How I Met Your Mother: Double Date Review
Lily’s Stripper Double Failed to Live Up to its Comedic Potential
“Double Date” opened with Ted narrating to his children that back in 2002 he went on a blind date with a woman who turned out to be the same woman he went on a blind date with in 2009, though neither of them remembered each other.
Same girl, same place
They ended up going to the same restaurant and falling into the same pitfalls of their first blind date seven years ago (for Ted this means pointing out typos in the menu and making lame shellfish jokes). To change the outcome, they decided to recreate their first date.
If it’s one thing this show is renowned for it’s for its clever use of storytelling. The concept of a second, same blind date shown from the 2002 and 2009 perspective was very well-executed and played right into the show’s strengths of employing flashbacks and narration.
The writers walk a fine line between making Ted either too romantic or too pretentious; this week’s episode gave us just the right amount of both to make him sympathetic and cute without too much snooty attitude.
Most of the time, the storyline involving Ted and his girlfriend of the week, isn’t strong enough to carry an episode on its own. Instead, it relies on the secondary plot to support it better, but this week’s, while not being laugh out loud funny, had its moments and was more enjoyable than the B plot.
Seeing double: Stripper Lily, Mustache Marshall and Lesbian Robin
Meanwhile at MacClaren’s, Barney tricks Marshall into joining him at the strip club where one of the strippers looks exactly like Lilly.
The idea of having doppelganger is an interesting one (Seinfield’s “Bizarro Jerry” episode comes to mind) and the concept was there in theory, yet the execution of the plotline ultimately fell flat. The first appearance of Stripper Lily did get a few chuckles, but by the second time the joke had run its course and whole stripper double had gone stale.
One of the few highlights was seeing Marshall’s double; a moustachioed, Italian version of himself and Robin’s; a butcher, lesbian version. One thing fans of the series will be eager for was the promise of seeing Ted and Barney’s doubles later this season. One thing this show is normally good at is delivering a nice pay off to its audience.
Barney and Robin are out of character
The biggest disappointment of the episode was how they handled the follow-up of Barney and Robin. Last week’s saw them going to brunch, holding hands and coming to terms with their relationship status as boyfriend/girlfriend.
Their actions this episode felt out of character for both and it took out the enjoyment of their scenes together. Robin spent the episode telling Barney because they’re in a relationship now they need to talk about things, when last week both were actively trying not to have “the talk”. Although played for laughs, Barney not listening when Robin said she hated strip clubs felt false and unfunny.
“Double Date” didn’t live up to the standard set by the season opener, but it’s only the second episode of the season, and with twenty-two more episodes still to be seen it can only go upwards from here.
The cast of How I Met Your Mother on CBS
|
What do you think about this article?
More in Film & TV
Latest Articles