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Aleki77
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How I Met Your Mother Press Release: S06e08 - Natural History
CITAZIONETHE GANG ATTENDS A FUNDRAISER AT THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM WHERE TED RUNS INTO HIS ARCHENEMY AND HER HUSBAND THE CAPTAIN, ON "HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER," MONDAY NOV. 8
Kyle MacLachlan ("Desperate Housewives") Guest Stars as The Captain
"Natural History" - When the gang attends a black tie fundraiser at the Natural History Museum, Ted runs into Zoey and sees a whole different side of her when she introduces him to her husband, The Captain, on HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, Monday, Nov. 8 (8:00-8:30 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Kyle MacLachlan ("Desperate Housewives") guest stars as The Captain.
SERIES REGULARS:
Ted.............................................. Josh Radnor
Marshall........................................ Jason Segel
Barney................................ Neil Patrick Harris
Lily........................................ Alyson Hannigan
Robin ..................................... Cobie Smulders
RECURRING CAST
Narrator.......................................... Bob Saget
Arthur....................................... Bob Odenkirk
Zoey..................................... Jennifer Morrison
GUEST CAST:
The Captain........................... Kyle Maclachlan
Russell............................................. Ted Jonas
Young Barney.......................... Casey Simpson
Curtis....................................... Dan Bakkedahl
Scooter....................................... David Burtka
WRITTEN BY: Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, co-creators and executive producers
DIRECTED BY: Pamela Fryman
GENRE: COMEDY
source: CBSAll promotional still - Promotional still - Jennifer Morrison - Promo #1 - Sneak Peek #1
Edited by Aleki77 - 6/11/2010, 12:07
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Aleki77 .
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Aleki77 .
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'How I Met Your Mother' recap: A night at the museum
November 8, 2010 | 9:45 pm
Going into tonight's episode, “Natural History,” I had a feeling I'd like it because I watched a commercial where Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) said, “Niled it!” and it made me laugh. A lot. It's a pretty good sign when just a commercial can crack you up. But “Natural History” was more than just one of the funniest episodes in a while. It was also rich with character development, emotion and reveals as all the characters, including Zoey (Jennifer Morrison) and her husband (Kyle MacLachlan), gathered at a fundraiser at the Natural History Museum.
For Robin (Cobie Smulders) and Barney, this was a perfect setting for a game of one-upmanship. Ignoring the Do Not Touch sign, Barney briefly touched one of the museum exhibits. “I didn't realize you were small potatoes. And to be clear, I was referring to your testicles,” Robin replied, languidly grazing the statue. Whether you like them together as a couple or not, Barney and Robin have always played off each other very well in storylines that have them separate from the group, going back to Season 1's “Zip, Zip, Zip.” There's a competitiveness between them, but also a lot of mutual respect and a gung-ho attitude. Watching them run round the museum, turtle drumming, using the stuffed lion's teeth to open beer bottles and even wearing outfits from the exhibits was as fun as it looked. But it wasn't just fun and games. When the museum guard caught them, he opened the incident file from when a 6-year-old Barney knocked down the blue whale and revealed that Barney's uncle Jerry actually marked himself down as Barney's father on the report. What a clever and unexpected reveal. Barney learned who his father is, but the audience remains in the dark. And I loved that Robin is the one that got to share this moment with him.
The museum setting was also creatively used for the Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan) storyline. Marshall revealed to Lily that he was thinking of signing a five-year contract with GNB. Lily saw this as the end of the Marshall she fell in love with. (Lily, don't you still have a lot of shopping debt to pay off with Marshall's money?) She found herself confronted with college Marshall behind one of the glass museum exhibits. “I want you as opposed to what you've become. You've changed so much,” she tells him. But college Marshall is extinct and corporate Marshall has never cheated on her and lasts even longer in bed. He hasn't really changed all that much he points out. He's just going to use all his GNB money to shower Lily and their kids. It was the perfect mix of funny – the Jane's Addiction exchange and everything about Marshall's stamina, including college Marshall's jealousy, was a highlight – and sweet.
Ted (Josh Radnor), meanwhile, ran into Zoey at the event and finally got the upperhand on her a little, giving Ted some really funny lines. Zoey was there dressed to the nines with her older husband, George Van Smoot, who calls himself The Captain. He wears red paints, is obsessed with his boat, practically paid for the GNB event and was in “Guys & Dolls” with Marshall's boss, Arthur. Yes, Ted has a lot of ammunition. Among my favorite lines: “I'm half Jewish. Will that be a problem?” “Yeah, old stuff's great.” “I'm Galactic President Superstar McAwesomeville.” “You have a monocle! Good luck killing James Bond.”
