The How I Met Your Mother Blog

“Lance Hardwood: Sex Architect”

This week’s episode might have been the best of the season so far. The A and B (and C) plots were all top notch. Much like Michael Scott just a few weeks ago, Marshall was faced with a mountain of credit card debt racked up by his lady. And Marshall could’ve used Jack Donaghy’s advice this week about being brave enough to work within the system. Ted Mosby is a porn star and John Cho is a guest star. It was legendary.

Welcome How I Met Your Blog readers.

Ben mentioned he might link to my recap this week since he’s been pretty swamped lately. If you are visiting here for the first time from his site, welcome! There’s some links on the left for first time viewers and I hope you check out the archives.

What Was Good

• I loved the pacing and format of this episode. It feels like the show is back to form. The two storylines were related and didn’t leave any one character out in the cold. Marshall was the only one sans regular cast member but John Cho is so awesome that it didn’t matter. Seriously, that guy rocks.
• In classic How I Met Your Mother form, this episode poked fun at a very real issue that faces people in their late twenties. Two issues really. The decision to follow your dreams or follow the dollar, and the down side of chronic shopping and debt.
• I liked the return to some classic HIMYM jokes. Robin’s jokes that aren’t funny and just won’t die. Finally an explanation for all of Lily’s boots, Marshall stressing over his career, the yellow legal pad.
• Wendy the waitress is back!
• The guy Marshall is going to work for seems like Barney Stinson #2. How great would it be if he became a show regular? He’d be a great foil for The Barnicle.
• Lily texting Marshall from the bathroom. Classic.
• Lily–and therefore Alison Hannigan–is becoming more and more the Lucille Ball of our times. She’s wonderful.
• The show continues to push the envelope. The entire Ted and Barney story was about porn. Some of the euphemisms were pretty risque for an 8pm comedy as well. Way to go CBS.

What Was Bad

• I can’t really think of anything that was bad. I have no complaints with this episode.

Favorite Moments

“Baby, I have some exciting news.”
“I hope it’s not that you won some kind of race here.”
“I know what kind of plane this is. It’s a BOING!”
“The place I’m taking you has Kobe Lobster. That’s lobster fed with Kobe Beef.”
“You know who else was considered crude and disgusting? Shakespeare. But his themes–love, lust, forbidden desire–were universal which is why his work has stood the test of time. And so will all this. Four hundred years from now some high school drama class will be doing a plucky, spirited production of Beef Party VII.”
“I was drunk and there was a haze of cigars and scotch and Swayze.”
“Yellow legal pad? I ordered fries. Maybe you should use this to write down people’s orders…”

Barney’s Vocab Word of the Week

Not so much a vocab word as a testament to Barney’s deep creativity, he helped create one of the best porno titles ever:

Lance Hardwood, Sex Architect.

Now that’s legendary.Make sure to check back in Thursday for the next thrilling head-to-head match up in Season vs. Season. Who will win?

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