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RSS'How I Met Your Mother': Getting too old for this... stuff
Mr. Joshua here to give you your weekly "How I Met Your Mother" update. No, I'm not with Busey, nor was I with Barney tonight. Tonight, I was all about Ted. Just like my good friend Ted, I constantly feel like I'm getting too old for this... stuff.
I think Ted's whole idea of having a Murtaugh list -- a list of "stuff" he's gotten too old for -- is just plain genius. Using Roger Murtaugh's ("Lethal Weapon") oft-repeated phrase for inspiration? Even better. Now, before you call me a fuddy-duddy, just think about it -- you're probably too old to be helping a friend move out of a sixth story walkup for pizza and beer. If you ask me, 21 is too old to be helping a friend move out of a sixth story walkup for pizza and beer. If there was an elevator, no problem. Walkup, no way.
You really do have to admire Barney though for doing his best to complete everything on Ted's Murtaugh list. The way Barney rises to a challenge, I truly believe, is an inspiration to us all. Giving himself a pierced ear though was more of a cautionary tale. Exceedingly funny, but cautionary.
Thinking about it, the entire episode was that way -- exceedingly funny, but cautionary. Quite clearly there's a happy middle somewhere between Ted's feeling like he's too old for everything and Barney's feeling like he's young enough for anything, but it's one of those indefinable lines. Are the guys too old to use a beer bong? Absolutely. Are they too young to go to bed at 8pm? Without a doubt.
But we're not interested in a happy middle, are we? No, the funny is on the extremes, and whatever Barney wore to that rave was totally and completely extreme.
Let me ask you this though, why did Robin go with him? Do you think we can read anything into that? Does it represent some sort of relationship-ey thing or was it just something for Robin to do tonight?
As a side note, Lily proved to be crazy tonight. She didn't want her kindergarteners to keep score when playing basketball? Marshall had that one totally right. How do you know who wins if you don't keep score? Participation trophies? I don't think so. My one big surprise there was that Marshall didn't explain to Lily how second place is the first loser. That would really have made the discussion complete.
I'm just not sure that I like the end of the story, what with the kids getting yelled at, beaten by a teen wolf, and still sucking. Don't get me wrong, I'm not badmouthing the teen wolf, but I think it would have been great for one of the kindergarten basketballers to dunk on the teen wolf. They could still have lost the game, it just would have been 118-2, instead of zero. And the participation trophy Marshall got? Not cool people, not cool. At the very least, I would have liked to see Marshall go for a jumper into the trash with it.
Bits and pieces:
- I'm sorry, I thought the whole thing was funny tonight, and I'm giving you two quotes. First up, there's Lily yelling at Marshall about not being nice to the kids and her warning what will happen if he doesn't shape up -- "you'll think the time I found your internet search history was a frickin' picnic." I'll bet you Marshall learned how to delete that info quite quickly.
- Quote number two, Barney on laser tag -- "laser tag knows no age restrictions, kind of like stripping in the Midwest."
- I regularly feel far too old for a lot of things, so I'm far more likely to do avoid the items on a Murtaugh list and participate in a "Florida" list. How about you?
The TV and Film Guy's Reviews - like the one with Joe Pesci and Rene Russo but not Chris Rock.
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Zap2it Twitter Talk 
The laser tag stuff, the Lethal Weapon references, the old man list was great, but the Marshall and Lily storyline was tedious, mostly because participation trophies are a joke.
Plus, those two have gotten boring since they got married, and Lily's character is just annoying because she's just a know it all that belittles her husband (like Carla does on Scrubs).
Season 4 is still pretty bad, but this was one of the better episodes of the bunch.
P.S. - I don't think we should read too much into Robin joining Barney. She said something about staying young was the best part of life, so she probably jumped in to prove to Ted how the journey is better than the end.
Okay, when Lily started yelling at Marshall, was I the only one who thought "OMG! Marshall married his father!" The way she yelled at him was just like how his father yelled at him. Does anyone else see that or am I crazy?