Zoey fed Ted a sob story about getting married too young and hating her husband's red pants to catch him on tape badmouthing GNB. I got the feeling there was some truth to the story even if she was fake crying. Ted was being very sweet to her when he thought she was genuinely upset, which isn't helping Zoey's likability factor. After Ted opened up to her and admitted he does feel bad about destroying the building, it just seemed like she had gone a little too far. Then Zoey overheard Ted telling The Captain that he respects her for standing up for what she believes in. She told him she erased the tape. She was going to beat him fair and square. “Bring it on, Princess,” Ted replied, but it looked like he wanted to bring on the kissing more than the fighting.
Other brief comments:
-- Loved the return of “sandwiches,” lawyered and Scooter.
-- Our gang looks pretty dressed up, yeah?
-- Ted whispering things a 7-year-old would say across the museum? Yeah, it made me laugh. Maybe I'm 7 too.
-- Also funny: Marshall and Barney as fat cats.
Readers, were you surprised by the reveal about Barney's father? What do you make of the end tag that corporate Marshall “wouldn't last forever”? What do you think of Zoey after this episode? And do you agree that this was the best episode so far this season?
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracke...the-museum.html. -
comotion .
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Grazie, Aleki, for getting these wonderful screen caps uploaded so quickly for us. Jennifer is radiant and we got to see deeper into Zoey's character. I can also feel the heat beginning to rise between Ted and Zoey. I hope that the writers will make this relationship come about in a most satisfying way. 
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Aleki77 .
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'How I Met Your Mother' - 'Natural History': Hands on a hard mummy
Published on Monday, Nov 8, 2010 9:55 PM Alan Sepinwall
A review of tonight's "How I Met Your Mother" coming up just as soon as I pelt you with my Phish bootlegs...
Whew.
I was beginning to worry that, despite the summer assurances of Bays and Thomas, that season six was going to be another frustrating one like season five. I'd only liked a handful of this season's episodes, and even then felt like I was grading the better ones on a curve. The Bays/Thomas-scripted "Natural History," on the other hand, felt as close to classic "HIMYM" as we've gotten in a very long time.
It wasn't perfect, mind you. I still feel the writers are, as Fienberg noted in the comments last week, trying too hard to make Zoey happen, particularly since it would seem she's not The Mother(*). I have no problem with the show spending time on non-Mother relationships with Ted, particularly if they don't spent time being cute about the woman's potential Mother-hood (as opposed to what they did with Stella). But I don't think Josh Radnor has the same chemistry with Jennifer Morrison that he's had with a lot of previous Ted love interests (including, early on, Sarah Chalke), and the whole "I hate you! Now I love you!" thing has felt a bit forced.
(*) We know at least two concrete things about The Mother: 1)She was in the Econ lecture hall the day Ted thought it was his class, and 2)She was Rachel Bilson's roommate less than a year ago. While those don't automatically disqualify Zoey from Mother-hood - she could have married The Captain far more recently than she said while scamming Ted, and she might be waiting to mention the embarrassing Econ lecture when she gets to know/like him better - she doesn't seem to fit the puzzle that's been laid out.
That said, the moment where Ted said the words that finally melted Zoey's cold grudge was a nice one, both because it had been so well set-up by the juvenile running gag about the room's acoustics, and because that conversation with The Captain (nicely-played by Kyle MacLachlan) is the most human Ted's been in a while. This is the guy I really liked once upon a time; the guy whose future I actually cared about, rather than the guy whose stories I tolerated while waiting for Barney or Robin or Marshall to do something funny(**) in a subplot. A week ago, I was dreading the idea of Morrison being around for a while. Now? Maybe it could work.
(**) Here's how good a job Bays and Thomas did of redeeming their leading man this week: Ted was consistently the funniest part of the episode. And not in a "the other characters had bad writing" way; Ted's mocking of Zoey's apparent hypocrisy was genuinely funny, and a highlight in an episode that also featured a lot of good stuff for the supporting cast. There. I said it. Ted Mosby was the comic highlight of a very good episode of "HIMYM." It can happen.
