HIMYM 8x03: Nannies

It's the third episode of the season, so perhaps it's fitting that this episode contains three separate plot lines. Honestly, I hate when shows do things like this. Two plots is bad enough, but three?!? Are you telling me that you can't squeeze enough blood from those stones to fill ten and a half measly minutes apiece? That's weak sauce, HIMYM writers.

Make this hat, CBS!

Plot numero uno: Barney is newly single and wants to get over Quinn by getting back on the horse, so he creates a festival: Bangtoberfest. He also creates $7000 worth of hats, T-shirts and associated merch to go along with it... and, I have to admit that I kinda want a Bangtoberfest baseball cap. It seems like CBS only sells the T-shirts, though. Anyway, Barney has trouble coming up with new, innovative ways to bang chicks until...

It's TV's Chris Elliott!

Plot II: The Reckoning: Chris Elliott is back as Lily's dad, and I'm once again saddened by his unfunniness. He burned down their house on Long Island, so now he's staying with them for a while. At the same time, Lily's going back to work, so she and Marshall need to find a nanny. The find the perfect one, but they can't afford her. Then they find another one, but Barney bangs her(and several other nannies), so she decides she can't work for people who are friends with such a horrible person. By way of apology, Barney pays the matronly Mrs. Buckminster's salary. Lily suffers from separation anxiety and can't hand Marvin over. She passes out in a chair, and when she wakes up, Mickey has proven to be a supernanny. As it turns out, he was a stay-at-home dad for the first few years of Lily's life. Then he discovered the betting track.

Most women would kill for a sensitive man with lickable abs. Not Robin, though.

Plot the Third: Robin and Ted argue over whose relationship is going better. Both are actually going quite poorly. Nick is too sensitive for Robin, and Victoria is too messy for Ted. Future Ted has stated multiple times that both relationships are doomed, so I don't know why the show's spending so much time on them. Also, at this point in the narrative, these relationships have been going on for nearly four months, so how can they just be discovering these issues now? Their inability to discuss their problems with their partners makes me think they deserve to be single. A simple "Hey, could you wash the dishes?" would probably save Ted and Victoria, but we know she's not the mother, so the two of them have to break up; and why not make it over some silly douchebag reason? Plus, Victoria is a chef! She should be a dish washing master.

What I Liked
-"You son of a itch-bay!" I'm a fan of some of the running gags on this show, and they found a way to put a new twist on this one.
-Barney bangs Mrs. Buckminster. Old ladies need love, too.

I'd buck her minster. Whatever that means.

What I Hated
-I suppose I have to give them points for effort, but HeyNannyNanny.com is supposed to be a website that helps you find a nanny, not an anti-Barney site. They're usually better about this sort of thing. Heck, guyforceshiswifetodressinagarbagebagforthenextthreeyears.com/ is still up and running.
-Chris Elliott. His character is terrible in every way. It's not his fault, but the more the character's on the show, the more I hate the man. It's a failing on my part.
-The tender moment where they show pictures from Lily's childhood. They only show three pictures for a total of about eight seconds, but Lily acts like she's seen dozens of them.
-Mickey's ridiculous thumb prosthetics. This show usually thrives on continuity, but he only has them for a couple quick sight gags.
-The ending photo montage. I think it was supposed to be sweet, but I felt like it was trying way too hard. HIMYM has never done tenderness well; it always seems forced.

This photo encapsulates about 30% of what was wrong with this episode.

Final Thoughts
Ted's going to break up with Victoria because she's messy. At this point, the writers have made him into such a douche that it's really hard to believe any woman out there would marry him. He's been looking for a wife for seven years now, and he's going to lose 'the one who got away' for THE SECOND TIME over something petty. You'd think he'd be willing to settle for whatever he can get now.

I think they're going for a twist ending. Instead of Future Ted telling a story about love, he's been telling his kids a story about what a jerk he is in an effort to explain why he and their mother are getting divorced. Then they can do a sequel series from the mother's point of view called 'Why I Left Your Father'

Still, I got sixteen laughs out of this episode, and some parts of it at least weren't blatantly offensive.