Starkid Challenge: Day 2 and HIMYM Finale Thoughts

[snogged]

I will not deny that Darren is a cutie and a fine actor, but when it comes to my Starkid men, I have to pick Joe Walker. He's talented, funny, and brings life to some seriously emotionally-messed up roles (I'm looking at you, Commander Up...and also Mama Umbridge)

But more than that, Joe played my absolute favorite Starkid Character so that gives him a major leg-up.

Yay for Dick!


Also, yay for Voldemort!






Things That Made Me Happy
*Robin interrupting Ted and Barney's fight about pressing the button by telling them both they had a hard time finding her "button."
*Lily bringing Marshall soup...even though it had the potential to lead to food poisoning.
*Lily's Velociraptor noises.
*Barney and Robin fake-sick noises
*Ted calling up ex-girlfriends for coffee...and Robin turning him down.
*Barney and Robin counting on Lily to remember the sappy stuff Ted says...
*Lily not remembering the details of Ted's date. (The way Alyson Hannigan says "bitches" never fails to bring a smile to my face.)
*Lily's conductor talk
*Ted wanting Barney to rub sunscreen on the places he can't reach. :P
*Ranjit
*Marshall getting an interview
*Robin/Barney cab scene. They are so not the worst couple ever.
*GETTING TO SEE ROBIN SHOW EMOTIONS!!!!!!!!!! (Show? Why can't you do this more often?)
*The past/future quote Robin says totally applied to my life right now.
*Barney and Robin knocking down Ted and the sight of all three of them just sitting on the sidewalk together.
*Old!Ted's "PSYCHE!"
*Marshall and Lily having a baby.

Where will Booth and Bones eat?

They blew up the Royal Diner? Since when has that been attached to the Arcadian? I mean, seriously. The Royal Diner is in WASHINGTON, DC!! Not NEW YORK.

Things I Didn't Like
*Weird CGI implosion.
*The call-back to the Rough Patch. Really? Did we have to a bra joke? Did we have to do a motor-boarding joke? Not funny, writers.
*Barney being the groom. After all the hype, I just didn't feel surprised. I just felt annoyed.
To be frank, I don't really care if Nora is the bride or if Robin is the bride. I mean, yeah, Barney's done some emotional mat-OOR-ing on the show this season, but not enough to warrant a church wedding. I'd be far more likely to buy a Vegas wedding or an Atlantic City wedding.

Also, I still don't hate Nora. I know her presence pisses off loads of Barney/Robin shippers, but that's not enough to convince me she's evil. Unlike Don, I'm pretty sure she wears pants and it annoys me to see people freaking out about the sundress. I mean, I know there's a reference to sundresses back in 6x1 because Robin wears one, but still...it's NO. BIG. DEAL.

Final Episode Grade: A-
Final Season Grade: B+

Comments

[da-phoenix13.livejournal.com]

That's a really interesting point about the church wedding. I'd suspected that Barney might be the groom too, but now that it's been confirmed I just feel annoyed because it feels so... OOC. I feel like he would have to be marrying someone more conservative/traditional to warrant that much of a genuine transformation, and neither Nora nor Robin fits that bill.

And I haven't even looked at the episode discussion post because UGH, just the potential for wank is scaring me far away. Not to mention, Nora's comment about it "never being too late for sundresses" made ZERO sense, since it is only just STARTING to be time for sundresses again. It is MID-MAY. I live in the South, and we know when it's sundress weather, and it is RIGHT NOW. Hello, writers?

But let's focus on the positive: Marshall and Lily are having a baby!! And the Arcadian's demolition was the most LOL-tastic special effect I've seen on TV since a helicopter crashed into the ocean on Lost! (Seriously, show, just... DON'T EVEN.) And even after sleeping with 200+ women, Barney STILL doesn't know how to find the "button"!

In other news, I want to do this Starkid meme really badly. I've been wanting to find a way to get back into blogging anyway! So... I will probably steal this from you/Tumblr. And it amuses me how you keep using my blame tag for this. :D

[snogged.livejournal.com]

I'm sure the church wedding has everything to do with the writers' inability to explore alternative relationships. I mean, they tried so hard to make Barney/Robin into Marshall/Lily back in Season 5. It's just not natural.

Yeah, the sundress comment was super weird.

And even after sleeping with 200+ women, Barney STILL doesn't know how to find the "button"!
LOL! True.

And you should totally join me in my meme insanity!!! I figure you deserve the blame. You were instrumental in my Starkid corruption. :P

[magpieinthesky.livejournal.com]

The whole "never too late for sundresses" thing was because the whole finale was set in September (at the beginning Ted says that there wasn't much to his summer, so they skip forward to the demolition in September). So, as in the season premiere, Barney knows that September is when the sundresses start tapering off.

I don't feel like the discussion at B/R has gotten wanky? Nobody's truly annoyed me yet, and you know my tolerance for the Nora bashing etc (... NONE. Right? You know this to be true, yeah?). It's crazy, people seem really jazzed about what's supposed to happen in the future. But I know the whole B/R scene hasn't been your cup of tea for a while, so I understand if you continue to abstain.

And I don't know, you guys! I reacted totally differently-- I absolutely expected it to be Barney's wedding, but actually seeing him on the screen was still a jolt and did things to my heart. I have issues with the creators seeming to think that marriage is the only happy ending, but at least it's not Robin getting married (that we know of...).

