HIMYM Season Finale: Shockingly, We Did Not Meet the Mother

When the hell are we going to meet Ted's goddamned wife already???

What is it exactly about How I Met Your Mother that people (myself included) find so endearing?  Is it the cast?  Probably plays a pretty big factor.  Neil Patrick Harris’ characterization of Barney is as enjoyable and well-acted as any in recent TV history and the fact that it is a gay man playing a hyper-heterosexual man only makes it that much more enjoyable.  Jason Segel is always enjoyable as well and the rest of the cast has a chemistry that just does not exist with other sitcoms.  Is it the original writing that attracts people?  Probably comes into play as well.  The style of the series itself is unique in the nature of slowly opening up the story more and more each year until we get to the present day where the story began.  Plus, a lot of times it’s pretty effin funny.  Honestly though I think that what makes HIMYM funny is their ability to make their world seem realistic and surrealistic at the same time.  Now, we’re not talking about Beckett style surrealist (yes, it’s a Beckett kind of week, seriously, look him up), but they easily fall into situations that border on the ridiculous.  It’s commercial surrealism, to be sure, but it is that interplay between real life and fantasy that makes HIMYM so enjoyable.  Are you still reading?  Great, let’s move on.

I found this season of HIMYM was somewhat sub-par.  It was still enjoyable overall, but there were never any of those great episodes that help remind you why HIMYM typically rises above most of the drivel on the networks these days.  Last year was marked by two of the greatest episodes of the series, namely “The Playbook” and “The Perfect Week”.  If you haven’t seen those, I challenge you to watch them both and then tell me that HIMYM is not a show superior to most sitcoms currently on TV.  This season however was just marked by the fact that it was markedly unspectacular.

The finale was the best example of this.  It is almost impossible to give too much away about this season’s finale because nothing actually happens.  I won’t ruin the culminating scene, which holds the only real surprise, but other than that it comes off as a limp mid-season episode written by a writer on spec.  Sure, something happens with Lilly/Marshall and Robin/Barney briefly consider getting back together (does anyone even want to see that?).  Ted has a brief crisis, because Ted has a brief crisis in every episode.  Other than that, there is not a lot to say besides the fact that I was extremely disappointed with the finished product.  I am not asking to find out who Ted’s wife will actually be (I understand that is only going to come with the final episode), but asking for something inspired and with a plot that actually moves the characters along would be nice.  The best part of the episode is actually botched as well; a guest appearances by the always enjoyable Dave Foley and Chi McBride in which they are criminally underused.  Why even bother?  Overall, I still think HIMYM has more potential than most of the crap being pushed out by networks nowadays, but honestly it just makes the finale that much more disappointing when we know what they are capable of.  Here’s to a strong rebound in season 7.

Bob’s grade – 60 (and it’s that high mostly because of Dave Foley and Chi McBride)

Van Damme Dirty Dancing

He ain't pretty no more.

At the height of his or her career, an action movie star is often asked to do just two things: Kick ass and look good doing it.

But what happens when you’ve already reached the summit of ass-kickery and are thus able to exert more creative influence on your movie projects? Oh sweet Jesus, that’s when an action star has to be most careful! Take the cautionary tale of one Jean Claude Van Damme, or JCVD if you prefer (JCVD’s ‘JCVD’ is a seriously legit flick by the by. Le what? Exactly). The star of such stone cold classics  as ‘Bloodsport’, ‘Death Warrant’,  and ‘Timecop’ nearly derailed his entire career with some overzealous rug-cutting with two also-rans from Dancing With Thailand’s Stars in another classic, 1989’s ‘Kickboxer’.