This was actually a great episode for making sure all the characters were drawn on a human scale. The Barney/Robin story started off as a silly but entertaining lark, then took an abrupt left turn when the security guard casually mentioned Barney's dad, and Neil Patrick Harris was great in the aftermath scene as Barney told Robin how he felt about the news. Even by the usual standards of Barney's a Real Boy scenes, that was a cut above.
The Lily/Marshall subplot, meanwhile, not only gave us some welcome flashbacks to the gang's college days (including a callback to the old sandwiches=marijuana gag), but addressed a question the show's needed to deal with ever since Marshall took the job at Barney's firm: how long before he felt safe/frustrated enough to quit, thus being true to his character, yet depriving the show of the great Barney/Marshall workplace dynamic? It felt right that Corporate Marshall would feel differently about the world and his life than College Marshall (Extinct), and Lily's conversation with the latter species felt honest and sweet, with a few nice jokes (Corporate Marshall's stamina, the return of Jane's Addiction) sprinkled in.
There were a lot of "I finally deleted the show from my DVR" comments last week. I hope at least a few of those were empty threats, because I'd hate to think everybody dropped out right before they missed them some vintage "HIMYM." I'm not saying the show is necessarily back for good, but a show that's capable of generating an episode like this is one where I'm going to suffer through the likes of "Canning Randy" in hopes of seeing again.
What did everybody else think?
http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-wat...on-a-hard-mummy. -
Aleki77 .
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How I Met Your Mother "Natural History"
by Donna Bowman November 8, 2010
Until the third act, I didn’t think “Natural History” was going anywhere fast. Barney and Robin competing to touch the exhibits in the most taboo ways possible was highly entertaining, sure. But the main two plotlines—Ted tangles with Zoey the architectural activist, and Marshall disappoints Lily by giving up on his dream of working as an environmental lawyer—seemed as if they had been plunked down in a more picturesque setting simply to distract us from their predictable dramatics.
And then, in the third act, the Museum of Natural History became a key character. The idea of history long past, unalterable, unable to be revisited except in memory, pushed its way to the forefront of all three stories. The question that everyone must confront is what to do with the memories we cherish and the ones that have suddenly been framed differently. What should we save, what should we let go, and what does it tell us about who we are now?
The museum is the location for a black tie gala to which, by virtue of being Goliath National Bank fat cats, the gang is invited. All gussied up in tuxedos and gowns, Marshall remembers how their college selves used to regard people who dressed that way as corporate tools. That prompts Lily to observe that the GNB job is only temporary, and that the suit Marshall wears everyday he wears ironically, “like Ted’s fanny pack.” But at the party, as Ted demonstrates the whisper acoustics of the entrance hallway by whispering “Wieners and gonads!” in their ears from across the room, Marshall tells Lily that he’s taking GNB’s proferred five-year contract—that in fact, he hasn’t intended to quit and become an environmental lawyer since the first day he set foot in the GNB offices.
Meanwhile, Ted has inadvertently whispered in the ear of one Zoey Pierson, who, not content with picketing outside Ted’s workplace, has written an editorial about the demolition of the Arcadian and ruined Ted’s dad’s enjoyment of the Saturday crossword. Ted’s sure he’s got the upper hand now that he knows Zoey’s actually the rich trophy wife of George Van Smoot (“But you can and should call me the Captain”). Guest star Kyle McLachlan has a grand time with Van Smoot, calling his 80-foot sloop "she," wearing red pants and naval headgear, and announcing “Stepping off!” before exiting a conversation. When Zoey turns on the waterworks and says she hates her boating life and is clinging to the Arcadian as a harbor of sanity, Ted falls for the scheme and winds up on Zoey’s recorder saying he hates working for GNB. When he pictures the tabloid story that will ensue, it’s adorned with a picture of him in his wizard’s garb and features the pull quote “Just not something a bro would do.”
The third act brings unexpectedly graceful meaning to both of these stories. Lily stands in front of a diorama of sandwich-head college Marshall (extinct) and is reminded that corporate Marshall is still the same person, still trying to do his best by the people he loves. (Also that the sex lasts a lot longer. “You said that any longer would be too much!” protests college Marshall. “It’s okay, college Lily thinks those are orgasms,” Lily explains.) The epilogue elevates the moment still further and points to the fact that these “present” moments, in the context of the show’s premise, are actually history, showing corporate Marshall slaving away in a diorama also labeled “extinct.” And Ted tells the Captain he respects Zoey for standing up for what she believes in, a conversation she overhears due to those acoustics. She promises to destroy the recording and engage in the fight over the Arcadian fair and square, during an encounter that Ted clumsily manages to turn into a dance. Significant looks are exchanged. Hmmmm.
