No Ninja’s Getting a Jump On Me

Spoilers...

How I Met Your Mother – “Landmarks” (B)

“Landmarks” was a good episode. From a straight up comedic perspective it wasn’t the funniest, but a large part of the reason why How I Met Your Mother has been as successful as it has is because they know how to capture the ups and downs of modern dating, and this was one of those episodes that did that brilliantly. I’d certainly rather watch a thoughtful episode like “Landmarks” over last week’s gimmicky, uninspired offering.

There were two scenes in particular that really caught my attention, both between Zoey and Ted. One was their late night conversation in front of the Arcadian, and the other was the scene that closed out both the episode and their relationship. Now I know there are a few people out there who haven’t liked the Ted/Zoey relationship at all, but I was really impressed with the way they handled it here. Ted’s late night conversation with Zoey was a very well written scene and great way to preface his decision not to defend the Arcadian. And likewise, his final words to her managed to hit on a much larger theme, like many of the best episodes in this series do.

TED: Sometimes things have to fall apart to make way for better things.

And to me that made up for some of the comedic missteps. Don’t get me wrong, I liked Barney’s eerily accurate drawing of Lily’s boobs and I didn’t mind the groups’ idea for a judicial themed bar, but a lot of the other jokes just weren’t as sharp. Arthur in particular was off. He’s funny as a ruthless boss. There was never any need to expand the character past that.

I did find it surprising though that there was no mention of the mysterious wedding from the start of the season. I thought for sure with the season finale next week that we’d get at least some foreshadowing on that front, which probably means the wedding will be Punchy’s rather than Robin or Barney’s. A wedding involving one of the major characters was always a bit of a pipe dream but I was still holding out some hope that it may happen. Of course that doesn’t mean something else big won’t happen in the finale. You can check out some of my many theories here.

Some of my favourite lines:

MARSHALL: If you end an argument with a rhyme, it’s convincing all the time.

LILY: Wait, she’s going to let you name your kids Luke and Leia?
TED: Not if I knock down her favourite building she isn’t.

TED: Okay, first of all, no ninja’s getting a jump on me. I have the reflexes of a jungle (Robin slaps him) --
LILY: Tree?

And line of the night:

BARNEY: I can’t be unemployed Robin. My job is my identity, it’s who I am. It gives me the confidence I need to convince girls I’m a fighter pilot.

The Event – “One Will Live, One Will Die” (B-)

If Sophia is so tortured over what she has to do to the human race than why does it seem like every time she does something evil she’s holding in a maniacal laugh? Or for that matter, why did NBC decide to put the cliffhanger of this week’s episode in the preview from last. Needless to say, there were more than a few questionable decisions in this one.

The episode was primarily split between two main storylines – Sean and Vicky attempting to stop the release of the Spanish flu into a mall, and Simon and Sterling’s attempt to get Martinez an antidote. Sophia was kind of poised between the two, carefully watching the progress of her mall experiment while delightfully hamstringing now President Jarvis, all while seeming really torn up about the whole thing. Of the two I liked the former more than I did the latter.

Sean and Vicky, who have had a few decent weeks in a row now, struggled a bit in this one. Their mall storyline ended up devolving into a series of action clichés. The central command station in the mall was pretty stupid, as was the whole gunshot followed by a couple seconds of silence so we wonder who got shot (somehow I guessed it would be the anonymous henchman). And why did the virus release mechanism need a timer? It’s not a bomb, and they already established that the NTBs were immune to the virus.

Sterling and Simon’s storyline was a lot better, primarily because Sterling showed off some of the smarts we all knew he had. I particularly liked the way they escaped from Sterling’s residence by calling the cops on the CIA assault team. It was kind of the exact opposite of all the problems with Sean and Vicky’s story this week.

That’s not to say it was perfect. I don’t think anyone was really fooled into believing the predator strike from Jarvis killed Sterling and Simon, nor do I think it was a huge surprise that the massive arrangement of flowers the First Lady was carrying was hiding the antidote. But I’m choosing to ignore those flaws, a) because it was pretty damn satisfying to watch Jarvis get his comeuppance, and b) because it finally puts an end to all those Martinez in a hospital bed scenes they keep forcing us to watch.

The episode ended with Sophia infecting Leila with the Spanish Flu. This was of course the moment I was talking about in my opening that NBC managed to ruin with a misguided preview. I’m not entirely convinced that they’re going to kill Leila off, but it would set things up for Sean and Vicky to finally hook up, which the writers have clearly been hinting at the last few episodes. Plus, it would eliminate a fairly boring character, so win win. It probably doesn’t matter anyway though. I don’t see this show getting renewed.

House – “The Fix” (B-)

I’m starting to get to the point now where the patient stories aren’t doing it for me anymore. It’s really no one’s fault, certainly not the writers. After 7 seasons there’s just not a lot of ways they can surprise me anymore. Almost everything has already been done, and done to death. And honestly, I think the writers realize this as well. This week we got a double dose of patient stories. One encapsulated exactly what I just mentioned, the other was a surprisingly fresh take on the familiar formula.

Of the two patients I found the weapons manufacturer to be the most disappointing. I’ve seen the poisoning storyline before on this show, and nothing that came before that resolution was really all that inspiring. They barely even acknowledged the patient’s experience, tossing away a few throwaway lines about her occupation and then largely ignoring her for the rest of the episode.

House’s story with the boxer on the other hand was much more entertaining. It was funny, largely because House’s reason for wanting to help him was purely selfish (he lost a bet to Wilson), and far more interesting, because this patient was a reluctant participant in House’s diagnosis. House’s lack of access, both to hospital resources and the patient, raised the stakes each time he tried to make a diagnosis and kept the whole story feeling fresh.This is the kind of creativity the writers need to employ to give the traditional patient story a boost.

The real development in this episode though was House’s use of an experimental drug that regrows muscle tissue. My guess is that House’s leg experiment will end up playing some part in the season finale. With the episode ending on the ominous shot of a dead mouse that was on the drug, it’s not too far of a stretch he’ll end the season as patient instead of a doctor. I’d certainly watch that.