How I Met Your Mother dropped a bomb on us at the end of its famous countdown last week: Marshall’s father suffered a fatal heart attack. Next week’s episode, “Last Words,” explores the aftermath of his death with the funeral and more.
Never fear, because the Powers That Be did a fine job in balancing the funny with the poignant. You’re not in for a downer of an episode … mostly because of Robin and the role she plays at funerals. I’ll say no more, just enjoy it.
The official description of “Last Words” is this:
The gang travels home to Minnesota with Marshall where Ted and Barney will stop at nothing to make Marshall laugh. Meanwhile, Marshall has an unfortunate meeting with an old high school bully that terrorized him throughout his youth.
One of my favorite parts of meeting the bully was seeing Danny Strong on my television set again Oh, how I have missed Buffy‘s little Jonathan. And I say little, because seeing him next to Marshall and all of his brothers made me turn to Keith and ask if he was sitting or standing.
Because Marshall’s dad died, it gets the rest of the cast thinking about their dads, which is why we get a chance to see Robin’s dad again, recast and played by Ray Wise. Did you not hear of the hullabaloo when Eric Braeden was asked back? He didn’t want to reprise his role when it was such a small part of the episode, so after Neil Patrick Harris called Braeden a D-bag on Twitter, the great Ray Wise stepped in. Now, Braeden really was the perfect douche to play Robin’s father, one of the douchiest on-screen dads to come along. I’m anxious to see Wise reprise the role sometime, because he played it well … only I think I love him too much to think of him as a flat-out douche; he’s a more lovable douche. Now this paragraph’s just getting weird. … Suffice it to say any time you can get Ray Wise, it is a coup of the highest degree.
We were asked as a collective group of pre-screeners not to reveal major plot points, especially the ending, and I want to respect that. But when you hear that there’s an ending not to be revealed, it makes you think that it’s going to be something really awesome. I’m not even going to tell you if it was awesome or not, but I will tell you the thought that immediately came to my mind as a possibility: Lily and Marshall are finally pregnant. Nope, we’ll still have to wait for that one.
All in all, this was a very well-done episode, handled with class, dignity and humor. The touching parts were very touching and so befitting of all of the characters we have come to love. I am pleased with the way the Powers That Be pulled this off, because it could have gone very, very badly.
Are you anxious to see how Marshall’s dad’s death is handled?
Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Jan 12, 2011 @ 12:30 EST5EDT
