411 How I Met Your Mother Review: S04E01 'Do I Know You?'

Posted by Michael Tyner on 09.23.2008

The season four premiere is packed with Star Wars, bimbos. . . and questions. . .



Season four kicks off this week and right out of the gate things are looking promising for this returning CBS fringe sitcom. After the season finale we were left with a lot of questions, and in the season premiere a lot of those are answered; some answered with more questions.

In the year 2030, Ted (voiced by Bob Saget) is telling his children about how he wishes his dad would have told him the longest pause in your life happens after you ask the question, “Will you marry me?” He plays out many different scenarios in his head during the long pause; the dreaded “No,” the humiliating “God, No,” and a fit of insane laughter a few of the many poor responses he imagines. “But,” he explains to his kids as the scene heads back to reality, “sometimes you’re lucky enough to hear the greatest word in the English language.” Stella says yes, but it is important to note that neither before of after (including this episode) her answer does Ted refer to her as “your mother” in the narrative to his children. I’m sure this will raise a lot more questions for long-time fans of the show than those who are being introduced with this episode but its an interesting side note nevertheless.

After the opening credits Ted catches everyone up on what has happened over the summer: Marshall is coping with unemployment and bugging everyone else in the process, Lily has started painting again, Robin is still working at Metro News 1 and hating it more every day, and Barney has been rehabbing after being hit by a bus. Then we pick up at McClaren’s where Barney isn’t doing such a good job of hiding his feelings for Robin, then calls Lily over to his place early the next morning to tell her that he thinks that he is in love with Robin.

But back at the apartment, Marshall is realizing (and trying to get Ted to realize) that he doesn’t know Stella all that well. Marshall says Lily needs some gift ideas for Stella’s bridal shower, and asks if she likes to cook but Ted doesn’t know. What’s her favorite color? Doesn’t know that, either. Hobbies? Yes, Stella is exactly the kind of girl who would have hobbies & interests. What color are her eyes? Beautiful. Ted asks Marshall if he doesn’t like Stella; he does (Marshall: “She’s a Mets fan.” Ted: “She is?”) but he thinks that they should slow down and get to know each other, but Ted disagrees. “We have a lifetime to get to know one another, right now I know that I love her.”

The scenes of Marshall & Ted are sliced with scenes of Barney & Lily, and Neil Patrick Harris delivers an episode stealing performance in these scenes. Throughout the episode, due to NPH’s performance you almost start to care more about his situation with Robin than Ted & Stella; that both is, and is not, a good thing but I’ll get into that shortly. Barney doesn’t understand why he can’t stop thinking about Robin, why every song reminds him of her, why the girl still lingering in his bedroom made him think of Robin. “It’s like I slept with Robin one time and I caught feelings!”

Lily explains that Barney can’t keep sleeping with every girl he sees if he wants to be Robin’s boyfriend, a thought Barney is quick to defend against. He doesn’t want to be her boyfriend, he just wants to be with her. . . all the time. . . hear about her day, hold her hand, smell her hair. . .but not be her stupid boyfriend. Lily explains that those thoughts are thoughts that boyfriends, especially clingy boyfriends, have about their girlfriends.

Later that night, Ted makes dinner for Stella and she tells him how she thinks a guy who can cook is sexy. While talking about his recipe, Ted asks if she can guess the secret ingredient to which she chokes out “peanuts” before falling over. After a trip to the hospital, Ted and Stella stay up all night talking about things they don’t know about one another (like her being allergic to peanuts). When first movies come up, Stella admits that she has never seen Star Wars which, as Marshall will later tell her is a movie that Ted watches when he is home sick with the flu, when he misses his parents, and even on Christmas Eve; Ted tells her that his dad took him to a drive-in movie theatre to see it when he was a kid.

After struggling to come to terms with feelings, Barney talks with Lily again and she makes him call Robin. After yelping into his phone when she answers and hanging up, he tells Lily that she didn’t answer and he left a voice mail. “You left a voice, but it wasn’t male,” she jokes before Robin calls back and Lily has to coach Barney on asking her out on a date Cyrano-style but he chickens out at the last second and tries to convince Lily it was all a joke.

