INTERVIEW AND ADVANCE REVIEW: How I Met Your Mother 100th Episode: Carter Bays and Craig Thomas talk milestone

The 100th episode of How I Met Your Mother (airing tonight!) titled “Girls vs. Suits” is one of the best episodes of the show’s 5 year run. It packs a lot of punches, including a musical number I had to re-watch 5 times (and subsequently get stuck in my head all the time), and many amazing guest stars. Tim Gunn, Rachel Bilson, and Stacey Kiebler, to be exact, who all play a role in what Carter Bays and Craig Thomas call a “celebration for the fans.”

The episode centers around Ted meeting a girl at the University where he teaches (Rachel Bilson), who we think could be the mother. And Barney wants to be with the new hot McLaren’s bartender (Stacy Keibler), but she hates Wall Street guys in suits. He has to grapple with his suit addiction (one can call it that I think), and decide between the girl and the suit.

This is the first episode where get a really big glimpse as to who the mother is. We don’t ever see her, but we somehow get to know her much better than we had in episodes 1-99. How I Met Your Mother is a comedy with a great deal of heart, and this episode showcases that in an incredible way. Ted reveals some memories about the mother, we see a relic from her past…and we come to understand more of what Ted’s love life is in the future. And then there’s the musical number. You have to wait all of 21 minutes to see it (it’s at the end of the episode), but Neil Patrick Harris can do anything, including singing on top of a taxi cab. We knew he could sing and dance but he really takes it to another level. And each cast member plays a part in this amazing suit-centric song. My guess is you’ll be humming it for the next week…it’s that good. I recently chatted with Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, the brilliant creators of the show about the 100th episode, what we can expect in the 2nd half of the season, what their favorite episodes have been so far, and the aforementioned ever-so-talented NPH.

What kinds of highlights we can expect in the 100th episode?

Craig: Boy, there’s a lot — this is about the most we’ve packed in to 20 minutes and change, and that’s saying a lot. I think one of our season finales had like 83 different scenes, and while I don’t think this matches as many scenes, this is just about the most bursting-at-the-seams episodes we’ve ever done. We feel like everybody in the cast gets something fun, but the two big stories are a Ted story and a Barney story. Ted’s story is he meets someone at his university who may or may not be the mother. And I think it’s going to be a real kind of edge of your seat–oh my gosh–is this her? Has it taken 100 episodes to get here and we’re finally here…you know, I can’t say too much about that one, because I will be shot and killed by both network and studio but it’s really great. Rachel Bilson plays the part of the girl in question, and she’s fantastic. So yeah, we have several kind of fun cameos in the episode–we have Rachel Bilson, we have Tim Gunn and we have Stacy Keibler. Tim Gunn and Stacy Keibler factor into the other big story of the episode which is a big Barney story. Barney’s been with almost every type of woman in the world–every type of profession, size or shape of woman except one feather he does not yet have is a hot bartender. McLaren’s has hired a new hot bartender, played by Stacy Keibler, and Barney is driven insane–he must get this girl. It’s driven him nuts that he never got to notch that one off–the hot bartender. So Barney’s job in the episode is the pursuit of this girl, and the curveball is that it turns out she’s dated a lot of jerky Wall Street guys, and she hates guys in suits. So Barney, in his passion to try and land this girl, vows that he’ll give up suits, and it turns out to be sort of like a heroin addict deciding “okay no more of that stuff, I’m done with the heroine,” and it turns out to be pretty tricky. And Barney is faced with this horrible, horrible, horrible question — a girl, or my suits. And that’s a question no man should ever have to be faced with, especially Barney Stinson.

Did the success of Glee have anything to do with your decision to do a musical episode now?

