January 21, 2025 • 47 mins
Hi and welcome to belated binge - the podcast that doesn’t take itself or the show too seriously. My names Zac and I’m your host, here to let you relive your favorite series that I nearly missed out on!
Like How I Met your mother. A show I watched for awhile in real time - stopped sometime along the way - and just finally watched start to finish 10 years after the series finale.
In this mini-binge episode we'll talk about the show, the characters, discuss whether it holds up and if it was worth the binge.
I'll also give out a bunch of made up silly bingie awards and give an update on what's been happening with me and with the podcast.
For bonus episodes and more cool stuff, check out Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BelatedBinge *Free trial availableI'd love for you to join the discussion, which you can do on Patreon, or by joining the FREE Facebook Group for listeners of the show: https://www.facebook.com/groups/688037702835574/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
The Belated Binge Podcast Hi andwelcome to Belated Binge, the
podcast that doesn't take itselfor the Show 2 series.
My name's Zach and I'm your host, here to let you relive
your favorite series that I nearly missed out on.
Like How I Met Your Mother, a show that I watched for a little
while in real time, stopped sometime along the way and just
(00:24):
finally started watching and went start to finish all the way
through like 10 years after the series finale.
Now, if you're familiar with this podcast, this is going to
seem a little bit out of the blue to be honest.
After all, it's not Harry Potter, it's not Sons of
Anarchy, it's not Breaking Bad, hell, it's not even The Office.
(00:47):
I didn't tease this show in any way, and we're clearly not doing
a complete binge of this show, so I thought I would explain
just a little bit. But before I do, shout out to
the Bonus Bin Squad on Patreon, Harley 117 and a super duper
awesome unnamed individual. If you're part of my core
(01:10):
audience, you know that I love basketball.
And what does that have to do with How I Met Your Mother?
Well, nothing. But it does have to do with me
and this podcast. And if you happen to be watching
on YouTube, the decor that you see around you see not too long
ago I got on this feed with an update to talk about how I had
(01:34):
these big plans to like jump back into Sons of Anarchy to to
binge that show and overhaul thepodcast to be video 1st.
And all this added content that I was going to have with shorts
and breakout videos and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
(01:56):
Now I truly did intend to do just that.
I started season 2. I was making multiple videos per
episode, shorts and and long form and in between TikTok
actually was kind of picking up in a kind of real way.
(02:16):
Ironic timing when I think aboutit.
But then a couple things happened.
The first one, I was actually picked up by a company that
makes sports content with an opportunity to host a podcast
about my favorite basketball team.
So I guess you could say that technically I'm actually in the
(02:37):
NBA media covering my favorite team.
And that's honestly something that I've wanted to do since I
was a kid. You know, it's why I went after
my first radio job in college. It was the career I thought that
I'd be pursuing from the beginning.
Now, don't get me wrong. Am I some kind of big deal all
(03:00):
of a sudden? Of course not.
No. I still have my day job that
supports my family. And I'm starting from scratch
with a podcast in 2025 like everybody else.
And much like I did with this one, like over three years ago,
but I'm doing it with a real company that covers sports.
(03:21):
They have podcasts on their network that are like top 1 and
2% in the world, big enough to do things like launch a company.
And now I host a show with theirname on it.
So I'm not doing it alone. And for me, that's that means
something. The second thing that happened
is that I kind of hated it. Not the basketball podcast
(03:46):
that's actually been going awesome.
And if you are curious, I'd be happy to tell you all about it.
But not here, not right now, because my assumption is you
don't care. No, what I hated was making the
Sons of Anarchy videos I was making, particularly the way I
was making them See, I had become so hyper focused on
(04:10):
making everything visual. You know, how to make and how to
make this thing work on YouTube and how to grow the show and be
truly multi platform with this big, you know, content strategy,
if you will. And from the way I was watching
the show where the way and, and how I was crafting each piece of
(04:36):
content and then I had to shoot it and then I had to edit it to
be video focused with a whole bunch of B roll.
I'll be honest with you, I was having zero fun.
I was dreading it and I was putting off doing the work.
I can't tell you how many times I messaged Cousin Amy
complaining about how much I wasnot enjoying making my own
(05:00):
podcast. It was exhausting and one of
several things at the time that I was stressing about.
I kind of just needed a reset and I found it in a comfort show
when I sat down to eat or when Ijust needed to turn my brain off
because, well, life. I found this show that I could
(05:22):
just watch. And I remembered enjoying How I
Met Your Mother when it was on TV.
And I remembered that I didn't finish it.
I'm not even sure that I startedit.
And by that, I mean, back in theday, me and my dad, we had a
couple of things that we bonded over.
We bonded over sports. On certain TV shows, we would
(05:44):
record them on the DVR and then when my wonky schedule gave me
some time at home, we would catch up on them together.
And that sounds corny, is all hell, but my dad's my best
friend. And that's time that I don't
take for granted. And one of the shows for a while
was How I Met Your Mother. It started back in 2005 when I
(06:08):
was like 15, and I don't even remember when we actually jumped
into it, but we definitely watched a few seasons together
and I think it was in, I don't know.
I don't know if we moved or if we switched cable companies or
we just got a different account.What happened?
You know, did we lose our old recordings of it or you know
(06:29):
what, whatever reason we had, wejust never finished it.
And I don't even know where I stopped, but I knew that I
didn't remember where the show started, I hadn't seen how it
ended, and I didn't even know who the mother was.
So I put a few episodes of that show on, and then I watched the
(06:51):
whole damn thing. And while I don't have as much
to say about that show that warrants a full immediate
rewatch or a season by season breakdown necessarily, I enjoyed
watching it. And it was truly a belated
binge. And after feeling like I had
completely lost the whole point of why I started this podcast in
(07:14):
the 1st place, this one smacked me right in the face.
So we're going to do a mini binge.
I'll hit the Cliff notes of the show, share some thoughts, you
know, and do the thing that I probably have enjoyed the most
on this show and actually any podcast that I make is give out
(07:35):
some just silly made-up awards. So if you're new hit follow in
your podcast player or subscribeon YouTube.
I hope that you enjoy this mini binge and I welcome you to go
back and listen to the first 100or so episodes that that are in
the backlog. If you've been here a while,
thank you and however long it may take, I hope that you'll be
(07:59):
here for at least 100 more. So now, as I mentioned, How I
Met Your Mother premiered back in 2005.
It ran nine seasons, ending in 2014, so I think we've captured
the belated part of this binge pretty perfectly.
The series finale was over 10 years ago, so I'm guessing
(08:22):
you're aware that if you're here, the show was set up around
the main character, Ted Mosby from the future.
I believe it was 2030 when he was talking to his kids and
telling them the story of, you guessed it, how he met their
mother. And then each episode of the
(08:45):
series is part of that story. We see it play out in present
day Ted, who's like the hopelessromantic type single in New York
City, navigating the highs and lows of life in your late 20s
and your 30s. He's roommates with his best
friend and college roommate, Marshall, who's engaged and
later marries his college sweetheart Lily.
(09:07):
Ted is the third wheel in this relationship, but for about 95%
of the show, they're all completely cool with that, and
they actually make a fantastic trio.
The three have another friend who's explained to have met Ted
some time before the first episode.
His name is Barney and he's a complete womanizer.
(09:28):
The first episode sets the stagefor the journey that our
characters are going to take when Ted goes on a first date
with a woman named Robin. Shenanigans ensue, of course,
but the night ends with Ted telling her that, well, he loves
her and ruins the whole thing. Still, Robin is new to New York
and is weirdly accepted into thefriend group to embark on a
(09:52):
journey of our five main characters.
I guess and the show just kind of keeps this will they won't
they on again off again love story between Ted and Robin
balanced by hundreds of failed. Maybe this will be the love of
my life. Shorter and longer relationships
(10:12):
for Ted. In between, every character
experiences some kind of character journey of ups and
downs in a mostly mostly well written series that can only be
described as legend. Wait for it, Gary from Lillian
(10:34):
Marshall experiencing a breakup in a period of being just
friends, a rekindled engagement,getting married, home ownership,
experiencing the loss of Marshall's father and becoming
parents. And then you've got Barney
growing from the complete douchebag that is constantly
using elaborate lies and schemesto sleep with women.
