How I Met Your Mother: Three Days of Snow

Some brief notes on this week's episode of "How I Met Your Mother":

This was an episode that I really loved! As I mentioned in my post for the previous episode "Benefits", I never tire of Marshall and Lily as a happy couple, and there's more of what I love about them here. Their little rituals of showing their love for each other, e.g. telling each other what they had for lunch each day, listening to Auld Lang Syne together on New Year's Eve, bringing a six-pack for the other whenever one of them goes on a trip, etc was classic Marshall and Lily. I really liked the chronological twist, and how it ties up the A-story (Marshall and Lily deciding mutually (but eventually reneging individually) to stop the airport-sixpack ritual, along with the other rituals that they have seeming given up as (in their words) they mature), and the B-story (Ted and Barney given free rein over MacLaren's and finding themselves hosts to a college marching band). I cried a little at Lily and Marshall's scene in the airport waiting area with the keg of beer and the marching band playing Auld Lang Syne. It was so beautifully set up, and for my money, as romantic as Ted's 2-minute date with Stella in "Ten Sessions".

Another notable scene, and characteristic of "How I Met Your Mother's" insights into love and dating, is Marshall's conversation with Robin about love. Marshall, ever the romantic, who calls Robin out for putting down their rituals because she's never really knew love. And Robin, ever the cynic, rightly pointing out that love isn't just composed of these rituals, and that it can be possible to be in love without them. Marshall and Lily met in college, and have been in love ever since. They have known, and gone through, those rituals throughout their relationship. That they are in love is undeniable...these rituals are the manifestations of their love that is rooted in its collegiate origins. But as Robin pointed out, it doesn't apply to all couples. Just because a couple doesn't have all these cutesy rituals doesn't mean that they are not in love. Take Adam and Roslin in "Battlestar Galactica", two stalwarts who respect, and are attracted to each other. Their unspoken love is devoid of Marshall and Lily's rituals, but it's love nonetheless.

Finally, Barney really wanted to name his pub Puzzles?

"How I Met Your Mother" has been on a roll lately. The next episode can't come soon enough!

How I Met Your Mother: Benefits

My viewings of HIMYM have been intermittent this season, partly because of work and partly because my TV plate is so full these days. However, catching up on this episode made me remember why I love this show so much in the first place. Barney trying to hide his true feelings, as Robin and Ted mentioned to the rest of the group that they were back to hooking up, was funny and affecting at the same time. I especially liked the low key way they tied the A story with the B story (Marshall, erm, taking long washroom breaks at work) to have Barney finally summoning up the courage to tell Robin his feelings, only for Robin to first misinterpret it, and then for Barney's momentary burst of bravado taken away by Robin saying it was a bad idea for friends to date (referring to her and Ted). The back-to-status-quo nature of the conclusion is nothing we haven't seen in other shows before, but it's so nicely set up and played out here that I totally loved it, especially the knowing glance between Ted and Barney.

Miscellaneous notes:

- Loved the continuity with Ted and Robin's Private Thing joke...the Major Buzzkill scene in "Slapsgiving" is one of my favorite scenes in the series' history.

- Totally misinterpreted the Marshall storyline line as him really reading a magazine at work (ha!). I'd like to blame it on the long day I had, but I'm obtuse at the best of times. I got what they were actually going for by reading about it elsewhere online.

- Maybe it helped that we were introduced to Lily and Marshall as being totally in love with one another, but I never tire of them as a happy couple. I always thought I would like Jim and Pam of "The Office" as a happy couple, but unfortunately, that's not happening right now for me. Yes, I do miss Jim and Pam when they were apart. Please don't throw garbage at me.

- The quick sequence of shots going from Ted and Robin deciding they needed to "relapse" into having sex to avoid fighting again, to Marshall (and therefore Lily) finding out again, and finally Barney venting his frustration, yet again, on CRT TVs was the laugh-out-loud moment of the episode.

The next episode can't come soon enough!

24: Day 7 Hours 1 - 4

"24" is back! Goodness, it's been about 18 months since the show was off the air. Season 7 was in the middle of production when the writers' strike happened last year, and rather than air a potentially interrupted season, Fox decided to save the episodes that were filmed until the entire season could be completed.

