A quick review of tonight’s “How I Met Your Mother” coming up just as soon as the editor of Bazooka Joe comics rejects my joke…
Okay, “HIMYM” season 9 checklist, go!
Does the Mother appear? No.
Is Marshall still on the road? Yes.
Are Barney and Robin still having a variety of arguments, disputes and crises only days before their wedding, therefore suggesting they have no business whatsoever getting married? Yes.
Does the bulk of the action take place at the Farhampton Inn? Yes; we get more flashbacks than we’ve had in many episodes, but all are brief by design.
Do the characters behave like bad cartoon parodies of themselves? Yes, in particular in every plan to gain access to Lily’s phone but the last one.
Is there a moment of recognizable human behavior anywhere? Sort of, in that Marshall finally remembers that he doesn’t keep secrets from Lily, but that it took him this long to do so feels very out of character for him.
Does the episode waste a guest star I’ve enjoyed elsewhere? Yes, in this case Rhys Darby, aka Murray from “Flight of the Conchords,” as the night desk clerk.
Did I laugh? No. I liked the idea of the gang having a No Questions Asked policy, but all of the situations (including Robin in a purple unitard being chased by similar-clad ninjas and/or gymnasts) were way, way too wacky.
My despair levels are roughly the same as they’ve been for a while. I don’t know that I hated anyone to quite the degree I did when, say, Robin and Barney were interacting with the minister, but week after week the show proves what a terrible idea setting the whole season at Farhampton was – especially whenever the Mother’s not around, and it’s been five Mother-less episodes in a row now.
What did everybody else think?