Monsters of Television

“I guess she caught some of the Big Fudge Fever.“

So after a mythology episode, the show settles into a easy breezy episode that is low on Barney. (Harris was busy directing the episode, and with a show like this, I imagine trying to be in front of the camera while you’re behind it would be a night-waitforit-mare! Nightmare!) The missing Barney did throw the episode’s dynamics off a bit (maybe he and Jenkins had sex in the copy room?), and in a noticeable way (unlike, say, when Lily was gone for the tail end of last season). All awesome things in moderation, but to go without is just silly. (Though, I’m sure Pamela Fryman enjoyed the week off.)

To keep things balanced, the episode pairs off the remaining characters and stories. First up is Marshall regaling the group with stories of the wild Jenkins, a new member of the GNB team. As we see the stories through Ted’s imagination, Jenkins is a fat fellow, willing to chug a jar of cherries, gyrate behind the CFO, and strip at a bar. Turns out that Jenkins is Amanda Peet (remember her?). Marshall realizes he’s never told Lily that Jenkins is a woman (like Ted, Lily thinks Jenkins is a man), and suddenly feels very self-conscious about the stories he’s been telling.

These feelings lead Ted and Robin (though clearly this should’ve been Barney) explaining the idea of the Reacher and the Settler in the relationship. The Reacher is someone who aims for a partner out of their league, and the Settler is, well, someone who settles for someone less hot than themselves. Marshall is the Reacher, of course, and Lily is the Settler. When Lily meets Jenkins and is nonplussed by Jenkins’ hotness because, well, she doesn’t have to worry about Marshall cheating on her because she’s the Settler (though, I would worry, given that he’s a Reacher, he’d reach for someone hotter…).

The problem with Lily and Marshall is also the reason I like their relationship: It’s realistic. They’re the happy couple you know that has always persevered through fights and overcome differences to be stronger for it. They’re stable, and that makes them different than most relationships you see on television. Even relationships that are supposedly stable are prone to one member of the couple freaking out about something every other episode (I’m thinking of Monica and Chandler here). Narratively this makes it difficult for Marshall and Lily to have a believable conflict, and I never really bought the conflict here. It’s still amusing, but I feel something meatier might be necessary to really get a solid comedic conflict between them.

The B-plot wasn’t riveting either, but it has given rise to me working on creating a drinking game for the show. Ted, dismayed to realize his students don’t think he’s cool, but they all seem to know Robin because they all watch her awful show. They’ve even developed a fairly limited drinking game. Each time Robin says “But, um”, the students take a shot. It’s a funny but not totally worthwhile plot that leads to Robin attempting to give the students alcohol poisoning by purposefully repeating the drink phrase over and over again.

It’s a funny enough episode, and a nice breather after the mythology heaviness of “Girls Vs. Suits.” Next week sounds like a Barney-heavy episode, while the next two seem Ted-centric. I won’t lie about being excited by the prospect.

FINAL THOGUHTS

• My HIMYM Drinking Game
  • Take a sip for each flashback
  • Do a shot for each flashback within a flashback (you thought I was letting you off easy with the first one, didn’t you?)
  • Do 2 shots for a Mother fake-out
  • Do 2 shot when someone explains dating/social rules (like Settlers and Reachers)
  • Do 2 shots whenever Barney disparages Canada
  • Do a shot when Robin is oblivious
  • Do a shot when Ted tries to be cool (wearing spectacles totally counts)
  • Do a shot when Lily disapproves of something
  • Do a shot when Marshall references his family or Minnesota
  • Finish your drink any time someone says “Awesome.”

I’ll take other recommendations. Leave ’em in the comments!