A thoroughly enjoyable episode with lots of laugh-out-loud moments. I love Barney's innkeeper jokes ("don't charge for Wifi, it seems greedy!"), and Marshall's songs and photo montages are hilarious.
But in between the laughs, it becomes more and more apparent early in this fifth season of How I Met Your Mother that they tread a dangerous path with their characters. Especially Marshall and Lily seem to get gradually dumbed down as their traits and quirks get more exaggerated. Ted is affected as well, he's now the tweed wearing professor who doesn't get laid (well, at first *cough* spoilers! *cough*).
Barney and Robin carry the story at the moment, everything else seems to be resolved and sorted out after the end of season 4. In a series that has always been driven by the story just as much as by the jokes. As long as the creators pull off episodes that are as funny as this one, it could be carried by the jokes alone for some time, but if the prize for the laughs is the dignity of the characters as they get dumber and dumber, the series will inevitably hit a tipping point.
But in between the laughs, it becomes more and more apparent early in this fifth season of How I Met Your Mother that they tread a dangerous path with their characters. Especially Marshall and Lily seem to get gradually dumbed down as their traits and quirks get more exaggerated. Ted is affected as well, he's now the tweed wearing professor who doesn't get laid (well, at first *cough* spoilers! *cough*).
Barney and Robin carry the story at the moment, everything else seems to be resolved and sorted out after the end of season 4. In a series that has always been driven by the story just as much as by the jokes. As long as the creators pull off episodes that are as funny as this one, it could be carried by the jokes alone for some time, but if the prize for the laughs is the dignity of the characters as they get dumber and dumber, the series will inevitably hit a tipping point.