[/caption]I literally have nothing to write about besides How I Met Your Mother. Sure, I could've written about the first four episode of Luther or the season thus far of Boardwalk Empire or even the complete first season of Sherlock. Unfortunately, I've seen 1/3 of the first season of Sherlock. I could have written about The Walking Dead but the show has yet to capture my complete interest. Since I like to write a blog post every day, How I Met Your Mother sort of re-joins the weekly review rotation. How I Met Your Mother is sort of like Charlie Morton of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The show might get booted from the rotation for extended periods in hopes that they fix some problems in the minors but it'll find itself in the rotation again if a starter is hurt or September call-ups arrived. Consider this a spot start for How I Met Your Mother.
Last week, I complained about the lack of progress in any of the individual narratives as well as the repititiveness of Robin's arc with her annoying co-host. "Natural History" rectified most of the things that I complained about.
Ted continues to have a Zoey problem. She is a persistent girl who continues to fight for the survival of The Arcadian. Zoey took her issues with Ted and GNB into the OP/ED section of the New York Times. At first, one wonders how Zoey managed to get published in the New York Times and we soon learn that she is married to wealth and influence. Her husband, The Captain, can make it happen. She labels Ted and his friends "fat cats." Of course, the gang are fat cats in the episode as they attend a high society function at museum.
Imagine Ted's surprise when he spots Zoey at the same party/function. The two engage in their back and forth over The Arcadian and his job with GNB. He learns that she is married to the man paying for the entire evening. Ted and the Captain bond. Zoey secretly records Ted describing GNB as "weiners and gonades." Ted and the Captain have a conversation about Zoey. The Captain volunteers to erase the tape while Zoey sleeps but Ted respects the woman's belief and unwavering stance in what she believes in. The conversation makes it clear that her husband generally regards her in a favorable manner but he cares much more about his boat than her, and he's quite ignorant of her individual beliefs and causes. Zoey hears everything thanks to a plot device and she finds herself dancing with Ted, assuring him that she won't use the recorder against him, that she wants to beat him fair and square.
Ted and Zoey seemed poised to become something more than enemies. Ted might begin an affair with the married woman. Who knows. Many fans have made it clear that they have no interest in any of Ted's relationships unless it is with the mother. While I doubt Jennifer Morrison's Zoey will be the mother, I can deal with an extended arc with Zoey (mostly because of Jennifer Morrison). The arc has been somewhat sloppy thus far. Zoey has behaved in an extreme way in her pursuit to ruin Ted's reputation in hopes of saving an old building. She turned his class against him and wrote a scathing piece in which she slandered his character in a public forum. But this is a sitcom and the world of sitcom is different from reality for the pursuit of the almighty joke is the number one priority. Plus, Jennifer Morrison is gorgeous. I can't say that I would turn away either. Zoey and Ted's arc progressed nicely tonight.
Meanwhile, Lily had to deal with the truth that Marshall changed since college. Marshall admitted that he likes working for GNB and has since day one (wasn't there an episode in which he had trouble working for that company? Eh...it's a sitcom) which upset Lily. Eventually, Lily realized that Marshall as a person hasn't changed. He just makes more money than College Marshall dreamed of. Lily is quickly moving into the Worst Character list. The conflicts between Marshall and Lily feel forced. Someone should tell the writers that the couple doesn't need conflict to be interesting or engaging.
The Robin/Barney C story fell flat though the story existed solely to get to the scene in which Barney learns the identity of his father. The story fell flat because of the jokes and gags were terrible. The writers built the story around the idea that Barney must touch the "Do Not Touch" objects in the museum. Robin and Barney competed in a "Who Can Touch More Objects" game. The security guard brought the two into his office where he recounted the story of a 6 year old who took down a blue whale. Of course, the security guard had the incident on file and Barney was the 6 year old and his father was listed. Of all the places for Barney to learn about his father, it was from a security guard in a National History Museum. Are you kidding me?
Besides the Lily/Marshall story, I enjoyed the progression of Ted's arc and Barney's. The weakest part of the episode were the jokes like the whisper plot device and the "Do Not Touch" extended gag. Both were a lazy way to get to the emotional beats of the episode.
Overall, the episode worked. I enjoyed. I didn't regret the 20+ minutes I spent watching and that's all I ask from a television show: make the time worth it.
SCREENPLAY OF THE DAY
Breaking Bad--"Pilot"--Written By Vince Gilligan--http://www.leethomson.myzen.co.uk/Breaking_Bad_1x01.pdf
THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK
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