repeat its pretty funny (and non-sports fan friendly) Super Bowl episode and goes to something else.

At its core, “Rabbit or Duck” is about this image. It looks like a rabbit initially but can also appear to be a duck. As a result, the episode hinges on thinking things are one thing when they may actually be another. The rabbit is your gut reaction, the thing you think you want. The duck is ultimately what you really need (I saw a duck first, not a rabbit, so what that says about me is up to you). It’s a clever conceit that the show nicely plays out: Barney thinks his phone is the answer to all his pick-up hassles, Robin thinks Don is initially a rabbit, but may actually be her duck (yay for lazy puns in episode tags!), and Ted believes that his arranged marriage idea is brilliant, until he gets his hands on the magic phone.

I have to disagree with Myles about the episode, because I feel the show does make the storylines work within the theme, but perhaps I’m seeing a duck for a rabbit. Ted’s desire for an arranged marriage does, ultimately, not work for me. It, like Lily and Marshall’s scramble to find the girl for the double date, feels far too rushed to be effective, and while I liked seeing Ted better integrated into the thematic framework here, it did seem like a bit of an afterthought.

But the Robin-Don development does work nicely. Don deploying the Naked Man move (and then referencing Barney’s blog as the source, was the type of continuity jokes I love from the show), and then its makes Don realize the error of his ways. And yes, the story does engage in another Robin being oblivious gag, but this time there’s a bit of thematic heft to it, not just some Smurf-induced giggles. Robin comes to a realization about Don (nicely done with CGI rabbit ears and then a duck bill that each work surprisingly well on Ben Koldyke) that feels natural within the framework, and a nice move for a character whose narrative wheels have been spinning.

To that end, Barney’s ever-ringing phone works within this thematic framework as Barney is getting an inkling of how not awesome his womanizing ways can be. It’s a small consolation to the lack of fallout over the Barney-Robin break-up from the beginning of the season, but I think the move in that direction, and Robin’s shift to Don, represents a potential way for that break-up to get a resolution. Barney, compounded with his tired, obsessive need to land hot women (and there’s always a hotter woman, as Lily notes) will see a woman who was well-matched with hopefully moving onto a healthy, smart relationship and may want to do the same. Again, though, maybe I’m hoping for a duck soup instead of a rabbit stew.

FINAL THOUGHTS

• While I disagree with Myles about this episode, I found his article about Canadian spaces and identity in the show to be very very smart. It’s something I’ve given thought to in the past (and even considered writing about a year ago) but Myles does an excellent job, far better than I could have, in parsing it out.
• RANJIT!
• While the argument over which is better, a duck or a rabbit, was wildly amusing, that no one ended the conversation mentioning the killer rabbit from Monty Python, and thus ending the debate right there, seemed odd.
• To that end, getting from Don to Donald to Donald Duck to No Pants was brilliant, and then taken to the next level with another HIMYM continuity joke: Lawyered was great.