(10:55):
And perhaps videotaping it without consent.
And it's actually kind of problematic to having his own on
again, off again with Robin. A failed engagement to a
stripper actually marrying Robinbefore they agree that their
marriage isn't working. And he goes back to sleeping
around until the show ends with him becoming a father from one
(11:16):
of his just many, many one nightstands.
And while he does not actually marry that mother or anything,
he does change to a man who now lives for his daughter.
Kind of a chaotic ride for Barney to be honest.
Robin obviously goes through thejourney of the Teds in the
Barney love interest stuff whilenever losing her drive for her
(11:39):
career, which is always been as a reporter on TV.
You know, it acts as kind of a foil to her personal
relationships, particularly the romantic ones.
You know, why she doesn't want to settle down with Ted.
She doesn't want kids. She wants to travel and work and
be a major news anchor. And it's the reason that her and
Barney actually end up calling it quits in the end because
(12:00):
they've been traveling around for her job.
And that's put a lot of strain on their marriage and why she
sort of falls out of the group at the end of the final season.
Of course, that's all like driven also by tension of the on
again, off again with Ted, always the on again, off again
(12:20):
with Ted. Will they won't they end up
together? Ted does in fact, finally meet
the woman that he would marry inthe final season and the mother
of said kids that he's telling this story too.
It's kind of wild, a nine seasonrun of How I Met Your Mother and
(12:46):
we don't actually meet the mother till the final season,
which I guess actually makes some sense because once you've
met the mother, the story's over, right?
It's How I Met your mother. Anyways, then there's always
this they're they kept this thisspark alive, this this
(13:09):
possibility with Robin because it starts to spin into the one
that got away for her because ofher career.
And while many people don't likethe actual ending of the show,
it is at least an unexpected outcome for the journey of said
show. You know, we learned that Ted
(13:30):
has been that was was happily married with his two kids and
the mother whose name is Tracy, got sick unexpectedly and passed
away. And apparently that happened
like six years before he startedtelling his kids this story.
In the series finale, Ted's kidsgive him the encouragement and
(13:52):
their blessing to not just get back out there, but to finally
go get the woman. He still has feelings for Aunt
Robin, which is how she's referred to throughout the
entirety of the show. When narrator Ted is talking
about Aunt Robin, it's like it'skind of wild when you're in it
to be to have them do so much romantic build up and an an arc
(14:19):
and an experience between Ted and Robin when from literally
the pilot, he has hold his kids.That's not their mother.
It is it it it's kind of wild. But his kids do give him the
(14:42):
encouragement and their blessingto not just get back out there,
but to finally, you know, do thething with to to go get Robin.
And he does so with a romantic gesture that calls back to that
first pilot episode, showing up to her apartment, calling her to
the window with a blue French horn that he had stolen for her
(15:05):
on their first date. And if it sounds like I just
described to you a drama series,I would understand.
But I think that's actually a big part of the why behind this
show resonating so well and winning all the awards that it
did and being such the success that it was.
(15:26):
Yes, it's absolutely a comedy. Every episode is written with
endless punch lines and ridiculous nights of drinking
that are just a notch or two over the top, but in a way that
actually makes complete sense with the premise of the show.
When we tell a story, it's completely normal for us as
(15:47):
human beings to exaggerate certain details, make it sound
cooler than it was, or even simply just remember it being
cooler than it was. We're all the star of our own
movie, and we all like to look back at some of our fondest
memories and think how awesome it was and maybe forget all the
lulls and the kind of downtime between and the times where they
(16:10):
were kind of just boring and notreally anything going on.
That's not how we tell stories. It's not how we remember
stories, you know? And this show is a story.
It's a recollection of events. So when you think, OK, this is a
little much, you might remember that this is a story that's
being told from Ted's memory of like 20 or whatever years ago.
(16:34):
And sometimes PED, as the narrator actually jumps in and
says something to the effect of like, that's how I remember it,
in case you forgot that detail yourself.
But the fact that it's a comedy within each episode where the
overarching story is very much adrama, I think that's what makes
(16:56):
the characters feel real. You feel connected to it.
You feel like you can relate is while you've likely never been
to robots versus wrestlers, you have probably felt the sting of
a breakup or been impacted by a loved one that was unexpectedly
or or lost for whatever reason. You know, if if you've lived on
(17:18):
this planet, you felt lost or alone or like you didn't know
what you were doing with your life or wondered what if what
you are doing actually matters. And having these characters
dealing with the things that you've dealt with yourself and
turning that into a master classof written comedy, it makes the
(17:43):
show hit home in a way that onlythe best ones do.
Is it perfect? No, absolutely not.
You know, some of the story arcscome out of left field, don't
feel that natural, or maybe justare kind of dumb like Barney and
Robin. Honestly, it really doesn't make
any sense either time that they do it.
(18:06):
I'm sure we'll talk about that plenty in this episode.
You know, some of these episodesare also very fringy, you know,
and not just because the jokes don't fly in 2025, but like the
pretentious college girlfriend coming to town and the weird
thing where Lily turns into a confident black woman when her
old friend comes around. You know, that episode where
(18:29):
they're all trying to make it seem like they went to jail for
being so bad when they were younger?
Kind of awful, at least cringy. And and the premise is awful.
But even when the writing falls kind of flat, the characters are
still there and the acting is, quite frankly, just hop tier.
(18:53):
Just about everyone in the main cast has had massive success in
their careers. You've got Jason Segel, who
plays Marshall and is an absolute movie star as a leading
actor and writer. You know, Allison Hannigan as
Lily. Her role in the American Pie
franchise is literally iconic tomy generation.
(19:16):
Neil Patrick Harris playing Barney, he's been a star
literally since like, I've been alive.
You know, Cobie Smulders who plays Robin was in Avengers.
Ever heard of it? Plus also other stuff.
It was really just Ted, the maincharacter played by Josh Radnor
(19:38):
that doesn't have this massive credit that's bigger than How I
Met Your Mother in his arsenal. But it's not like he hasn't been
in a lot of stuff and and good stuff.
I mean, Not Another Teen Movie is a relic from my coming of age
time period in life. It's not necessarily good, but
(19:59):
my gosh was it fun. And that's not to say that the
show was just good because the cast was famous.
You know, some of their careers didn't even take off until like
after or during the show. I say it because these were
legitimately great actors, the kind of talented people who can
(20:20):
elevate material so when the material maybe wasn't just
completely amazing. They could make it good, and
when the material was really good, they could make it
electric. And that being said, this show
started 20 years ago and it ended over 10 years ago.
So it bears the question, does it hold up?
(20:42):
And I think it does, Yeah. Don't get me wrong, There's a
certain type of person who wouldwatch it today and find much of
the humor to be in poor taste and offensive.
And those people's feelings are completely valid because that's
the thing about comedy. It's subjective.
And where I personally don't have a problem watching
something that's been taken or or even just being taken out of
(21:08):
something because a joke would be considered offensive in
today's social climate. There's a lot of like, there's a
lot of that in this show, you know, But for me, I like it,
perhaps because it's a little bit inappropriate and
inappropriate humor is my favorite kind of humor.
(21:29):
And a lot of these jokes were written to be inappropriate even
at the time that they took place.
So of course, if you slap a 2025lens over everything, they there
will be stuff that did not age particularly well.
But for me, that just means thatevery punchline doesn't hit as
(21:52):
hard as, you know, maybe it did originally.
You know, there's still a lot ofgreat humor in this show that
completely holds up if this is your type of humor.
If it's not, then it probably wouldn't have been a show that
you enjoyed then, and you're certainly not going to be
watching it now. You know, see for me, what
(22:16):
actually does Take Me Out of shows, typically when it's made,
I don't know, a while back to say is more the visuals in the
dialogue, you know, outside of, you know, humor things just
looking and feeling dated. If there's bad CGI because
(22:40):
technology wasn't good when it was made or the aesthetic just
looks old or the way people act and dress and just the vibes of
the show. If those don't land for me
because they feel like they wereperhaps before my time, that's
when it holds up less for me andI have a hard time with it.
