How I Met Your Mother

 I'm re-watching How I Met Your Mother. I'm skipping episodes, based on its IMDB rating and whether it sounds interesting - I've ended up watching only about half of them.*

That show has been mostly forgotten compared to Friends, maybe its time will come, retro-nostalgia seems to be on a 25-30 year clock. But probably its forgotten because it really goes into the player making his plays, which is misogynistic and not at all flattering. I read the show as satirizing this, not approving it, but that is the sort of nuance that is completely lost since the Great Awokening. One way it parodies this is that the player, is played by a gay actor. I wonder too if a gay was chosen for that role as a sort of joke, based on the fact that a player looks like a gay man:

1. high body count - the average gay has had 200+ partners which is the same as the character in the show. It has been said - and I think there is some truth in it, that your average straight guy would be as promiscuous if he had the same pool of easily available partners and no religious restraints.

2. Gamification of the pursuit and act for personal gratification.

3. An obsession about appearances both in oneself and others.

Anyways, what I really wanted to talk about is the scene that has most moved me, evoking a strong longing. It is the scene in season 8 episode 1, which is a flashfoward to just after Robins wedding. A dejected Ted sits in the the train station. His hopes have been dashed, he is planning on leaving New York because it is an all too painful reminder of his misery. Then a snip from a song cuts in with a joyful strong swell. I've checked out the song - its nothing special. The scene is masterfully arranged to contrast despair, with triumph. On its face its about finding love, but what it evokes in me is anticipation of victory and the day of salvation. The day when our cross is taken off our bakes and we hear well done thou good and faithful servant. The day that earthly cares fall away from us - our struggle is done, our race is won. Fear and obsessions are lifted from us, every tear is wiped away and we enter into love, joy, and glory. It moved me to tears, and left me in a bit of a daze.

A scene  that evokes a similar felling is in the movie Noah, when the watchers struggling in the muck and filth of the ruined world they helped bring about, repent, lay down their weapons of rebellion, and are taken back up into the heavens.


*For the curious, here is the list:

Season  Episodes

1.        1, 5, 8, 10, 14, 18, 19, 21, 22

2.        1, 2, 3, 7, 9, 12, 15, 16, 17, 22

3.        1, 5, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 20

4.        1, 2, 4, 5, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21, 22, 24

5.        1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 23

6.        4, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 23, 24

7.        1, 3, 4, 9, 10, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24

8.        1, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 24, 

                *6 is vital for plot development but I find Victoria boring and passed. Oddly I like the actor playing Jim Gaffigan's wife.

9.        1, 6, 7, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22

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