# How I Met Your Mother 11/25/13
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-11-25-13/674824
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [November 26, 2013, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-11-25-13/674824 "2013-11-26T15:25:03Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2013, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-11-25-13/674824/1 "2013-11-26T15:25:03Z")
This episode was a bit of a botch, I almost couldn’t watch.
[spoiler]But seriously, it really didn’t move the plot forward at all and I really didn’t almost turn it off, it got old quick. A few minutes would have been fine and I get that it was a challenge for the writers, but I didn’t care for it.
Also, I wonder how Marshall (the actor) feels about spending the entire last season without getting to interact with the rest of the actors. I keep wondering if there’s something going on. Whether he’s on another project so he can’t get to the studio or he just pissed off a producer so they half wrote him off the show[/spoiler]
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### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2013, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-11-25-13/674824/2 "2013-11-26T15:59:51Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Also, I wonder how Marshall (the actor) feels about spending the entire last season without getting to interact with the rest of the actors.
You mean other than the extensive flashbacks they’ve been doing all season in order to get Jason Segal in scenes with the rest of the cast?
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### Author:  [@Mithras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mithras)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2013, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-11-25-13/674824/3 "2013-11-26T16:14:41Z")
I assumed that having him not interact with the cast as much was part of how they convinced him to do one more season. Not because I think he doesn’t like them or anything. Rather, it’s got to be a lot less demanding on his schedule if most of his scenes can be shot all at once and don’t rely on anyone else being around.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-11-25-13/674824/4 "2013-11-26T16:17:19Z")
> [@Munch](#):
>
> You mean other than the extensive flashbacks they’ve been doing all season in order to get Jason Segal in scenes with the rest of the cast?
I’d still say that 80+% of each show involves him not being in the same shot as any other (regular) character.
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### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2013, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-11-25-13/674824/5 "2013-11-26T16:24:02Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> I’d still say that 80+% of each show involves him not being in the same shot as any other (regular) character.
Sure. But if that means more Billy Zabka, I’m all for it.
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### Author:  [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2013, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-11-25-13/674824/6 "2013-11-26T20:06:54Z")
Fun fact: William Zabka is almost as old as - and Ralph Macchio is the same age as - Pat Morita was when filming The Karate Kid. (49, 52, & 52 respectively)
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2013, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-11-25-13/674824/7 "2013-11-26T20:27:39Z")
That was a challenging episode to watch. I really wish they’d quit pissing around and get on with it already.
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### Author:  [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2013, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-11-25-13/674824/8 "2013-11-28T02:18:51Z")
I didn’t hate it as much as everyone else seems to have. Dawson was entertaining. Always laugh at a good Louise March reference (why can I remember that name but not Dawson’s real name or HIMYM character name? Stupid brain).
I think I mostly was ok with the episode because I am tired of the wedding weekend stuff. It was a nice reprieve. I genuinely did like the end with “5 miles? I can do that” with the “Marshall versus the machines” music echoing in the background. That has potential. I’m sure I’ll be disappointed, but it could turn out funny.
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### Author:  [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2013, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-11-25-13/674824/9 "2013-11-28T15:24:18Z")
I liked it. I like when shows do ambitious things like this. I cut them some slack for trying.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2013, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-11-25-13/674824/10 "2013-11-28T15:37:26Z")
> [@Quimby](#):
>
> I liked it. I like when shows do ambitious things like this. I cut them some slack for trying.
Maybe in the middle somewhere, but we’re _finally_ in the homestretch and they give us an episode that was not just “ambitious” but didn’t drive the plot forward. It was like someone remembered that they never did that rhyming episode that they had always talked about so they shoehorned it in here.
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### Author:  [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2013, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-11-25-13/674824/11 "2013-11-28T15:57:04Z")
HIMYM is now a psychological experiment being performed on the public. They are actually trying to be as bad as humanly possible whilst seeing how many people still watch because “they want to see how it ends”.
It is the only possible explanation as to how awful the show is.
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### Author:  [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2013, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-11-25-13/674824/12 "2013-11-28T18:41:46Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> …It was like someone remembered that they never did that rhyming episode that they had always talked about so they shoehorned it in here.
That’s exactly what I thought.
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### Author:  [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2013, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-11-25-13/674824/13 "2013-11-28T19:29:10Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> Maybe in the middle somewhere, but we’re _finally_ in the homestretch and they give us an episode that was not just “ambitious” but didn’t drive the plot forward. It was like someone remembered that they never did that rhyming episode that they had always talked about so they shoehorned it in here.
I liked it. I can’t say I really care about the plot that much (and really, we’ve pretty much been told how its going to play out anyways), so as long as I find the show amusing, I don’t really care how much it gets “moved forward” (plus, the necessity of having the whole season take place in one weekend means they kind of have to do episodes that tread water).
I gave up on the show mid-way last season because it got so dreadful, but I started watching at the beginning of this season and thing its been pretty good.
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### Author:  [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2013, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-11-25-13/674824/14 "2013-11-29T02:06:26Z")
> [@Enderw24](#):
>
> Fun fact: William Zabka is almost as old as - and Ralph Macchio is the same age as - Pat Morita was when filming The Karate Kid. (49, 52, & 52 respectively)
But, no, that can’t be. That would make me. . . decrepit. :hangs head:
> [@amanset](#):
>
> HIMYM is now a psychological experiment being performed on the public. They are actually trying to be as bad as humanly possible whilst seeing how many people still watch because “they want to see how it ends”.
>
> It is the only possible explanation as to how awful the show is.
My thought was “They are trying to wean us off of the show.”
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2013, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-11-25-13/674824/15 "2013-11-29T02:13:48Z")
> [@amanset](#):
>
> HIMYM is now a psychological experiment being performed on the public. They are actually trying to be as bad as humanly possible whilst seeing how many people still watch because “they want to see how it ends”.
>
> It is the only possible explanation as to how awful the show is.
That’s just about where I am with the show.
> [@TruCelt](#):
>
> \
> My thought was “They are trying to wean us off of the show.”
Well, that would explain a lot!