TVLINE | We don’t actually find out what Barney was doing in the suburbs. Has he moved out of the city? Is he visiting someone? Is there a definitive answer?
APTAKER | There was a little bit more that we shot that we took out of the [final] cut, but our thinking was that Barney is a little bit more of a family man now… maybe he’s living the suburban dad life.
BERGER | There were a lot more details that unfortunately didn’t live [on in the episode]. We could have written this scene to go on for 45 minutes, but there were details about Sunday night dinner and all these things, and all of the routines and rituals that he has now as a family man. But yes, like Isaac said, we’re nodding to the idea that his life has changed and brought him here.
APTAKER | Even the car he’s driving! It’s still a cool car, but that SUV is a “dad mobile” if I’ve ever seen one.
TVLINE | The HIMYM finale didn’t reveal much about Barney’s future beyond the birth of his daughter Ellie in 2019. You could have disclosed more, you chose to hold back. Is that a conversation that you have whenever you bring back an OG character — how much to disclose, and how much you feel like it’s your place to directly impact HIMYM canon without original creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas’ direct involvement?
BERGER | Yes, absolutely. We always want to make sure that we are being true to the mythology — and, hopefully, giving fans of the original little morsels that fill in some of the pieces. But we also do feel like this is a character that holds such a special place in people’s hearts, and this is Carter and Craig’s creation, so if anyone should deep-dive into what’s going on with Barney, they feel like the guys to do it. So, it’s finding that balance of paying tribute and honoring the character, but also not getting wildly specific in ways that don’t really feel appropriate for us to do.
APTAKER | Yeah. We’re not trying to upend the How I Met Your Mother finale. It did leave [certain] holes, but it took those characters through this [period of] time and covered a lot, so we’re not trying to upend anything there.
The Barnacle with an STD is my new favorite Barnacle
NPH cameo was great could not stop laughing.
This sow is great now quite as good as HIMYM but very good.
They did a really good job of writing Barney in a way that was both evolved and current but also still seemed like him. That was going to be challenging and they did a great job.
It seemed as if the writers themselves weren’t sure how to deal with Barney’s womanizing past — it was as if they were saying “Sure, he was awful, but we still want to have fun with it.” Which is why he listed “some of his greatest scams, cons, hustles, hoodwinks, gambits, flimflams, stratagems and bamboozles” in a way that was meant to be funny (and it was, because these were well-written bits). But just like during the original run, laughing at his antics means ignoring the fact that these were elaborate lies meant to trick multiple women into sleeping with him under false pretenses, at which point he would immediately ghost them. So it’s only “fun” if you don’t think of the objects of his scams as human beings. (Which he didn’t until he had a daughter, and suddenly realized that women are people.)
It’s fun and funny because it is fun and funny. It’s fiction. Someone murdering hundreds of people in revenge is atrocious in real life. In the John Wick series, it’s a cool action film. The people in Always Sunny In Philadelphia are awful people. It’s a funny show, tough. Comedy isn’t a church sermon. It doesn’t have to be uplifting and teach morals. In fact, people have laughed at bad things to cope. As Carrie Fisher once said, “if my life wasn’t funny it would just be true, and that is unacceptable.”
This show has gotten so much better this season! Really hope Hulu keeps it around for awhile.
I kinda wanna check HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER to get backstory on some of these cameos.
You should. How I Met Your Mother is actually way better than HIMYF. If you’re enjoying HIMYF, then you have to watch HIMYM!!! I’ve seen every season and I just went back and watched them all again. Way funnier the second time around.
I expected more from Barney’s return. And this STD thing is totally what woke and not able writers would write about Barney. But it was kinda creepy. I think a more creative and good way to write Barney without offending the sjw is: Okay,lets not talk about his womanizing past anymore,but lets still him be his charming and charismatic self he is always been. Make him more like a “nerdy” (altough this is probably not the right term,but i hope i make my point) challenge-loving person,who gets in fun challenges to get money or to win something,and always wins in a absurd way,and a guy who gives “wise” (according to him,but sometimes really wise) advices to his friends in a funny way. I think this would be a better way to write a “modern” Barney than making him like a criminal with a device on his leg. Also,NPH was great but i had the impression that sometimes he didnt knew well how to play this “new” Barney. Maybe this is the last time we see Barney on HIMYF,but if a HIMYM reunion ever happens,lets hope they write him in a better way.
This is easily my favourite sitcom of this year and it just keeps getting better. I hope it is on for several more years
Geez. Yes, Barry was a womanizer. This is a COMEDY, right? NOT a seminar on Women’s Rights and whether the mvmt has truly moved forward since the VAW act in 1994? Let it go. He didn’t coerce, sexually harass, or pressure subordinates into sex. He’s probably the anti-2020s role model of how men used to act. But he’s even charged his M.O.
So why don’t ppl simply enjoy one of the breakout characters of the original Srs & just leave it at that?
What next, NPH is gay so he’s really lying to all these chicks?
This has become one of my favorite shows to watch every week! NPH is still great!
What a great mid season finale. Will have to rewatch season 1 while I wait for new episodes in May. This show is getting better and better.
The people whining about Barney do realize they vilified his actions plenty in the original series too right?!
The original series didn’t treat him as a criminal. The original series is also not filled with typical social justice culture. HIMYF has tons of preachy lines, so Barney being literally on electroshock therapy is, sadly, “yet another woke joke in this series”.
On the contrary, the original series is a perfect example of how to treat immoral characters in a positive way. It doesn’t make the viewers think “of, I should be like that guy”, but it also doesn’t make them think “why is this show trying to tell me how to live my life?”