I can deal with jokes being outdated.
(23:05):
I have a harder time with just the the, the quality of the
thing that I'm watching not holding up, I guess.
And this show to me does not have that problem.
For starters, there's not a ton of CGI type stuff in it.
You know, it's not heavily reliant on the capabilities of
(23:26):
production in the, you know, early mid 2000s.
You know, and generally speaking, their wardrobes also
aren't like, they don't go for super trendy or anything like
that. So they kind of don't age that
much in my opinion. You know, if they do wear
something that might be a littlebit cringy, it's typically done
(23:48):
as part of the episode to be made fun of for being a little
cringy. You know, for the most part, you
know, Marshall wears T-shirts, head wears button UPS, Barney
wears suits all the time, you know, and the women in the show
dress mostly like classy or casual.
That's kind of the two lanes that they fit in.
So nothing jumps out like, Oh mygosh, that's so 2008.
(24:10):
I can't believe I'm watching this now.
You know, maybe there are peoplethat are hearing this or
watching this and see this show that are more fashion focused
than me and think, you know, Oh my gosh, you're totally wrong.
I don't know, aside from some some pretty interesting care
decisions that are made at certain points in the show,
(24:33):
nothing really breaks for me. So yeah, I think it holds up.
And now that we've kind of touched on the gist of the show,
you got a got a taste for it. Let's give away some silly
made-up awards, some good, some not so good around here.
We like to call them Benji's. We're going to start with the
(24:55):
every parent has a favorite child, even when they say they
don't award for best main character.
It's probably basic or cliche, but I do want to give a an
honorable mention here to Ted. I actually find him to be a very
compelling main character in theshow.
And other people probably for this award would give it to
(25:20):
somebody like Marshall, who is undoubtedly the most likable
character on the show. But for me, despite not always
being on board with her specificdecisions or the writing around
the character, I think that Robin might actually be the best
character in terms of having substance and generally making
(25:43):
the show better. You know, Ted and Robin's scenes
are strong. She gets her own story art
outside of Ted that is generallycompelling and interesting.
She gets a lot of funny back story sprinkled in with maybe I
should call it sparkled in like being a teenage pop star.
Robin sparkles the Super inappropriate TV show she had as
(26:06):
a teenager. Her stuff with her dad is always
just it's it's kind of like bonkers wild.
Also hilarious all at the same time.
Her career, her independence, all of that is is inherently
great for her back story, you know, and she's balanced well
(26:27):
with legitimate comedic chops and has flaws.
Her character has flaws, and those flaws have a real impact
on the outcome of the show. In the final episode, it wasn't
her and Ted reuniting after, youknow, however long, if that's
(26:48):
not what we got, you would have had a feeling of what might have
been between them. And that kind of impact from a
long standing character, to me is truly meaningful to the show.
And her absence from a lot of like the last episode, you know,
(27:09):
in her absence from the group, it carries weight.
And it's not just because the characters comment on her not
being around, but you actually feel the fracturing of the
group, how it's growing apart. And it's not because they're
getting older or because Ted is getting married or anything like
that. It's because they miss Robin.
(27:30):
And in a weird way, she kind of acts like a like a glue for the
group in a way that you would have never, ever, ever guessed
in the beginning when she seemedlike she was just the love
interest for the main male character and she was the newest
one to the group. And while yes, she does excel in
(27:53):
the role of potential love interest to Ted, she also plays
a much bigger role and truly impacts the show in a
significant way all on her own. So I, I'm, I'm a fan of Robin.
The next award that we're going to do is the they're all really
(28:14):
good. So this sucks, but the rules
that I made-up say I have to pick one award for the worst
main character. And I feel like I have to like,
put myself on the spot for this because I started to do just
like worst character. And I was like, yeah, I could
just pick Stella for leaving Tedat the altar or pick his old
(28:37):
college girlfriend who's the absolute worst.
But I can't, I can't do that. Otherwise, it's not a difficult
thought exercise and it's not particularly entertaining for
you. I'm honestly I had a hard time
choosing what main character I would call the worst because
(29:00):
they're all great in some way. But because I had to pick one.
While I find Lily to be a littlebit annoying at times and even a
selfish character at times, which is probably going to get
me in trouble with some How I Met Your Mother fans that might
be finding me for the first time.
Thanks for hanging out. I love Lily, but like, you know,
(29:21):
sometimes she's, you know, a little a little much and not,
not always, you know, whatever II said what I said.
However, that being said, I think the right answer here is
Barney, and it's not because he's a womanizer or a genuinely
(29:41):
problematic person. I actually like that part, makes
for entertaining show. It's his arc in particular.
He has the biggest jump from complete sleazeball to then
weirdly super romantic and good hearted with no real growth
(30:03):
between the two. It's just a sudden massive leap
from 1:00 to the other when theydecide that he was going to
marry Robin as a way for her to not be the mother, you know?
But then when they split up, he goes right back to being a
sleazeball again. Again, no warning, just a stark
shift. It's explained like, hey, I
(30:25):
couldn't be with Robin, so obviously I can't just be in a
decent relationship with anyone,so I'm just this guy.
It's complete character whiplash, but then you give us
that whiplash without it actually paying off, just to
regress all the way back to the beginning.
And if that wasn't enough, he goes all the way back to the end
(30:50):
of the spectrum on the mature side of things, when he sees his
daughter for the first time and he breaks down into tears and
does, you know, does the it's a really honestly, it's a powerful
scene, you know, between this bond of of of father and
daughter, just his little baby girl.
(31:12):
And he wraps up everything by chasing a couple of girls at the
bar, and everybody thinks that he's going to try to pick them
up like he always does because that's Barney.
And he, you know, tells them offfor their outfits being too
revealing or something. But none of it feels earned.
(31:33):
None of it feels natural. It's just getting slapped around
like one of his kinky one night stands.
Probably the next word that we're going to do is the end
game. We should have gotten award for
best side character. And by end game, I don't mean
(31:54):
the mother. What I mean is that I think
Quinn is actually kind of awesome.
I, I, I didn't know where to go with the supporting character,
but when I really thought about it and I thought about Barney,
as I just mentioned, kind of thethe arc that I think is just
chaotic and problematic for him to have gone on in a weird
(32:17):
unearned way, kind of jerking usall around.
Quinn is the stripper that Barney gets engaged to.
It's like that time between failed relationship with Robin
and actually marrying Robin. And it just really, really like
(32:39):
almost everything that Quinn wasa part of the intro of them on
that double date. She's legitimately hilarious
with him. The twist that she's actually a
stripper at the club that he goes to like every night and he
didn't even recognize her. And while it's cringy, it's also
(33:01):
pretty funny how she plays him up like a pathetic dude who
thinks strippers like them for awhile, but then having it turn
to a way that Barney actually has a serious moment.
But hell her off, I guess you could say, for not giving him a
(33:21):
real chance. And it's a really well written
scene. I don't remember the exact
quote, but basically he's like, you know, there's I've been with
like a million women who had every reason to like who it was
like a mistake for them to be with me.
And you're the only person that has ever made the mistake of not
(33:46):
giving me a chance. And it that kind of thing.
I, I butchered the quote, but that was the, the general gist
of it. And it, I honestly, it was, it
was a powerful scene, you know, And when they are actually
together, she's basically awesome the whole time, you
know, and even when they do finally decide not to go through
(34:08):
with the marriage, because it turns out they don't have that
foundation of trust built up that you should have if you're
going to marry somebody. It is kind of mature and chill
the way that they come to that. They have that scene, that
moment where they just have thatrealization.
(34:30):
It was done well to not make it like super ugly.
They made an episode around it, but that was more about the
prenup, not the actual breakup. So that was that was
interesting. And truly, I believe that if
Barney was actually going to have a love story, it should
(34:51):
have been with Quinn, the awesome stripper that he fell in
love with, not Robin. But at least she does get some
extra run in the disastrous bachelor weekend that Robin
pulls on him as a prank before they do get married.
