How I Met Your Mother "The Magician's Code" Review

Well, there was absolutely nothing surprising about the one hour How I Met Your Mother finale. Earlier in the day I openly dreaded the 'Lily-has-a-baby' storyline there isn't anything new to bring to the story. In my opinion, using this story is a sign of creative lethargy and a sure-sign a show is on its last creative wheels. Aside from that, the two episodes didn't form a smooth hour of television. The tone of both episodes differed wildly. The first hour was a slapstick adventure, and the second hour was a contemplative look towards the future. Both episodes were very bad too.

Both episodes (well I suppose I should refer to the finale as one episode) were about life-changing moments, the moments one looks back on and remembers vividly. Ted remembered Lily and Marshall during college doing stupid shit as he watched them with their son, Marvin Erickson, and thought to himself, 'These two are PARENTS now.' He felt a mix of disbelief and awe at how people change and grow throughout the years from stupid youths to responsible adults capable of caring for another human life. Ted felt an immediacy to figure out the course of his life. As he looked at a photograph of him and the baby, he said, "I don't look like a father." Ted compared himself to his friends. Fortunately for Ted, he reconciled with Robin who helped steer him in the right direction; the Victoria direction.

I'll admit to missing the majority of the Victoria seasons. I've read about her season(s) and the consensus seems to be that Ted/Victoria happened during the show's strongest period; perhaps their reunion will create a strong 8th season. Robin encouraged Ted to call her. Ted hesitated. Robin pushed him. Ted called, and she surprisingly agreed to meet him at the bar. Victoria came in a wedding dress. The man she told Ted about in "The Ducky Tie" was waiting for her at a church in Manhattan, but Victoria wanted to run away with Ted. Months ago she wanted to run away with Ted but the Robin of it all stopped her. Ted initially wanted to take Victoria to the church, but he changed his mind and drove off into the sunset with her, hand-in-hand.

How I Met Your Mother follows a Ted Mosby relationship formula. Each season alternates between taken Ted and single Ted. Ted had Stella in season four; Ted was single in season five; Ted dated Zoey in season six; Ted dated no one in season seven; Ted and Victoria will be together in season eight; Ted should be single for Barney's wedding by season nine. Ted learned the same things he learns every season tonight: he's lonely and he wants a family and wants a woman who will take away the loneliness and give him a family. Victoria represents Ted's best shot for the future. Robin pointed out how he desires women who can't give him what he wants. Victoria was the girl for him, but he screwed the relationship up by choosing Robin over her.

I already wrote about the importance of any Ted relationship, specifically how the relationships need to lead Ted towards the mother. Each of his relationships needs to teach him something about himself and what he wants. Victoria won't be the mother. The relationship is potentially important and interesting because, presumably, it'll be Ted's last one before he meets his wife at Barney and Robin's wedding. So hopefully this will be well-written and full of meaning.

Barney and Quinn were going to Hawaii for a get-away. Barney was convinced he destroyed the relationship by demanding she quit her stripping job (he worried about this during the first half-hour). The couple was held up by security. Barney took a box and wouldn't let security look in it because it was part of a magic trick; all magicians have a code. The eventual reveal of the engagement ring isn't surprising. The build-up didn't bother me though, despite figuring out this plot point several weeks ago. NPH sold the magician's code story. The airport officers were terrific. I think the officers made the story. Barney eventually showed the trick to everyone which ended in a proposal. Quinn said yes. The episode flashed forward to the wedding where Ted greets the bride, but the bride is Robin (one figured out that reveal more than a year ago). The Barney-Quinn thing will fall apart. Who cares really? It's important for the character to take this step. Perhaps it's this moment that convinces Robin to give married life a chance. She looks so sad when she congratulates Barney, as if she just realized what she missed. I dare say I look forward to their journey to each other.

Alas, I've nothing to write about the Marshall-Lily storyline. I hate the 'here comes the baby' storylines in sitcoms. Bob Saget's LAST show, Full House, produced two dreadful episodes about the birth of the twins. Bays and Thomas were too lazy to think of the reason why no cabs were leaving Atlantic City. They just embraced the trope of the 'big thing happening in the city and no one can anywhere' and called it the big thing. Of course, it works in the show's favor, because Future Ted displays a lousy memory about what the big thing was, even though he remembers such superfluous stuff like every story him and Robin told to Lily to distract her from the pain and Marshall's absence. Anyway, Marshall and Lily are parents now.

The finale had many jokes, gags, and moments die-hard fans should love. Ted and Robin's stories showed other sides of the gang. Barney was a Goth teenager obsessed with magic. The finale tried to capture the HIMYM experience fans love so much. I don't know if they succeeded. I'm more critical of the show than other bloggers and critics. I didn't like the finale. But I'll write about the eighth season in the fall.

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