But what really makes “Natural History” a stunner is the way Barney and Robin’s little comic-relief game turns on a dime into an existential crisis for Barney and a shared secret that brings the two of them together. Barney tells a story about knocking down the blue whale with a Triceratops bone when he was six years old—“Blobbity blobbity blue, I knocked down the whale,” he abbreviates—and Robin isn’t surprised that the security guards didn’t bar Barney from the building: “It’s been like thirty years since that completely made-up story didn’t happen.” But in the security guard’s office, as the two are being dressed down for their utter disregard for the DO NOT TOUCH signs, the guard mentions the whale being knocked down. (“That story’s legen—hang on,” he says as his phone rings.) He finds the incident report in the files and sure enough, there are all the details as Barney recounted them (“causing said whale to fall in a downward trajectory”) and the name of the culprit—Barney Stinson!
It’s the next name that counts, though. “Stinson was reprimanded and returned to the custody of his father, Jerome Whittaker," the report continues. Throughout the guard’s story, Robin has been saying no, but now it’s Barney saying no; “Jerry is my uncle,” he explains. But “Uncle Jerry” signed the form and even checked the box for “father” himself. Turns out that’s the last time Barney saw him, on July 23, 1981; his mother banished Jerry from the boy’s life afterwards. But he’s now sure that the incident report told the truth. What to do with the truth? Nothing yet. Don’t tell anybody, okay?
History is in the past, but that doesn’t mean it’s dead and gone. We have to decide every moment what it means for us that we were who we were, married who we did, made the choices then. We have to square them somehow with the choices now. And sometimes the whole thing shifts and means something different from what you thought it did. The making of new history is never a straight line or a foreordained conclusion, is it? Maybe that's a reminder to stop focusing on the presumably foreordained conclusion of the Mother and ruminate on the twists and turns of meaning that change the characters along the way.
Stray observations:
* Robin after hearing how Marshall and Lily abused a fellow student for wearing a tie: “I wish I knew you guys back then. You know why? Because you can’t kick a story in the nuts.”
* Arthur introduces George Van Smoot as the future of GNB and a former co-star in their Exete production of Guys and Dolls: “The Captain was Nathan Detroit to my Assistant Stage Manager.”
* Ted has some wonderful moments exclaiming over Zoey’s rich friends. “What are we protesting tonight, the government’s oppressive top hat and monocle tax?” he asks her when they first run into each other. Then when he runs into an actual monocle wearer later, he riffs “Good luck killing James Bond” before complimenting him: “It’s a great look, I think it could come back. One question: Does it cost half as much as glasses?”
* Lily’s changed since her college days, too. She doesn’t spell womyn with a Y anymore.
* “I’ve gone the way of Jane’s Addiction,” laments extinct college Marshall. Informed that Jane’s Addiction got back together toured, and released an album, he’s ecstatic: “Are they just as good?” “Sure,” says Lily magnanimously.
* “I like Galactic President Superstar McAwesomeville. You’re coming on the boat sometime!”
www.avclub.com/articles/natural-history,47304/. -
Aleki77 .
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How I Met Your Mother, “Natural History”
Posted by R. Lackie on November 9, 2010
After two strong episodes, will the increase in quality hold? More on the episode, written by showrunners Carter Bays & Craig Thomas and directed by Pamela Fryman, after the jump…
“Natural History” is the show’s strongest yet, for a multitude of reasons. Particularly, they’ve found success here by hewing close to the season one/two style: a story about who we are, mixed with emotional stories for our characters and peppered with callbacks, flashback/flashforwards, and a general sense of history.
Season five would have forgotten that Lily broke up with Scooter in the middle of prom, would have given Barney the A plot and filled with with over-the-top antics, and would be nothing near the sweet, lovable episode the show delivered tonight. There are flaws, one particularly egregious one that rankled, but all in all I very much enjoyed the episode.