So, it's a popularly held view (and one that I share) that season 6 has been the weakest of "24's" seasons to date. For me, though, it's not because of the plotholes, twists that make no sense, characters whose motivations and actions are non sequitur to what they have previously done, etc. These traits have been present in all the seasons, and might I add, in all TV shows as well. "24" is a thrill ride, and in my opinion, should only be judged by that yardstick. How good a season of "24" is should depend only on how excited you get during the rollercoaster, and how successful the show is in getting you jazzed up for the next episode. Somewhere during the middle of the 6th season, I realized, for maybe the first time in "24's" run, that I didn't feel the "need" to watch the show anymore...that it wasn't appointment TV. It just wasn't exciting enough. A good finale and a great ending scene with Jack looking out to the sea, devastated at losing Audrey, couldn't make up for a season where the thrills were sparse and the roller-coaster ride was stop-start at best.

Fast-forward 18 months to the beginning of a new season, and I'm naturally approaching "24" with more than a little sense of trepidation. Could the show recover its lost touch? Thankfully, the answer, at least based on the first 4 episodes, is a resounding "Yes!". Jack got pulled from a Senate hearing of his past activities with CTU because the FBI needs his help in tracking down his former colleague Tony Almeida, who's now working for rogue mercenaries who have come into possession of this season's MacGuffin, namely a device that controls CIP firewalls, and which in the wrong hands could compromise major infrastructural systems like transport, power and water supplies.

The action moves at a nice clip, especially the third episode, which involves Jack finding out Tony is actually working deep undercover with former CTU boss Buchanan and Chloe. So Jack, who had helped the FBI, notably Agent Walker (are all spies on TV named Walker these days? See: Agent Walker on "Chuck") capture Tony at his hideout at the end of episode two, now has to break Tony out of FBI custody. The scene where Jack is cornered by enclosing FBI agents and he has to drive a car off the parking garage parapet to escape was some major impressive stuntwork, and just the badass sort of thing that you can count on ol' Jack to pull.

It was also a treat to see the old gang of Jack, Tony, Buchanan and Chloe together again. Especially Chloe. Goodness, she's too awesome for words. So cranky and lovable at the same time. Jack would be nowhere without her tech support. The scene in episode 3 where she and FBI techie Janice try to out-hack each other in acquiring control of the Bureau's surveillance systems is just an enthralling geek war. Of course our girl came out on tops :)

I'm obtuse enough not to have telegraphed the Tony reveal, which many would probably already have guessed way beforehand; I really believed he was the bad guy there, right up till he gave Jack the Deep Sky code and Jack found out it led to Buchanan. And while I'm happy that Jack and Tony are working together again like the old days, I'm also glad that the reveal wasn't a complete negation, i.e. that Tony had indeed gone rogue for some time until he realized associate Emerson was going too far with this plan. This was a guy whose wife was killed, and whose life was wrecked, by the actions of the nefarious President Logan (Season 5)...surely he would harbor some deep resentment, resentment that would turn him against the government that he used to work for? At the same time, Tony's a good enough guy deep down to be jolted to the right side when the situation becomes extreme, which the show is trying to portray here. Kudos to the show for making the twist at least conceivably believable.

It was cool to see former "Once & Again" co-stars Jeff Nordling and Ever Carradine together again in the same show (though they don't share a scene), and Agent Walker had a good chemistry with Jack whilst they were working together, until Jack turned on her to free Tony. I'm sure that there will be more of them on the same side in the later episodes. Nice touch to have the Kurtwood Smith (aka Red Forman in "That 70's Show") senator tell Jack that he'd have to be at the hearing at the same time tomorrow, giving us a dire reminder of what's lying in wait for Jack at the end of what's sure to be another hectic 24 hours. Poor Jack...he can't catch a break. Other than that, I don't really have much to say about Cherry Jones as the new President or her husband's subplot at the moment. Finally, isn't this the millionth time a sniper takes out an informant (in this case Scheckter), just as he's about to tell Jack something? There should be a drinking game for this. I'm sure there already is :)

Anyway, just really pleased about the first four episodes of "24". Really looking forward to the next installment, and hoping that the rest of the season can live up to this early promise. The next episode can't come soon enough!