Suits and Dolls

Tonight, How I Met Your Mother celebrated its one hundredth episode, an accomplishment all the more impressive for those of us that remember the days when the producers had to cast Britney Spears (multiple times) just to stave off cancellation. It also meant an episode that had just about everything you could want from HIMYM: Barney being awesome, a big step forward in the story of the mother, a fun cameo, and, oh yeah, NPH singing.

First up, Ted. I know he's most fans' least favorite character, but this Barney&Robin-heavy season has proved how important it is to still keep him the center of the show. A lot of us started watching the show because of episodes like "The Pineapple Incident," "Mary the Paralegal," and the wedding episodes where he met Victoria. So it's only appropriate that the 100th episode devote some time to Ted's love life. Of course it would be too obvious if Rachel Bilson turned out to be the mother, but we got a whole lot more info about her: she plays bass in a band, likes T.C. Boyle, sings songs using breakfast foods, and makes paintings with robots playing sports. Yeah, sounds like the right woman for Ted. And not to defend Future Ted too much, but every viewing of the yellow umbrella is another step in the story.

Now on to Barney. Barney faced a crisis of conscience when he found out the new "hot bartender" he wanted wouldn't go for a guy in a suit. There's a couple of obvious plotholes here. In what universe would Barney have never slept with a bartender? That's where most lotharios begin! Is McLaren's literally the only bar he goes to? And secondly, I've gotta side with Marshall here - she's definitely not hot enough to get guys lining out the door and Barney to give up his suits.

Those quibbles aside, there was tons of good Barney action tonight. We got to see him unnaturally suit-less and pawing at Marshall's jacket. The secret compartment inside the McLaren's bathroom stall where a suit was waiting. Tim Gunn as his personal tailor. And in one of my favorite bits of the night: "Wait for it...." "We know you're going to say suit." "Suit." Between that and the suits eerily telling him to "suit up," season 1 catchphrases made a big comeback.

Still, the big moment came at the end, when Barney broke out into song on the joys of suits. The other cast members may have played a minor role, but that's just fine when NPH gets to use the voice we heard and loved in Dr. Horrible and all those award shows. And the music was surprisingly good as well. Maybe not Buffy musical calibre, but pretty damn enjoyable. 100 episodes in, it's nice to see the show is still this entertaining.

On the other side of the TV longevity scale, Dollhouse won't even get a fourth as far as HIMYM already has, but its cancellation has only made the show amp up the awesomeness. For the first time I can recall, we're witnessing what would happen if a show knew it had a certain number of episodes to wrap up an entire series. As the writers are trying to condense three or four seasons into 9 episodes, every episode now feels like 6-in-1. Which explains why this past Friday's episode was such a series of escalating "oh shit" moments.

Coming out of the excellent "attic" episode from before the break, Dollhouse upped the ante by bringing back a whole bunch of MVPs, starting with Dr. Saunders, who it turns out has been living with Boyd this whole time (oh shit moment #1). Hence his coming in late and referencing "personal stuff." Those writers sure are crafty. Since my biggest problem with this season has been the lack of Whiskey, her return was a very welcome surprise.

The other big return was Summer Glau's Bennett, aka female Topher, who we learned a lot more about through flashbacks of her history with Caroline. We also learned a whole lot more about Caroline. In Caroline's season one flashback, I remember thinking, "that's it?" They had built her up as some big mysterious character, then when we saw her she was just like "I want to save animals! Woo!" Kind of a let-down. But this episode showed she was doing a little more than that. She wasn't caught after a single break-in, but after a longer campaign against Rossum that involved befriending Bennett and using her to blow up Rossum's main building. And turns out Caroline wasn't running to save herself when she left Bennett behind, but to keep Bennett's cover.

In addition to the info overload, Bennett's return meant some quality awkwardness with Topher, who managed to make his previous encounter with her seem smooth. Between the painful kissing and the constantly referencing having punched her, you'd think he was ruining his chances except she totally went for it. Which was sweet. Until Whiskey SHOT HER IN THE HEAD (oh shit moment #2)!!! Who programmed her? What's the reason? Who knows!

Well, we do by the end of the episode, when Echo as Caroline remembers meeting the two men Clyde told her were in charge. After being called up the elevator to the Director's office, she saw Clyde 2.0 (or 5.0) in the flesh. And he looked....about what you'd expect, the most benign, least threatening individual imaginable. Hardly like he was the architect of the apocalypse. Because that role was left to the real man in charge, the one who betrayed original Clyde to run Rossum single-handedly....Boyd Langton (biggest oh shit moment of the series).

Yeah, didn't see that one coming. Boyd implanted Caroline within the Dollhouse, presumably with the ability to retain multiple personalities so she could become Echo, then placed himself inside as her handler so he could protect her and keep her in place. But for what? To ensure the apocalypse, or to try to stop it? Might Boyd still be a good guy after all? Or has leading De Witt to fight against Rossum been part of some other plan we know nothing about?

Well, it would have been nice to see Dollhouse play out in a more normal and leisurely fashion, but when the speeded-up version leads to episodes this good, it's hard to complain. Final two episodes are going to be huge.