Ted Mosby's romantic life took center stage as February sweeps kicked off for How I Met Your Mother. While Katy Perry garnered the headlines for her guest spot in "Oh Honey," the episode had little to do with Katy Perry's gullible character. The episode made a big leap forward in the Ted-Zoey relationship; however, the big leap felt rushed and even forced. Craig Thomas and Carter Bays broke a golden rule of storytelling tonight. Rather than show the developing love between the two characters, the writers had each major character tell the audience (and Marshall was a temporary stand-in for the audience) about the love that developed between Ted and Zoey.
The series spent more time on the two becoming friends than they did on the two becoming lovers. Ever since Jennifer Morrison arrived on the show, I knew her character would date Ted because Ted's arcs revolve around the women he dates, which they should considering the series is telling the story of how he met his children's mother and his former or current wife. Indeed, the progression of their romantic relationship should be interesting to watch. I doubt Zoey ends up as the mother since the show revealed that Ted meets the mother at a wedding. The relationship between Zoey and Ted might be a profound one on Ted's journey or it might waste time (and the series isn't afraid to waste time). If the relationship's handled as poorly as the coupling then UH-OH because Thomas and Bays conveniently made Zoey a single woman just in time for Ted's revelation that he loves this woman.
Now, the marriage between the Zoey and The Captain wasn't perfect. The museum episode featured a conversation between The Captain and Ted in which The Captain admitted that he regarded his wife well but he didn't completely love her. Zoey overheard this and, soon, she and Ted had their first meaningful conversation with one another in which he lifted her spirits and made her feel good. Later in the season, Ted and The Captain went for a late-night boat ride. Ted felt paranoid because he and Zoey spent alot of time together; however, The Captain didn't feel one iota of suspicion during he and Ted's night. In "Oh Honey," we learn that Zoey and The Captain will get a divorce.
Of course, it's not completely far-fetched to think that Zoey and The Captain had problems beforehand that we didn't know about. After all, Honey refuses to tell Marshall about the rough time Zoey's been having. Zoey's a private person. Each time we learned something about Zoey, that something was associated with something painful in her life like how she's an unloved wife. The series showed the progression of Ted's feelings from friendly to more-than-friendly as well. Zoey's the reason the romantic relationship feels forced because we simply didn't see this love for Ted develop. The significantly meaningful moments between the now-couple only occurred after she felt wounded by her husband or her husband's daughter. Maybe such wounds made the woman yearn for someone caring and devoted like Ted. We don't know because the series didn't bother to show Zoey's side of the story.
The narrator of "Oh Honey" shifted between Robin, Barney, Lily and Ted to keep the audience on its toes. The unreliable narrator can be a fantastic framing device for a story. When the unreliable narrator shifts, it's even better because the shift in perspective changes the story entirely and makes it deeper; however, the shifts in perspective feel tedious and unnecessary--the only entertaining shifts are from Barney and Honey because both share completely different experiences of their night together, and progress is made in Barney's search for his father. Overall, I enjoyed Robin's simple, matter-of-fact perspective as she updated Marshall. As soon as Lily become involved, the story became annoying nonsense. Ted told Zoey the two couldn't be friends because Lily hated her. Ted, obviously forgetful of Zoey's fragile emotional state because of the rejection she's gotten from those she loves, has no problem letting Zoey exist thinking that her new friends hate her. Blah.
Hopefully the Zoey-Ted stories become better now that they're a couple. "Oh Honey" mostly annoyed me, especially its rom-com inspired ending that just felt incredibly forced. Maybe people enjoyed the episode; however, I was among the minority who supported Zoey and Ted and the episode left a bad taste in my mouth so I doubt many loved "Oh Honey."
THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK
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