Yes, today is what The Blot likes to refer to as
How I Met Your Mother Tuesday at The Blot Says…
If last night’s episode of How I Met Your Mother ends up being the final episode of the season due to the Writer’s strike then the show definitely ended on a high note. I’d go so far as to say last night’s episode, “The Platinum Rule,” was the best episode of the season. Not necessarily because of how funny it was, but because of how the story was executed …it was just classic HIMYM.
Basically, it was one long 30 minute Barney-ism, so what’s not to love!?! Plus it felt like Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, the creators and writers of HIMYM, tried to fit in each character’s little nuances that fans of the show have come to love. It really had a little bit of everything while finally centering around the show’s central theme, Ted going on a date and possibly finding his future wife. From there the episode turned into one giant story from Barney, where Barney explains to Ted the Platinum Rule and the gang begs him not to date someone he will have to see again (or as it was put in the show “you never poop where you eat.”)
Barney explains to Ted, through a series of flashbacks, the 8 stages of dating someone you will be forced to see again: Attraction, Bargaining, Submission, Perks, Tipping Point, Purgatory, Confrontation, and Fallout. While shifting through time during an episode of HIMYM has long been a staple of the show, this might be the first time there have actually been flashbacks within flashbacks, which proved to be a pretty funny mechanism to move the story along. It was also a great way to show all of the gang’s previous mistakes in dating and inability to follow the Platinum Rule.
I think the episode was so great because not only did it walk us through everyone’s past dating mistakes, it also showed us the history of Lily’s hair styles/colors on the show (every season Lily has a new hair style and every year her red locks get darker and darker), another funny bit on Robin being Canadian, how once again Robin always ends up as “the guy” in a relationship, finally a comment from the gang on all of Barney’s made-up rules, the fact that Marshall is always eating in almost every scene he's in, and my personal favorite...Ted’s butterfly tramp stamp, which if it was removed, as Lily puts it, “how’s everyone gonna know you’re a stripper from Reno with daddy issues?"
This episode was chock full of great one liners and funny banter between the cast, proving once again why How I Met Your Mother is the best ensemble comedy on TV. If you’ve never seen an episode or missed a few from earlier in the season, now’s your chance to catch up on the third season as the show goes into reruns due to the WGA strike.
Also, remember nothing makes better stocking stuffers than the Season 1 and Season 2 box sets of How I Met Your Mother. The holiday season is a perfect time to gather the family around the TV and watch both DVD sets before Ted, Barney, Lily, Marshall and Robin come back with new episodes in the spring. You can find Season 1 here and Season 2 here.
