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How I Met Your Mother Review: “Bedtime Stories” (Season 9, Episode 11)

For two seasons it's been lacking, this show about Ted and his friends, leading to much disgust with the writers' slacking, and fans dreaming of quicker ends. The stories have been far too flat, and the characters not much better, so many who once raptly watched and sat, now could hardly care how Ted met his true her. But there's still over half a season to go, that's time enough for a revival, but something great must happen to the show, for proof it deserves its legacy's survival. They've tried to continue with more of the same, but that plan's failure means try another, so the writers took a big leap away from lame, with a rhyming episode of How I Met Your Mother.

How I Met Your Mother

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This is also the first time in a while that Marshall has played the most prominent role in an episode. Perhaps as he gets closer to arriving at the wedding we’re going to get to see more of him, and that would be a welcome change, since he’s still the funniest character on the show. That being said, as the end of the season approaches, the episodes had better be focused on Ted and the Mother, so hopefully there’s a lot more Marshall in the episodes between now and then.

I will say that I understand this episode won’t be for everyone. For those who are anti-poem (is that a thing?), this episode will probably be torture. At the very least it could be annoying. It may seem a bit corny at times, but with all things considered, it’s a lot less corny than it could have been. I mean, it is an entire episode phrased as a nursery rhyme. Really though, the slight corniness is the only problem that could be had with this one.

All in all, this is one of the best episodes of How I Met Your Mother that we’ve seen in some time. It’s bold, it’s funny, and most of all, there isn’t anything in the story that makes it seem like they’re trying too hard to pull emotional moments out of nothing. This could be the catalyst into some much stronger episodes as the season reaches its halfway point, and for the sake of the show’s final season, I hope that’s the case.

Other Random Notes

  • “Ooze charisma, talk about the weather.”
  • I think an entire wedding cake and a keg may be more impressive than 50 eggs.
  • Always happy to see a good Lebron Cavs joke on the show.
  • I never am opposed to a monocle. Or a room of Neil Patrick Harrises in disguises.
  • On that note, I’m amazed it was so hard to find a Barney doppelganger with all those guys running around.
  • Marshall versus the Machines. One of my favorite songs in a long time.
  • I would love for the voice of Jason Segel to read me bedtime rhymes. Great audiobook idea right there.
  • I will admit I didn’t like the nursery version of the theme song. Nice idea, but the execution wasn’t great.
  • I felt very jarred by the commercials not rhyming.

Be sure to check back next week for a review on the next episode of How I Met Your Mother.