So far this season of How I Met Your Mother has been quite a letdown. The plot has slowly winded its way to an abundance of insignificance, while far too few moments of hilarity have been sprinkled in. The season is still young however, so there’s still plenty of time for the show to turn it around and have a strong finish worthy of the phenomenal series that fans have come to love.
This week’s episode, The Stamp Tramp, was finally a step in the right direction.
One moment at the beginning of the episode was a special reminder of why this show is so great. Lily mentions the man in a hot dog suit that Marshall is so afraid of, Marshall denies seeing him, but throws in a side comment about how hot dogs aren’t supposed to have faces. Then when Marshall tells his story, Brad is eating a hot dog he found in the trash, a subtle reference to the conversation they just had, and then of course the hot dog man joins the conversation and Marshall is instantly uncomfortable.
It’s those subtle jokes that this show has made its mark with. They don’t need the rolling-on the floor laughing-out-loud moments that more comedically focused shows rely on. How I Met Your Mother is driven by how relatable its characters are, and it’s that relatability that makes the smaller moments so funny. The show has deviated from that recently, so it was a welcome relief that the show headed back there this week.
Joe Manganiello was back this week too as Brad. We hadn’t seen him in a while, but he’s always a welcome addition to an episode. At the beginning of the episode Marshall stumbles upon Brad looking extremely down on his luck. Marshall’s firm has an opening, so he decides that he’ll help his friend out and get him an interview.
This prompts a conversation at the bar about how Marshall is a stamp tramp, meaning he’ll vouch for anything and anyone. This is very true, I mean Marshall is just an all-around nice midwestern guy. Of course he’s going to vouch for his friend. Everyone else says this is a problem though and it waters down his credibility.
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