Weebles wobble, but they don’t fall down. And How I Met Your Mother may falter, but it’s rarely anything short of legendary. This season is clearly not as consistently irreverent as the second. The pitfalls (and pratfalls) of standard sitcom puns and one-liners are proving to be quite the temptation for the folks over at Mother. They soldier on though, with more than enough moments of brilliance to compensate for the occasional cheesiness. Such was the case with last night’s long-awaited (seriously, the countdown started at 130 days or something) “Slapsgiving” episode.
What makes me love Mother more than all the others? Sure, it may have the best chemistry of any primetime comedic ensemble, the writing tends to tap into cultural moments with the speed of those fellas at South Park and the made-up words are often their biggest water cooler asset… but in the end, this show would be nothing without Neil Patrick Harris. For that matter, I would be nothing without Neil Patrick Harris. With one dated, hip-hop-referencing mispronunciation he can make a stale joke fresh as a daisy.
After all, Barney Stinson is probably the most perfectly crafted sitcom character there’s ever been. He sits on the outside, not a part of the show’s key relationships, the eternal bachelor for everyone’s amusement and a dependable sparring partner for the most fulfilling banter. His mechanically chauvinistic attitude should make him more of a caricature than a person, but instead of leaning too heavily towards a “Joey,” Barney’s neuroses and penchant for unpredictable emotional displays make him the most exciting part of the show. In last night’s episode, his cool collectedness melts away when the countdown to the third of his five impending slaps gets too short. So while everyone else is marveling over Jason Segal’s equally entertaining “You Just Got Slapped” ballad, there is only one moment from Slapsgiving that I’ll be incessantly replaying for the foreseeable future:
I love Barney. I love Barney. I love Barney. That’s pretty much all there is to say.
You said it….this show is legendary. I love all things television, but this Mother might single-handedly be the funniest show since Seinfeld. A bold statement maybe, but I wil stand behind it. Neil Patrick Harris and the rest of this incredible ensemble cast are most definitely worth my time.