Carter: Craig and I are huge music fans and we love making music. Our creative partnership began in a band, and so music has been something that has always been on the back burner for us for this show–we always wanted to do it–we’ve got two terrific Broadway song and dance men in the cast in Josh Radnor and Neil Patrcik Harris. We’ve got Cobie, who obviously made her mark as Robin Sparkles, and Jason obviously–he writes music for his movies. Music is a big part of the show, whether we’ve actually seen it or not. And we’ve done people singing on the show before but it’s sort of felt like this is the time — as fans of the big splashing movie/musical, we sort of felt like number 100 was a good time to make our foray into that. I think would Pam, our director, would probably kill us if we did it too often. But it feels like something — now that we’ve gotten our feet wet, we’d love to do it again. As fans of Glee, and that show has definitely made it clear that you can do a fun movie/musical type thing on television.

Craig: And ironically enough per your question, the musical number in episode 100 was choreographed by Zach Woodley, the choreographer from Glee, and he did a phenomenal job working with Neil Patrick Harris and our cast and about 65 dancers in suits who all showed up at around 5 in the morning so Zach could kind of put this choreography on them in the dark, before we started rolling at the crack of daylight. It was a pretty impressive feat to watch, it did kind of cross paths with Glee in kind of a fun way.

Carter: And I think we like to challenge ourselves, and do things that are a little bit dangerous. There was a fun moment shooting this where Neil jumps up onto a cab. And there were a few moments where he jumps up onto the cab and does a spin and sings and it’s all in one shot, and there were a few moments on that spin, where it felt like it was like wait, is this maybe the end of the show? Is he going to fall off this cab and that will be it?

Craig: Neil’s incredibly graceful, he just amazing at nailing continuity take-to-take in any scene. But there was a little moment or two, when his shoes were a little slide-y on the top of this cab and we were watching the monitor…

Carter: You realize how fragile a TV show can be.

Craig: Carter and I happened to be watching the monitor with Gary Newman and Dana Walden the presidents of the studio, and you just saw their hearts leap up into their mouths, as one of their stars took a little slide on the top of this cab, treacherously to the edge of the roof, of course being Neil, he righted himself and nailed it. But of course there was this little moment of oh well, 100 episodes, we made it, that’s great, now Neil will die, Neil’s going to land on his head and die. We can’t complain. But it all came out well. Suffice it today, that’s not the final take we used that you’ll see Monday night.

REVIEW: Glee: “Sectionals”

Wow. Just wow. Last night’s fall finale of Glee, titled “Sectionals,” was one of the most perfect mid-season finales (or season finales for that matter) I have seen in a very long time. I can’t say this enough, but Ryan Murphy and his creative team are truly brilliant. The episode centers around the Glee Club’s trip to Sectionals. Since Mr. Schuester couldn’t take them, Emma (Miss Pillsbury) volunteers, and pushes back her wedding. However, their trip to Sectionals is not without problems. Mercedes revealed to all of the Glee Club (minus Rachel) that Puck is the father of Quinn’s baby, and then Rachel gets suspicious. She spills it to Finn, who storms out and leaves everyone to scramble.

When the Glee Club arrives at Sectionals (with Jacob filling in for Finn), they draw the last spot and have to watch the other schools go first. It is quickly evident that Sue leaked their set list, and they can’t sing the songs they were planning on doing all along. (Eve’s group even did the wheelchair number!) Rachel calls an emergency meeting, where Mercedes gives the ballad over to her. Earlier in the episode, Mercedes sings I Am Telling You (I’m Not Going) from Dreamgirls, and I will admit I shed a tear (and my heart melted a bit). So Mercedes was all set to sing the ballad, but admits that Rachel should sing it and she is their shot to win. Rachel steps up and says she has something she’s been working on since she was four. Meanwhile, Mr. Schue runs into Finn at school and “leaves his keys” for Finn to show up at Sectionals. He shows up, song in hand, and they start rehearsing. It is finally showtime, and Emma holds up the phone for Schue to listen to the Glee Club perform.

The Glee Club opens with Rachel singing “Don’t Rain on my Parade” as the ballad portion. I could talk for days about Lea Michele’s talent. This number was jaw-dropping, tear inducing, and just amazing. She knocks it out of the park with anything, but ballads are clearly her forte. When I saw her sing at the True Colors Cabaret Night, her show-stopper was a ballad she sang. As much as I love all the other Glee cast sharing the spotlight with Lea, this was her moment to shine, and she nailed it (times 1,000).

