snogged | HIMYM 5.13 - "Jenkins" (Reply)

I know for many of us, Season 5 hasn't lived up to the seasons before it. But for me, this episode is definitely one I enjoyed the hell out of this season. Here's why:

+ Marshall regaling the gang with tales of Jenkins when we still think he's a chubby dude.

+ Barney's desire to bang Jenkins, and Ted's reaction to it. Can we say priceless?

+ Jenkins. Amanda Peet was truly brilliant in her guest appearance and she handled herself really well against Jason Segal and Alyson Hannigan.

+ Giving LAME a plotline that doesn't seem lame.

+ Marshall being a skee-ball champion. All hail the Fudge!

+The "but...um" drinking game. Made all the better when Ted said: "But-um's up!" (Yeah, that's right. I'll give it up for a bad pun!)

+Finding out that Barney used Robin as a drinking game by pouring peach schnapp's on her skin. NOM!!

+Finally...Barney and Ted getting wasted, bro-style.

Anyways...I was reading the AV club critic's review tonight and something she said about this season struck me as something important to remember.

Figuring out which long-ago season of a currently-airing show was its pinnacle -- it's practically the national sport of TV watchers. We all do it. We fight with each other about it. It fuels our comment sections and gives our TV writers something to blog about on slow weeks. But sometimes I think we systematically devalue what's happening on our screens right now in order to bolster our contentions about some distant golden age...The show's tricks have ceased to amaze and astound. But that doesn't mean they are any less extraordinary as ways to entertain us and simultaneously reinvent the traditional sitcom form. No, it just means they have become invisible in their virtuosity, and that we've begun to take them for granted. --Source: AV Club .

And, honestly, I think she makes a really good point. We've gotten to a point in HIMYM where the new car smell has basically disappeared. The things we used to love have become far more predictable and don't pack as much heart as they did back in the early days. True, there have been plenty of times where the plot seems inconsistent or the characters don't seem like themselves...but maybe, the characters are just trying to grow up and become better people.

So with that in mind, I'm looking at the rest of this season with different eyes. Eyes that are willing to appreciate the nuances and the changes and see if Season 5 is really just a diamond in the rough.