But yay LAME baby!!!! I'm so psyched for that, despite the fact that this means we're going to get a cliche season finale birth happening, given the timing. :P

[snogged.livejournal.com]

I'm definitely excited about the LAME baby.

And I wish I could share your excitement about Barney being the groom, but I just don't have it in me right now.

[da-phoenix13.livejournal.com]

Oh, was it September? That definitely wasn't made very clear, even though I did catch the line about summer (I think I interpreted it differently or something, like then they fast-forwarded to the END of summer). So that makes more sense, then. And I'll take your word for it that the discussion isn't very wanky; I'm still not heading over there. :/

And yeah, that's not really how I reacted to it being Barney's wedding at all. I journaled about it, but feel free to skip that if you don't want your buzz killed. I'm a total Britta tonight. :P

[secondmezzanine.livejournal.com]

But Barney is actually kind of a religious guy. He's seen praying in church and talking to God. I guess that's my thought on things! Of course, that says nothing about whether it's realistic for him to be getting married, but ya know, we'll see I guess.

Did anyone else notice that the leaves in one scene were autumn leaves, though? I didn't rewind to check but I thought that's what it looked like as Lily was running down the street. I assume the show goes in real time with the year, so that'd be weird, especially since Zoey was bundled up for the Arctic like a month ago. I dunno!

[snogged.livejournal.com]

Well, as Magpie pointed out (given that I'd forgotten), narrator!Ted does tell us that not much happened over the summer therefore pushing us into September.

[da-phoenix13.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I mean, I've always read him as a lapsed Catholic (maybe because I'm one as well, who knows). And I figure that after his years of being off the wagon, so to speak (decade of womanizing, etc.) that he might not be comfortable getting married in that kind of setting. Not that he wouldn't be ALLOWED to if he wanted, but there's got to be a buttload of guilt bottled up in there that can't just be scraped away through penance, no matter what the priests try to tell you. If I were him, I might feel like too much of a fraud to get married in a church. But, like you said, we'll see.

And man, Zoey was ALWAYS bundled up like it was the Arctic. Just last week she and Ted were wearing coats and scarves. It's not THAT cold in New York in May, is it?

[otempora42.livejournal.com]

I think I could buy the church wedding if it's James's dad's church. I think that wouldn't be too much of a stretch.

I dunno, I'm not like 100% opposed to Barney getting married (I actually think it's more likely for him to get married than, say, Robin), but it has to be handled in a very specific way? And I don't know if the show will deliver that.

[loquaciousambie.livejournal.com]

I visited NYC in May and it's right when it's getting warm, a bit sticky, kinda humid. Not as bad as July but still not boot-and-scarf weather.

Glad you guys figured out the "nothing happened in summer" thing because I didn't get the sundress comment, either. It would have helped if they had a caption of like "September 2011" but it's just so weird after 6 seasons of real-time writing.

I distinctly remember Marshall saying he'd been unemployed for 5 months, though I didn't really connect the dots of that til now.

WHAT IS THIS TIMELINE, SHOW?

Snogged, I totally agree with you (as I said at phoe's) about Barney in a traditional church being weird. I guess if he really wanted his family to be a part of it (his brother's dad) it somewhat makes sense? (except that it doesn't at all)

That CGI was so lulzy. And I agree, I won't hate Nora! The way she's written is as a completely lovely person, and I don't get hating on her just because she gets in the way of the precious brotp.

Am I really slow for not figuring out Lily was pregnant until the end? When he left the room to lay down I was like OH HE'S NOT SICK OH SHE'S PREGS but I feel slower than most on getting to that.

[otempora42.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's getting late at night? I don't know, that comment made no sense, and I should stop trying to find sense.

[da-phoenix13.livejournal.com]

...I'm not sure what this comment is referring to, but you're making me feel dumb for expressing my opinions. :/

[otempora42.livejournal.com]

In reply to the "it's late for sundresses" query. This was before I saw magpie clear it up.

[lilithisbitter.livejournal.com]

Don't forget the most important thing... we saw Edward Vogler's doppelganger.

[snogged.livejournal.com]

Who?

[lilithisbitter.livejournal.com]

House Season One, Edward Vogler, the guy who tried to get House fired. Also was Emerson Cod on Pushing Daisies.

[snogged.livejournal.com]

See if you had started with Pushing Daisies, I would have been right there with you. :)

[lilithisbitter.livejournal.com]

Because I was fresh off a House marathon. Man, a lot of HIMYM cast members show up on House. I've already spotted Ted's daughter and son as well as the first child actor to play young Barney.

[jewelledfairy.livejournal.com]

Maybe the Royal Diner has a couple different branches.

[snogged.livejournal.com]

Perhaps. :)

[idioticonion.livejournal.com]

OH JOE! OH GOD JOE I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!! Honestly, he makes me go wobbly so bad. I'm in lust. He's gorgeous.

Anyway, I've read all the comments on your post and I'm really shocked that nobody's commented that the reason Barney gets married in church is because it's James's Dad's church! I bet James and Sam organise it all for him!

[snogged.livejournal.com]

Joe is totally gorgeous.

Have you seen his interview on Potion Master's Corner? (i.e. Joe Moses' brilliant web-series.)

[idioticonion.livejournal.com]

Oh god yes, me and my friend (who's a massive Joe luster) found that interview while googling him once. Brilliant stuff.