Directed by Pam Fryman
Written by Gloria Calderon Kellett
One Paragraph Synopsis: When Lily's apartment is turned into a Chinese restaurant, a fact she didn't find out until months later as she mostly lives at Marshall and Ted's place anyway, she moves in for good. Feeling that they're edging Ted out for when they get married, he becomes increasingly antagonist until things edge up into a fight between himself and Marshall with their decorative swords. The end result cuts Lily right in the arm. This episode also introduces the Lemon Law, Barney's concept that you can decide if a date is worth taking in five minutes.
It's funny, I didn't remember have as little use for "Matchmaker" as I do, while "The Duel" is a little better than I remember it to be. It's still pretty far from my favorites, but I got into some of the jokes some more, and there's some good to share for sure.
The worst part of the episode has to be the waitress' fluctuating Engrish from the beginning of the episode. Well, that's not fair- I can't really find much on the actress, but I wouldn't be surprised if she actually is from China and this is her accent, and she barely misuses the English language for comedic value. But it's a tired trend that rarely ceases to roll my eyes when it shows up. But hey, at least oriental chimes didn't make their way into the soundtrack when she appeared ala Sherlock.
I also can't help but wonder how Lily was able to keep a decent wardrobe in check if she doesn't live at her main domicile. Then again, I remember a particular storyline from a couple of years later that would easily explain this. It's also possible that Lily knows that she's going to spend enough time at Marshall's place, and keeps enough clothes there to have to avoid the commute from his place to hers and over to her school. I hope that the crew considered this potential plot hole as well, or more than I have.
Now, onto the core story- it works well enough, but really, I like that this is a change of pace for Ted beyond his typical yearning. It actually helps him have a little more to his character, as it's out in the open just how selfish Ted can really be. While his fear of replacement is understandable, Ted is forgetting that Lily is also Ted's college BFF, a fact she reminds him of. The three of them met around the same time, as we'll soon know, and they've been inseparable ever since. There is no way that Lily and Marshall would truly want Ted to move out, either during their long wait for the wedding or after the fact.
Although I don't blame Marshall when he gets annoyed at Ted and accepts the titular duel. When Ted becomes increasingly pissy about his situation, it similarly becomes harder to defend him. Hey, it's Marshall's place, too, and the two of them should have agreeably talked about this earlier. This is also logically brought up during Barney and Robin's arguing during the episode, as Robin brings up this and more in hopes to get Ted to accept responsibility, while Barney goads him into claiming territory. It brings back memories of the angel/devil gag from "Slutty Pumpkin", only without the obvious, humorous symbolism.
This episode, like a good many of the show's episodes, is about growing up, and it takes a reckless sword fight to help give Ted and Marshall a clue to do so. I can't complain, since it's delightfully wacky without shoving anyone's face in the fact, and more importantly, Josh Radnor and Jason Segel seem to have so much fun during it. I fully believe that Marshall's shout of amazement after his jump is Segel's, so much so that I ended up watching that little bit more than once to get my fill of it.
Now granted, this isn't a fully-realized duel, so the choreography obviously isn't perfect, but to me, the sequence is about energy, which it definitely exudes in abundance. It's a strong bit for two characters that are coming into their all, and I wish that the rest of the episode was as tight as it.
I mentioned how Barney and Robin were at opposing view points earlier, which is the bulk of this episode's subplot. Besides their conflicting advice to Ted, the two have different beliefs of Barney's Lemon Law. I can't really tell whose side I'm on. On the one hand, five minutes is never really enough to decide if a date is worth sticking to, but at the same time, if a red flag is dropped that early, you have every right to panic. A lot of seemingly one-off bits make their way back into the show as it goes along, but I don't recall a Lemon Law return on the top of my head, which might make Robin's side the correct one.
Yet I can't help but find her date sequence to come off as entirely awkward. The joke that this guy is so nerdy that Robin should be obviously uninterested never lands. This just comes off as an attempt to have the audience laugh at a man who's probably a little too into Star Trek, which is tired enough as it is. That it ends with Robin having to leave after all to go to Lily at the hospital becomes unfair, as we know why she's calling the date off, and it isn't to write this guy off like he thinks. It can definitely be funny to become unfavorable to one of your characters, but this comes off as half-assed and needlessly mean to me.
I bring up things that I don't like in the episode, but I really don't think "The Duel" is all that bad. There are jokes that work, and I do find the sword fight to be a memorable aspect. But I'm hardly in love. Let's just hope for more duels in the future!
Season 1, Disc 1 Reflections: Heh, I made it this far! Awesome! I wanted to take a quick look at what I've reviewed so far after wrapping up the first disc, and I have to say that I'm not too surprised that it's been uneven so far. Very few shows instantly get it right, and HIMYM is hardly an exception. While Robin has been growing as a character since her flat beginning and Marshall is getting into his groove, the other characters are still in need of further smoothing out. Ted isn't lacking in story material, but it's mostly the same thing so far, this episode aside- Ted wants to find the right girl and fall in love, but he's not in the right place to right now. It's going to take a teeny stretch of more time to find more for him to do, just like they crew is in need of finding more substantial stories for everyone else. Especially Lily and Barney, who are two-note at best. Although if memory serves me right, my next review will be better for both of them.
The production is quite solid at this stage. Fryman usually seems to be one step ahead of everyone else, as the direction is greatly queued. The writing can still use some fine tuning, since not everything is set well yet, but I can't recall too many scenes going by without at least one strong joke. There is often enough going on in each episode to make the show worth sitting through, which is key. And the editing is rather tight, never a problem to my recollection. Editing and cinematography have always been things the show has done well, as you can see even this early on.
Overall, it's hard to be too harsh on the show this early in its run, although it definitely could have been better. But I'm happy to be back in the beginning, before tragedy struck. And I hope whoever is reading along with me is happy, as well.
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