411 How I Met Your Mother Review - S04E10 'The Fight'

Posted by Michael Tyner on 12.09.2008

The first rule of fight club is. . . missing teeth are sexy?

This week How I Met Your Mother turns up the humour as Future Ted tells his kids about the only fight he's ever been in; it involves MacClaren's bartender Doug, who is shown in the background of several scenes from the show's past as Ted explains that Doug has worked there the whole time. Doug is played by MADtv alum Will Sasso, and he is a lumbering, treetrunk of a man that takes care of his regulars by doing things like kick the ass of people who sit in their booth. One of the first things I noticed about this episode is that the group was at the usual bar but not in their usual booth, which is the first thing Doug notices when he greets them as well. So Doug goes over to the booth and tells the people sitting there to get lost, and they head out the door. Only catch is, the guys have to go outside with Doug and fight them.

Marshall says no, and Lily tries to talk them out of it as well. But Robin thinks fighting is hot because she comes from the land of hockey; if they're missing teeth, she's missing clothes. Marshall insists that civilized men don't fight-- except with lightsabers which he expects to be available three-to-five years from now. At first Barney doesn't want to go, but when Robin reveals how really sexy she thinks fighting is he decides to go for it. Since he's never been in a fight, Ted decides he should do it, too. They joke abot Marshall fighting with his brothers, complete with an attack of the tickle monster and a hot coco break.

By the time Ted and Barney finally go outside, Doug has taken care of them all himself and is standing above the scattered suits with a blank look on his face. He thinks Ted and Barney were there the whole time, and thanks them for having his back. He tells them they get free drinks for life, and rushes back inside to tell everyone that they had his back. Barney decides to roll with it and punches himself in the face, and convinces Ted to roll with it by giving him a right cross to the nose that'll make him "look like Owen Wilson." They walk back into the bar, and Doug exclaims to everyone, "Those guys had my back!" Doug brings over a round of free beers for Ted, Barney, Robin, and Lily, and a beer at $7.50 for Marshall, who didn't have his back. Robin flirts with Barney to no end while everyone ridicules Marshall.

Later, Ted and Barney are at MacClaren's again talking to two chicks when they notice that their booth is occupied again, just after they tell the girls that they'll kick anyone's ass for sitting in their booth. After trying to fake them out, the two guys at their booth serve them with papers for a lawsuit from the guys they supposedly beat-up. Looking for help from Marshall, Ted and Barney finally dess up to Marshall and he agrees to help. On his way to talk to their lawyers, he tells Robin the whole thing was a fake and she is suddenly repulsed by Barney again.

Marshall gets them off the hook, but that angers Doug when he realizes they didn't have his back all along. Doug takes them outside, mad that they can't be counted on, which, he says, is why Ted was left at the alter. Ouch. So, this is it; the story of Ted's only fight. He clobbers Doug, and says the first thing he learned about fighting is that punching someone in the face hurts your hand. A lot. The only thing worse is getting punched back. Barney takes off running before Ted throws the punch, screaming that it was all Ted. Ted tells the story to Lily's class as a way to keep them from fighting, but he doesn't tell them the real story. It seems that after Ted went down, Marshall took Doug out. Seems he did a little more than just roughhouse with his brothers, and it shows them destroying the living room as they fight; the coca break is Marshall throwing a cup of scalding hot coco in his brothers, taking him down, and beating him down like Ed Norton smashed Jared Leto's face in Fight Club. The only thing Ted can tell his kids about fighting? "Don't ever get into a fight with Uncle Marshall. That guy's crazy."

The 411: The show really turned up the humour this week, continuing a solid streak of good episodes as we get towards the mid-point of the season. I would look for the show to get a bit more story-driven in the coming months as well head into the new year. Also keep an eye open for the goat!

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]