After her ballad, Rachel introduces the rest of the Glee Club, and they sing “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” which was really great. Meanwhile, Mr. Schue comes home to Terri, who says she’s in therapy and wants to work on their relationship. He leaves without saying much to go to Emma and Ken’s wedding. When he arrives, Emma is sitting by herself. She explains that taking the kids to Sectionals was the last straw for Ken, and that she did it for him and not the kids. He tries to stop her from going but this show isn’t going to tie up everything in a pretty bow. Emma declares that he just left his wife, she put in her resignation, and then leaves.

The best scene of the episode, and best musical number comes at the end. The show didn’t tell you who won Sectionals until the last scene when the Glee Club shows Mr. Schue the trophy. They then declare that they prepared a musical number for him. “My Life Would Suck Without You” is one of my favorite Kelly Clarkson songs, and dare I say it that Glee’s rendition was just as good. But it wasn’t just the singing (led by Lea Michele) that was amazing. They incorporated an entire season of performances into that musical number. They did the dances from Push It, Single Ladies, Crazy In Love, and everything in between. During the performance, Mr. Schue clearly realizes he can’t let Emma go. He runs down the hallway to find her and looks in her office but she (along with all her stuff) is gone. This was such a perfect subtle moment. They can’t just run to each other’s arms, we have to want it so badly it hurts. He spots Emma down the hallway, goes to her, and finally kisses her. The look on Emma’s face after this kiss was a whole season of angst let go: finally she had gotten her dream man. When I spoke with Jayma a couple weeks ago, she clearly couldn’t reveal this wonderful moment, but in her subtext, I could see she was rooting for her and Will (even if she couldn’t say it). The kiss ended the episode, and what a perfect episode it was.

After a (half) season of drama, not getting along, and pregnancies–the Glee Club all came together. Sue gets fired for leaking the set list, Schue gets reinstated as the Glee Club director, and justice has been served. But what makes this show truly a cut above the rest is that there is always a bumpy road along the way, but when it all comes down to it, Ryan Murphy knows what the fans want, and he gives it to them. I haven’t read anything thus far that said anything negative about this episode…because there isn’t anything. I have watched the last scene approximately 10 times since writing this, and it’s so subtle and wonderful. Finn may have been frustrated and angry with Quinn and Puck, but he knew he had to support the Glee Club. Even Santana admitted that she loves Glee Club, and it’s the best part of her day. Now one could say where do they go from here now that they all get along and support each other and Emma and Will are together. But there is a long road to Regionals ahead. Jonathan Groff will be heading up their competition Vocal Adrenaline, there is much more to the Terri/Will relationship, we need to meet Rachel’s two dads, and Emma and Will aren’t just going to have a perfect relationship. I’d also kind of like to see the Ken backlash. Will he be around in the back 9? I imagine so, but who knows. And whatever way Sue is going to find to be reinstated is bound to be hilarious and wonderful.

Glee, I applaud you. (In fact, during last night’s episode, I may have given Lea Michele a standing ovation–yes, I am aware it’s just TV). You have done for me what no other show has done in a very long time, in that I am excited every week to see what comes next. You have combined music, dancing, talent, drama, comedy in an innovative way that has truly never been done before. It is going to be a long time until April, but I will be re-watching the episodes to prepare (and fill the void), and listening to all the wonderful music. If the back 9 is anything like the first 13 episodes (which I’m sure it will be), there is a lot to be excited about. I recently read this article in New York Magazine about how TV is an art form (and has become one in the last decade or so). If anything proves this thesis, it is absolutely Glee. It was a wonderful end to an absolutely amazing half season.

And I know my Glee reviews haven’t had great videos lately, so I hope all of these make up for it! I know you want to watch them over and over again, because I sure have: (I can’t even pick my favorite quotes of the episode, because it was all so good).

