'How I Met Your Mother' recap: Love and Honey

With Marshall (Jason Segel) still in Minnesota, the gang was forced to tell him about recent events over the phone. Robin (Cobie Smulders) called first – guess the writers heard my plea for more Marshall/Robin friendship scenes – and started recounting the latest development in Ted (Josh Radnor) and Zoey's (Jennifer Morrison) relationship. Zoey had offered to set Ted up with her cousin, who the gang refers to as Honey (Katy Perry) because every naïve thing that comes out of her mouth – “Long story story, I'm going to be on 'Lost'!” – makes them reply, “Oh, honey.” Ted decides not to take advantage of the girl and lets Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) do that instead. He couldn't go home with her because he's in love with Zoey, not gay, as Marshall's eavesdropping mother screams into the phone. I really enjoyed the running gag with Marshall's family eavesdropping on his calls. His brother Marcus calling Ted a wuss was perfectly in Minnesota, big brother style. A guy like Marcus, who tricks his brother with an offer of Hertz Donuts, would definitely call Ted a wuss after Ted recounted how he knew he was in love with Zoey. For me, however, it was a lovely reminder of the romantic Ted that's sometimes missing from the show. Just grazing Zoey's fingers was enough to make him drop the ketchup bottle and bring back the hopeless romantic.

Ted can't just ignore Zoey because she's friends with the group now, Robin argues, and they like her. I'm not sure I buy that Zoey is friends with everyone, even after the Thanksgiving episode. She seems more like a friend of a friend that you hang out with when you're all together. But I'll go with it. Ted tells her they can't be friends anymore because Lily (Alyson Hannigan) hates her. Lily passes the hate blame onto Robin, who tells Zoey that Marshall hates her. But then Honey spills the beans to Marshall that Zoey and the Captain are getting divorced. And Barney had told Marshall about how Zoey hugged him after she found out Ted didn't go home with Honey.

From hundreds of miles away, over the phone, Marshall plays matchmaker. While Ted is lying to Zoey that he hates her and listing all the things he hates, Marshall calls Zoey and then Ted. I loved the way this was played. We didn't hear what Marshall said. We only saw and heard Ted and Zoey's dawning, relieved reactions to what we assume was Marshall telling them the truth about their feelings for each other and the divorce. There was no big declaration or spectacle. It was refreshing. A neighbor peeked her head out and reported back to Marshall that they were kissing.

Judging from the comments left on previous recaps, Zoey has met with a lot of mixed reaction, which I certainly understand. The character and the actress haven't always felt like they naturally fit into the show. And we know Zoey's not the mother, so some may view her as yet another roadblock to getting that answer. But this episode was the most I ever liked the character and Morrison in the role. Morrison was much better suited to the emotional scenes required of her this week than some of the comedy she's had to do in previous episodes.

Not as enjoyable for me was Katy Perry as Honey. The doe eyes and little girl voice acting, if it can be called that, were too much for me. I was particularly disappointed that Barney's emotional breakdown about his father was wasted on a one-time guest star. Imagine how much more impact it would have had if Barney had opened up to Robin and shared the moment with her. After all, it was Robin who was there when he found out his uncle was really his dad. But I did like that it was Honey's comeback – “Who's your daddy?” – that got Barney to crack.

Other brief thoughts:
– I was worried that Marshall being in Minnesota was going to make things difficult for the writers or break up the group dynamic, but the phone calls worked very well as a connector. And Segel actually had more to do separate from the gang than he sometimes does while with them.
– Hurray for the return of the Intervention, which Ted called for himself!
– Robin burning the food because she thought the oven was Celsius got a laugh out of me. Oh, Canada jokes.
– Marshall explaining the Ted and Zoey situation to his mom and brother via cork board, string and stand-in cards was amusing and a nice way to cap off the eavesdropping bit.

Readers, what did you think of Ted and Zoey coming together? Did Perry impress you? Are you anxious for Marshall to get back to New York?