(35:14):
Of all the random characters that come in, she stands out to
me that mostly elevates the story while not driving me crazy
when she's on screen. The next word we're going to do
is a master class in doing more with less.
Award for best running joke. The entire show has a running
(35:37):
joke that nobody knows what Barney's job is.
And I'm just now realizing as I record this how much of my
feelings on this show revolve around the character of Barney.
Anyways, All they know is that he works at a bank and he makes
a shit ton of money and he neverbrakes tell any of them what he
(36:00):
actually does. Even when Marshall starts
working at the same bank, or when Ted gets brought in as a
freelance architect to build their new bank building.
Anytime he's asked what his job is he just shrugs and says
please. And this is meant to make it
(36:21):
seem like he's scoffing them, like he's so important or
whatever he's doing is just so top secret that they couldn't
possibly be let in on it. It's also made pretty clear that
whatever his job was, it's not exactly above board.
He's always referring to some kind of shady deal or shredding
(36:45):
mass amounts of documents that he can't talk about.
Meant at the very end of the show, before he and Robin get
married, he drunkenly reveals tothem that Lee's is actually an
acronym. It's his title.
It stands for Provide Legal. I wrote it down.
(37:10):
I'm not sure I can even pronounce it.
Exculpation. Exculpation, exculpation, exalt,
exaltation, exaltation, exaltation, whatever and sign
everything. Provide legal exaltation and
sign everything. Wow, I sound really dumb on my
(37:33):
own podcast and I'm not editing that out.
Basically the bank pays him a shit load of money, Could be the
fall guy on paper for most of its shady deals.
And then in a major plot twist at the end, Barney reveals that
he's been working as a mole for whatever organization, the FBI
(37:54):
or whatever, to implicate his boss in all of the illegal
dealings that have been happening over the several years
that he's worked there. And it turns out it's because
the guy who stole his college girlfriend and turned him into
his suit wearing womanizing selfwas his boss at the bank.
Is it cheesy and silly? Yes, but it's a very funny way
(38:18):
to pay off a gag that ran nine seasons of ATV show in a way
that actually feels incredibly on brand for the character.
The next award that we're going to do is the So bad We Did It
Twice award for the worst story plot.
Barney and Robin was bad, and I'm not going to spend a ton of
(38:41):
time on it because it's basically been weaved in and out
of this whole episode. Why I think it's bad, but I
don't think it made sense for them to get together the first
time, and it made even less sense when they got married.
So there you go. The next award we're going to do
is the this was almost legend. Wait for it.
(39:06):
Oh, Oh, no, Oh no, it went too long award for worst running
joke. That was almost really good.
And for me, this is slap that this gag started out awesome and
then it became just not awesome,you know, and I think it started
(39:29):
at slaps giving her me. You know, Marshall does this
whole countdown to Barney's nextslap and it ends on
Thanksgiving. And that whole episode is a big
Lily and her dad reunion, which we'll get into.
And all the characters that taketurns accepting the honor to
slap Barney and then not following through with it so
(39:49):
that they can give it to someoneelse and have this whole I don't
know, it's thing. You know, it's played for
suspense, it's played for bonding and it's just.
Drug on forever for me and I just didn't like it.
And then there was the whole adding more slaps and there was
the weird episode that Marshall is telling this story about
(40:12):
training to do the best slap andit ends up being a parody of
like a samurai training movie. And it's that's not a good
episode either. I don't know.
Slap Bet was a great running joke that just ran its course
for me kind of long before it actually ended.
(40:35):
The next award we're going to dois the should've left this one
in the past like your other friends from high school award
for worst running joke period. And it's the Schmoesby thing
heads old friend from high school that always gets super
(40:56):
immature. Then he tries to like humiliate
Ted when he invites him to his own wedding.
The guy sucks, the gag sucks. I'm just I'm not a fan of the
whole Schmoesby thing. So the next award we're going to
do is the worst non main character that wasn't supposed
(41:16):
to be awful. And there were actually plenty
of characters that were written to be awful.
That was their purpose in the show.
That's not what this award is for.
This is for the character that was supposed to bring value to
their scenes, but I couldn't stand it when they were on the
screen. And this is Lily's dad.
(41:38):
Yeah. Did he start as a, hey, this guy
kind of sucks character? Yeah.
But then they kept him around and they kept giving them
bonding moments and he was used a lot to be like, oh, this guy's
so funny and he just doesn't getit.
And he's the dad. That's like not been a good dad.
(42:00):
Wow. The whole time there was no, I
don't know. He just, it was, he wasn't
funny. The character sucked.
There was no depth. He was too far just out there.
The weird board game commercialswere sometimes kind of funny,
(42:20):
but I don't know. In my opinion, he added no value
to the show and I personally couldn't wait for his scenes to
end. That seems kind of harsh.
The final award that we're goingto do is the Coulda Woulda
Shoulda award for best potentialMother.
That wasn't. And I don't know if this is
(42:41):
truly in the spirit of the name of the award, but you know,
whatever, it's fine. I think that most people, if
given the chance to answer this question, would say Victoria
thinking that she's the one thatTed should have been with, but
because he couldn't let go of Robin, she couldn't commit to
him. And while she was right that had
(43:03):
ultimately had a thing for Robin, that's how the whole show
ended. So she was pretty much spot on
from Jump Street for this thing.I just am kind of not a fan of
ultimatums, so I'm going to go with the deep cut here.
The one that I think we should have gotten more from is Trudy.
(43:29):
She's only in two episodes. First is the one night stand
that was so embarrassed. She like climbed out the window
or whatever it was in the pineapple episode.
But when they actually hung out,they really clicked and she was
really cool, you know, and then when she came back and they did
(43:50):
that, I don't know why they did the weird thing when she was
like fighting over him with her ex college friend.
And I think we were left believing that they had a
threesome. And, and whether he actually
pulled that off or not, she could have been a really cool
character to explore with Ted more than what they actually
(44:11):
did. And let's just face it, if he
actually did pull that off, comeon, I think Ted would agree.
Could have been kept around for a little while, right?
And what better place to end theawards with a little intrigue
and answer the ultimate question, was it worth the
(44:32):
binge? Absolutely.
As I said before, I think the acting in this show is
phenomenal. The writing style of the
storytelling is very compelling.There's a there was a YouTube
video that I watched, Never Nothing I believe is the name of
(44:54):
the channel who did a did a cooljob of breaking down.
Actually, the difference betweenHow I Met Your Mother and How I
Met Your Father, which is a showthat I also binged because I
just wanted more from this world, if that tells you
(45:15):
anything. And we may or may not talk about
that show here on this podcast, but just the way that they put
stories together for episodes could be really, really, really
smart storytelling from a writing perspective.
Excuse me? The jokes are funny.
(45:36):
It holds up surprisingly well 10to 20 years later, depending on
what season you're watching. It's just a really good, funny
binge. And yeah, so that's that.
You've made it to the end of this mini binge of Why I Met
Your Mother. So what's next?
Well, as I alluded to earlier, those plans of making this a
(45:58):
video first podcast and all that, I think they're great
plans for someone else. The thing that I've learned
about YouTube over the past few years is that it's always a new
audience. The attention span is short.
So in order to feel like I was making something that could
actually compete on YouTube, I was completely changing the way
(46:20):
that I've made this podcast in the past and dropped almost
everything that I enjoyed doing.Plus, editing video sucks.
In short, this has always been apodcast, not a YouTube channel.
So sure, I'm going to turn my camera on and post it on YouTube
for people who enjoy watching people that are talking when
(46:41):
they're listening or consuming apodcast.
But I'm bringing this thing backto what attracted me to doing it
in the first place. I want to go on tangents.
I want to make up silly awards and I want to connect with my
audience. How, you know, how frequently
can I make it with the other stuff that I have going on?
Since the basketball podcast is for an actual company, you know,
(47:03):
it has to be my top priority with the the content stuff.
But this is and always will be my baby.
So as often as I can binge and talk about stuff, that's how
often I'm going to binge and talk about stuff, you know, will
I get back to the other series that I started with?
