How I Met Your Mother - Duel Citizenship Review
Like Tim Horton’s Double-Double Coffee,this Episode is the Best Yet
Oct 29, 2009
By making the character of Robin Canadian (Cobie Smulders was born in Vancouver) the HIMYM writers had a goldmine of gags and jokes coming from the Great White North to pick from, which gave us episodes like “Slapsgiving”, “Sandcastles in the Sand” and “Little Minnesota”. The writers don’t do so in malice but in a way that’s both funny and highlights Canada’s positive qualities (like Barney's hospital joke and Tim Horton’s exceptional coffee).
US Immigration laws aside (it wouldn’t be as funny if they followed logic and rules), Robin possibly getting deported and becoming an American citizen brought the laughs (the monopoly money, curling, The Queen as Elton John) and the Canadian goodness (the coffee staple of Canada Tim Horton’s). The detail in the Tim Horton’s set is great and authentic from the posters on the wall to the coffee cups and the fake decorative plants (they had Tim Horton’s merchandise shipped from their headquarters in Toronto).
The episode provided us with some really great Barney-Robin interaction, probably the best and most true to the characters since last season’s finale. It was very believable of Barney to fly to Toronto to get Robin given how he flew to San Francisco to tell Lily to come home a few years ago. This episode has done the best job of really capturing how awesome they can be together. Barney's “I'm going to drill you, and THEN we can study” bit is just how this couple ought to be interacting.
Ted, Marshall...and Lily take a road trip
Contrary to “The Sexless Innkeeper” last week’s episode had two equally hilarious plots and Ted’s felt especially true to life. Realizing you’re losing your best friend to his wife once he gets married is not always pleasant but one has to adapt to it or risk losing him forever.
Ted’s annoyance with Marshall going from an "I" to a "we” was understandable and delivered a pretty funny sight gag of Lily and Marshall merging into one, giant blob. It was nice to see Ted as passionately dedicated to his best friend as he normally is to his date-of-the-week.
The show always does well with dramatic plots by injecting loads of humour in it. The TANTRUM (it has to be said in capital letters) bits were a nice surprise, as was the Sparky book tape they listened to during the road trip. Kenny Rogers going on and on about all the kinds of balls... "a grapefruit, which isn't actually a ball, but it's ball-shaped... a football, which isn't ball-shaped, but is actually a ball..." was especially absurd and funny, and was a nice treat it was that in the end the book helped reconcile Ted and Marshall.
Of course no episode can be perfect and that includes the best episode of the season. The writers seem to have forgotten or ignored most of the rules from “Arrivederci Fiero”. Seeing Ted and Marshall drink cola and eat in the car without batting an eye to the no food and drinks in the Fiero rule was a little odd and fans of the series will be annoyed by it. The fact that it stands out so acutely is a testament to the usually amazing continuity of the show.
After a few uneven episodes it's always nice to see the show bring back the drama and sly humour that defines it.
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