Last Night’s TV
Posted by Maggie April 22nd, 2008 at 10:43am In Greek How I Met Your Mother MTV
I don’t know about you guys, but last night’s TV really brought it. Please be prepared for some spoilers ahead (though the biggest I’ll put after the jump).
I’ve decided to approach the evening chronologically. Not in the order that the episodes aired, but in the age of the characters portrayed.
High School
In the second episode of The Paper, we learned a little more about my new favorite newspaper teen: Alex. Alex went to Hebrew school with Amanda. Alex considered Amanda a friend before junior year, then he started hanging out with the Adam/Trevor/Gianna axis of evil and grew apart from Amanda. Alex had a crush on Amanda in ninth grade! We are witnessing Alex’s transformation from shy dork to life of the party. It’s great.
I don’t have the energy to mount my Amanda defense, but I think as stubbornly odd as she is, you can see that she just doesn’t know how to relate to people. I don’t think she’s a bad person and I’d like to see her succeed — but she does have trouble letting loose, as is clear from her post-its and the “fun” of the ice cream social.
College
I’ve been hoping for a Greek flashback episode for a long time now, and this one delivered. It not only gave us a glimpse of the kids way back when (2 years ago), it also did the impossible: It turned Evan into the hero! Cappie’s phenomenal charisma has always been a problem for the show: Why on earth would Casey ever break up with him? Especially for suit-wearing, soul-crushing Evan? This episode paints the picture beautifully. Cappie is the life of the party, but that’s his priority, not Casey. Evan is the quiet, conflicted best friend who doesn’t know where to belong. Cappie has never had a problem fitting in. Seeing Evan’s problems makes him infinitely more likeable. And seeing how Cappie has grown since his relationship with Casey — he really comes through for Rebecca — makes him, if possible, even more sympathetic (not that he needed it).
Mid to late 20s
How I Met Your Mother has been on fire this season. This episode was no exception. And the ending! I will discuss more after the jump. The signs have been there, but last night they finally went through with the Robin/Barney hook-up. Personally I think it’s fantastic, both as a pairing and for the show. Remember how on Friends the first couple of seasons were about Ross and Rachel, and then people got tired of that crap, so they switched it to be about Monica and Chandler? And those first couple of episodes where Monica and Chandler have a secret relationship are some of the best episodes of the show? Robin and Barney are totally the Monica and Chandler of HIMYM. Except hopefully not with the stupid getting married and adopting a baby thing.
Barney: awesome.
Robin and Barney! They’re both so weird and closed off and unemotional! Wouldn’t it be awesome if they, you know, fell in love or something? I mean, maybe? Or would it ruin everything forever? I’m on the pro side, but I imagine that some will be con. Please kill my dreams for me in the comments.
And bravo, James Van der Beek, for uglying up so wonderfully. If this were a movie about the Vietnam War, you would so be getting an Oscar.
And finally, because I am a blogger and thus contractually obligated to do so, I give you
7 Comments Add your own
1. John Walker | April 22nd, 2008 at 12:24 pm
I think you’re right – I think it’s a good thing. But there’s one condition: Barney can’t reveal any redeeming features. I have enjoyed that there seems to be this special exception for Barney’s dreadful behaviour when it comes to Robin, but it’s a fine line. I think the show will do itself some serious damage if they succumb to revealing “Barney’s decent side” (remember the brilliant TG episode in the shelter?). He’s a pig, and must remain a pig, or one of the show’s best running themes will shrivel and die.
Ideally, I think it shouldn’t work out long-term between them. Barney not disgustingly hitting on women would be a big loss. But for a while, it’ll be fun.
2. John Walker | April 22nd, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Oh, PS, what were those accents about in the flashback? Were they from the Bavarian region of Canada?
3.
sara | April 22nd, 2008 at 1:16 pm
I thought they sounded Scottish. Although I loved every second of the episode.
4. Lyn | April 22nd, 2008 at 1:52 pm
I agree, they totally need to have a secret fling. I think Robin is the one girl who might make Barney change his ways, but I think that would be way down the line….
5.
sara | April 22nd, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Amanda on The Paper makes me cringe my face off.
6. John Walker | April 22nd, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Apparently her behaviour caused her to cringe a good proportion of her own nose off!
7. jesse | April 23rd, 2008 at 10:46 am
I pity Amanda a lot more than I dislike her. She has this horrible combination of awkwardness, self-consciousness-and-obsessiveness, and — and this may be just me but I think it’s there — sort of playing to the camera a little like she’s watched a touch too much MADE.
AND YET: most of the other staffers are COMPLETELY obnoxious (apart from Alex) in a maddening, dead-eyed, “normal” sort of way. Amanda hasn’t really done anything terrible to them except be awkward but they still spend a good portion of their time (at least on the show; I know, editing, etc.) complaining about her and making fun of her… and maybe I shouldn’t expect more from teenagers but it’s not constructive at all. It’s not even clever. They don’t even really use specifics. They just kinda sit around going “yeah, Amanda … god, she sucks!” Honestly, if you never saw footage of her on the show, and just saw footage of the other staffers, you’d have basically no clue what her failings are. That’s not to say she doesn’t have many, but I can’t root for any of those tools except Alex, who at least shows some degree of complexity and/or not actively wanting things to fail just so he can complain about it more.
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