Directed by Pam Fryman
Written by Brenda Hsueh
Here's a question to my (however few there are) readers- which word do you think Ted meant with "Grinch"? Clearly, Grinch kind of rhymes with bitch, but the reaction he gets from everyone who discovers the message makes it seem like he used the C word. Feel free to decide for yourself.
I've always found this to be an important episode, since it involves the friendship between Ted and Lily, a rather important one to the show's mythology that isn't portrayed as much. It's surprising, since Lily went to the same university as Ted and Marshall, and they all met each other within a 24-hour span, but at times, the series makes it seem like Marshall and Ted were life-long best friends whose dynamic changed shortly after Marshall and Lily started dating. This can be blamed on normative gender roles, where it's always assumed that men and women are meant to be best friends with one another, and the only time that people of the opposite sex can be close to each other is if there is sexual tension involved. Which is almost like writing out queer people entirely, but this may not be the best outlet for that.
For the most part (which means that I'm trying to avoid spoilers, but we'll get to what I have in mind), Lily and Ted's friendship has stayed entirely platonic. Ted recognizes that Marshall loves this girl, and in such had succeeded in becoming close with her in non-romantic ways in the decade since they've become buddies.
When Marshall's not around, Ted is willing to hold Lily's hair back if she drank too much, while Lily always knows the right compliment to throw to Ted when he's getting ready for a date. While Lily isn't as hot for Ted and Marshall's geekier interests, the two buds do share an appreciation for art and culture which their friends aren't so much for. And above all else, they just click as friends. Ted has always shared Marshall's type-A personality when it comes to order as opposed to Lily's more relaxed, yet uniquely structure utilitarian stance, but the two mind types respect each other well and surprisingly rarely clash. It's a great balance.
This is why Ted was so hurt by Lily's departure. Even beyond the way she broke Marshall's heart, Ted feels that Lily left him in the dust as a friend. If one thing can be said about Lily's summer in San Francisco, it's that she didn't mean to be malicious to her loved ones. If anything, keeping in closer contact with the gang would have likely hurt her even more, as she can hear directly how her decision affects them, which explains why she kept her distance. There's little doubt that she felt bad about this, but Lily's intentions were not impure.
The rest of the gang took this differently, but Ted felt two obligations going on that summer, as he tried his best to be the guy who helps Marshall out during his time of need, as best friends are meant to be, as well as feeling hurt that his other best friend left him suddenly. As childish as it may seem, there's logic as to why Ted gave up on one of these emotions when he resorted to name-calling Lily while trying his best to keep Marshall happy.
I don't think that Lily necessarily had to apologize to Ted, but I do understand his feelings towards her previous actions. While Lily had the right to head out and try to achieve her dreams, it was a sudden decision that it took a while to be resolved. Lily was only trying to succeed in life, but Ted felt like she was leaving everything here behind.
Especially since Ted proved how much he cares about Lily quite well with the Easy-Bake Oven. The fact that Ted can remember something like this so clearly despite being so baked proves how well Ted is at maintaining information about his friends, a notion that Lily takes well.
It also contains a great flashback to the trio's college days, containing some great stoner gags. It's one of many great little scenes in the A-plot that help to keep things entertaining all the way through. Marshall's post-office story is another good one, bringing a delightful sense of Christmas wonder to the show without deviating from its tone at all. It's a cute side story that works pretty well, but the true gem might be Ted's time with his religious cousin's family, which as fabricated as it may seem, wow is it funny. I can't tell which bit is funnier, Ted trying to pass off Sam Jackson's abbreviated passage from Pulp Fiction as his favorite piece of scripture, or the idea of these little kids possibly saying cunt repeatedly.
Barney's subplot is also cute, giving him a moment of sheer vulnerability and more one-on-one time with Robin, both being things that I am always for. Forcing Barney to let his guards down makes Neil Patrick Harris challenge himself a little more than usual as he finds a way to keep the character still interesting as he's sick. Thankfully, NPH is able to adapt to a sick voice quite well, but his true shining moment comes from his muscle inflections, which are primarily prevalent in the scene where Barney lies on Ted's bed as Robin feeds him soup, where he finds the right way to make even a chin reflex funny.
As for Robin? Right now, she might just be Barney's best female friend, as she seems to understand and like him better than Lily. Granted, Barney's attitude towards women still must be a turn-off to her, but at this point, his womanizing ways must be a joke to her, especially as she knows what Barney is truly like. And at the end of the day, yes, he might be a little creepy, but Barney is primarily just a child that cares deeply for his friends. When his addictive personality gets in the way, it may be harder to defend him, but Robin didn't leave Barney since she knows his good, and at the end of the day, finds him to be such a fascinating character.
But it's even more telling about Robin's character that she just drugs Barney's drink. As much as she cares about Barney, she has almost no maternal instincts, which is surprisingly rare in fiction, but certainly welcome. As well as telling about her relationship with Ted, since even after being together for a while, she hasn't changed her ways when it comes to childcare.
Hsueh's script brings many great ideas to the table, thematically and humorously, and with the help of Fryman's eye for pacing and talent, each of them pays off quite well. For the show's first Christmas episode, this is a home run. At the halfway point, season 2 is proving to be the step-up that the series deserved, which is the perfect Christmas gift for fans. Now onto the back-half of the season!
Continuity Errors: Huh, it's weird to see the show refer to smoking weed by a real term, and not "eating a sandwich". This iconic euphemism will show up soon as a way to "keep the innocence of Ted's kids", which makes it so strange to see Ted not even bother to hide that they smoked even remotely here.
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