Of course, maybe not always a single chapter episode at a time
(47:25):
all the time. But yeah, I want to talk about
Harry Potter again. I want to keep going with Sons
of Anarchy, I want to keep watching Breaking Bad.
Hell, I even want to mix The Office back in and anything else
that I'm actually watching. And I feel like I have something
to say about. I'm making up the rules as I go.
So as long as you're here and enjoy it, I will be too, as much
(47:48):
as I can be. OK, that's enough for today.
Go watch How I Met Your Mother.
The Belated Binge Podcast Hi andwelcome to Belated Binge, the
podcast that doesn't take itselfor the Show 2 series.
My name's Zach and I'm your host, here to let you relive
your favorite series that I nearly missed out on.
Like How I Met Your Mother, a show that I watched for a little
while in real time, stopped sometime along the way and just
(00:24):
finally started watching and went start to finish all the way
through like 10 years after the series finale.
Now, if you're familiar with this podcast, this is going to
seem a little bit out of the blue to be honest.
After all, it's not Harry Potter, it's not Sons of
Anarchy, it's not Breaking Bad, hell, it's not even The Office.
(00:47):
I didn't tease this show in any way, and we're clearly not doing
a complete binge of this show, so I thought I would explain
just a little bit. But before I do, shout out to
the Bonus Bin Squad on Patreon, Harley 117 and a super duper
awesome unnamed individual. If you're part of my core
(01:10):
audience, you know that I love basketball.
And what does that have to do with How I Met Your Mother?
Well, nothing. But it does have to do with me
and this podcast. And if you happen to be watching
on YouTube, the decor that you see around you see not too long
ago I got on this feed with an update to talk about how I had
(01:34):
these big plans to like jump back into Sons of Anarchy to to
binge that show and overhaul thepodcast to be video 1st.
And all this added content that I was going to have with shorts
and breakout videos and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
(01:56):
Now I truly did intend to do just that.
I started season 2. I was making multiple videos per
episode, shorts and and long form and in between TikTok
actually was kind of picking up in a kind of real way.
(02:16):
Ironic timing when I think aboutit.
But then a couple things happened.
The first one, I was actually picked up by a company that
makes sports content with an opportunity to host a podcast
about my favorite basketball team.
So I guess you could say that technically I'm actually in the
(02:37):
NBA media covering my favorite team.
And that's honestly something that I've wanted to do since I
was a kid. You know, it's why I went after
my first radio job in college. It was the career I thought that
I'd be pursuing from the beginning.
Now, don't get me wrong. Am I some kind of big deal all
(03:00):
of a sudden? Of course not.
No. I still have my day job that
supports my family. And I'm starting from scratch
with a podcast in 2025 like everybody else.
And much like I did with this one, like over three years ago,
but I'm doing it with a real company that covers sports.
(03:21):
They have podcasts on their network that are like top 1 and
2% in the world, big enough to do things like launch a company.
And now I host a show with theirname on it.
So I'm not doing it alone. And for me, that's that means
something. The second thing that happened
is that I kind of hated it. Not the basketball podcast
(03:46):
that's actually been going awesome.
And if you are curious, I'd be happy to tell you all about it.
But not here, not right now, because my assumption is you
don't care. No, what I hated was making the
Sons of Anarchy videos I was making, particularly the way I
was making them See, I had become so hyper focused on
(04:10):
making everything visual. You know, how to make and how to
make this thing work on YouTube and how to grow the show and be
truly multi platform with this big, you know, content strategy,
if you will. And from the way I was watching
the show where the way and, and how I was crafting each piece of
(04:36):
content and then I had to shoot it and then I had to edit it to
be video focused with a whole bunch of B roll.
I'll be honest with you, I was having zero fun.
I was dreading it and I was putting off doing the work.
I can't tell you how many times I messaged Cousin Amy
complaining about how much I wasnot enjoying making my own
(05:00):
podcast. It was exhausting and one of
several things at the time that I was stressing about.
I kind of just needed a reset and I found it in a comfort show
when I sat down to eat or when Ijust needed to turn my brain off
because, well, life. I found this show that I could
(05:22):
just watch. And I remembered enjoying How I
Met Your Mother when it was on TV.
And I remembered that I didn't finish it.
I'm not even sure that I startedit.
And by that, I mean, back in theday, me and my dad, we had a
couple of things that we bonded over.
We bonded over sports. On certain TV shows, we would
(05:44):
record them on the DVR and then when my wonky schedule gave me
some time at home, we would catch up on them together.
And that sounds corny, is all hell, but my dad's my best
friend. And that's time that I don't
take for granted. And one of the shows for a while
was How I Met Your Mother. It started back in 2005 when I
(06:08):
was like 15, and I don't even remember when we actually jumped
into it, but we definitely watched a few seasons together
and I think it was in, I don't know.
I don't know if we moved or if we switched cable companies or
we just got a different account.What happened?
You know, did we lose our old recordings of it or you know
(06:29):
what, whatever reason we had, wejust never finished it.
And I don't even know where I stopped, but I knew that I
didn't remember where the show started, I hadn't seen how it
ended, and I didn't even know who the mother was.
So I put a few episodes of that show on, and then I watched the
(06:51):
whole damn thing. And while I don't have as much
to say about that show that warrants a full immediate
rewatch or a season by season breakdown necessarily, I enjoyed
watching it. And it was truly a belated
binge. And after feeling like I had
completely lost the whole point of why I started this podcast in
(07:14):
the 1st place, this one smacked me right in the face.
So we're going to do a mini binge.
I'll hit the Cliff notes of the show, share some thoughts, you
know, and do the thing that I probably have enjoyed the most
on this show and actually any podcast that I make is give out
(07:35):
some just silly made-up awards. So if you're new hit follow in
your podcast player or subscribeon YouTube.
I hope that you enjoy this mini binge and I welcome you to go
back and listen to the first 100or so episodes that that are in
the backlog. If you've been here a while,
thank you and however long it may take, I hope that you'll be
(07:59):
here for at least 100 more. So now, as I mentioned, How I
Met Your Mother premiered back in 2005.
It ran nine seasons, ending in 2014, so I think we've captured
the belated part of this binge pretty perfectly.
The series finale was over 10 years ago, so I'm guessing
(08:22):
you're aware that if you're here, the show was set up around
the main character, Ted Mosby from the future.
I believe it was 2030 when he was talking to his kids and
telling them the story of, you guessed it, how he met their
mother. And then each episode of the
(08:45):
series is part of that story. We see it play out in present
day Ted, who's like the hopelessromantic type single in New York
City, navigating the highs and lows of life in your late 20s
and your 30s. He's roommates with his best
friend and college roommate, Marshall, who's engaged and
later marries his college sweetheart Lily.
(09:07):
Ted is the third wheel in this relationship, but for about 95%
of the show, they're all completely cool with that, and
they actually make a fantastic trio.
The three have another friend who's explained to have met Ted
some time before the first episode.
His name is Barney and he's a complete womanizer.
(09:28):
The first episode sets the stagefor the journey that our
characters are going to take when Ted goes on a first date
with a woman named Robin. Shenanigans ensue, of course,
but the night ends with Ted telling her that, well, he loves
her and ruins the whole thing. Still, Robin is new to New York
and is weirdly accepted into thefriend group to embark on a
(09:52):
journey of our five main characters.
I guess and the show just kind of keeps this will they won't
they on again off again love story between Ted and Robin
balanced by hundreds of failed. Maybe this will be the love of
my life. Shorter and longer relationships
(10:12):
for Ted. In between, every character
experiences some kind of character journey of ups and
downs in a mostly mostly well written series that can only be
described as legend. Wait for it, Gary from Lillian
(10:34):
Marshall experiencing a breakup in a period of being just
friends, a rekindled engagement,getting married, home ownership,
experiencing the loss of Marshall's father and becoming
parents. And then you've got Barney
growing from the complete douchebag that is constantly
using elaborate lies and schemesto sleep with women.
(10:55):
And perhaps videotaping it without consent.
And it's actually kind of problematic to having his own on
again, off again with Robin. A failed engagement to a
stripper actually marrying Robinbefore they agree that their
marriage isn't working. And he goes back to sleeping
around until the show ends with him becoming a father from one
(11:16):
of his just many, many one nightstands.