Am I the only one who's sick of the lame "Canada" references? Maybe it bothers me more because I'm Canadian, but the jokes aren't even funny! Robin Sparkles was original, but now it seems like they're trying to repeat that success with all these stupid fake Canadian references...
Okay, this episode was awesome. Another funny from top to bottom. Even before we got to the Murtaugh stuff, the turn in your gun and badge bit was great!
"If you so much as step one toe out of line you're gonna be playing 'Duck Hunt' in your momma's basement so fast it's gonna make your head spin!" *lol* The writers on this show must have so much fun coming up with this stuff.
Sorry Boris, I thought 'McElroy & LaFleur' was hilarious! Evil americans killed his horse... *tee hee*
Barney & Robin's rave gear = priceless and teen wolf had me crying! The flip dunks... good stuff!
"Rockin' the party hunch." *lol*
The music they were playing during the Teen Wolf parts was reminiscient, if not the actual music from that movie.
Also loved the line from Barney, "And if I win your buying the TP and not that biodegradable crap, I want it to be up there forever"
I thought the Lily and Marshall part could be a little tighter. It was far too reminiscient of an episode of Everyone Loves Raymond at the start and then just kept getting more bizarre. The best part was when Marshall asks the kids if they want to blow off practice and enjoy some orange slices and then starts screaming at them. That's not typical Marshall since Lily prepped the oranges and he would usually defer to her desires. It showed his ingrained competitiveness, something I thing they've touched on beofer with things like the "Lawer'ed" bit and some others.
I liked the Murtaugh stuff -- I esp. liked the scene with Barney and the owner of the laser tag, where Barney had to turn in his gun and his badge -- right out of every cop movie!
Hated the Marsall- Lily stuff. Maybe because I was more on Marshall's side! Not that you have to throw basketballs at the kids, but they 1) need to learn the fundamentals of the game; 2) winning and losing IS a part of life, so keep score dammit, even if they all do get trophies just for participating.
They make a lot of midwest jokes too, so don't feel too bad Boris.
This episode was okay. Not the best and not the worst.
I know that "real" athletes think that participation trophies and not keeping score is a joke, but the kids are in KINDERGARTEN! That is the way it is with all sports in Kindergarten. It is more about just teaching the game. When the kids get a little older score is kept and winning matters towards play-off's, etc. But in Kindergarten no score and participation trophies are important to keep them interested and excited in the game. So, I felt that the basketball storyline was stupid and condescending to us parents who have been through that with our kids.
Fundamentals of the game? Winning and losing is a part of life? They are five years old. The ball was bigger than all of their heads and there is no way they can possibly correctly shoot a ball into a nine foot net when the ball is as big as their head.
Let them learn about winning and losing when they get past addition and subtraction since they currently couldn't even keep score themselves.
Go Lily!
Loved Barney and Robin in rave gear! Also, their two person phone message was hilarious. As for the basketball subplot, I agree that they should be keeping score but that doesn't mean they can't give participation trophies to the losing team as well. That's what my town did. Though we didn't have to play against any teen wolves!
"The ironic thing is--" *SHADDAP!*
Yeah, I think the writers were really going for that "Marshall will always be the 6' runt" gag.
Nothing really beats NPH as Barney (with TS as sidekick Robin, casually sipping her crazy straw), but the Lily/Marshal segment kind of lulled.
You KNEW they were going to make Marshall a taskmaster and you KNEW Lily would be even worse. It was funny to see Marshmallow explode on the kids (and training with his dad) and Lily to threaten him, but those moments were fleeting. The big punchline (other than Marshall cringing as he told the kids that life would give them nice jobs and promotions) was Marshall crying like a little girl trying to avoid the BENCH that was thrown at him.
Oh, and of course more 80s references with 4' kids turning into 6' kids and one Teen Wolf tearing it up as Marshall kept ragging the ref. ("Teen Wolf?? How can having a Teen Wolf be legal?!")