I Am Telling You (I’m Not Going):

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Don’t Rain On My Parade:

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You Can’t Always Get What You Want:

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My Life Would Suck Without You:

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REVIEW: Glee: Mattress

Sorry that this post is very delayed. I was attending a Glee event! Amber Riley, Cory Monteith, and Mark Salling were all at Bryant Park doing “Carol-Oke” raising awareness for Toys for Tots. Sadly, they didn’t sing any carols, but I did get the chance to interview all three of them! I have some exciting Glee scoop and info including what Amber wants to sing on Glee, what Cory wants to see from his character, and what Mark’s most challenging part of filming is…but I’ll post all of that next week for the Fall Finale!

But anyway, let’s talk last night’s episode of Glee! The episode, titled Mattress, centered around the Glee Club preparing for sectionals, and their photo in the yearbook. In previous years, their photo has been defaced, and this year it looked like Glee was not going to get a picture after all. The Club seems more than okay with this (Kurt points out some hilarious de-facings). But Mr. Schue decides that Glee should have a photo, and has to fight Figgins and Sue. The Glee club settles on a compromise, and elects Rachel to be the “captain” and represent the club in the yearbook. Rachel gets Finn to agree to be her co-captain, but after being hassled by the football team Finn doesn’t show up. During Rachel’s photo session, she learns that the photographer is going to direct and cast a local commercial. She decides that this would be a great way for the Glee club to look cool (and earn some yearbook/street cred) and they shoot a music video for the commercial. They sing “Jump,” by Van Halen while flipping and jumping on the mattresses. I really loved this musical number. It’s great to see them just having fun and being themselves–no drama or slushees. Meanwhile, Quinn is determined to get back on the Cheerio squad (and into the yearbook photo), and she ends up saving the day. After the commercial, the mattress store sends all the kids mattresses. Mr. Schue ends up sleeping on one (more on that later), thereby disqualifying the Glee Club from sectionals because they accepted a gift (and forfeited their amateur status). Quinn goes to Sue (uniform and baby bump and all) and threatens to tell Principal Figgins about all the gifts all the Cheerios received. She insists that Glee got their own full page picture (one of the Cheerios pages), free of charge. After she gets what she wants, she declares she doesn’t want to be on Cheerios anyway. I really enjoyed Quinn sticking up for herself. She is turning into such a wonderful, well-developed character.

However, the most memorable storyline of this episode wasn’t the whole yearbook fiasco. This episode was Jessalyn Gilsig’s (Terri Schuester) chance to shine. I interviewed her last month, and she was delightful. I was thrilled to see her get her big scene, even if it was very upsetting to watch. Mr. Schuester, while looking for his pocket squares, stumbles upon one of Terri’s baby pads (what she has been using to make her look pregnant). He asks her what it is and discovers by looking for himself that Terri isn’t actually pregnant. I could see the despair in both Will and Terri’s eyes, and it was such a poignant moment. Terri was vulnerable, scared and unsure, and you could say the same about Will. He was duped, but he still loves Terri. She did what she had to in order to hold onto her relationship, but this moment had to come. It wouldn’t be Glee (or realistic) if Quinn just handed her baby over to Terri and everything worked out fine. Moments like these are what keeps Glee grounded. Will didn’t break out into song (and sadly neither did Terri–Jessalyn, we’ll get you your solo!) or do anything cliched. It was just a real moment, full of real emotions. It was brilliant acting on the part of Jessalyn Gilsig and Matthew Morrison. And while I was always sort of rooting for Emma and Will all along, I don’t think Terri and Will are over. Many bloggers and critics alike had expressed that they didn’t like or find the need for Terri’s character. I feel quite differently. I thought this was one of the best moments from the show so far this season, because it was so honest and adds a lot to Will’s character. If he had a perfect home life, he wouldn’t be as interesting or unique of a character.