Ted and Zoey: This was their strongest plot together yet. Jennifer Morrison is having a field day with the smug, cunning and generally unpleasant Zoey, and she’s a bucket of fun to watch. A weaker actress would emphasise these over the top qualities, but Morrison, by playing them naturally, is somehow able to project much of Zoey’s own insecurities as she tears Ted down for being a corporate fat cat. She and Josh Radnor have great chemistry, evidenced beautifully in their final moment, where she seems to become aware that their adversarial relationship is the most fun she’s had in ages. The fact is, this relationship works because its clear to everyone that, at least when they’re together, both of them love their biting banter.
Their battle was a lot of fun, and it also introduced us to The Captain, whose quirks were brought to life nicely by Kyle McLachlan. On one hand, he was a very simplistic caricature, but on the other, he was exactly the type of person Ted would be able to have enough fun mocking to draw blood from Zoey.
This plot’s climax (Zoey hearing Ted defend her to The Captain) does rely on what seems like coincidence; that is, until you remember who Zoey is. Of course she’s listening in on the conversation, if only to enjoy her victory (and I doubt The Captain’s threat is unexpected for her, even as she doesn’t like to admit how dismissive he is toward her). And it makes sense, if she’s intentionally listening in, that Zoey would use that trick – like Ted, she’s an architecture buff, and likely knew about ‘the spot’. Nicely done, show. Nicely done.
Lily and Marshall: This was one of this twosome’s best emotional plots in ages, as rather than stumbling over the overplayed baby drama, the two get into the nuts and bolts of the future. We knew from previous flashforwards that Marshall ends up wearing a suit all the time, and its nice to know that Marshall has indeed evolved from the idealistic lawyer we met six years ago. Watching Lily struggle with this, and resolve it via a conversation with College Marshall, was a nice emotional beat for the two. This also feels like a continuation of themes we haven’t really touched since Marshall went corporate back in season three beyond bits and pieces.
This plot was also rife with Old School pieces: flashbacks (to College Marshall, complete with sandwich), continuity callbacks, and even a twist-foreshadowed-by-a-joke-ending, with ‘Corporate Marshall’ hinting at extinction sometime in the future.
My main issue with this plot actually goes against the very things that impresses me about it; that is, memory. Just last week, Marshall was fighting like hell to avoid becoming ‘that guy’, while this episode tries to sell us on him already having become him. That jarred.
Barney and Robin: Now that the writers remember who Robin actually is, this Barney/Robin plot was able to be a whole lot of fun. Barney tapping into his childish glee of pranks, combined with Robin feeding into her own secret love of irreverence (at least, when her work’s not involved) gave the characters some fun to play with. These two were just fun together, in the exact way that led fans to wanting to see them together in the first place.
We also get some movement on Barney’s father, as an out-of-left field (yet, as in classic How I Met Your Mother, completely logical based on the plotline) twist allows Barney to discover the identity of his father: ‘Uncle’ Jerome Whitaker, who Barney hasn’t seen since the blue whale incident at age six.
Honestly, this episode was a lot of fun. And if they keep this up, I’ll be one very happy fan.
http://signaltv.wordpress.com/2010/11/09/h...l-history-6-08/. -
Aleki77 .
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Clip with Jennifer Morrison in How I Met Your Mother - S06e08 - Natural History
www.megavideo.com/?v=OMF9A814
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jennwithapen .
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Awesome review! This was my favorite Zoey episode to date. I think Jen got to sink her teeth into this character more and she did such a great job. I loved when she tricked Ted in the "bug room" - never saw that coming! I agree with the reviewer that her portrayal of Zoey (this week) came off as very natural and not over-the-top. I actually went back to watch this episode again - can't wait until next week! . -
Aleki77 .
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ITA!
this episode was overflowing with all kinds of emotions and feelings.
This episode is definitely the best episode of HIMYM with Zoey. I hope that writers will continue to amaze us in this wayCITAZIONEWRITTEN BY: Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, co-creators and executive producers
Moreover I don't think it's a case that the creators of HIMYM wrote this amazing gem.. -
Aleki77 .
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How I Met Your Mother Watch: A Night at the Museum
Posted by James Poniewozik Tuesday, November 9, 2010 at 8:32 am
Spoilers for How I Met Your Mother coming up:
I've taken a break from the HIMYM Watch here, until the show started producing some episodes I had much to say about, which is to say episodes that began treating the characters again like real people with ongoing challenges and goals. But when I talk about How I Met Your Mother advancing the characters' stories, that doesn't necessarily mean: "Telling us more about who the Mother is." The beauty of HIMYM, or the beauty before it began falling off, anyway, was that each of its characters had enough real story to carry an episode, Mother or no Mother.
