Just when I'm about to give up on HIMYM they always seems to pull out a gem. "46 Minutes" had me laughing like a sitcom is supposed to, something that has been terrible lacking this season. For the first time in what seems like forever, the writers seemed to focus on the funny instead of telling a poignant story or trying to further character development. This episode put the jokes upfront allowing us to laugh while the HIMYM story was moved along in the background. It's not that there wasn't character development or a moral to the gangs shenanigans, it's just that it didn't force it's way to the front of the line stepping on the humor along the way.
One of the most welcome pluses in this episode was the presence of Chris Elliot. The writers let his comedic genius shine and helped make this a gem of an episode. His performance brought back memories of Get A Life, one of my all time favorite sitcoms. Nobody knows off-beat comedy better then Elliot and his presence brought an edge to the episode that has been lacking this season. The Widow Rodriguez jokes were hilarious and his taunting of Marshal was spot on.
This episode also did a good job with a ton of subtle pop culture references. At times it felt more like a Community style send up of different movie genres (close camera horror, disaster action, seedy poker game movies) then your typical HIMYM and it worked. The writers did beat you over the head with what they were doing, yet made it clear what they were making fun of.
A few other things I found funny... Ted's rendition of "We Built Chip City", the idea of early relationship chicken which was then brilliantly morphed into relationship compliance (ok, ok, Kal Penn is starting to be bearable), and two new versions of the opening credits. I would have liked to see more of Barney as group leader and a little more made of Barney's abandonment issues, but beggars can't be choosers.
My one question is, is that the end of MacLaren's? It would be a bold move for the writers to abandon the bar, but one that could spark creativity. I think it would be interesting for them to bury the bar and move on. If they can do that, I'm sure they can learn to keep the show going after revealing the mother... or would moving away from the bar (and moving Marshal and Lilly to the suburbs) just be jumping the shark? Either way, this is the shows first win in a while, bringing the season record up to 4-8-2.
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