And while he does not actually marry that mother or anything,
he does change to a man who now lives for his daughter.
Kind of a chaotic ride for Barney to be honest.
Robin obviously goes through thejourney of the Teds in the
Barney love interest stuff whilenever losing her drive for her
(11:39):
career, which is always been as a reporter on TV.
You know, it acts as kind of a foil to her personal
relationships, particularly the romantic ones.
You know, why she doesn't want to settle down with Ted.
She doesn't want kids. She wants to travel and work and
be a major news anchor. And it's the reason that her and
Barney actually end up calling it quits in the end because
(12:00):
they've been traveling around for her job.
And that's put a lot of strain on their marriage and why she
sort of falls out of the group at the end of the final season.
Of course, that's all like driven also by tension of the on
again, off again with Ted, always the on again, off again
(12:20):
with Ted. Will they won't they end up
together? Ted does in fact, finally meet
the woman that he would marry inthe final season and the mother
of said kids that he's telling this story too.
It's kind of wild, a nine seasonrun of How I Met Your Mother and
(12:46):
we don't actually meet the mother till the final season,
which I guess actually makes some sense because once you've
met the mother, the story's over, right?
It's How I Met your mother. Anyways, then there's always
this they're they kept this thisspark alive, this this
(13:09):
possibility with Robin because it starts to spin into the one
that got away for her because ofher career.
And while many people don't likethe actual ending of the show,
it is at least an unexpected outcome for the journey of said
show. You know, we learned that Ted
(13:30):
has been that was was happily married with his two kids and
the mother whose name is Tracy, got sick unexpectedly and passed
away. And apparently that happened
like six years before he startedtelling his kids this story.
In the series finale, Ted's kidsgive him the encouragement and
(13:52):
their blessing to not just get back out there, but to finally
go get the woman. He still has feelings for Aunt
Robin, which is how she's referred to throughout the
entirety of the show. When narrator Ted is talking
about Aunt Robin, it's like it'skind of wild when you're in it
to be to have them do so much romantic build up and an an arc
(14:19):
and an experience between Ted and Robin when from literally
the pilot, he has hold his kids.That's not their mother.
It is it it it's kind of wild. But his kids do give him the
(14:42):
encouragement and their blessingto not just get back out there,
but to finally, you know, do thething with to to go get Robin.
And he does so with a romantic gesture that calls back to that
first pilot episode, showing up to her apartment, calling her to
the window with a blue French horn that he had stolen for her
(15:05):
on their first date. And if it sounds like I just
described to you a drama series,I would understand.
But I think that's actually a big part of the why behind this
show resonating so well and winning all the awards that it
did and being such the success that it was.
(15:26):
Yes, it's absolutely a comedy. Every episode is written with
endless punch lines and ridiculous nights of drinking
that are just a notch or two over the top, but in a way that
actually makes complete sense with the premise of the show.
When we tell a story, it's completely normal for us as
(15:47):
human beings to exaggerate certain details, make it sound
cooler than it was, or even simply just remember it being
cooler than it was. We're all the star of our own
movie, and we all like to look back at some of our fondest
memories and think how awesome it was and maybe forget all the
lulls and the kind of downtime between and the times where they
(16:10):
were kind of just boring and notreally anything going on.
That's not how we tell stories. It's not how we remember
stories, you know? And this show is a story.
It's a recollection of events. So when you think, OK, this is a
little much, you might remember that this is a story that's
being told from Ted's memory of like 20 or whatever years ago.
(16:34):
And sometimes PED, as the narrator actually jumps in and
says something to the effect of like, that's how I remember it,
in case you forgot that detail yourself.
But the fact that it's a comedy within each episode where the
overarching story is very much adrama, I think that's what makes
(16:56):
the characters feel real. You feel connected to it.
You feel like you can relate is while you've likely never been
to robots versus wrestlers, you have probably felt the sting of
a breakup or been impacted by a loved one that was unexpectedly
or or lost for whatever reason. You know, if if you've lived on
(17:18):
this planet, you felt lost or alone or like you didn't know
what you were doing with your life or wondered what if what
you are doing actually matters. And having these characters
dealing with the things that you've dealt with yourself and
turning that into a master classof written comedy, it makes the
(17:43):
show hit home in a way that onlythe best ones do.
Is it perfect? No, absolutely not.
You know, some of the story arcscome out of left field, don't
feel that natural, or maybe justare kind of dumb like Barney and
Robin. Honestly, it really doesn't make
any sense either time that they do it.
(18:06):
I'm sure we'll talk about that plenty in this episode.
You know, some of these episodesare also very fringy, you know,
and not just because the jokes don't fly in 2025, but like the
pretentious college girlfriend coming to town and the weird
thing where Lily turns into a confident black woman when her
old friend comes around. You know, that episode where
(18:29):
they're all trying to make it seem like they went to jail for
being so bad when they were younger?
Kind of awful, at least cringy. And and the premise is awful.
But even when the writing falls kind of flat, the characters are
still there and the acting is, quite frankly, just hop tier.
(18:53):
Just about everyone in the main cast has had massive success in
their careers. You've got Jason Segel, who
plays Marshall and is an absolute movie star as a leading
actor and writer. You know, Allison Hannigan as
Lily. Her role in the American Pie
franchise is literally iconic tomy generation.
(19:16):
Neil Patrick Harris playing Barney, he's been a star
literally since like, I've been alive.
You know, Cobie Smulders who plays Robin was in Avengers.
Ever heard of it? Plus also other stuff.
It was really just Ted, the maincharacter played by Josh Radnor
(19:38):
that doesn't have this massive credit that's bigger than How I
Met Your Mother in his arsenal. But it's not like he hasn't been
in a lot of stuff and and good stuff.
I mean, Not Another Teen Movie is a relic from my coming of age
time period in life. It's not necessarily good, but
(19:59):
my gosh was it fun. And that's not to say that the
show was just good because the cast was famous.
You know, some of their careers didn't even take off until like
after or during the show. I say it because these were
legitimately great actors, the kind of talented people who can
(20:20):
elevate material so when the material maybe wasn't just
completely amazing. They could make it good, and
when the material was really good, they could make it
electric. And that being said, this show
started 20 years ago and it ended over 10 years ago.
So it bears the question, does it hold up?
(20:42):
And I think it does, Yeah. Don't get me wrong, There's a
certain type of person who wouldwatch it today and find much of
the humor to be in poor taste and offensive.
And those people's feelings are completely valid because that's
the thing about comedy. It's subjective.
And where I personally don't have a problem watching
something that's been taken or or even just being taken out of
(21:08):
something because a joke would be considered offensive in
today's social climate. There's a lot of like, there's a
lot of that in this show, you know, But for me, I like it,
perhaps because it's a little bit inappropriate and
inappropriate humor is my favorite kind of humor.
(21:29):
And a lot of these jokes were written to be inappropriate even
at the time that they took place.
So of course, if you slap a 2025lens over everything, they there
will be stuff that did not age particularly well.
But for me, that just means thatevery punchline doesn't hit as
(21:52):
hard as, you know, maybe it did originally.
You know, there's still a lot ofgreat humor in this show that
completely holds up if this is your type of humor.
If it's not, then it probably wouldn't have been a show that
you enjoyed then, and you're certainly not going to be
watching it now. You know, see for me, what
(22:16):
actually does Take Me Out of shows, typically when it's made,
I don't know, a while back to say is more the visuals in the
dialogue, you know, outside of, you know, humor things just
looking and feeling dated. If there's bad CGI because
(22:40):
technology wasn't good when it was made or the aesthetic just
looks old or the way people act and dress and just the vibes of
the show. If those don't land for me
because they feel like they wereperhaps before my time, that's
when it holds up less for me andI have a hard time with it.
I can deal with jokes being outdated.
(23:05):
I have a harder time with just the the, the quality of the
thing that I'm watching not holding up, I guess.
And this show to me does not have that problem.
For starters, there's not a ton of CGI type stuff in it.
You know, it's not heavily reliant on the capabilities of
(23:26):
production in the, you know, early mid 2000s.