Meanwhile, Marshall is astounded that Stella has never seen Star Wars; the only people who haven’t seen Star Wars are the characters in it, because they lived the star wars! Marshall tries to explain how important it is that Stella like the movie, even having to watch the whole movie (121 awesome minutes of it) to convince Ted.

Lily has tricked Barney into going on a date with Robin, and as he tries to sound like “that insecure, touchy-feely she-male on the phone that sounded alarmingly like Ted,” After Lily reminds him that Ted ‘hit that’ for over a year, Barney asks Lily to wish him luck and heads off on the date.

Ted sits Stella down to watch Star Wars, trying not to be obvious about how important it is that she likes the movie. Stella catches on, though, and kicks Ted & Marshall (who had been watching from behind the couch) out of the room so she can watch the movie without pressure. When its over, she tells Ted that she loves it, which results in Ted giving invisible, fifteen year old Ted a high five for finding a girl who likes Star Wars. Marshall sees through it, though, and Stella admits that she hated it to him after Ted leaves the room. When he explains how much Ted loves the movie, and asks if she can live every day pretending that she loves the movie, she answers yes, and Marshall tells her that Ted is lucky to have found her.

Over the course of their night, because Robin didn’t know it was a date either, Barney tries to act like someone on a date rather than someone trying to hook-up. It confuses Robin, but she tells him she had a good time. . a brings over a bimbo, wingwoman-style, for Barney to take home. Robin leaves, and Barney tells the girl that he was only there tonight because he loves Robin. This is where the story he is telling Lily ends, just before the girl pops out of Barney’s room, much to Lily’s disliking. She tells Barney that he has to choose, Robin or bimbos; his response demands more than paraphrasing, and it quoted in its entirety below:

“I choose bimbos; bimbos make me happy. Bimbos make me feel alive! Bimbos make me want to pretend to be a better man. This whole thing with Robin was just a fling but at the end of the day, my heart belongs to bimbos.” Lily tells him its just a defense, that he is confused. “Oh, I’m not confused, Lily. You know who is confused? Bimbos. They’re easily confused, and that’s just one of thousands of little things I like about them. I love their vacant, trusting stares; their sluggish, unencumbered minds; their unresolved daddy issues. I love them, Lily, and they love me! Bimbos have always been there for me, through thick and thin. Mostly thin, B-Man don’t do thick crust, what up?!”

After Lily marches out disgusted & disappointed, Barney turns on the TV for just a moment and watches Robin on Metro News 1 before turning the TV off and the episode ends.

This season opener was full of laughs, but even though the shows unique humor came across well it was obvious that I was watching plotlines I had seen before. But, then again, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! The shows overall plot was a central point of the episode, and although it was intended to be the central point Neil Patrick Harris simply outshined everyone in this episode. Barney is always a series highlight, but it seems to me that, as a viewer, we should be more invested in Ted & Stella’s relationship but the writing just isn’t there quite yet.

If this premiere is a hint of things to come, then I think this could be the season How I Met Your Mother moves away from ‘fringe’ show and becomes the real breakout of CBS’ Monday night block. Because, and I’m sorry to have to be the one to finally say this, but Two And A Half Men sucks; there, I said it. It might command higher ratings, but HIMYM and The Big Bang Theory are easily better written (despite the flaws I pointed out above). Will this statement prove true? I hope so, but we’ll take a look back later this season and see.

LINE OF THE NIGHT: “Ted, I’m losing wood over here!” – Stella after her attempts to make out with Ted are denied while he makes her watch Star Wars

The 411: If this premiere is a hint of things to come, then I think this could be the season How I Met Your Mother moves away from ‘fringe’ show and becomes the real breakout of CBS’ Monday night block. Neil Patrick Harris delivers an episode stealing performance throughout, and the writers set a very good story in motion with Ted realizing that he doesn't really know Stella all that well. As a stand-alone, this episode was a near-perfect sitcom episode; as it fits into the overall story, the feeling that I should care more about Ted & Stella than Barney & Robin is hard to shake. That alone keeps this episode from being legendary, but it is still de. . .wait for it. . .lightful!

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]