How I Met Your Mother: The Time Travelers (8x20)

Yes! This episode was awesome! If you read my review of last week's episode, you'll know that this show has been grating on my nerves lately. However, this episode was hilarious. It took a silly but creative premise and stuck with it. It didn't try to pull off too much in one short episode, and in my mind that makes it a success. Was it perfect? No. I had a few problems with the way they chose to do this episode, but none of the jokes fell too flat for me and over-all it was still fun to watch.

The idea of having the entire episode in the bar was great. It reminded me of the more simple set-ups of earlier episodes of this show, in a good way. The idea of future Teds and Barneys showing up was really great. (I was mildly distracted wondering why they hadn't aged, but it was a small nitpick). The set-up made for some great jokes, like Ted's horror when he thinks that the 20-years-from-now version of himself is still unmarried. Turns out, it was all a joke. It was a nice way to poke fun at the overblown suspense of who Ted will end up with.

There were some great jokes in the episode, too, like Barney's scalp-check with Ted, and Robin's nonchalant remark: "That's odd. A little early in the week for a scalp-check." Robin and Marhsall wanting to have a dance-off was funny too, especially with the reference to Marshall's dancer's hip. This show always makes me laugh with its throwback references. Robin's trick that trapped Marshall in the girl's bathroom was pretty great, as was her line: "I'm Sparkles, bitch!"

Another reference was the coat-check girl thing, although it felt really lame to put it out there and then do very little with it. We know that Ted is going to meet the girl at Barney and Robin's wedding, so why bother with another detour? It's getting a bit old.

The episode was really fun, but again another problem I had with it was the ending. It felt too cheesy for me to see Ted giving that sappy speech. I know that Ted is a sappy guy, but he's also a bit of an asshole, and sometimes the show does a poor job of balancing that out. However, it was exciting to have an exact countdown of when he'll meet the mother. Just 45 days from April 10th, when this episode took place. We're getting there!

8/10