Tangled Up In Wires

Another week of HIMYM, another pop-star guest star. The fact that J. Lo has had success as a comedic actress in the past slightly reassured me though, and it turned out she was great as the author of a book titled Of Course You’re Still Single, Take A Look At Yourself, You Dumb Slut. “Of Course” had potential to be really bad for a lot of reasons, but turned out to be perhaps the funniest and sweetest episode of the season so far.

It all starts in typical HIMYM fashion: with Barney recovered from the Hudson by the police and asked to explain his story. You see, J. Lo’s Anita had hit on him all night, and when he finally took her back to his apartment, she instantly turns cold. Thanks to Ted having flipped through the aforementioned book (“it’s Robin’s!”), they discover she’s following its rules, being the book’s author. When she tells Barney they can only sleep together after seventeen dates. But we all know Barney, and we know he can’t wait that long, so Ted devises a scheme for Barney to take her on a Superdate, seventeen dates rolled into one. The date is introduced in a hilarious musical number that somehow fit perfectly, and was actually a bit better than the big number in “Girls vs. Suits.”

Meanwhile, Robin has been turning down dates with her co-host Don, much to Marshall’s surprise. Well Lilly enlightens him that it’s because Robin is still in her Mourning Period over Barney, all of it made worse not only by Barney’s exploits themselves, but the oblivious celebration of them by the three guys and their amazing “Bang, Bang, Bangity Bang” song, my new favorite HIMYM gag. Adding to it all is the fact that Robin had actually asked Anita to use her method on Barney after interviewing her on her show. So here is Robin, being mocked unknowingly by her friends and watching her plan to get even crumble as Barney takes Anita on the Superdate she never got.

When Barney finds out, he goes to Robin at the shooting range where he apologizes and turns more sincere than we’ve ever seen Barney. Not only does he apologize, he also promises not to sleep with Anita and turns over the Superdate to Robin and Don. So how did Barney end up in the Hudson? Well Anita, not used to hearing someone tell her “no,” threw a Hail Mary at him, and the only way he could avoid breaking his promise to Robin was getting far away and into the cold depths of the water.

It was a sweet ending for a storyline that ended abruptly and bitterly, and it was nice to see more between Robin and Barney. I’ve said all along that Cobie Smulders and NPH have some of the best chemistry on the show (I’d put Alyson Hannigan and Jason Segal first), and while we’d already seen an episode about Barney recovering from the break-up, we hadn’t had one of Robin.

“Of Course” was a solid episode that played to the strengths of both the show and its cast, and was a nice rebound from last week. Everything that didn’t work well in “Hooked” worked well in “Of Course,” but it had nothing to do with the guest star or the quality of the jokes, but rather the fact that “Hooked” was a story detached from its characters and instead a generic story that could have just as easily been done on any other CBS sitcom. “Of Course” was HIMYM at its best. Here’s hoping for more of the same!

Random Notes:

• Worth noting again, the “Bang” song and its escalation was absolutely hysterical.
• I love that no one believed Ted when he said the book wasn’t his, even when it turned out to actually be Robin’s.
• Is it just me, or has Lilly been a little quiet this season? I was hoping for more of her after Alyson Hannigan had her baby.
• J. Lo was actually pretty good. Her proposal to Barney (and Ted) at the end was really funny.
• Marshall punching the Stromtrooper helmet was awesome.
• Marshall’s nickname for Don: “D-bag.”

Michael’s Score: 85

TUIW Grade: A-