— Vlada Gelman (follow my TV musings on Twitter at @stayingin)

Related:
'How I Met Your Mother': John Lithgow to play Barney's father
'How I Met Your Mother': Nazanin Boniadi to guest as a love interest
Complete 'How I Met Your Mother' coverage on Showtracker

Photo: Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) opens up to Honey (Katy Perry). Credit: Sonja Flemming / CBS.

Comments

[Abbey]

Great ep. I love Marshall and his fam. At first, I didn't love Zoey's character, but she has grown on me. I actually think the actress does a good job, she is so different from her House character. Thanks for the recap!

[tarylelizabeth]

Fantastic article..and amazing episode!! First off, I love Jason Segel.I feel so much of what Marshall does is actually Jason. I really enjoy when they let him put personal touches into the character. I liked seeing him back home in Minnesota and how polite he had to be. It's such a Minnesota thing! It was a great laugh!

I have never really been a fan of Zoey, but yeah she's growing on me. I agree that she plays the emotional scenes way much better then the more joke driven scenes. I am interested to see how this relationship between her & Ted works out. But I forget, how do we know she's not the mother? And what happens to the Capitan? Why did they get a divorce? I can't wait for the enxt episode

Katy Perry was okay...she wasn't really a scene stopper or anything. But she did an alright job. She held her own as the ditzy girl..so kudos to her.

[AB]

If Robin thought the oven was in Celsius, wouldn't the food then be undercooked and not burnt?

[Vlada]

tarylelizabeth -- The mother is Cindy's roommate, which makes it highly unlikely that Zoey, who was married to and lived with The Captain, is the mother.

[Corey]

This was the best HIMYM episode in a long time! It was really funny, particularly all the scenes with Marshall and family in Minnesota. From them interrupting him on the phone to his politeness always answering the phone the way he did and the cork board explanation of Zoey and Teds relationship.

And I loved the Ted and Zoey got together! That ending was soooo sweet! I really think they are great for each other. I kind of wish she was the mother. I see a lot of myself in Ted so I root for him more than I do any other character on TV, so I was very happy for him.

Katy Perry was funny at times as well, but she should leave the comedy acting to her husband

[tarylelizabeth]

Vlada - you are so right! thanks for the reminder. I wonder if the mother is going to be up being a popular actress or someone we don't know?

[Meeghan]

I thought this was a great episode! The only problem is, why do they have to be in love already? Why can't he just realize he has feelings for her?

I used hate Zoey so much that I couldn't stand the thought of her on this show. But now looking back I think the horrible person she was in the beginning was a product of Ted as narrator looking back, because he hated her in the beginning when she was trying to ruin his project. His friends liked her as soon as they met her, which indicates she's actually pretty cool.

[Carol]

A commenter on another blog noticed a fantastic detail related to the Clue cards at the end of the episode -- Ted was the Professor Plum card, and Ted wore purple the entire episode. Zoey was Mrs. White, and wore white. Honey was Miss Scarlet and wore red (and had a red bedroom), and Barney, who was Mr. Green, wore green the entire episode. I love how clever and subtle the writers are!

[Nick B]

AB: You're right. It is true that 100C ~ 200F, so 400C ~ 900F, which is probably the quick calculation that the writers did. It was still funny, but not quite as funny as a version that would have been true.

P.S. Has anyone else noticed that there seems to be a different style of camera-work going on the last few episodes? I haven't quite been able to pin down what it is.

[Gerald]

The show is really disappointing these days. Once a brilliant sitcom is becoming a boring soap opera. Ted is always a bad character when he is "in love" and Zoey is just the worst of his pairings.
The actress doesn´t deliver. She never does, doesn´t matter if drama or comedy. All her characters are boring and annoying and Zoey is not the exception. The show lost its charm. It´s predictable. Not even Barney keeps my attention anymore.