HIMYM – Heavens to Gretsky, that was a real Chiclet rattler

After searching for the long lost Slutty Pumpkin for ten years, Ted has finally found her. Did the fateful meeting live up to his expectations (and should the writers and audience take something away from Ted’s lesson as well?). In other news, Barney is a quarter Canadian, and Lily’s grandparents give her and Marshall a house (a house … I’ve got to marry a woman who’s grandparents will give her a house). I loved the idea of Barney being part-Canadian, but the story of this episode has to be Ted’s Slutty Pumpkin.

The first season of How I Met Your Mother started the tradition of giving audiences small mysteries to chew on that were secondary to the overall plot of the show. For the hard-core fan, they have developed into a lot of fun over the years: The Slap Bet, the Goat, the Pineapple Incident, and the original: The Slutty Pumpkin. The downside to these stories, though, is if left to linger, often times the denouement doesn’t live up to the lead-up of the story in the first place.

Thus is the lesson Ted learned when he finally met Naomi, the Slutty Pumpkin. He had ten long years to build up the Pumpkin in his memory – there was absolutely no way that the actual could live up to the memory. The discovery of how wrong they were for each other did lead to some good times, though. I enjoyed the reveals at the end of the episode, when Naomi explained her perspective of their relationship — especially making “One Week” their song. Who doesn’t enjoy a good Barenaked Ladies reference, and Holmes was hilarious singing it. Overall, however, the episode did not live up to the promise made all the way back in the sixth episode of the series.

The bigger question is whether or not the deeper lesson to be learned isn’t Ted’s, but the writers of the show … or, perhaps even the audience that clamors for answers every waking moment. Should the writers see this storyline fall flat and take that as a cautionary tale against doing another Pineapple Incident story? Or, perhaps, were they doing one of those “one the other, other, other hand” subliminal things to the audience? Considering how fans (including this one) have spent so much time complaining about still not having met the titular mother, maybe we should step back and enjoy the ride.

And as long as that ride includes Barney and Robin, I’m not going anywhere soon. I’m not so sure that Facebook is as passé as Barney claims, as it certainly led to Robin discerning a crucial piece of Barney’s heritage. Considering all of the Canada jokes he’s made over the years, it is only fair that Robin gets her “turnabout is fair play” moment. He got the last laugh, though … Apollo Creed style. Though, I’m not sure Robin would have caught that particular joke.

I feel like talking about Lily and Marshall’s story might be venturing onto thin ice for me (and, well any male). As I’ve said before, I’ve never enjoyed the tribulations that the couple are going through as they prepare for their first child, so I’m not sure how accurate Pregnancy Brain is (and I feel like if I speculated, I might cross some line that men just aren’t supposed to cross). All I know is this: there’s no way that Lily would ever want to move to the suburbs, no matter how off her game she was. Her DNA is so imbedded with being a New York City girl; it was almost tough to follow at all.

Independent of all things How I Met Your Mother, I’ve got to say: I thought Katie Holmes did a great job as Naomi. I think she catches a lot of flak as an actress, something I’ve never quite understood. And she actually had some nice chemistry with Josh Radnor. I’m beginning to get a little worried, though.  How I Met Your Mother is going to run out of talent in Hollywood by the time they actually have to cast the mother.

Notes & Quotes

• “No. It’s not true! That’s impossible!” – Barney, riffing some Luke Skywalker like its his job
• “Her brain is marinating in a cocktail of hormones, mood swing and jacked-up nesting instincts. I mean, yes, right now, Lily is a goddess, bestowing the miracle of life. But damn she dumb.” – Robin
• In case you had forgotten, Barney is still wearing the Duck Tie
• “Hey dofuss. It’s me, you at age 15. And we made a deal [points to paper] we would always boink any chick that wants to boink us.” – 15 Year old Ted
• A top loading VCR Ted? Really? Really?
• “Though you do realize that, even ten years ago, the hanging chad reference was almost a year old.” – Niomi
• Who doesn’t love a good Rocky reference?!?
• “At first there was too much eye contact, then not enough. Where do you look during sex?” – Ted
  “Into the hidden camera at future me watching it.” – Barney
• Classic Schmosby!
• Loved the American Barney vs. Canadian Barney smackdown!

Clacked by Ivey West
on Oct 31, 2011 @ 21:43 EST5EDT