How I Met Your Mother: Duel Citizenship

Filed under: Recaps & Reviews

This week's How I Met Your Mother episode was the second consecutive agreeable instalment, and was hopefully a positive sign of where the relationship between Barney and Robin is headed, contrary to my former trepidation. The episode primarily involved Robin's hesitancy in regards to obtaining her American citizenship, as she believed that by doing so she could potentially mitigate her Canadian-ness and lose touch with her roots. Concurrently, Ted decides to take Marshall on a roadtrip to their favourite pizza parlour, though is displeased when Lily opts to tag along.

The main storyline pertaining to Robin and Barney was extremely fulfilling, especially for Canadian viewers such as myself. I say this not in the sense that Canada was depicted in a flattering light, but that our "quaint Canadianisms", if you will, were parodied somewhat more accurately than they have been on the program in the past. Rather than mocking our supposed, yet completely false sex acts or other familiar stereotypes such as our dwelling all in igloos, Barney took the opportunity to belittle our money, our obsession with Tim Horton's (we all know it's true), and our excessive politeness. Pleasingly, the episode also similarly mocked many habits of Americans for the first time on the show, playing on their lack of courtesy, basic manners and outspoken arrogance. Barney and Robin themselves had a great comedic chemistry and utilizing this subject matter, delivered a few of this season's great lines.

The tangential story of Ted, Marshall and Lily, while slightly amusing, was not really the highlight of the episode. In fact, it felt somewhat like last-minute filler material. To be frank, I essentially watched this episode by engaging in the Robin and Barney storyline, while detaching mentally during Ted and Marshall's portion. The experience of watching this episode was of viewing two distinctly polar pieces, one of which could have been cut with perhaps the other three characters being integrated into the Barney/Robin plotline in a more enjoyable way. This could have been something as simple as having them participate in the education of Robin and extending the plot composition.

How I Met Your Mother will not air this Monday; it returns November 2 in its regular 8 p.m. timeslot

Tags: how i met your mother, himym, duel citizenship, citizenship, Canadian, chicago, pizza parlour

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Original Comments Posted (3)

sarahm says...

Loved the Canadian-American stuff on this episode. Barney and Robin are so funny. I'm really glad they had those guys come and beat up Barney because after his speech in the Tim Horton's I was laughing, but totally indignant. Also the lady working in the Tim Horton's made me so mad, her Canadian accent was terrible and not funny. And seriously. AS IF Toronto could ever beat Edmonton. Pffffffft.

Thanks to this episode I now have a new life plan to move to an American city and open up a Canadian themed bar called the Hoser Hut.

Oct 23, 2009 1:24pm

ariana says...

Her Canadian accent sounded pretty Ontarian to me, heh. In fact, it was so overexaggeratedly eastern that I had to watch the scene 3 or 4 times to catch the "no please or thank you for the coffee" line. Which is TRUE, by the way. Also, "Uh-huh" does not equal "You're welcome."

Oct 23, 2009 1:27pm

shanehallam13 says...

Lol, I love your assertion that "Uh-huh" does not equal "You're welcome". I've constantly come across that response and, yeah it doesn't return pleasantries but is rather offhanded.

Oct 23, 2009 1:40pm

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