(Season 4, Episode 11 – “Little Minnesota”) 
OK, I have to admit, when I first saw the title of this episode, I thought maybe they were writing Alyson Hannigan’s pregnancy into the show and we were going to find out Lily was pregnant. You know, Marshall’s from Minnesota, “Little Minnesota;” it was a clever connection — admit it. Much more clever than this episode turned out to be, unfortunately.
Oh, don’t get me wrong; it started off so strong I thought I was about to witness the funniest episode of HIMYM to date. In fact, after the jump, enjoy with me again the stellar holiday songs Barney composed about Ted’s sister ….
(to the tune of “Jingle Bells”)
Pulling down her pants, yanking off my own
Underneath the mistletoe, I’ll make your sister moan!
Oh, Heather’s hot, Heather’s hot, we’ll go all the way ….
(to the tune of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”)
I wish I could see her naked
I wish I could see her naked
I wish I could see her naked
and down on all fours
(to the tune of “The Dreydl Song”)
Ted has a little sister, gets hotter every day
And if I ever meet her, with her boobies I will play
Sister sister sister ….
OK, then Barney follows up with the swivel chair entrance: hilarious. So you can see why I was expecting the laughs to continue through the rest of the episode. Instead, it just fizzled.
First of all, the episode wasn’t even really about what we thought it would be about (no, not the pregnancy thing; the Barney going after Heather thing). This is one time that HIMYM didn’t get it right. I’ve said in past posts that HIMYM is strong at knowing just how far to take a joke without crossing the line. They didn’t get near the line tonight. I craved more Barney, and he just went away.
Alright, not completely away, because the scene in MacLaren’s, when Barney and Heather (played by Erin Cahill of On the Lot fame, and of course none other than the Pink Time Force Ranger — go Power Rangers!) were inserting sexual innuendos into their conversation to piss Ted off, inspired a chuckle or two in me. The tight writing and “come full circle-ness” that I love about the really good episodes of HIMYM just weren’t there.
Sure, there were a few more laughs:
But all-in-all, not the episode I hope to tune into every Monday night at 8:30. How’d you all feel aboot it?
Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Dec 15, 2008 @ 22:10 EST5EDT
I actually really enjoyed this episode. I found myself laughing out loud numerous times, particularily at the Robin and Marshall scenes. I thought the whole “set up Ted” thing was kind of stupid and I agree it seemed to fizzle out. Being Canadadian though I always love when they incorporate Robin being from Canada into the show. And like you, her accent gets me everytime. When they walked into the Canadian bar and the karaoke song was “Mmm mmm mmm mmm” by the Crash Test Dummies, I lost it. And of course anytime I get to hear lets go to the mall, im satisfied.
I’m wondering if HIMYM’s standout episodes really hurt our viewing of everything else. I only caught the second half, but I thought it was pretty funny.
Go back and look at the last couple reviews of this show. In tonights, and in the last three (or at least the three referenced at the bottom of the post), the phrase “best episode” is used in just about every one. Whether you or we thought it was, or wasn’t.
Is that fair? In my opinion, this is the funniest show on TV right now (I love BBT, and I love Scrubs, but this is tops in my book). But they can’t knock it out of the park every time. Do we expect too much out of them?
*POST AUTHOR*
You know, this is a really good point. I agree with you that HIMYM is the funniest sitcom on TV right now; in fact, it’s the only one I will even watch (although there are lots of funny dramedies that give way more payout than a sitcom).
I don’t know if we expect too much out of them or not. The thing is, they showed us they could do it, so now we want it every week. Although I suppose not every review of HIMYM that I write is the “best review.” ;-)
One thing they do deliver — laughs every episode, some even falling-off-your-chair laughs. Oh, and Dorv, the first half of this episdoe was much funnier than the second half — hope you DVRed! :-)
I KNEW SHE WAS FAMILLIAR, I JUST COULDN’T REMEMBER!!!
THANK YOU!!!
I enjoyed it, but after Barney’s Dr. Evil chair moment, the Heather subplot, well…I barely remember it was there. “Little Minnesota” was far more interesting. I loved that Marshall and Robin got paired up in an episode.
Also, the singing! “Let’s Go To The Mall!” Dirty carols! Yay! Thanks for transcribing the lyrics- I knew someone on the Internet had to do it.
i loved the episode!!!
What Kal said, and I liked Barney’s holiday songs.
I like that everyone at the Hoser Hut knew Let’s Go to the Mall and that the karaoke machine had the song. To me, that would be like going to a foreign country and hearing early Alanis’ mall-pop or seeing it on karaoke.