As I noted back in January with the "Bad News" episode of How I Met Your Mother, as they continue in their runs, sitcoms have a tendency to become more dramatic. My favorite example of this, and the one which pops most readily into my head, is Mad About You. As that series progressed, Paul and Jamie suffered serious marital strife and at one point it actually looked as though their relationship may be coming to a close. Eventually they worked it all out and the show continued, but there were some awfully dark episodes.
How I Met Your Mother, while it does do dramatic things, rarely ends up going towards a dark place (except, of course, for that episode back in January where I discussed their potential turn to the dramatic, but let's ignore that). Last night's episode where Barney finally met his father is another perfect example of how HIMYM balances the funny and the serious without having to go dark.
I have long argued that Neil Patrick Harris is deserving of more than just an Emmy nomination for his role as Barney Stinson (he
was nominated in 2007, 2008, 2009, & 2010 and for a Golden Globe in 2009 & 2010). With any luck, voters will see his work in last night's episode, "Legendaddy," and he will finally have the recognition that he deserves for his work in the series.
For those unaware of his history, Barney Stinson was raised by his single mother and didn't know his father for an extensive number of years. Initially, in fact, he kind of believed his dad to be Bob Barker (his mother misled him) which inspired Barney to perfect his Price is Right knowledge and go on the game show where he performed stupendously in order to impress dear old dad… not that Barker was actually his father.
No, as we learned last night, Barney's dad, a one time roadie, is actually a driving instructor in White Plains, NY—roughly a 30 minute train ride north of New York City—who looks something like John Lithgow. He also looks something like the DMV tester I had in White Plains, NY when I took my road test, but that's neither here nor there and the guy who administered my road test was far more like Lithgow's character on Dexter than HIMYM. We also learned in this episode that driving instructors in White Plains, NY are well paid (either that or Barney's dad purchases expensive clothes second-hand).
Article comments
1 - Spikesaa
Nice review, but to answer your question about Barney having memories of his dad, we found out in "Natural History" that Barney knew him as his Uncle Jerry when he was a kid. He actually "knew" his father but as someone else.