'How I Met Your Mother' featuring Barney as Lorenzo von Matterhorn
For those out there who are not happily married (unlike me), tonight was a big night on "How I Met Your Mother," for tonight, Barney showed us his bible for picking up women, "The Playbook." We got tons of outlandish-but-I-dare-you-to-try-them-anyway-in-real-life methods for picking up women.
What really impressed me about the way that Barney picks up women is not the breadth of the schemes he lays out in the book, but the depth that so many require. Take a look at the Lorenzo von Matterhorn. In order to establish that one you need to build a bunch of fake websites and write a whole lot of fake articles on them. Obviously, if you're the producers of "HIMYM" you can get your staff to create a fake Wikipedia entry on Lorenzo (they did, and the original text of it was up, though identified as a fake, as recently as 7:30pm on the West Coast, but now seems gone), but if you're actually pulling it off, there's a whole lot of leg work involved.
As for how that particular one played out, I don't know that Barney was wrong suggesting that Lily broke Shelly's heart (Shelly being the girl Lily meant for Ted). Shelly was perfectly happy believing that she'd been with the one and only LVM (we're on an initial basis, LVM and I), she didn't need to know it was a fake. Plus, I'm not remotely convinced that she's the mother, so I didn't need to see her date Ted for an extended period anyway. If LVM ruined Shelly for Ted, that's fine with me.
Now, The Scuba Diver, that's one that Lily should have seen coming a mile off, but Barney's long-term commitment to the scheme helped make it credible. Barney set that whole thing up before he LVM'ed Shelly and he only LVM'ed her with the idea of getting the gang to set him up with another girl, any other girl, down the line.
People, that's dedication. That's commitment. That's our Barney. He was able to turn the tables on the gang and Claire (the girl he had on the hook with The Scuba Diver). He turned that anger into affection and had the gang push Claire into his waiting arms, a situation I'm sure he took advantage of later.
For Barney, it is clearly not just about the conquest, it is about the way the conquest unfolds. It's not enough to get a woman to sleep with you, it's not even enough to get her into bed in a creative fashion, it is only enough when you can get a woman to sleep with you and thereby prove your genius to your friends. Barney is going to have to come up with some pretty spectacular stuff down the line or he may find himself singing the blues.
The one letdown with Barney's story tonight was that I think we all saw the endgame of The Scuba Diver coming even if the gang didn't. I was a little disappointed in that, it would have been better if we didn't know that Barney was going to get the girl exactly as planned. The rest of the Barney stuff to that point though was so good that I think I can be a little soft on that.
I also find myself curious tonight about Robin and this Don character. Were the jokes Ted and Marshall cracked just one episode jokes, or does this Don thing have the possibility of actually going anywhere? Were the producers setting us up for a long term actual romance for Robin or is this Don fellow a multi-episode arc rebound guy and that's it? We Robin lovers need to know.
Bits and pieces:
- Robin's not dating anymore?!? But... but... but... what about me? There is no "Don," only me.
- Most ridiculous play of the night (even more than Mrs. Stinsfire), The My Penis Grants Wishes. Wow. Go Barney. I'm, again, not choosing a funniest line tonight - too much to laugh at - but if I were it would come from there.
- MILSWANCAs - Mothers I'd like to sleep with and never call again.
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When Bob Saget said "That's how she met Don" I was initially wondering if Ted's kids were supposed to recognize that name. But maybe not.
This was a very funny episode. But as funny as Barney's womanizing can be, it's also a little bit sad. And although the scuba payoff was obvious, I was hoping I was wrong and that Barney was actually capable of empathy and of growing up a little.
this is one of the few comedies that really is good.
I think it is one of the funniest episodes so far :)
Seriously good :)
http://lorenzo-von-matterhorn.blogspot.com/2009/11/who-is-lorenzo-von-matterhorn.html
Great episode. And I have to admit, I didn't see the scuba diver thing coming at all. So to me, no flaws at all in this episode.
Also, I too thought future Ted was saying Don's name as if the kids would recognize it.
I agree with Billiam- the way he said "and that's how she met Don" made it sound like they would recognize the name BUT he didn't say "Uncle Don" so that's a hint as to how that relationship will go.
I still want Barney and Robin together but not the way the writers took the relationship. It could have been so much better. I don't know why they completely ruined that relationship so quickly. If the end-game is to have them together I think the way they broke them up ruined it. So, they probably are destined to not be together anymore. I prefer either pining Barney or tonight's womanizing Barney.
Great episode! I love that Barney's back to his old ways, and I'm hoping that last night's episode was the final nail in the Barney/Robin coffin. They put them together, it didn't work, move on.
GLAD TO HAVE BARNEY BACK!!!
Also, not everything in the playbook has been tried yet. That's why Marshall said the genie play wasn't well thought out with all the dancing/singing furniture the play required.
Also, Lilly's friend was totally NOT hot. What's the deal with that?
Last night was one of their better episodes until the end. The scuba joke was a lot of funny leading-up to a dull ending. I just hope this isn't a telltale sign that the show is moving again towards a Barney focus overall like what happened last year. The character is funny in small doses, but ruins the show when they constantly use him as the main character.
It is hard for me to fathom Barney as a lady's man. He is not particularly good looking, not a great personality, from a woman's point of view, and does not have a muscular body, although he is lean.
And it is hard to think that every single woman is so smitten with him to oerlook his crudeness, crassness, and defects, so much so, that they always sleep with him on the first date, even though he does tons of creepy things, like film them, etc.
But I do prefer the womanizing lech that Barney is, over the Robin and Barney romance.
Okay, So perhaps to you Barney is not attractive but a huge amount of people would say he is. Also, since the show is How I met your mother, when are they going to start focusing on Ted again, instead of Barney?