How I Met Your Mother – “Band or DJ?”

Season Eight, Episode Thirteen

Grade: B

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Most sitcoms shy away from touching upon real-life issues or the pain of a break-up or a death in the family, but How I Met Your Mother has made that its calling card that separates them from every other sitcom on the air. But then there are moments when situations seem forced on the show and that’s how it felt during “Band or DJ?” HIMYM has become too formulaic with its deep sentiment and hard-hitting issues, just like how the soft music would play during the moral-of-the-story in Full House. But that’s only one of their problems.

At this point of the series, Ted has fallen tremendously behind in the race. Marshall and Lily were practically together when the show premiered, and even though they shared their ups and downs (which were some of the best moments during HIMYM), they got married at the end of Season 2. If their story-line didn’t become stale after they got married, it most definitely did during Season 6 when Lily became pregnant. Now with Marvin, the parents have really lost touch with the rest of the group. The writers keep trying to find ways to tie in Marshall and Lily with their friends, but the truth is that there are few story-lines that really can include everyone anymore.

Now halfway through Season 8, Barney and Robin are engaged. So while their story-line is practically over, so is the series. I’m not sure how HIMYM can conclude this show without having Ted’s (the MAIN character) love-quest seem rushed. Are they really going to end the show in a year or two at the moment when Ted says “Hello” to his future wife? Something else the show does so well is plant that seed of doubt whenever there is something that seems bullet-proof in your life. How can they just simply end the show without showing Ted going through the roller-coaster of a relationship?

Anyway, the biggest moment in the episode that was full of story-lines about Marvin’s lack of bowel movements and Robin’s mean father, was when Lily and Ted were standing on the roof of the apartment. All Lily wanted was for Ted to admit that he wasn’t okay with the fact that Barney and Robin were engaged. But to do so, she had to say something equally, if not more, awful and so she did it. She confessed how sometimes she wished she wasn’t a mom and could just run away from being a parent, just to relive the life she once lived, full of opportunity and freedom. We know Lily would never abandon her family (although she did skip out to California that one time), but it was still one of the most honest moments in the show’s history.

What’s next for Ted? Is he going to spend the rest of the season wallowing about how he should be engaged to Robin instead of Barney? Possibly. While Ted is pretty resilient when it comes to gaining closure, Robin is his kryptonite. But the only reason why I’m not looking forward to HIMYM tackling another big issue, like getting over the love of your life, is because we’ve been here before. The Ted/Robin story has definitely wore itself out. If it were real life, they would’ve said their goodbyes and gone their separate ways, but it’s a sitcom so they have to stay together.

Trust me, Ted’s pain is the audience’s pain too. Just find your future wife and make it a happy ending.