'How I Met Your Mother': Sarah Chalke scrubs in
Here we are, the second week of How I Met Your Mother's triumphant return! The yellow-umbrella-owning girl (akin to Charlie Brown's little red-haired girl) is now without her yellow umbrella; the umbrella is with our hero, Ted (as though Charlie Brown's little red-haired girl allowed him to shave her bald and keep the hair for himself). I couldn't imagine heading into tonight's episode that the umbrella (or hair) would be returned, and I was right. Instead, Britney Spears and Sarah Chalke stopped by for a visit.
Scrubs' Dr. Reid, or "Stella" as she was calling herself here, was present to remove Ted's tramp stamp. Ted thought she was also present to date him and he tried to take her to her to see Plan 9 From Outer Space. Ted, apparently, was unaware that AMA rules prevent Dr. Reid, Stella or any doctor from dating a patient. It was in fact a girls' night out, and Ted ended up paying for the doctor and her friends. He didn't even get to sit next to her during the movie.
Dr. Reid took it all a step further, however. She informed Ted she wouldn't date him even once all 10 of Ted's sessions were finished and he was no longer a patient. Ted absolutely refused to give in. He insisted there had to be a way for him to convince the nice doctor that she wanted to date him. Ted's best effort here fell more than a little flat. He figured if he could hit on Abby the receptionist (Britney) maybe, just maybe he could pull the doctor as she would be jealous of the receptionist. Sadly, it didn't work out that way, and Stella ended up asking Ted to go out with Abby because Abby was too shy.
As all this was taking place, Ted's friends were getting in on the act. Barney claimed that he went to see Stella and learned that she had a thing for guys with mustaches. He may or may not have been telling the truth about visiting Stella, but she certainly did not have a thing for mustachioed men: She laughed in Ted's face when he showed up with one the next week. (Barney also won a $10 bet from a year ago where he claimed he could get Ted to grow a mustache.)
Marshall also went to see Stella; he claimed to need to have his dry elbows taken care of and, whilst learning he had a mole that should be checked out, found out Stella had a crush on Ted. Lily informed Ted of this just as he was about to give up on Stella once and for all and move on to other pastures.
Full of confidence and gusto, Ted asked Stella out at the end of his 10th treatment... only to be denied again.
As it turned out, unlike on Scrubs where Doctor Reid is the one main character without a kid, on HIMYM she has an 8-year-old daughter named Lucy and no time to date. She did, however, take 2-minute lunch breaks. Ted set up a little one-on-one two minute speed date with Stella where they went to dinner, saw a movie and had dessert without ever leaving the block where her office was located.
If you ask me, the show was firing on almost all cylinders tonight. It was funny, kinda sweet, and the cabbie during Ted's date was Ranjit, the same one the show has used on multiple occasions (including in a limo on New Year's Eve). Sure, it could have used more Lily, Marshall and Robin, but it was still a cute little story that once again finds Ted ending up with a new-and-different woman.
One caveat: Stella probably isn't the yellow-umbrellaed girl and so we are once again meandering down a path to nowhere. Here were are liking a potential mate for Ted, and yet we are always aware that we're going to be disappointed with the outcome.
Eh, never mind that, the episode was cute. The Britney stunt casting was a little silly -- Abby didn't really have a role except to go to a hotel room with Barney at the end of the show -- but Sarah Chalke was great. The show may not be going anywhere with Stella, but the first ride was fun, and for me that's enough.
Before I go, I'm nominating for funniest moment tonight Barney getting a timeout from Lily for his mini-fireball magic trick at the bar. Apparently, Barney has been warned not to do this sort of thing in the past.
You disagree? Fair enough, what made you laugh this week?
And, one last thing, despite possible rumors to the contrary, The TV and Film Guy's Reviews has never caused a computer to have a fireball of its own.
Go here for more on Britney Spears' How I Met Your Mother performance.
It was a very cool episode. I really hope this turns out to be Ted's wife. Stella did say the only time she went out was on St. Patty's day. So either they are really playing with our heads, (the random path crossing last week) or they are setting up somethig special. Although, the more they speed this thing up, the more it worries me that they are not going to renew the show, which would be a travesty. Seriously, the ratings are good, what more can they really want???
This was a good episode, and I loved Ted trying to get Stella to like him so much that she wouldn't be able to turn him down.
I interpreted his being nice to the receptionist differently than you did. Instead of thinking that being nice to Abby would make Stella jealous, I think he thought Stella would appreciate someone being nice to Abby. That certainly backfired!
And that two minute date was wonderful! Getting everything organized and all the timing worked out was great. If Stella wasn't impressed with him before, she certainly is now. I hope Sarah Chalke is on the show again (even if she isn't the one he eventually marries). As for Britney Spears, she was fine. Luckily they didn't have her play Britney, so she was able to have fun playing the shy receptionist.
I can imagine a scenario where, if the show doesn't get renewed, that they perhaps ask Sarah Chalke back for a finale. On a side note, she sure has grown up. From Becky 2 to now.
I think she fits the role much better than Alica Silverstone would've. Sarah has a, well, I'm not sure how to put it, but there's a naturalness to her comedic actions that makes things somewhat believable.
Btw, Ted should've remembered the AMA rule. Wasn't it just earlier this year that he was going to see a doctor, and they had an episode where Barney went through the reasons? Barney's issue with the waitress, Robin and her hockey player, and Lily/Marshall with their neighbors. Could've sworn that Ted was trying to see a doctor in that episode.
Tony, I believe this was us seeing Ted learn about the AMA rule. Remember in that episode, he said he took his doctor (specifically calling her Stella) to the movie where she told him about it. This was just a continuation from Platinum Rule.
ah, that does make a lot of sense.
All my years watching Lost have me looking for clues in every show I watch. Stella said she went out for St. Patrick's day but left early. I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of Sarah Chalke in HIMYM.
Its a shame that this didn't work out to be the multiepsiode arc it was supposed to be. Though Sarah Chalke is way better than Silverstone, I think it would have been fun to have Ted try to figure out if he could be a step dad kinda deal. Then again. Here's hoping for Stella to give him a call.
And other thought: If she was out at st. Paddy's day.. mebbe she knows the future mrs. Ted.
I have to say that the ep far exceeded my expectations for it. I wasn't expecting much b/c of the Britney circus. I really liked the fact that Abby was just a small part and that there was far greater focus on the Stella part. Kudos to the writers for being able to rework the episode that quickly when the casting change called for a multi-ep arc to be condensed to a single ep story.
Much better effort than last week. Still not hitting on all cylinders as Josh mentioned in his blog there wasn't enough Marshall, Lily and Robin (for my tastes anyways). I really like the eps where it appears that all 5 play an important role whereas tonight's ep was all Ted.
Hopefully we see continued improvement in next week's ep.
Btw, was anyone else's attention slightly perked up when they saw the yellow getup that Britney Spears was wearing at the end? Part of me wonders if that's an opening if they want to pursue Britney as the mother, which I desperately hope against, but still. That said, could just be a coincidence.
I thought the same thing when i saw the yellow purse and yellow outfit.
I was really thinking Britney was the mother but then she went and slept with Barney. (Or it seems like she did)
I wouldn't mind if Britney was the mother. She was actually better then I thought she was going to be.