How I Met Your Mother Recap: A Real New Yorker

The damage caused by the disaster of How I Met Your Mother's fifth season is not an easy thing to forget. I used to be the biggest champion for this show, going so far as to once declare it my favorite comedy on television (that, now, is Community). The first interview I ever conducted was with Josh Radnor, where we spent almost an hour of deconstructing every aspect of the show. Then, something changed -- starting in season four, the show wasn't the same. Then season five arrived and it saw HIMYM turn from a smart show with five talented actors into a typical mid-90s sitcom with shtick. Thankfully, this season has shown a rebound. I'm back on board...but, like a betrayed lover, I'm not sure I'll ever trust HIMYM again.

HIMYM is always at its best when it focuses on the ensemble -- and that ensemble includes New York City. Showrunners Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, former Letterman writers, know New York well -- HIMYM hangout, McLaren's, is based on McGee's, which is right around the corner from the Letterman studio. Last night's episode embraced New York City in a way I haven't seen since, perhaps, the first season.

You see the thing about the argument over what it means to be a "true New Yorker" actually happens. Over the last six years of living in New York, I've heard "five years," I've heard "ten years" and I've heard "serving on a New York jury for a murder trial." (OK, that last one is my definition, in large part because it happened to me.) According to Ted, Barney, Marshall and Lily, the definition is: Must have seen Woody Allen (I have), must have stolen a cab from somebody else (yes), must have cried on a Subway (yes...look, it hurts to get dumped, especially when you're in Brooklyn and you live uptown), and killing a cockroach with your bare hand (ew!).

The gang gets in an argument on the fastest way from the Upper West Side to downtown, which, again, is painfully accurate. Everyone thinks they know the fastest route from somewhere to anywhere. Lily takes the subway, Ted takes the bus, Robin takes a cab, Marshall decides to run and Barney fakes a heart attack in order to get an ambulance ride, which backfires. More of this! It doesn't matter whom won the race (Robin!), all that matters is that, once again, HIMYM is using the city of New York as a character. This is what I hated about Friends: Though set in New York, it could have been set anywhere. Same with HIMYM's fifth season.

And so with that, I'm bringing you back into my life, HIMYM. But it's going to take a while to earn my trust again. Keep using the city as a character and, remember, that Ted Mosby's story is the main focus of the plot -- Barney's great, but you can't build a show around a character so absurd -- and maybe, just maybe, I'll learn to love you again.