You know, and generally speaking, their wardrobes also
aren't like, they don't go for super trendy or anything like
that. So they kind of don't age that
much in my opinion. You know, if they do wear
something that might be a littlebit cringy, it's typically done
(23:48):
as part of the episode to be made fun of for being a little
cringy. You know, for the most part, you
know, Marshall wears T-shirts, head wears button UPS, Barney
wears suits all the time, you know, and the women in the show
dress mostly like classy or casual.
That's kind of the two lanes that they fit in.
So nothing jumps out like, Oh mygosh, that's so 2008.
(24:10):
I can't believe I'm watching this now.
You know, maybe there are peoplethat are hearing this or
watching this and see this show that are more fashion focused
than me and think, you know, Oh my gosh, you're totally wrong.
I don't know, aside from some some pretty interesting care
decisions that are made at certain points in the show,
(24:33):
nothing really breaks for me. So yeah, I think it holds up.
And now that we've kind of touched on the gist of the show,
you got a got a taste for it. Let's give away some silly
made-up awards, some good, some not so good around here.
We like to call them Benji's. We're going to start with the
(24:55):
every parent has a favorite child, even when they say they
don't award for best main character.
It's probably basic or cliche, but I do want to give a an
honorable mention here to Ted. I actually find him to be a very
compelling main character in theshow.
And other people probably for this award would give it to
(25:20):
somebody like Marshall, who is undoubtedly the most likable
character on the show. But for me, despite not always
being on board with her specificdecisions or the writing around
the character, I think that Robin might actually be the best
character in terms of having substance and generally making
(25:43):
the show better. You know, Ted and Robin's scenes
are strong. She gets her own story art
outside of Ted that is generallycompelling and interesting.
She gets a lot of funny back story sprinkled in with maybe I
should call it sparkled in like being a teenage pop star.
Robin sparkles the Super inappropriate TV show she had as
(26:06):
a teenager. Her stuff with her dad is always
just it's it's kind of like bonkers wild.
Also hilarious all at the same time.
Her career, her independence, all of that is is inherently
great for her back story, you know, and she's balanced well
(26:27):
with legitimate comedic chops and has flaws.
Her character has flaws, and those flaws have a real impact
on the outcome of the show. In the final episode, it wasn't
her and Ted reuniting after, youknow, however long, if that's
(26:48):
not what we got, you would have had a feeling of what might have
been between them. And that kind of impact from a
long standing character, to me is truly meaningful to the show.
And her absence from a lot of like the last episode, you know,
(27:09):
in her absence from the group, it carries weight.
And it's not just because the characters comment on her not
being around, but you actually feel the fracturing of the
group, how it's growing apart. And it's not because they're
getting older or because Ted is getting married or anything like
that. It's because they miss Robin.
(27:30):
And in a weird way, she kind of acts like a like a glue for the
group in a way that you would have never, ever, ever guessed
in the beginning when she seemedlike she was just the love
interest for the main male character and she was the newest
one to the group. And while yes, she does excel in
(27:53):
the role of potential love interest to Ted, she also plays
a much bigger role and truly impacts the show in a
significant way all on her own. So I, I'm, I'm a fan of Robin.
The next award that we're going to do is the they're all really
(28:14):
good. So this sucks, but the rules
that I made-up say I have to pick one award for the worst
main character. And I feel like I have to like,
put myself on the spot for this because I started to do just
like worst character. And I was like, yeah, I could
just pick Stella for leaving Tedat the altar or pick his old
(28:37):
college girlfriend who's the absolute worst.
But I can't, I can't do that. Otherwise, it's not a difficult
thought exercise and it's not particularly entertaining for
you. I'm honestly I had a hard time
choosing what main character I would call the worst because
(29:00):
they're all great in some way. But because I had to pick one.
While I find Lily to be a littlebit annoying at times and even a
selfish character at times, which is probably going to get
me in trouble with some How I Met Your Mother fans that might
be finding me for the first time.
Thanks for hanging out. I love Lily, but like, you know,
(29:21):
sometimes she's, you know, a little a little much and not,
not always, you know, whatever II said what I said.
However, that being said, I think the right answer here is
Barney, and it's not because he's a womanizer or a genuinely
(29:41):
problematic person. I actually like that part, makes
for entertaining show. It's his arc in particular.
He has the biggest jump from complete sleazeball to then
weirdly super romantic and good hearted with no real growth
(30:03):
between the two. It's just a sudden massive leap
from 1:00 to the other when theydecide that he was going to
marry Robin as a way for her to not be the mother, you know?
But then when they split up, he goes right back to being a
sleazeball again. Again, no warning, just a stark
shift. It's explained like, hey, I
(30:25):
couldn't be with Robin, so obviously I can't just be in a
decent relationship with anyone,so I'm just this guy.
It's complete character whiplash, but then you give us
that whiplash without it actually paying off, just to
regress all the way back to the beginning.
And if that wasn't enough, he goes all the way back to the end
(30:50):
of the spectrum on the mature side of things, when he sees his
daughter for the first time and he breaks down into tears and
does, you know, does the it's a really honestly, it's a powerful
scene, you know, between this bond of of of father and
daughter, just his little baby girl.
(31:12):
And he wraps up everything by chasing a couple of girls at the
bar, and everybody thinks that he's going to try to pick them
up like he always does because that's Barney.
And he, you know, tells them offfor their outfits being too
revealing or something. But none of it feels earned.
(31:33):
None of it feels natural. It's just getting slapped around
like one of his kinky one night stands.
Probably the next word that we're going to do is the end
game. We should have gotten award for
best side character. And by end game, I don't mean
(31:54):
the mother. What I mean is that I think
Quinn is actually kind of awesome.
I, I, I didn't know where to go with the supporting character,
but when I really thought about it and I thought about Barney,
as I just mentioned, kind of thethe arc that I think is just
chaotic and problematic for him to have gone on in a weird
(32:17):
unearned way, kind of jerking usall around.
Quinn is the stripper that Barney gets engaged to.
It's like that time between failed relationship with Robin
and actually marrying Robin. And it just really, really like
(32:39):
almost everything that Quinn wasa part of the intro of them on
that double date. She's legitimately hilarious
with him. The twist that she's actually a
stripper at the club that he goes to like every night and he
didn't even recognize her. And while it's cringy, it's also
(33:01):
pretty funny how she plays him up like a pathetic dude who
thinks strippers like them for awhile, but then having it turn
to a way that Barney actually has a serious moment.
But hell her off, I guess you could say, for not giving him a
(33:21):
real chance. And it's a really well written
scene. I don't remember the exact
quote, but basically he's like, you know, there's I've been with
like a million women who had every reason to like who it was
like a mistake for them to be with me.
And you're the only person that has ever made the mistake of not
(33:46):
giving me a chance. And it that kind of thing.
I, I butchered the quote, but that was the, the general gist
of it. And it, I honestly, it was, it
was a powerful scene, you know, And when they are actually
together, she's basically awesome the whole time, you
know, and even when they do finally decide not to go through
(34:08):
with the marriage, because it turns out they don't have that
foundation of trust built up that you should have if you're
going to marry somebody. It is kind of mature and chill
the way that they come to that. They have that scene, that
moment where they just have thatrealization.
(34:30):
It was done well to not make it like super ugly.
They made an episode around it, but that was more about the
prenup, not the actual breakup. So that was that was
interesting. And truly, I believe that if
Barney was actually going to have a love story, it should
(34:51):
have been with Quinn, the awesome stripper that he fell in
love with, not Robin. But at least she does get some
extra run in the disastrous bachelor weekend that Robin
pulls on him as a prank before they do get married.
(35:14):
Of all the random characters that come in, she stands out to
me that mostly elevates the story while not driving me crazy
when she's on screen. The next word we're going to do
is a master class in doing more with less.
Award for best running joke. The entire show has a running
(35:37):
joke that nobody knows what Barney's job is.
And I'm just now realizing as I record this how much of my
feelings on this show revolve around the character of Barney.
