How I Met Your Mother: Double Date

You know how they say bands go through a sophomore slump? It’s when they sell a bazillion copies of their debut album and then only their mothers buy the follow up. I’ve been noticing that new seasons of shows tend to have a sophomore slump. I’m not talking about second seasons, because those are usually better than the first. I’m talking about second episodes. Last week’s premiere of How I Met Your Mother was actually quite good, but the follow up fell flat.

Ted spent the entire episode going on a blind date with the same girl he went on a blind date with seven years earlier. I was pretty sure throughout the whole ordeal that they wouldn’t end up together. I am very happy to be right.

The others spent their time mostly in a strip club. There were a few laughs here and there, but overall I just wanted them all to go to McLaren’s or the apartment and be normal. What do I mean by normal you ask? This season it feels like the usual spark between Lily and Marshall isn’t there. Something is just off. And although I enjoyed last week’s story with Robin and Barney, didn’t they decide to just pretend to be a couple? It’s getting a little confusing.

Marshall’s elaborate way of fantasizing over another woman was funny. The fact that he has to kill off Lily was great, especially since he does it in such a painless way as a hiccup disorder. Also, the whole doppelganger thing was hilarious. Stripper Lily was kind of gross, but I got a good laugh out of seeing Lesbian Robin.

I can’t put my finger on what exactly was wrong with this episode. Maybe it was that Ted spent it with a woman who he obviously wouldn’t end up with. Or maybe it was the strange interactions between Robin and Barney. Whatever it was I hope it gets fixed next week. I’m hoping to see Ted back in the classroom, Barney out on the prowl, and a spark between Lily and Marshall. Here’s hoping.

How I Met Your Mother: Definitions

At the end of last season there were a few threads left untied on How I Met Your Mother. One was that they revealed that the mother was in the class that Ted would be teaching. The second was the undefined relationship between Robin and Barney. I had visions of the show dragging out both story lines just to keep people watching, but thankfully they were the center piece of the premiere.

Robin and Barney clearly have feelings for each other, but are so afraid of a relationship that they refuse to define it in any way. This sends Lily over the edge since she wants to be able to go on double dates with them. She even has everything all planned out (it must be a teacher thing) when she says she wants to go camping and take cooking lessons with them. So, in her usual conniving ways, she locks Robin and Barney in a room until they have “the talk” and figure out what they are.

The dance between Robin and Barney when they try to talk about how they feel is hilarious, so I was happy to see them be forced to do it. I love how Lily and Marshall were incorporated into the situation too. Marshall’s “NOT GOOD ENOUGH” with the whip cracks were great.

The other half of the premiere was about Ted having his first day as an architecture professor (or is there two f’s?). They played this out perfectly. He had the cliche nightmare the night before of showing up to teach with no pants on, but on the actual first day he had a whole different set of problems. The first was deciding what kind of professor he would be. Would he be Professor Mosby, or T-Dawg? The second problem was that he was in the wrong classroom trying to teach a bunch of economics students about architecture. So in the end the mother isn’t in Ted’s class, she’s just in the same school. I thought that was a great move. This likely won’t be the last season of the show, and we know that the mother likely won’t be revealed until the very end, so to narrow it down to Ted’s own class now seemed a bit premature. We know he’s getting closer, but it doesn’t seem so immanent.

I thought the premiere was a great episode of How I Met Your Mother. All the characters had something interesting or funny to do, and the story lines from last season were kept going. The line at the end where Ted, Marshall, and Lily admit they know Robin and Barney were lying about their relationship, only to say that Robin and Barney don’t know they were lying, summed up everything that is awesome about this show. I’m excited to see where this season leads and if we get any closer to finding out who the mother really is.