HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER and How the Internet Ruined Dating

In its newest episode, How I Met Your Mother became very critical of the way technology is used in society these days, as well as being critical of sitcoms in general. When you go that route it can be difficult to keep the laughs coming while still getting your point across. But HIMYM is hardly a newb when it comes to making its audience laugh and it delivered great comedy that was commendably self-aware.

Our storylines revolve around the age-old question, what is better: knowing everything or having a bit of mystery in life? Ted is sick of being able to use the Internet to instantly learn everything about the women he dates while Marshall and Lily have chosen to not know the gender of their baby. The show wasted no time in demonstrating just how much having the Internet at the touch of a finger has neutered us as a species. Remember what it was like to have a disagreement about something and it took forever to sort it out? As HIMYM shows, now we can just fact check on our smart phones.

I can easily imagine someone like Ted having a hard time coming with conversation topics, even if the scene was a little over the top. It’s ridiculous that we can learn so much about someone without even talking to them. And some people enjoy it, like Barney and Robin who act like Ted’s crack team of Google search professionals. Those few scenes we got of them digging up dirt of Ted’s dates had me in hysterics (my favorite was Nadine who gave Annie Hall 2 out of 5 stars). In a nice little twist, Ted’s current date, Janet, turns out to be one of the most amazing (and intimidating) women in the world and Ted ruins it by background checking her.

Lily and Marshall’s story ran alongside Ted’s as the rest of the group painted a baby room in the gender-neutral color yellow. It’s a classic sitcom plotline, but having it bounce off the “History Vs. Mystery” theme helped it stand out just a little bit. We all knew Lily and Marshall would eventually find out they’re having a boy, but I was happy to see they did their very best to delay the surprise. Having the reveal be a complete act of the universe made it a more pleasant revelation than if Lily and Marshall had just cheated and read the note themselves.

Robin’s new boyfriend, Kevin (played by Kal Penn), fit in a little bit better than he did in the previous weeks. Every new episode he’s in he seems like a different character. At first he was a rather impatient tool, then he was a very professional therapist with a crush. This week he was a suck up who couldn’t quite ignore the idiosyncrasies of our lovable group. As Kevin puts it, the gang is co-dependent, socially awkward and in denial of how bizarre their relationships with each other are. It’s not the first time a comedy has pointed out how oddly involved sitcom characters are in each others lives (Community I’m looking at you), but it’s usually played out in a way where everyone grows and accepts the craziness. Here everyone just ignored it and acted like nothing happened, which worked just as well.

As with any episode of HIMYM, there were some gags that didn’t quite work, and I’m still not quite sold on Kevin. I have a feeling his relationship with Robin is going to go south soon and may even be the genesis of the foreshadowed shifts in the group dynamic (first mentioned by Future Ted in “Ducky Tie”). On a whole though, this was a very entertaining half-hour and makes HIMYM Season 7 6-0 in my book. In all likelihood I just jinxed the show and next week will be a total train wreck. Yay!