Watching 'Bad News' for the second time, I realised that the first time round I had spent my time being preoccupied on the mysterious countdown that seemed to be plaguing every scene throughout the episode. That was kind of an indication of what the majority of the first 2011 episode of 'HIMYM' did for me, which is to say, not a lot.
And yet, I totally felt the show earned its dark, painfully sad closing moments, both because of how much I've enjoyed this season so far, and because the writers have done enough prep work to show what a blow to Marshall losing his dad is. Bill Fagerbakke has appeared a few times this year, showing us and Marshall how enthusiastic he is about having a grandson, and so having that ripped away from him, Marshall and us as the audience was crushing. And though I always love Alyson Hannigan when she has to be emotional, Jason Segel absolutely killed the scene. Absolutely killed it. The million and one things rushing through Marshall's head as he realised the situation, the almost boy like way in which he whimpered 'I'm not ready for this', being a good husband and comforting his wife even though his pain is so extreme. Boy, that was some good work.
So even though I wasn't overly fond of the rest of the episode(*) - the doppelgangers thing felt very much done and dusted at the end of season 5, and the scenes with Ted didn't really do much for me, the big punch to the stomach at the end of the episode made it all worth it.
(*)I enjoyed the Robin scenes as a silly B-story though. Alexis Denisof was brilliant as Sandy Rivers back in season one and I was more than happy for him to come back.
What 'HIMYM' has to do now is get the follow up right. I always found it completely absurd that JD was making jokes at Laverne's funeral on 'Scrubs', and I hate the idea that Barney might try and hook up with a chick at Marvin's funeral or something awful like that. So if 'HIMYM' is really going to do right by this scene, one that will likely go down as one of the shows darkest and saddest, then next week's episode really has to bring the big guns.
There's potential for a great, great arc here.
What did everyone else think?
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