The Playbook

This is one of the best episodes of the series. End of.

Neil Patrick Harris's legacy episode, quite phenomenal and astonishing as to it's so ahead of it's time, especially the ending of the episode. The Flamboyance of NPH came out levitating.

I see too many shows and i tell you all this is the best Good story,funy i stil love this show.

I used to love this show, but as an adult I absolutely hate it, I'm lockdown binge watching shows like parks and rec, scrubs and will and Grace, but this one is so bad in hindsight that the others look flawless.

The writing constantly attempts you to condition you for example

Teds a good guy... no he's a selfish egomaniac who treats women awfully,he's not attractive or interesting enough as a person to make the script work, his mannerisms suck so no matter how many times They try and tell you otherwise he ain't a good guy. Hair sucks, dresses like a tramp, personality of a sociopath

Lily. Nice girl wholesome etc.. again no, dumps love of her life, is ridiculously immature, tries to constantly ruin friends relationships because of her views on how things work, control freak, bullies her fella and just a smiling irrational liar, she had endless debt, expects equality yet acts like she's the leader.

Robin.. well everything, she looks way to old, isn't hot, pretty maybe but dresses like an old woman, isn't funny, isn't cool, the whole it's robin is laughable as she has no chemistry with any of the characters, I know the actress had cancer scare in series 3 an£ was pregnant but she just was the wrong cast after the girl turned down the chance to be the actual robin. Watch her closely, you never laugh at a robin joke, her and ted are wooden people who can't portray any emotion, least likeable, emotionally stunted pathetic relationship in tv history.

Marshall just a sap really, not a super bf just a broken down guy, wasted character as probably the best actor except B. Held back by poor writing.

Barney, just a cartoon, not a real character, portrays women as idiots, it's funny just not real. It just doesn't work as part of a show like this other than to escape you from the tired pathetic writing.

This show genuinely blows, Barney is funny but it's so emotionally childish with characters who are way too old to be acting this pathetic, technology is way out of date, forced humour, conditioned writing instead of character development. Worst examples of humans as the protagonists. Honestly it's fun as background tv but watch it closely and listen. It's awful

A special Barney episode ? It could only be funny. I feared the writers would decide to throw in the usual dumb Marshall arc but they didn't. They were wise enough to focus on Barney's dating how-to book. In fact the story reminded me of Game Night, season 1 15th episode, because it's one of the only dedicated to him. However considering how bad the show has apparently evolved I wasn't expecting The Playbook to be as interesting and sad. But in the end I have to admit that it was at least funny. Of course all jokes weren't good but some should make you laugh enough not to make you feel like you've just wasted twenty minutes of your precious life. In fact the best thing about it is that it should encourage you to be more original and daring when it comes to dating.

The twisted idea behind the story was creative but the execution was almost a failure. I think the writers mistake was to not focus on the best and most important joke. In fact the end reminded me of "Ted Mosby : Architect", season 2 5th episode, but it wasn't as surprising and hilarious. So when you could watch that one over and over to appreciate all its awesomeness I don't think you'll want to go back to this one. Beside the relatively linear and riskless writing I also blame the poor use of the supporting characters because their role was quite anecdotic. I think it's a mistake because the story would have been far much more entertaining if it involved more Ted or Robin for example. Why didn't they viciously switch profiles in a crazy fashion ? What about revealing the story was just a dream at the end ? It's already the 96th episode but it doesn't mean you can just sit back and relax instead of challenging yourself. Of course it's easier to review other people's work than to get things done but I can't help thinking that some talent is desperately wasted.

To sum things up it was a decent installment but not a match for the great episodes I mentioned. It's almost scary because The Playbook is actually the highest rated episode on TV.com. I think its creators should just make the wise decision of finally answering The Question no one really cares about anymore. Maybe the wake up call they need will come from viewers disappointed by a show that didn't meet their expectations. It will be so sad if they decide to cancel How I Met Your Mother once it jumps the shark. Let's hope it won't happen because the people who worked on it deserve better. Cobie Smulders is beautiful and her acting talent can only improve. Neil Patrick Harris is legendary as Barney. Last but not least Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, the sitcom creators, successfully served us with a few excellent episodes.