Oct 22 2009
How I Met Your Mother Season 5 Check-Up
We’re five episodes into the fifth season of How I Met Your Mother. As someone who’s been watching the show since the first episode, it was really nice to not have to worry about whether or not it would be renewed for this season. With an easy renewal can also come a little bit of laurel-resting. I’m happy to report that this doesn’t seem to be the case with HIMYM.
If anything can be credited with the show’s new-found success, it’s the renewed celebrity of star Neil Patrick Harris. Harris’s Barney Stinson has always been a great source of comedy for the show but beginning with last season, Barney got a bit more of an actual storyline beyond his constant womanizing. The writers were able to stretch out Barney’s crush on his buddy Robin (Cobie Smulders) for an entire season, and this year they’re facing the challenge of actually attempting to sustain a relationship between the two. So far, it’s going gangbusters.
In the first episode of the season, the new couple tried to outsmart Lily (Alyson Hannigan), who had locked them in a room together until they discussed the nature of their relationship. Both Robin and Barney are commitment-phobes and have no desire to make their relationship more real by actually talking about it and, in the end, decide to lie to Lily and say that they discussed it and determined that they are a couple, not realizing that they’re really just lying to themselves about lying. It’s a conclusion that was funny, sweet and totally in character.
Another up-point of season five so far has been the return of Alyson Hannigan as Lily. Hannigan disappeared at the end of the previous season to give birth to her first child and, since she was the initial reason I started watching the show (Buffy fanatic that I am), she was sorely missed. We’ve gotten some great doses of Lily and Marshall (Jason Segel) in these first few episodes, most notably, their attempt at sharing a couples evening with Robin and Barney in “The Sexless Innkeeper.” I’m always in favor of any plot line that results in Jason Segel singing a funny song.
I always feel a little bad for Josh Radnor’s Ted, as, I’m sorry, but I never care as much about what’s going on with him as his four friends, even if he is the main character and narrator. However, “Double Date” was a great use of the architecture of the show and a really fantastic example of both the romantic and asshole sides of Ted Mosby.
All-in-all, I’m very pleased with how this fifth season is progressing. At this point, the only thing about this show that really consistently annoys me are the fans that clamor for more knowledge about the titular mother. Who cares? This is not a show about her. This is a show about four quirky and nerdy friends and if we’re taking the show’s title to heart, the moment we meet the mother, it should be over, so I hope we don’t run into her for a very long time.
