One Down, Two To Go

How I Met Your Mother, S08E02

Barney, pressured by a coworker, decided to draw up a prenup and have Quinn sign it.  However, his ridiculous terms for their future marriage not only had Quinn questioning their relationship in general, but also the ones of the previously happy couples of Ted and Victoria, Lily and Marshall, and Robin and Nick.

This episode was very much a girls versus boys story where both sides thought the other was being unreasonable when they were both pretty much at fault.  It wasn't much of a surprise that it turned out this way since all the couples (minus Lily and Marshall who have just been together too long not to have something to squabble about) are pretty much doomed.  I was expecting that Robin and Nick would be the first doomed couple to fall because they had the least amount of time together, but it ended up being Barney and Quinn.  That wasn't too unreasonable since the prenup spinning out of control was a wonderful sign that they weren't meant to be.  I'm just glad their breakup didn't end up having to do with Robin.  And I'm just glad that we don't have to see Barney sinking any deeper into a relationship that he isn't entirely into.

Besides, finally seeing one of the 3 stupid couples fall, I was glad to see that Thomas Lennon was back on the show as Klaus.  I've liked him since I watched Reno 911!, and he's just a man of multiple comedic talents.  Particularly, as we saw in the episode, he is really good at just making people feel awkward in a funny way.  The best example was when he was walking around naked with nothing to censor himself but a bowl of popcorn.  It's crazy that Ted, wanting to show off that he can be generous (what a moron), offered to let Klaus stay and then instantly regretted it.  However, at least Klaus will be able to speed up the clock before the Victora and Ted breakup time bomb goes off.  So I'll be happy to see more of him for as long as it takes for the end of those two to happen.

I suppose I did like this episode because it showed that things were going to get moving a little bit, as far as not stringing along these frivolous relationships on until the end of the season.  It would be nice if one of the other couples fell as well (since October was the month of breakups), and we could finally get to see how Barney and Robin got back together.  Hopefully after this big run around with failed relationships, that story is going to be interesting enough to really get me invested in this show again.

Let's Hurry It Up

How I Met Your Mother, S08E01

The eight season premiere started with a look further in the future where Robin and Barney are getting married.  However, the main focus is on a little back in the past where we left off last season.  Ted and Victoria were trying to leave a note for her ex-fiance Klaus, but having difficulty sneaking in.  Barney wanted to keep his relationship with Robin a secret from Quinn, but a sleep-deprived Marshall and Lily made that difficult.

I can't say that I wasn't a little bit encouraged by this episode to keep watching, but that had little to do with almost everything that happened.  My biggest frustration was that they are continuing to do this leap forward in the story, while still talking about the past.  Well, we all know that despite Barney is engaged to Quinn and Robin has a new boyfriend that it's not going to work out.  I think I have no patience left for this show, and I just want them to hurry up and show how Robin and Barney get back together again.  Why fool around with this unimportant piece where they are apart?  Seriously, I wish I could snap my fingers and get to the point.

It was even more torture watching Ted and Victoria scrambling around to leave that note for Klaus.  We know that they aren't going to be together because Ted in the "Barbin" wedding future is sitting at a station where his future wife comes holding that famous yellow umbrella.  Frankly, for all the trouble that he went through to leave that letter for it to be that Klaus didn't even want to get married was annoying.  It absolves Ted and Victoria of looking like assholes for leaving a man at the altar, but it makes me wonder if they could have just gotten together in the end without this dramatic fleeing from the wedding and stupid return to the venue to leave a letter.  Again, I felt like I was being jerked around.  All for a relationship that isn't even going to last the entire season (presumably).

Despite all my complaints there was one thing I did like about the Ted and Victoria story and that was when Klaus thought that Ted knew German because he understood "wunderbar".  He then proceed to go off in German as normal.  This was particularly funny to me because I've had this sort of experience before.  Also, Klaus was telling Ted that he was inconsistent with his knowledge of German since he knew "kindergarten," but didn't know this other ridiculously long German word.  But by that time, it was nearly the end of the episode, and it didn't particularly save it for me.

With all these complaints, you would wonder why I would want to continue to watch.  Well, it's mostly because Ted's wife has finally shown up again.  Now, we're not sure that Ted is going to have a fateful meeting with that woman there at the train station in the next episode, but I hope he does.  If he does, I think I can keep watching.  If she's just going be there in passing just to tease us again, I think I'm gonna be done.  I'll just catch the finale of the last season so I can figure out who he marries.  Because I'm not enjoying the journey anymore.  Marshall and Lily are pretty much done--they have a kid.  Barney and Robin are going to stop going around in circles and get married.  We just need freaking Ted to fall into place.  But I don't think I have it in me to stick around if this isn't going to happen a little faster.

So for now How I Met Your Mother is still within my list of stuff to watch, but it's not out of the danger zone by a longshot.  After all, there may be something better to watch at its time slot on Monday (especially if Regular Show or Adventure Time were to move to that time), so it may not be worth it.  Hopefully, next time we are going to see the first encounter between Ted and the future Mrs. Mosby.

Ya'll Know Dr. Penguin Is Roger, Right?

American Dad, S07E13

Okay, so Roger or Steve explained in one episode that Roger has at least one character that each family member, for whatever reason, doesn't know that it's Roger in costume.  However, when it comes to Dr. Penguin, the family therapist, all of them clearly seem to know that it's Roger, but act as if they don't know.  It's amazing that Roger is a sort of jack of all trades and is fairly knowledgeable about a lot of professions that seem impossible for him, but for the most part, it is understood by everyone that he is playing pretend.  I just couldn't get over the fact that they were sharing their deepest secrets with Roger, who is known to screw with others for his own amusement or when it might benefit him.

I also thought Roger's Sergent Pepper character was random, even for him.  I guess he just likes to be well-rounded and do every kind of character he can.  He really commits to these personas--it's ridiculous.  He knows full well that he isn't really in the army or anything, yet when Klaus tricks him into thinking he got a draft letter for Iraq, Roger goes without a single thought.

I almost felt bad that no one listens to Klaus, and I thought he might be a better therapist than Roger.  I don't know why I thought it was funny when Roger, during one of his many moments of ignoring and belittling Klaus,  hit Klaus and said, "Punch a fish, make a wish."  I guess it was just amusing that Roger didn't take Klaus seriously even for a second.  My hopes that Klaus might give the Smith family a wake-up call about lying to each other were for not; it turned out that when the lies came out, everything turned to shit, and Klaus was to blame.

Everyone had pretty bad secrets, except for Hayley, whose was only hurtful to Jeff because he is a moron.  If the stories all interlocked (instead of being struck from the record each week), I doubt the family would be able to get over all that (despite that Klaus via Sergent Pepper's voice worked it all out).

I kinda liked White James.  I guess he was just in this episode so Klaus would have a way to travel to Iraq (why he used him, who knows?).  Before he showed us his business card that boasts he is a "purveyor of bitches" he has a nice line::

If you ever need bitches, remember: White James.

The story this time wasn't so bad, even though it focused on Klaus and how pathetic he is.  Roger wasn't too outrageous this time, but I didn't mind that as long as we didn't have to hear about the other family members too much, mostly Stan.  I would have liked to see better Roger characters, though.  With this show, Roger's characters are the best part of watching.