How I Met Your Mother: Last Words

     How do you follow up a stomach punch ending about the death of a close family member when you are writing a comedy?  I want really bad to criticize this episode for being to emotional and sappy, but at the same time I'm not sure what choice the writers had.  They couldn't just leave Marshal's pain out there and not dealt with but at the same time I tune in to HIMYM to laugh, I tune into other shows to deal with these issues.  Like I said in my review of the last episode, I don't mind a little drama mixed in with my sitcom as long as its done well and we don't lose the funny.  This episode just felt a little to somber.  The Robin storyline was probably the funniest part of the episode and was a good example of finding silly situations amongst the drama.  Lilly's joy in being her mother-in-law's bitch was humorous as well.  Where I think the writers dropped the ball the most was with Barney and Ted.  Humor is an important part of any funeral, many times the mourning benefit from being reminded of the good times, the funny times they spent with their lost one.  Showing videos of people getting punched in the nuts was not only not funny, it's lazy and inconsiderate.  If anything it made me think of the two as really bad friends.  There was humor to be found with these two that could have made the episode a gem but it just didn't happen.
     I also found Marshal's fixation over his father's last words poor story continuity, something the show is normally so aware of.  I could help but think every time Marshal lamented how poor his father's last words were about the wonderful scene between the two in the previous episode.  Why would Marshal focus on the final few words when one of the last conversations he had was so great and comforting?  And if the point was that we focus on minor details when we mourn, why wouldn't Lilly or one of the gang point this fact out? 
     This isn't to take away from the fine acting Jason Segal and Alyson Hannigan have put in over the last two episodes.  You don't usually see such good chops in a sitcom.  When you add Neil Patrick Harris into the mix, the fine acting is one of the things that puts this show ahead of so many sitcoms on tv.

How I Met Your Mother: Bad News

I've knocked the super sappy HIMYM episodes in the past, but there isn't much bad I can say about this one.  Bad News, even though it wasn't what I like most from HIMYM, was just good TV.  The tugging at the heart strings was genuine and didn't feel forced or over done.  Marshal's relationship with his father has never been up front and center, but we've gotten enough of it over the years to feel the strong bond and feel Marshal's pain.  Looking back it feels like a lot of the Marshal/Lilly stuff has been moving us towards this episode and whatever the aftermath of the death will have on their relationship.
The moral of the story... even though I watch HIMYM for the laughs, I enjoy well done drama as well.

Some other notes from the episode...
     I liked seeing the return of the Sensory Deprivator 5000 from season two's Monday Night Football episode.
     Loved the fact that nobody believed that the doctor was Barney's doppelganger.  Why would you?  We have enough history to not believe anything said by any one looking vaguely similar to Barney.
     The sperm sample scene in Marshal's bathroom with his parents yelling through the door was one of the most painfully hilarious scenes I've seen all year on TV!