How I Met Your Mother – “The Window”

HIMYM has been a little up and down this season. They’ve been trying pretty hard to stay close to their devoted fan base while also trying to capitalize on Neil Patrick Harris’ suddenly massive popularity, so there’s been a mix of good and bad. Last night’s episode, “The Window,” felt like a fifth season refresher for anyone who’s new to the show. As a result there were moments that were classic HIMYM, but some that were intended to give new viewers the gist of the show.

The big thing that the episode seemed to want to re-establish was the central premise of the series: Ted is looking for his soul mate. So far, only one other episode this season has featured Ted on a date, the rest focusing on the Robin-Barney relationship and Marshall and Lilly. The title of the episode refers to the incredibly small amount of time Ted had to finally get with Maggie, a girl he’s had a crush on since college, but who rebounds so quickly from relationships that Ted has never had the opportunity to ask her out himself. Ted finally has a date, but unfortunately, it’s at the same time as his class (oh yeah! he’s a professor!). He leaves her under the supervision of Marshall and Lilly, but they need to hand her off to Robin, who runs interference against Maggie’s co-worker, leaving Maggie with an overalls wearing Barney (more on that in a second). After getting encouragement from his class, Ted ends up in a three-way race with Barney and Maggie’s co-worker to her apartment to see who can ask her out first. By the time they get there though, Maggie has reconnected with her childhood sweetheart, her soul mate, and Ted is left again without a mother for his children.

Meanwhile, Marshall was reconnecting with his 15-year-old due to a note he found in a box sent from his mother. At least once a season, there’s a point where Marshall is reminded that his dream was to save the environment, followed by a sulking period before acceptance. Not to say this is bad, it’s just a recurring plot that continually frustrates him, which I actually like. Eventually, we’ll see Marshall finally take that job, and this is just part of the process of getting there. 15-year-old Marshall? Hilarious. Jason Segal is one of the gems of this show, and whenever we seem him as a teenager is Minnesota, I always get a few laughs out of it. In the meantime, he’s got a whole bunch of old stuff, including his overalls, which Barney wore in a challenge to pick up a woman wearing them. There wasn’t much of Barney last night, but it’s good that he doesn’t always need to dominate the episode for it to work.

So the plot was pretty good and the jokes were solid, but like I said, last night felt like an episode you see late in the first season or at the start of the second season to get new viewers into the show. “The Window” had a lot of HIMYM trademarks which were enjoyable, but something seemed just a bit off all the way through. Because I’ve been a long time HIMYM fan, I feel I can let that slide a little bit, but as we move towards Episode 100, where series creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas have said a big Mother Event is going to happen, I hope that the show jumps back on track fully.

Other Notes:
- Cobie Smulders is so good on this show. Robin’s distraction of Maggie’s co-worker was absolutely hilarious.
- Speaking of Cobie, her Se7en bit in the opening was probably my favorite part of the episode.
- Future Marshall: priceless.
- Adding Grizzly Bear was a nice touch.

Michael’s Score: 75

Tangled Up in Wires Grade: B