And sure enough, "Natural History" got back to the idea of character advancement, without even—so far as I know, I think—particularly giving us much on the Mother front.
First, we had Lily and Marshall, again confronting the long-simmering issue of Marshall's having given up his ideals to make a lot of money working for GNB. I actually like that this conflict only surfaces occasionally, because it seems about right for their marriage: something that lurks unacknowledged under the surface until it gets dredged up.
As I've written before, I'm not sure the show has always been consistent or straightforward with how it's handled this money-vs.-principle issue; when Marshall first took the job, it was presented as something he felt he needed to do—with prodding from Barney—to make a life for Lily and their family, given her teacher's salary. (And I'll say it again: you are not exactly going to starve as an environmental lawyer in New York City, but I'll chalk that up to TV Reality.) Later, though, in "The Window," it was treated as though both Marshall and Lily had reconciled themselves to the decision, as she convinced him that he was a good person no matter what he did for a living. Here, however, it's flipped: Marshall tells us that he was happy at GNB from the beginning, and we're given to believe that Lily has never wanted him to stay at the job, and has in fact been nudging him to leave it.
I'll accept that, though. Maybe they're both ambivalent. Maybe their position changes from day to day. Maybe Lily likes the idea of Marshall going nonprofit more than the reality, and maybe he doesn't love GNB so much as he's convinced himself he does in order to justify his decision. Who knows? These things are complicated. What mattered in "Natural History" is that we saw the two of them confronting the question as adults—which is to say, the show acknowledged that this is a permanent question for them, one that's not going away. (And, it hinted, one we haven't seen the last of, since Corporate Marshall's days are numbered just as College Marshall's were.)
I'm not sure I buy the idea that it doesn't matter what Marshall does, or how evil GNB is, as long as he's a good person at home. But I'm also not sure Lily and Marshall completely buy it. It's just a sloppy, real issue involving a difficult choice, and I'm encouraged that HIMYM is willing to take it that way.
Meanwhile, the show also—in a nicely executed left turn I did not see coming—returned to Barney's search for his real father, in a more effective way than the season's earlier Wayne Brady episode. The fakeout, as Barney and Robin egged each other on to touch the museum's forbidden objects, was that it seemed the subplot was just intended to tease us about Barnman and Robin getting back together (and I'm sorry, but they just seem more and more compatible); instead, it took us into Barney's past just as he had seemed to give it up—not unlike HIMYM itself.
As for Ted's storyline, unless there is some elegant con going on here, I simply don't see Zoey at all being the Mother—famous last words?—though she may be another in the ever-longer chain of events that link to her. But it's all right, because Ted's storyline, in which he found sympathy for his nemesis, worked better than the rivalry-flirtation the show had been working for the past few episodes. I've always found any HIMYM story involving Ted's architect career is too broad for me to take seriously, but a story in which Ted is just a decent guy trying to do the right thing is what this show is about.
HIMYM can take as long as it wants to find the Mother. I'm just glad an episode like "Natural History" shows it hasn't stopped searching for its characters.
http://tunedin.blogs.time.com/2010/11/09/h.../#ixzz14oe90O2f. -
aurore .
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I like this part : How I Met Your Mother, “Natural History”
<ted and Zoey: This was their strongest plot together yet.Jennifer Morrison is having a field day with the smug, cunning and generally unpleasant Zoey, and she’s a bucket of fun to watch. A weaker actress would emphasise these over the top qualities, but Morrison, by playing them naturally, is somehow able to project much of Zoey’s own insecurities as she tears Ted down for being a corporate fat cat. She and Josh Radnor have great chemistry, evidenced beautifully in their final moment, where she seems to become aware that their adversarial relationship is the most fun she’s had in ages. The fact is, this relationship works because its clear to everyone that, at least when they’re together, both of them love their biting banter.
http://signaltv.wordpress.com/2010/11/09/h...l-history-6-08/
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Aleki77 .
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HIMYM Natural History: Kyle MacLachan as Jennifer Morrison/Zoey’s Husband
November 09, 2010 07:42 AM EST
Every once in awhile, the “How I Met Your Mother” gang likes to act grown up. Just last season, the HIMYM group crashed a snobby party - and then gave it up for robots versus wrestlers. In season six, episode eight, the gang goes to a Natural History Museum fundraiser on GNB’s dime.
