Tonight’s episode of How I Met Your Mother was the 100th episode. Like any long-running series, the 100th episode is a a hallmark of success and a time for celebration. It establishes the series’ place among television’s elite in terms of sustainability and popularity.
The episode begins with our main character, Ted, approaching a quartet of stereotypical college students. Shamelessly standing in the hallways of a college building, three of the four carry six-packs of booze with pride, unconcerned it is daytime, they are underage, and are in plain sight of a number of faculty members. The three lunkheads invite the fourth, a meek female who sees the idiocy of the scenario, to “get trashed. On the roof!” In an attempt to save the cornered female, Ted “confiscates” two of the six-packs with his administrative powers, but is courteous enough to leave the frat-boy trio with their embarrassing case of alcopops. He proceeds to drink the beer with the female in the privacy of his classroom.
The doe-eyed lass is Cindy, not an underage college student, but rather a graduate student working on her PhD, making it totally acceptable for the thirty-one year old Ted to date. Nice save, writers. Flirting with Ted, Cindy reveals the two biggest flaws in her social life: 1) Any attempt to socialize with her college ilk results in stimulating conversation such as “That’s hot,” and 2) Anyone who is deemed actually date-worthy eventually falls madly in love with her roommate.
As part of the tease/denial relationship between the audience and the titular MacGuffin mother of How I Met Your Mother, Future Narrator Ted drops several hints that Cindy may actually be the mother in question. She meets Ted’s strange criteria for a perfect woman, she was in Ted’s first class as a professor, she has several knickknacks in her apartment which later turn up in Future Narrator Ted’s home. However, before the first commercial break, a switcheroo is pulled, revealing the mother in question is actually Cindy’s roommate.
Faced with this revelation, we the viewing audience are subjected to a rich, nougaty dollop of Dramatic Irony; we know something the characters do not. We know all types of men are compulsively drawn to Cindy’s roommate, and we know Ted will eventually marry Cindy’s roommate, but poor, poor unaware Ted swears such will not be the case. Future Narrator Ted summed up the situation perfectly: “Oops.”
Ted does his best to maintain loyal to Cindy, but an airing of grievances towards her roommate has unpleasant consequences. Upon describing her roommate’s flaws, nitpicking the idiosyncrasies, Ted realizes Cindy’s roommate may be an even more perfect match. Devastated by his feelings conflicting with his promises of fidelity, Ted attempts to prove he and Cindy are just as equally perfect. Ted points out objects in Cindy’s room which he feels confirms cohesiveness; an album he loves, a book he enjoyed, and a bass guitar, a skill he admires. As it turns out, Cindy borrowed the album from her roommate. Cindy hadn’t actually read the book; it was a gift from her roommate. The bass guitar was not Cindy’s, it belonged to (you guessed it) her roommate. Realizing the incredibly awkward predicament he has placed himself in, Ted sheepishly turns and exits, fulfilling the prophecy and terminating the relationship.
As Ted leaves the apartment, he catches a small glimpse of Cindy’s roommate’s ankle as she moves from the bathroom to her bedroom. Unbeknownst to him at the time, that foot is the first time Ted has directly seen his future wife. It also confirms the titular mother has use of her limbs, and is prone to taking showers. These factoids narrow down the identity of the mother very little, but dollars to donuts, they’ve already been added to the How I Met Your Mother Wiki.
Meanwhile, amongst the supporting cast, Barney, Robin, Lily and Marshall inquire to raucous cheering from their favorite watering hole, MacLaren’s Pub. Pushing through the throng of customers, it’s revealed the cheering, ogling mob is the direct result of a new hot bartender. The busty barkeep’s presence launches each member of the supporting cast onto various tangents. Robin feels threatened and asserts she is still the hottest woman in the bar. Marshall repeatedly asserts he has no feelings towards the chesty employee, spinning every inquiry about his taste in women, eyesight and sexuality into a devotion towards Lily. Speaking of sexuality, Lily badgers her husband into admitting the bartender’s hotness, going so far as to reveal surprising dormant bisexual tendencies. As for Barney, he simply sees another notch for the ol’ bedpost.
Laying on the charm, Barney is flabbergasted when the hot bartender is not only impervious to his silver tongue, but repulsed by Barney’s mere appearance. As it turns out, the bartender was burned in the past by several Wall Street sharks and has vowed to never again date a guy who wears suits. Faced with his longtime desire and unfulfilled dream to score with a hot bartender, Barney is faced with a tough choice: bed the barkeep, or stop dressing in his beloved clothing.
Succumbing to his primal desires, Barney for the first time “Suits Down.” Clad only in t-shirt and blue jeans, Barney soon experiences the effects of suit-withdrawal. He hallucinates his closet is speaking to him. He nuzzles Marshall’s jacket sleeve after a Powerpoint presentation. When the shakes get too extreme, Barney indulges at work with an emergency ensemble kept in a secret closet in a bathroom stall. But when the cramped confines of the bathroom cause a (literally) unmendable rip, Barney sees the full effect of his decision.
Treating his torn blazer like an injured child, Barney rushes down the streets of New York to the only man who could help; his personal tailor, Project Runway’s Tim Gunn. While normally a cameo of this nature would seem forced, Mr. Gunn playing himself in such an ignoble role turns an average cameo into a stroke of genius. Solemnly, Gunn confesses to Barney the tear is too severe; even he “couldn’t make it work.”
Justifying that his suit gave its life for a cause, Barney does indeed score with the hot bartender. Convening in his bedroom, Barney has all but accomplished the deed when his closet door opens, revealing his secret wardrobe to his scorned conquest. Caught in his lie, Barney is faced with an ultimatum: Hot Bartender or Suits. Barney expresses his decision in a manner fitting Neil Patrick Harris in a 100th episode spectacular: a showstopping musical number.
From Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog to the Emmy Awards to his appearance as the Music Meister on Batman: The Brave and The Bold, Neil Patrick Harris has great capability both as a comedic actor and a singer. Adding one more Broadway-level number to his eclectic resume, Barney helms an all-singing, all-dancing, tribute to his favorite clothing on the streets of New York, insisting nothing, not even a perfect ten, can compare to his beloved suits. Touting such humorous lines like “I’m sorry suits, let’s make amends/My Sunday best are my best friends,” Barney leads the cast and a bevy of choreographed, suited extras in a hilarious, over-the-top musical performance, all dedicated to suits.
Is it too early to claim this scene as the funniest TV moment of the decade?