And I have said this much without talking much about the music. “Smile” by Lily Allen is such a wonderful song, and I was so glad to hear Lea Michele and Cory Monteith sing it. Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile” is also great (and another tear inducing number), that ended the show quite nicely. Schuester said because he was the only one who accepted a gift (by sleeping on one of the mattresses because of his home troubles), he won’t go to sectionals so the Glee Club can still compete. I was sad there weren’t more musical numbers, but I hear that next week’s show more than makes up for it. I don’t even want to think about the fact that next week is the last episode until April, so I’ll just continue to appreciate Glee for all it is. I would have to disagree with the assertion that it has become over-rated. I love it, and I’m not afraid to say it. Every episode can’t be “Wheels” or full of Kurt dancing to Beyonce, but every episode has its great moments, and its even greater musical numbers.

Quotes of the Episode:

“While they were in there, I told ’em to go ahead and yank out those tear ducts. Wasn’t usin’ ’em.” -Sue Sylvester

“Aside from nudity and the exploitation of animals, I’ll pretty much do anything to break into the business.” -Rachel

And because I know you want to listen to it over and over, here is Smile (Charlie Chaplin version):

REVIEW: Glee: “Hairography”

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Even though it’s a holiday, over here at the TV Chick, I can’t neglect one of my favorite shows. And since Glee will be on hiatus in a couple of weeks (after the next 2 episodes, it’s not coming back until April), I need to get in all the Glee thoughts I can.

Last night’s episode centered around the Glee Club getting ready for sectionals. Mr. Schuester thought that Sue was leaking his set list to his competitors. Schue goes over to the schools to ask if they are spying, and finds out both are very unique glee clubs. Eve guest stars as the director of one of the clubs at an urban school for girls, and since they have no auditorium or facilities to practice in, Schue invites them to have a scrimmage. They perform “Bootylicious” (it was a Beyonce sort of night), and use hairography (crazy shaking of your hair) to distract from their actual performance. It freaks Schuester out however, and he decides that his Glee club needs to use hairography. They perform a mashup of “Crazy in Love” and the title song from the musical “Hair.”

Meanwhile, another theme of the episode is distraction. Quinn asks Kurt to makeover Rachel, so Finn will be distracted. She wants to “test drive” Puck to see if maybe she wants to be with him. Kurt, who as we know is in love with Finn, does a completely ridiculous makeover on Rachel (possibly the same outfit Olivia Newton John wore in Grease–but if we learned anything from that movie, isn’t it that they both need to meet in the middle?) He wants to sabotage her chances at Finn, but in the end, they both realize they don’t stand a chance with him.

Also, Terri decides to distract Mr. Schuester by getting him a new car to work on while she figures out what to do with the whole baby situation. Terri’s sister tells her that Quinn should babysit for her crazy kids so that she will definitely want to give up the baby. Quinn asks Puck to babysit with her, and despite his constant texting, they come to the realization that they can be good parents. In the middle of babysitting, Quinn decides to distract the kids by showing them a live music video. Puck plays the guitar and Quinn sings “Papa Don’t Preach.” Not only is this song fitting, but I thought again it gave Dianna Agron a great chance to shine. She has an amazing voice (all the Glee kids do), and one thing I love about this show is that while we will (and want to) hear Lea Michele solos and Matthew Morrison belt it out, everyone gets their moments in the spotlight. In the end, Quinn finds out Puck was actually sexting (with Santana), and decides that she is still in love with Finn. She tells Terri she can have the baby, because she wants it to have a good father.

At the end, the Haverford School for the Deaf (the other competition) comes to scrimmage with Glee. They start to sing/sign “Imagine,” by the Beatles and it is incredibly touching. Slowly, Mercedes joins in, and then Artie, and then the entire Glee club. They clearly learned how to sign this song and it just showed such togetherness. A School for the Deaf having a show choir could have been a big joke (and there were some funny moments with their Glee Club director being partially deaf), but instead it was this wonderful display of compassion and understanding. I am getting chills just writing about it, and it would be a big lie if I said I did not shed a few tears. Oh Glee, you get me every time.

After seeing this performance, Schuester decides that his Glee Club doesn’t need hairography. He adds a number that is just them, sitting on stools, singing True Colors. This is one of my favorite songs, and one of my favorite moments from the episode. Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz) gets the big solo, which is great, and the song really wraps up the episode so nicely. Forget the drama, the slushees, the makeover sabotage, they are all friends and working towards the same goal.

