‘How I Met Your Mother’ Breakdown: ‘Knight Vision’

Knight Vision

Season Nine, Episode Six: “Knight Vision”

Written by: Chris Harris, Directed by: Pamela Fryman

Despite a few great stray one-liners, this episode is another dud in the season. It sets up some interesting dilemmas for the characters, but saves the actual resolution of those for next week’s episode (or, perhaps, further down the line). It’s also crowded with guest stars who feel entirely misused.

Quick Breakdown

Friday 9 p.m., 45 hours before the wedding.

It’s Friday night before the wedding, and Barney tells Ted that he has to chose the perfect girl to hook up with tonight so that he has someone for the weekend. Barney (and Robin) selected three contenders that would be potentially great matches. But, he warns, this is an important decision, not unlike the important selection of the holy grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Cassie (Anna Camp, in a role that fails to utilize her talents) appears first and immediately monopolizes Ted. He quickly turns to Barney and says he chooses her. A Knight (from the Indiana Jones sketch) appears to Ted and announces, “You chose…poorly.” This gag, like so many this season, is one that is annoying the first 10 times yet slowly gets funnier with its overuse.

Elsewhere at the bar, Lily is meeting the overly pompous Reverend (Edward Hermann, also playing a one-note role). She tells him the story of how she met Marshall, but the Reverend is not amused because it is the same story that Barney and Robin used. They lied to him because he said he would not allow them to use his beautiful church unless they were pure-hearted.

On the road, Daphne is coaching Marshall on how to confess his judgeship to Lily. They rehearse his conversation over and over again, perfecting his tone and verbiage. Sherri Shepherd’s voice is amusingly synced with Lily’s mouth in the scenes. He practices the speech so much, we have to wonder how differently the confessional scene will play out whenever he gets there.

Ted thinks he’s hit the jackpot when Cassie says they should forego the requisite flirting and jump into bed first. But when she gets a call from work, Ted allows her to answer it. “You chose…poorly,” The Knight pronounces. Cassie gets fired from her job and becomes a sobbing mess for the rest of the episode. She whines about her life to Ted, making him comfort her; and, in the process, lose his chances of hooking up with one of the other chicks instead.

Barney and Robin convince the Reverend that Lily is the one lying about the story. He confronts Lily about her egregious lying, and Lily uses an abbreviated version of Barney and Robin’s story instead. She purposefully offends the couple, and the Reverend quickly deduces that they were the ones lying. He tells them to find a new officiate and a new church to get married in.

They try to justify their relationship by confessing how much they love each other despite their flaws (like sleeping with 250 women). The Reverend mutters that they’re killing him with these unholy confessions. And while it may have been just a casual expression, the Reverend does, in fact, expire. Looks like the couple will spend the next episode “hilariously” searching for a new officiate.

After accidentally dining with Cassie’s parents (and getting stuck with the bill), Ted finally gets Cassie into bed. But she breaks down, and Ted takes pity. She appreciates his support and releases him for the weekend. But before he can convince the new girl that he isn’t with Cassie, she discovers that her uncle, the Reverend, is dead and only Ted can provide her support.

While it might’ve been nice to see Ted with someone for the season, being unattached leaves him available for the Mother at the end of the wedding. It was an obvious moment to end his story on and a pretty lame way to insert talk of the Mother without actually revealing any new information.

Just as Marshall perfects his speech, he accidentally reveals that he has already taken the job to Daphne. She gets mad, and they argue. When Marshall goes to pump gas into the Monstrosity, she sends Lily a text revealing Marshall’s new job. The episode ends with Marshall’s phone ringing as he stares at it with a frightened look in his eyes.

Rating

C+

The misuse of Camp and Hermann was unfair for them; I would’ve been fine with some random unknown actors instead. And the episode feels like it lacked sufficient resolution. Or, you could argue that they did a great job of keeping me hooked on the story, since I’m eager for next week’s. Either way, the episode lacked any truly funny moments. And what good is a comedy that doesn’t make you laugh?

Now for some random thoughts and my favorite moments of the night…

It was great seeing the characters imitate each other’s looks and mannerisms as they stole each other’s stories of how they met.

“WHAT THE DAMN HELL?” –almost all the women in the episode, saying it the same way Daphne does.

“You tip…poorly.” –The Knight after seeing the dinner check that Ted signs.

When they’re arguing, we learn that Daphne is actually a lobbyist for a big oil company. I wonder how that will build up tension in the upcoming episodes.

The funniest line was Barney’s “Wedding at Bernie’s” joke when discussing how to find a new officiate.

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