HIMYM Review: Bass Player Wanted

How I Met Your Mother 

'Bass Player Wanted' Review

After a weeks break, HIMYM has returned for its mid season finale. Much hype was made on social networks by the shows creators about the fact that this episode would predominantly focus on the mother. Although it did not fully live up to its exceedingly high expectations, the episode was definitely one of the better showings this season.

This weeks episode did not seem to have an easily classified main story and sub plot as each character had an equal amount of screen time and it was all interwoven into one another.

The story begins with Marshall and Marvin's final five mile walk to the Farhampton Inn. Instantly I feared that , much like 'Bedtime Stories', this episode was going to focus solely on this journey, providing the audience with another filler episode. Once more the cheesy western style music for Marshall and Marvin's journey began, but thankfully it was short lived as the one and only mother picked them up and happily took the two onward to Farhampton. 

This was a far better move by the writers as the audience was able to witness the chemistry between herself and Marshall. It was great how she initially messed with his head, pretending to be a psychic, knowing everything about him, with us the audience knowing full well that Lily had divulged all the information to her on the train ride in the season premiere.

Furthermore, it was great to see the similarities between the two, as both are undeniably polite, avoiding confrontation at all costs, yet ahead of them were some hefty situations which needed to be resolved.

The mothers fear about the looming possible confrontation weaved into Ted, Barney, Robin and Lily's stories as a mysterious man named Darren (Andrew Rannells) became involved with their issues. 

His first encounter with Lily and Robin was rather humourous with their initial confusion whether or not he was a relative of Robins furthered by the two girls telepathic conversation about a possible menage-a-trois with this stranger. Eventually we learn that behind all the niceties, he is in fact a "firestarter", causing rifts between friendships. This led to Lily finding out that Robin was siding with Marshall about the judgeship vs Rome debate, whilst Robin was less than enthusiastic that her thunder was somewhat stolen by Lily's issue. They were not the most serious of issues, somewhat feeling that they were brought to the table simply for the sake of the plot device, but at least they were addressed in some manner. 

Darren's second encounter with Ted and Barney was far more substantial as Barney found out that Ted was moving to Chicago. This eventually had to be found out by someone else within the group and it was best that it was by Barney. What worked so well was that, although he did initially attempt to persuade Ted out of moving, Barney completely understood that the move was not just for the job for Ted, but more so to ease the pain of losing Robin, and he respected that. 

Ted's little escapade to retrieve yet another bottle of Glen McKenna Scotch, resulting in larceny, was also a nice little touch to emphasise to Barney that he would do anything for his best friend. It almost acted as a thank you for Barneys acceptance of Teds future plans.    

Eventually the whole group were back together again with Marshall finally walking through the doors of the Farhampton Inn, to his horror of finding an aggressive Lily, which thankfully for the time being she "paused" on (There will definitely be an episode dedicated to this argument). 

And again there was a nice little tie in between Ted and the mother: Firstly in terms of their behaviour with the mother's monologue commenting about karma, echoing ever so obviously the way in which Ted thinks; secondly with Teds physical actions unknowingly removing the subject of her confrontation. 

Overall Bass Player Wanted was not exactly what I was anticipating. Hoping that this would be the occasion for the mother and Ted to physically meet one another I admit  that I was a little disappointed. But it made complete sense to tie in the mother with Marshall seeing as she has already met Lily and Barney. No doubt there will be an episode of Robin meeting her too. 

The issue of Chicago was also played out well, with no crazy melodramatics, and the tension between Lily and Marshall is now at an all time high.

It is great that everyone is now at the Farhampton Inn, primarily the mother, as the show can now bring a steady stream of excitable intrigue about the moments up until that fateful moment for Ted.     

7.9/10

HIMYM Review: The Rehearsal Dinner

How I Met Your Mother 

'The Rehearsal Dinner' Review 

Last weeks HIMYM decided to move towards a more experimental approach with an episode entirely dedicated to a nursery rhyme motif. 

Despite the bold move, it ultimately remained a little stale, notably because it was one of the most obvious filler episodes to date. 

This week however the show returned back to form, providing a decent episode which was somewhat bogged down by a sense of deja vu.

The main premise began with Barney handcuffed in a laser tag security office seemingly assured that Robin had set up the rehearsal dinner at this venue rather than at the Farhampton hotel itself. Much to Robins annoyance and displeasure Barney recounts the series of events leading up to that moment. From there on, numerous flashbacks ensued. 

The scene at McLarens pub, with Robin asking for the wedding to be held in Canada, was fairly well executed with the whole crew making silly jokes about her country. Teds interjection that the jokes continued for what seemed a lifetime was a nice little touch as a few extras in the background had their entire lives playing out during that scene.

The secondary flashback of Barney retaliation at Robin's bachelor party prank was also particularly funny with Barney's childish behaviour with the puppies whilst Robin remained rather serious about his sadistic prank on her. Her rule to be more like Marshall and Lily, with no surprises in their relationship was crucial for the overall arc of the story.

What worked best with this plot line was that Barney's obsessive behaviour was so typical of him that it was hard to see the bigger picture, which ended up being a really nice surprise. But at the same time, as nice a surprise it was, it was far too reminiscent of his play "The Robin" in terms of its structure and how the events unfolded.  

Additionally there were some curiosities about the practicalities of the final moments and how Robin quite literally did not see this.

As for Ted and Lily they were left on the sidelines with some mediocre gags. 

The reminder of Lily's inability to keep a secret was rather dull, particularly as we have seen this used multiple times before during previous seasons. It was an interesting reminder though that she had still kept the secret of Teds move to Chicago under wraps. The whole secret issue loosely seeped into Lily telling Ted and Robin about Marshall's judgeship and the possibility of the move to Italy being put on hold, but it seemed a weak way for the rest of the gang to find out. 

Ted was once more a caricature of his usual self, with flashbacks of himself attempting to play the piano whilst dressed up like Liberace as a present for Robin and Barney. There was little to care about with this subplot, although his statement during the initial flashback that he was the best at giving wedding presents with Marshall and Lily's instant looks of disgust was a nice little remembrance of their feud in The Poker Game.    

Apart from a few small appearances in the flashbacks, Marshall was not involved in the proceedings of the present events. There wasn't much indication of how far into his five mile walk to the hotel he was in or whether or not this all occurred during his bus travel. 

Regardless of the sub-par side stories, Barney and Robin's main arc was a nice lighthearted tale which goes to show that they will never be the conventional couple, but instead will constantly amaze and surprise one another to illustrate their love. The final moments were a little too familiar but certainly no excuse to complain about it. 

As nice as it was, the show really needs to place Ted back on the forefront, particularly as the series is edging ever so close to its conclusion.

7/10