A quick review of tonight’s “How I Met Your Mother” coming up just as soon as I’ve got a monk guy…
“The Broath” is the sixth episode of “HIMYM” we’ve gotten so far in 2012, and while I’d say the overall quality has varied, two things have been consistent: 1)None of the episodes, whether the ones that worked or the ones that didn’t, has been incredibly funny; and 2)The episodes that have worked do so because they’re at least true to the characters.
I’d put “The Broath” in the “worked” category almost entirely because of the more sincere moments: Ted and Robin struggling to get back to normal after she rejected his declaration of love, Barney and Quinn once again turning out to be well-matched (including Quinn being evil in the way that Barney is evil), and Lily helping Marshall spruce up his one non-Lily “sex” story. In those moments, the characters felt like the people I’ve been watching for almost seven seasons and the emotions felt earned.
But outside of Ted sharing a dorm with a trio of young dopplegangers for college-aged Ted, Marshall and Lily, I’m not sure I so much as smiled at any of the jokes, and I actively cringed at a few (notably Marshall wanting people to put the “Quinn” in front of everything even after the intervention went horribly awry, and also all of Ted and Robin’s behavior before their conversation in the hall).
I suppose at this late stage I’d rather the show get the characters right then do some funny jokes that sell them out. Then again, I tend to not find those jokes funny (again, see the “Quinn” joke with Marshall; he wouldn’t have kept that going under those circumstances). But it’d be nice if we could get another episode like “The Ducky Tie” that made me laugh while also getting the sentiment right, you know? And preferably soon.
What did everybody else think?