But true to Sue Sylvester’s colors (see what I did there?), we see her talking to the directors of the competition, and telling them they should split the songs between them, and she’ll make sure her Glee Club performs last. Eve says she is always trying to teach her girls not to steal and cheat, and she won’t set a bad example. The other director just can’t hear Sue.

The only thing I thought was missing from this otherwise absolutely fantastic episode was a few more songs. I miss the solos (I was hoping Kurt might have another one). I also know that not everyone is a big fan of Terri, and this episode had a lot of her. I personally think she’s great. I think she adds a bit of hilarity to the show and also, I want to know what happens with the baby and her marriage. Mr. Schuester wouldn’t be the same guy if he didn’t have Terri in his life, and I think she adds a good dynamic to the show. The stars are the Glee kids, and I think most every episode showcases them beautifully, but sometimes you need a dash of others in there as well.

In any case, I can’t wait to see what sectionals bring and what other musical numbers come about. I am ridiculously sad that there are only 2 episodes left until the show takes a hiatus until April, but I will just have to fill my Glee void with the music!

Quotes of the episode:

“She manages to dress like a grandmother and a toddler at the same time.” -Kurt about Rachel

“It’s like cool epilepsy.” -Brittany about Hairography

And because I know you love the music as much as I do, here is Quinn and Puck’s performance of Papa Don’t Preach:

 

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REVIEW: Glee: “Ballad”

I can’t promise that I will not have 1,000+ words to say about this week’s episode of Glee, because I just love the show so much. This week’s episode, titled “Ballad” centered around the Glee club learning ballads to sing to their partners. Mr. Schuester explains that ballads say in song what you can’t express in words. Rachel chooses Mr. Schuester (they pick names out of a hat) which results in her falling for him (if only for an episode). We also learn about Susie Pepper who fell in love with Schue in the past. I absolutely adored Lea Michele and Matthew Morrison’s rendition of Endless Love, but this storyline might have been the only one I wasn’t quite as enthusiastic about. The rest of the pairs were brilliant: Mercedes and Puck, Finn and Kurt, and Quinn and Artie are the ones that stand out in my head.

When Finn and Kurt pair together, Finn reveals his anxieties about Quinn and the baby. Kurt reveals his love/crush (albeit silently) for Finn, and helps him express his feelings through song. Finn chooses “I’ll Stand By You,” for his ballad while he sings to the sonogram of “his” baby. Kurt chooses to sing “I Honestly Love You,” but we don’t get to hear it because the entire Glee Club has decided to sing a ballad to Finn and Quinn. I’ll talk more about that later.

Mercedes and Puck get together to sing and Puck reveals that he’s actually Quinn’s baby’s father. It’s only a matter of time before the rest of the Glee club finds out. But Mercedes makes a good distinction between a baby daddy and a baby’s father. I still think that if Puck wants to step up, he should and can be a father. But the whole Quinn pregnancy is a mess. Later on in the episode, Finn goes over to Quinn’s house for dinner and decides to sing a ballad to her to express his feelings (and break the news to her unknowing parents). He had practiced with Kurt, and calls him in the bathroom for moral support. (One of the best lines of the night was: “I have to go, they’ll think I’m pooping”) After Finn talks to Kurt, he belts out “You’re Having My Baby,” to Quinn. Quinn’s father (who they set up to be this Conservative, Glenn Beck loving curmudgeon) gets angry and kicks his daughter (and Finn) out of the house. There haven’t been many moments where Quinn (played by the lovely Dianna Agron) is given a chance to shine. Most of the time we see her pairing up with Sue in a Cheerios outfit trying to take down Glee. This scene was really emotional, and Dianna played it so well. It was incredibly heart wrenching and realistic. With last week’s rollercoaster of emotions episode, you run the risk of turning it into a sadder show than it is, but I think that this episode had just the perfect amount of emotion paired with comedy with a dash of Kurt. In the last scene, the Glee club sings to Quinn and Finn “Lean on Me,” and yes, I will admit, I shed a few tears.