Anyways, All they know is that he works at a bank and he makes
a shit ton of money and he neverbrakes tell any of them what he
(36:00):
actually does. Even when Marshall starts
working at the same bank, or when Ted gets brought in as a
freelance architect to build their new bank building.
Anytime he's asked what his job is he just shrugs and says
please. And this is meant to make it
(36:21):
seem like he's scoffing them, like he's so important or
whatever he's doing is just so top secret that they couldn't
possibly be let in on it. It's also made pretty clear that
whatever his job was, it's not exactly above board.
He's always referring to some kind of shady deal or shredding
(36:45):
mass amounts of documents that he can't talk about.
Meant at the very end of the show, before he and Robin get
married, he drunkenly reveals tothem that Lee's is actually an
acronym. It's his title.
It stands for Provide Legal. I wrote it down.
(37:10):
I'm not sure I can even pronounce it.
Exculpation. Exculpation, exculpation, exalt,
exaltation, exaltation, exaltation, whatever and sign
everything. Provide legal exaltation and
sign everything. Wow, I sound really dumb on my
(37:33):
own podcast and I'm not editing that out.
Basically the bank pays him a shit load of money, Could be the
fall guy on paper for most of its shady deals.
And then in a major plot twist at the end, Barney reveals that
he's been working as a mole for whatever organization, the FBI
(37:54):
or whatever, to implicate his boss in all of the illegal
dealings that have been happening over the several years
that he's worked there. And it turns out it's because
the guy who stole his college girlfriend and turned him into
his suit wearing womanizing selfwas his boss at the bank.
Is it cheesy and silly? Yes, but it's a very funny way
(38:18):
to pay off a gag that ran nine seasons of ATV show in a way
that actually feels incredibly on brand for the character.
The next award that we're going to do is the So bad We Did It
Twice award for the worst story plot.
Barney and Robin was bad, and I'm not going to spend a ton of
(38:41):
time on it because it's basically been weaved in and out
of this whole episode. Why I think it's bad, but I
don't think it made sense for them to get together the first
time, and it made even less sense when they got married.
So there you go. The next award we're going to do
is the this was almost legend. Wait for it.
(39:06):
Oh, Oh, no, Oh no, it went too long award for worst running
joke. That was almost really good.
And for me, this is slap that this gag started out awesome and
then it became just not awesome,you know, and I think it started
(39:29):
at slaps giving her me. You know, Marshall does this
whole countdown to Barney's nextslap and it ends on
Thanksgiving. And that whole episode is a big
Lily and her dad reunion, which we'll get into.
And all the characters that taketurns accepting the honor to
slap Barney and then not following through with it so
(39:49):
that they can give it to someoneelse and have this whole I don't
know, it's thing. You know, it's played for
suspense, it's played for bonding and it's just.
Drug on forever for me and I just didn't like it.
And then there was the whole adding more slaps and there was
the weird episode that Marshall is telling this story about
(40:12):
training to do the best slap andit ends up being a parody of
like a samurai training movie. And it's that's not a good
episode either. I don't know.
Slap Bet was a great running joke that just ran its course
for me kind of long before it actually ended.
(40:35):
The next award we're going to dois the should've left this one
in the past like your other friends from high school award
for worst running joke period. And it's the Schmoesby thing
heads old friend from high school that always gets super
(40:56):
immature. Then he tries to like humiliate
Ted when he invites him to his own wedding.
The guy sucks, the gag sucks. I'm just I'm not a fan of the
whole Schmoesby thing. So the next award we're going to
do is the worst non main character that wasn't supposed
(41:16):
to be awful. And there were actually plenty
of characters that were written to be awful.
That was their purpose in the show.
That's not what this award is for.
This is for the character that was supposed to bring value to
their scenes, but I couldn't stand it when they were on the
screen. And this is Lily's dad.
(41:38):
Yeah. Did he start as a, hey, this guy
kind of sucks character? Yeah.
But then they kept him around and they kept giving them
bonding moments and he was used a lot to be like, oh, this guy's
so funny and he just doesn't getit.
And he's the dad. That's like not been a good dad.
(42:00):
Wow. The whole time there was no, I
don't know. He just, it was, he wasn't
funny. The character sucked.
There was no depth. He was too far just out there.
The weird board game commercialswere sometimes kind of funny,
(42:20):
but I don't know. In my opinion, he added no value
to the show and I personally couldn't wait for his scenes to
end. That seems kind of harsh.
The final award that we're goingto do is the Coulda Woulda
Shoulda award for best potentialMother.
That wasn't. And I don't know if this is
(42:41):
truly in the spirit of the name of the award, but you know,
whatever, it's fine. I think that most people, if
given the chance to answer this question, would say Victoria
thinking that she's the one thatTed should have been with, but
because he couldn't let go of Robin, she couldn't commit to
him. And while she was right that had
(43:03):
ultimately had a thing for Robin, that's how the whole show
ended. So she was pretty much spot on
from Jump Street for this thing.I just am kind of not a fan of
ultimatums, so I'm going to go with the deep cut here.
The one that I think we should have gotten more from is Trudy.
(43:29):
She's only in two episodes. First is the one night stand
that was so embarrassed. She like climbed out the window
or whatever it was in the pineapple episode.
But when they actually hung out,they really clicked and she was
really cool, you know, and then when she came back and they did
(43:50):
that, I don't know why they did the weird thing when she was
like fighting over him with her ex college friend.
And I think we were left believing that they had a
threesome. And, and whether he actually
pulled that off or not, she could have been a really cool
character to explore with Ted more than what they actually
(44:11):
did. And let's just face it, if he
actually did pull that off, comeon, I think Ted would agree.
Could have been kept around for a little while, right?
And what better place to end theawards with a little intrigue
and answer the ultimate question, was it worth the
(44:32):
binge? Absolutely.
As I said before, I think the acting in this show is
phenomenal. The writing style of the
storytelling is very compelling.There's a there was a YouTube
video that I watched, Never Nothing I believe is the name of
(44:54):
the channel who did a did a cooljob of breaking down.
Actually, the difference betweenHow I Met Your Mother and How I
Met Your Father, which is a showthat I also binged because I
just wanted more from this world, if that tells you
(45:15):
anything. And we may or may not talk about
that show here on this podcast, but just the way that they put
stories together for episodes could be really, really, really
smart storytelling from a writing perspective.
Excuse me? The jokes are funny.
(45:36):
It holds up surprisingly well 10to 20 years later, depending on
what season you're watching. It's just a really good, funny
binge. And yeah, so that's that.
You've made it to the end of this mini binge of Why I Met
Your Mother. So what's next?
Well, as I alluded to earlier, those plans of making this a
(45:58):
video first podcast and all that, I think they're great
plans for someone else. The thing that I've learned
about YouTube over the past few years is that it's always a new
audience. The attention span is short.
So in order to feel like I was making something that could
actually compete on YouTube, I was completely changing the way
(46:20):
that I've made this podcast in the past and dropped almost
everything that I enjoyed doing.Plus, editing video sucks.
In short, this has always been apodcast, not a YouTube channel.
So sure, I'm going to turn my camera on and post it on YouTube
for people who enjoy watching people that are talking when
(46:41):
they're listening or consuming apodcast.
But I'm bringing this thing backto what attracted me to doing it
in the first place. I want to go on tangents.
I want to make up silly awards and I want to connect with my
audience. How, you know, how frequently
can I make it with the other stuff that I have going on?
Since the basketball podcast is for an actual company, you know,
(47:03):
it has to be my top priority with the the content stuff.
But this is and always will be my baby.
So as often as I can binge and talk about stuff, that's how
often I'm going to binge and talk about stuff, you know, will
I get back to the other series that I started with?
Of course, maybe not always a single chapter episode at a time
(47:25):
all the time. But yeah, I want to talk about
Harry Potter again. I want to keep going with Sons
of Anarchy, I want to keep watching Breaking Bad.
Hell, I even want to mix The Office back in and anything else
that I'm actually watching. And I feel like I have something
to say about. I'm making up the rules as I go.
So as long as you're here and enjoy it, I will be too, as much
(47:48):
as I can be. OK, that's enough for today.
Go watch How I Met Your Mother.
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