Things look all fun and games at first, and it actually is funny unlike last week - especially with Robin (Cobie Smulders) and Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) touching everything in sight - but things quickly take an unexpected turn.
Ted (Josh Radnor) isn’t all serious. He does give an architecture fun fact about the acoustics - stand in the right spot and you can hear what someone is saying across the room - but he uses it to say words like ‘diarrhea.’ That’s also when he notices Zoey (Jennifer Morrison) there, and it turns out she’s not who Ted thought she was. She’s married to GNB head honcho, George van Smoot, aka ‘the Captain,’ played by Kyle MacLachan.
Even though Zoey is trying to kill the career of Ted, aka Galactic President Superstar McAwesomeville, Ted defends Zoey to her husband. She doesn’t have temper tantrums, Ted says. She stands up for what she believes in. And just like that, the episode turns from ridiculous antics to Zoey overhearing Ted due to the acoustical architectural phenomenon.
But there’s other antics in “How I Met Your Mother” Natural History, too. When Marshafll (Jason Segel) tells Lily (Alyson Hannigan) he wants to sign a five-year contract with GNB, she’s upset. She wants the Marshall she fell in love with back, the college Marshall...except he’s extinct. He even has his own exhibit and ‘sandwich’ to smoke.
Lily quickly realizes that Marshall hasn’t changed where it really counts. This plot felt a little forced, but Marshall’s corporate job did need to be addressed. Plus, it was nice to know that corporate Marshall will one day be extinct, too.
Last but definitely not least came Robin and Barney. They provided the most - and much needed - HIMYM comic relief of the night, and it ended perfectly. Barney claims that, as a kid visiting the Natural History Museum, he snapped the rib off a triceratops and then knocked down the big blue whale. Naturally, Robin doesn’t believe this. But that doesn’t stop her from touching all the exhibits with Barney. They make a game of it, riding stuffed animals and wearing cave men and Egyptian outfits.
The game can only last so long though. They get caught, and the museum security guy whips out the ‘big blue whale’ file. He claims that prank was ‘legen - wait for it - dary,’ and it worked so well, because it didn’t come from Barney.
It turns out Barney actually told the truth for once. He really did knock down the whale, and the file is even signed... not by his Uncle Jerry, but his dad. Jerome Whitacre. Barney is stunned into silence. Just two short months ago, Barney gave up the search for his dad, and suddenly he has answers. He knew his dad, he just didn’t know it. And the last time he saw him was July 23, 1981.
Season six has been struggling, but there was a glimmer of HIMYM at its best. Natural History had the ridiculous, the laugh-out-loud, but it also had sentimental moments, too.
Next week promises some more good times. Barney finds a video the HIMYM gang and audience have been waiting to see: Robin Sparkles’ variety show.
http://entertainment.gather.com/viewArticl...281474978676258. -
Aleki77 .
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The Foot: How I Met Your Mother “Natural History” Review
I literally have nothing to write about besides How I Met Your Mother. Sure, I could’ve written about the first four episode of Luther or the season thus far of Boardwalk Empire or even the complete first season of Sherlock. Unfortunately, I’ve seen 1/3 of the first season of Sherlock. I could have written about The Walking Dead but the show has yet to capture my complete interest. Since I like to write a blog post every day, How I Met Your Mother sort of re-joins the weekly review rotation. How I Met Your Mother is sort of like Charlie Morton of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The show might get booted from the rotation for extended periods in hopes that they fix some problems in the minors but it’ll find itself in the rotation again if a starter is hurt or September call-ups arrived. Consider this a spot start for How I Met Your Mother.
Last week, I complained about the lack of progress in any of the individual narratives as well as the repititiveness of Robin’s arc with her annoying co-host. “Natural History” rectified most of the things that I complained about.
Ted continues to have a Zoey problem. She is a persistent girl who continues to fight for the survival of The Arcadian. Zoey took her issues with Ted and GNB into the OP/ED section of the New York Times. At first, one wonders how Zoey managed to get published in the New York Times and we soon learn that she is married to wealth and influence. Her husband, The Captain, can make it happen. She labels Ted and his friends “fat cats.” Of course, the gang are fat cats in the episode as they attend a high society function at museum.
