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Nov. 8th, 2011 03:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seekingferretThe elegance of How I Met Your Mother's writing:
In Episode 2 of this season, there was a running gag where Robin kept steering the conversation back to Ted's story about his non-date with Victoria. The joke was that the rest of the people in the group weren't as interested in the story, so they kept talking about their own issues, but Robin cared about her ex-boyfriend seeing his ex-girlfriend, so she kept bringing the conversation back. I loved the joke because it got the rhythms of group conversation down so perfectly.
In last night's episode, they used a very similar gag where Kevin kept steering the conversation back to the boogie board story, but even though it was basically the same gag, it was sufficiently different to still be funny because Kevin wasn't invested in the boogie board story, he just wanted to change the subject and continuing the boogie board story was a good way to change the subject.
Sometimes HIMYM manages to wake up out of its late series doldrums and just outshine any other comedy on the air in the sparkle of their writing. They've killed my interest in Barney/Robin, sapped any liveliness out of Ted's search for the Mother, given us a series of unlikeable or unremarkable guest stars as romantic interests for Ted, Barney, and Robin, in terms of arc the show's been spinning its wheels since season 4 (with the exception, maybe, of some stuff they did late last season).... but they still manage to write cleverer comedy than damn near anybody.
Did anybody work out the chronology of Lily drinking beer in the boogie boarding scene? Was that pre-pregnancy or was it while she was faking drinking to hide her pregnancy or was that just a continuity error?
In Episode 2 of this season, there was a running gag where Robin kept steering the conversation back to Ted's story about his non-date with Victoria. The joke was that the rest of the people in the group weren't as interested in the story, so they kept talking about their own issues, but Robin cared about her ex-boyfriend seeing his ex-girlfriend, so she kept bringing the conversation back. I loved the joke because it got the rhythms of group conversation down so perfectly.
In last night's episode, they used a very similar gag where Kevin kept steering the conversation back to the boogie board story, but even though it was basically the same gag, it was sufficiently different to still be funny because Kevin wasn't invested in the boogie board story, he just wanted to change the subject and continuing the boogie board story was a good way to change the subject.
Sometimes HIMYM manages to wake up out of its late series doldrums and just outshine any other comedy on the air in the sparkle of their writing. They've killed my interest in Barney/Robin, sapped any liveliness out of Ted's search for the Mother, given us a series of unlikeable or unremarkable guest stars as romantic interests for Ted, Barney, and Robin, in terms of arc the show's been spinning its wheels since season 4 (with the exception, maybe, of some stuff they did late last season).... but they still manage to write cleverer comedy than damn near anybody.
Did anybody work out the chronology of Lily drinking beer in the boogie boarding scene? Was that pre-pregnancy or was it while she was faking drinking to hide her pregnancy or was that just a continuity error?
(no subject)
Date: 2011-11-09 05:04 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-11-09 12:55 pm (UTC)