How I Met Your Mother "46 Minutes" Review

I'm protective of Eastern Europe. Whereas the majority of Americans quiver in fear of Eastern Europe because filmmakers always used that part of the world as their setting for brutal gore-porn flicks, I see wonder and romance and impossibly attractive Slavic women. New Lily and New Marshall, two Eastern European stereotypes, were not thoughtfully developed. They were gritty, attended underground poker games in a shady part of New York City, and robbed our main characters of $200 each under the guise of the money being to get into the slaughterhouse party. Goodness gracious, though, not every Eastern European resembles the villains from a Liam Neeson action film. It is true that teachers abroad in Russia tell tales of the rude and unfriendly ways of native Russians, but perhaps we Americans are perceived as ignorant brutes who feel no need to learn another language. Maybe the Russians and the other Eastern Europeans throughout East. Europe, tired of assisting Americans in finding a bus station or ordering soup or assuming every Russian loves vodka (well Russians DO love vodka, as my former Russian language professor taught my class; she said vodka and water sound similar in Russian for a reason). Russians, in particular, have been portrayed as brainless brutes, no doubt caused by the years of strife between the USSR and the United States, but the times have changed. Russia's a radically different place, though it bears the scars of its communist past as any picture of urban Russia would prove; and when Slavic women come to the beaches of the East Coast to work in ice cream stands or pizza shops or IHOP or Bob Evans, my heart swells with anticipation and expectation that perhaps I'll meet the Slavic lady of my dreams, even if my hopes will be dashed, and my heart broken, because the Slavic gal will be unable to resist the temptations of a Bulgarian dressed way better than me, who has an encyclopedic knowledge of that weird European electronica group pulsing through floor in whatever random night club I decided to go to because of the Slavic gal's perfect cheekbones, infectious accent, and eyes like a twilight's winter sky.

So Lily and Marshall moved to the suburbs, 46 minutes away from the gang by train. The booth at McClaren's lacked a certain married couple. Ted, Robin and Barney were in a state of shock. Barney, of course, moved quickly to appoint himself the leader of the gang. The night took them to a strip club where they ran into doppelganger Lily and her hulking boyfriend. Barney immediately dubbed them new Lily and new Marshall. Ted spent the evening calling and leaving voicemails for Marshall and Lily because he missed his friends so much. Robin and Kevin were involved in early relationship stuff in which neither wanted to appear as the boring never-do-a-damn-thing person.

Meanwhile, Marshall and Lily were settling into their new home. Mickey hadn't left the city yet, so he assisted his daughter and son-in-law settle into their home. Mickey, though, struggled letting go of the house he used to live in. In each room, at each outlet, Mickey reminded Marshall about his experiences in the home. Eventually, Marshall tires of the overbearing father-in-law and orders him out the next day. Unfortunately, Marshall plugs a lamp into an outlet which causes the power to go out in the entire home. You see, Marshall chose not to listen to Mickey and paid for it. The story turned into a parody of Paranormal Activity and Gamemaster. There were funny bits throughout the story. Chris Elliott and Jason Segal are very funny individuals who will usually make something work even if it shouldn't (e.g. Elliott's entire role in Scary Movie 2). The heart of the story was cheesy (even the show poked fun at itself) about the importance of knowing one's home and one's family or something. Mickey just wanted to feel included, to belong; and Marshall just wanted to feel like a homeowner, his own man, not someone in the shadow of his wife's father. Both got what they wanted, and Mickey even created his only lucrative board game through the experience (as Future Ted informed us).

The Ted/Robin/Barney story was simple and effective. The empty booth at McClaren's represented the emptiness they felt with their friends in Long Island. There were jokes and good fun before the characters arrived at the emotional heart of their story, which was distance does make the heart grow fonder but it's also no reason for them not to see Marshall and Lily as often as they would in Manhattan. Future Ted told us that none of them would remain within walking distance of McClaren's for the rest of their lives. Indeed, as people grow and change, friends move to different areas, and nothing lasts forever; however, the place where friends meet and converse and enjoy one another's company isn't important as much as just meeting and conversing anywhere is important. As Future Ted said: the McClaren's booth didn't matter as much as just having a booth.

I thought the stories worked. HIMYM's been effective when telling these universal stories of adulthood. I'm not sure how significant "46 Minutes" will be in the grand scheme of the series though. At the TCA panel, Bays and Thomas declined to commit to an end-date. The show runners are prepared to run the show beyond the end of their current contract. If the show has 3 or 4 years left, I'd like the series to continue expanding, to move away from the bar scene and into other areas of adulthood. The characters are aging, changing, confronting parenthood and issues of marriage. They're becoming too old for the lives we watched them lead in season 1.

One other thought:

-There were two alternate credit sequences. One featured Barney Stinson as the leader of the gang; the other depicted the gang with New Lily and Marshall.

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