I love every episode of Glee. To me, this season has been truly perfect so far. This episode may not have been a stand out favorite of mine, but ballads are always great, especially from this talented cast. I liked that the Glee Club came together to support their friends, and it shows that the show might be full of slushees and drama, but it has a lot of heart. Another one of my favorite moments which I didn’t touch upon before was when Mr. Schuester sings to Rachel to try and get her to understand it’s inappropriate to have a crush on him. He sings a mashup of “Young Girl” and “Don’t Stand So Close To Me,” while she and Emma watch. At the end, they both have fallen for him even harder. It was one of those moments that I just thought was so clever and creative. Of course Emma, who wants to help Mr. Schuester with this little problem, would just end up lusting after him. Clearly, I can’t wait to see what happens with the numerous love triangles. I just don’t know how I’m going to manage when the first 13 episodes have finished and I have to wait for the back 9. I’ll probably just have to have a Glee marathon. Whew, I did it in about 800 words. You. Are. Welcome.

Favorite quotes of the episode:

“Ballad, from the English word Ballad. Who knows what this means?” -Mr. Schuester
“It’s a male duck.” -Brittany

“I hope I don’t have to sing to the duck.” -Brittany

“It means I’m very young, and you’re afraid to stand close to me.” -Rachel

And here is the Glee cast’s performance of Lean On Me for your enjoyment:

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REVIEW: How I Met Your Mother: “The Playbook”

Last night’s How I Met Your Mother, entitled The Playbook, centered around Barney’s antics after his breakup with Robin. Any episode that centers around Barney Stinson, has me hooked from the beginning. I’ve said before that I think he is one of the greatest characters on television (if not the greatest), and this episode truly featured him in the best way. Barney used The Playbook, which contained ridiculous ways of picking up girls, to well, you guessed it. It all started when Barney picked up a girl that was supposed to go out with Ted (Lily was setting them up). He used the “play” entitled Lorenzo Von Matterhorn, where he creates an internet celebrity persona and then gets the girl to look up his fake news stories and website, thus winning her over with his “celebrity.” Some other favorites were the “SNASA:” convincing a girl he was a part of “Secret NASA,” and he’s been to the smoon (secret moon), “The Ted Mosby:” where he goes up to a girl with a wedding ring and says he’s been left at the altar, the “Mrs. Stinsfire,” where he dresses up like Mrs. Doubtfire and becomes a house mother to a sorority, and the “He’s Not Coming,” where he goes to the top of the Empire State Building and says “He’s not coming,” to every girl until one actually believes him and seeks his comfort. While all of this playbook greatness is going on, Lily is trying to take away Barney’s playbook, because she thinks he can’t be up to his old ways anymore after his relationship with Robin. Meanwhile, Ted and Marshall pick on Robin, saying now that she’s not interested in a relationship and just “focused on her career,” she will be married in no time.

This episode may not have had a ton to forward the plot along, or find out who the mother is (but really, that may not really happen until the last episode), but The Playbook was pure brilliance. As HIMYM tends to do, I assume this will actually come out in book form sometime soon. The writers are just so creative and brilliant. The best play however, was not mentioned above, it was the final play, entitled The Scuba Diver. Barney had ripped this play out of The Playbook so the gang couldn’t read it. Ultimately it ended up that he planned/knew about the entire thing: that Lily stole the playbook, that she set the Empire State Building girl up, that she would try to interrupt the Scuba Diver “play” and that in the end, he would get the girl by voicing his non-existent insecurities. Basically, Barney Stinson is, and will forever remain, the player, and not the played.

I would have liked to see more Marshall in this episode, but I really love the way Barney has become such a strong character. Every episode, he truly pushes the boundaries, and it’s always hilarious. I still question whether Barney and Robin should have stayed together (although I feel like maybe another hookup is in their future), but I understand that the creative team needs Barney to stay true to himself. Eventually the player will settle down, but not quite yet…because we still need many more playbooks, bro codes, and lemon laws…you son of a beetch.

How I Met Your Mother airs on Monday nights at 8 pm on CBS.