Imagine Ted’s surprise when he spots Zoey at the same party/function. The two engage in their back and forth over The Arcadian and his job with GNB. He learns that she is married to the man paying for the entire evening. Ted and the Captain bond. Zoey secretly records Ted describing GNB as “weiners and gonades.” Ted and the Captain have a conversation about Zoey. The Captain volunteers to erase the tape while Zoey sleeps but Ted respects the woman’s belief and unwavering stance in what she believes in. The conversation makes it clear that her husband generally regards her in a favorable manner but he cares much more about his boat than her, and he’s quite ignorant of her individual beliefs and causes. Zoey hears everything thanks to a plot device and she finds herself dancing with Ted, assuring him that she won’t use the recorder against him, that she wants to beat him fair and square.
Ted and Zoey seemed poised to become something more than enemies. Ted might begin an affair with the married woman. Who knows. Many fans have made it clear that they have no interest in any of Ted’s relationships unless it is with the mother. While I doubt Jennifer Morrison’s Zoey will be the mother, I can deal with an extended arc with Zoey (mostly because of Jennifer Morrison). The arc has been somewhat sloppy thus far. Zoey has behaved in an extreme way in her pursuit to ruin Ted’s reputation in hopes of saving an old building. She turned his class against him and wrote a scathing piece in which she slandered his character in a public forum. But this is a sitcom and the world of sitcom is different from reality for the pursuit of the almighty joke is the number one priority. Plus, Jennifer Morrison is gorgeous. I can’t say that I would turn away either. Zoey and Ted’s arc progressed nicely tonight.
Meanwhile, Lily had to deal with the truth that Marshall changed since college. Marshall admitted that he likes working for GNB and has since day one (wasn’t there an episode in which he had trouble working for that company? Eh…it’s a sitcom) which upset Lily. Eventually, Lily realized that Marshall as a person hasn’t changed. He just makes more money than College Marshall dreamed of. Lily is quickly moving into the Worst Character list. The conflicts between Marshall and Lily feel forced. Someone should tell the writers that the couple doesn’t need conflict to be interesting or engaging.
The Robin/Barney C story fell flat though the story existed solely to get to the scene in which Barney learns the identity of his father. The story fell flat because of the jokes and gags were terrible. The writers built the story around the idea that Barney must touch the “Do Not Touch” objects in the museum. Robin and Barney competed in a “Who Can Touch More Objects” game. The security guard brought the two into his office where he recounted the story of a 6 year old who took down a blue whale. Of course, the security guard had the incident on file and Barney was the 6 year old and his father was listed. Of all the places for Barney to learn about his father, it was from a security guard in a National History Museum. Are you kidding me?
Besides the Lily/Marshall story, I enjoyed the progression of Ted’s arc and Barney’s. The weakest part of the episode were the jokes like the whisper plot device and the “Do Not Touch” extended gag. Both were a lazy way to get to the emotional beats of the episode.
Overall, the episode worked. I enjoyed. I didn’t regret the 20+ minutes I spent watching and that’s all I ask from a television show: make the time worth it.
http://blogs.wcuquad.com/2010/11/08/the-fo...history-review/. -
Aleki77 .
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Is Love Around the Corner for How I Met Your Mother's Ted and Zoey?
by William Keck
Ted (Josh Radnor) sees a whole other side of new frenemy Zoey Van Smoot (Jennifer Morrison) on tonight's How I Met Your Mother (8/7c, CBS) when the pretty protestor ditches her picket sign for Prada at a black-tie fund-raiser held at New York's Natural History Museum.
"She's in a very elegant gown with tons and tons of diamonds — very different from how we've seen Zoey," says Morrison. "Of course, Ted has a field day accusing her of saying she's one thing when she's really something else."
Ted and his friends quickly learn that Zoey has a rich husband played by Desperate Housewives alum Kyle MacLachlan. "Kyle does such an awesome job of making this character so lovable and hate-able at the same time," says Morrison, adding that Zoey's hubby is "very focused on his boat. That boat is the most important thing in his life. He's even named himself 'the Captain' and wears these red pants and a sailor's jacket."
So if Zoey's married, then why is the character being touted as Ted's new love interest for the season? Morrison says it's hardly an ideal marriage, and this episode "will make Ted see her differently. Seeds will be planted." Sounds like love's about to blossom!
www.tvguide.com/News/HIMYM-Ted-Zoey-1025209.aspx
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HIMYM - S06e08 - Natural History on air 2010, Nov. 8Discussion post mortem - recaps - reviews - clips - caps |
