Directed by Pam Fryman
Written by Gloria Calderon Kellet
One Paragraph Synopsis: Robin's little sister Katie (played by a young Lucy Hale) comes to the big apple for the first time to see her big sis again. All should be well, except for one thing- Katie's boyfriend is also in town to see his family, and Katie hopes to use this opportunity to make her first time special. Robin, who is also dealing with new emotions as she plans to tell Ted that she loves him, feels that her baby sister is too young and Kyle too lame to lose her virginity to so early. This causes the gang to tell their own experiences of their first times as they all wait in line to go up the Empire State Building. It turns out that before Lily and Marshall consummated their love, she barely got some from Scooter, and that Barney's first time was with a friend of his mom's when he was 23. Yikes.
I have 3 papers due soon, so this may likely be a brief one. However, I needed a breather and decided to watch my next episode, so why not try to dissect it a little, anyway?
Although, who was surprised by Barney's story? His description of his college hippie days did not make him out to be a desirable young man, which makes the fact that he waited so long for such a middling experience hit close to home. The Barney Stinson of today did not exist that far back, and wouldn't without some experience and a solid clean cut look. That is just simple character building, which is wisely kept towards the end, to work as a useful tag and have potential to be expanded on later in the show's run.
In terms of the show's shared anecdotes episodes, "First Time in New York" works pretty well. Every story here works towards character building, the kind that comes off as logical to the gang, and remain consistently entertaining. Similarly, the A-plot is developed well even beyond the flashbacks, as it tells a strong story that works in most functions.
Besides Barney's story, which the gang respects him enough to not even dignify it with a proper flashback, let alone him exploring in further detail, there's some gold in the gang's loss of virginity stories. I actually almost went with a frame from Marshall and Lily's first time together, but that'd spoil one of the best gags for my new readers (but then again, I recall the joke being referenced back in the pilot. Still, that was far back enough for others to have forgotten). But it is a brilliant construction on the dichotomy between their friendship with Ted, bringing up just how essential he is to them. Whether he wants to be or not.
Robin's is a little more questionable, but it does happen. Heck, I'm sure many people attempt heterosexual intercourse to see if it's for them if they're debating their straightness. And there's nothing wrong with that, if you trust and respect the person you're experimenting with enough. I think the story is well-meaning enough to not come off as homophobic, since Robin's partner wasn't made fun of his homosexuality. Instead, the joke came from Robin's own disappointing experience, and the absurdness of the context. It's strong enough to work, for sure.
Ted's, oh Ted. His decision to reverse the story to Katie was very smart, and obviously effective. Otherwise, it should have been no surprise to the audience that he was full of shit, and that Ted hasn't changed all that much in the years since his first time. He may be a little smarter, but he is as sensitive as ever, explaining his issues with commitment and especially his inability to read context clues.
Of course, Lily got only a teeny bit from Scooter, which explains why her flashback was skipped. But that's the thing. The one problem I have with the episode is how such a fascinating concept, that Lily had a reasonable love life before Marshall, was only hardly touched here. There's enough weight in their discussions to make it more than an afterthought, but this could have held its own episode. Here, Lily and Scooter's time is only mentioned twice, starting at the halfway point, which means this will be resolved quickly by the end of the episode. There's clearly more that could have been done, but if I was to give this episode the benefit of the doubt, Lily and Marshall have had plenty of development during the show's screentime. Robin definitely deserved a little more for a change.
And now that I think about it, we never got to learn much about Robin's family at this point. It's been mentioned that her father wanted a boy, and she's been on the phone with her mother earlier this season. I honestly don't even recall if her having a sister was mentioned previously, but here she is. Not for the last time, either! (I will say this without intents of spoiling, though- despite being the main character, Ted's family will ultimately having the least amount of presence on the show. Not to say that we won't see any more of his parents, or more family beyond them, but compared to the rest of the gang, they don't fit into his development very much at all)
Katie is written with a touch of adult-laced teenage logic, in that Kellet means well with her attempt to keep the character fresh, but much of Katie's use of mid-aughts slang comes off as artificial and unaware. I can't fault the show too much for this, since this is often a problem for shows typically starring older characters, but I don't buy a surprising amount of her dialogue. Thankfully, though, Lucy Hale does her best with the dialogue, which does admittedly contain some solid jokes as well, and makes Katie come off as likable enough. She pulls off he age well, and responds well to Smulders' attempt at being a big sister figure. Not many people would call her among the show's best minor characters, but I know that Pretty Little Liars fans consider this to be a fun little curio.
But Katie's arrival is important as it shows how Robin acts as an older sister, and what it means to her. Rather than using flashbacks to explore their past together, context clues give an idea of Robin and Katie's relationship. From what I gather, while the sisters are loving towards each other, the age gap between Katie and Robin does keep them a little distant in terms of relation, especially as Robin still sees her as a child. Now that I'm well past the age of 16, I can safely say that Katie isn't as mature as she thinks she is, but Robin doesn't need to keep her training wheels on. She's a big enough girl.
When it comes to growing up, virginity is a solid metaphor to go with, even if there is far more to maturity than intercourse. Still, this is a subject that if done well, can be used intelligently to symbolize the process of aging. While the gang's first time stories were comically crass, this episode still uses sex in a respectable enough way to make the concept work, as each story adds a different punch and perspective towards Katie's potential first time.
Does it make the episode better or worse knowing that she doesn't go through with it? Well, Ted's joke explanation is another classic moment of bending the truth for comedic and "informative" effect, so I'm glad that exists as a character balance. Although, I am reminded of a story I read about The Mary Tyler Moore Show's spin-off, Phyllis, in which an episode was made when Phyllis' daughter Bess may or may not have had her own first time, alarming Phyllis. The episode ends with Bess telling her mother that nothing happened, where Phyllis calms herself in the truth, only to bring up to the camera the possibility that Bess is lying. While this is a great idea for a joke, apparently CBS' standards & practices were strongly against it, and removed the last line, forcing the audience to believe Bess.
I'm not sure if something like that would have worked here, but it is true that some things are better left to the imagination, rather than being rammed down our throats*. However, I'll give Kellet a passing grade for her decision to have Katie open up to Robin, anyway, as her explanation to her big sister does indicate that Katie learned herself that Robin was right about her beau being an ass. Not to necessarily reward Robin, but the revelation pays off.
But yes, the episode ends with Katie keeping her virginity for today. While Robin does ultimately keep her little sister, I'd like to think that the fact that she promises to add Kahlua to her drink is an indicator that Robin will attempt to acknowledge that her sister isn't the little girl she left behind in Canada. It's a sweet idea, although I would have likely made that notion a little more noted if this was my script.
But how about Robin's confirmation of her love for Ted? It's a little crazy to consider that we're halfway through the season, and they hadn't uttered this phrase yet, at least not since Ted's fuck up in the pilot. The couple have continuously been working on their trust and have built up a strong enough core to where this isn't an issue anymore. Robin can safely prove to Ted what he means to her, while Ted knows that it's real. Talk about a hell of a first time.
Huh, I guess this wasn't as short as I was planning. But "First Time in New York" is another in an innumerable string of fantastic episodes in a row. As mentioned above, there are a couple of points here that I do find underdeveloped, but more than enough of it works to make the episode worth multiple viewings.
And maybe it reminded you of your first time, as awkward as it may be. And if you still haven't had yours yet, that's okay. Virginity isn't that important at the end of the day.
*I'm sure that some of my readers who have seen the show all the way through know what I'm talking about here. If not, I'll get to it eventually, I can assure you!
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