How I Met Your Mother

"The Platinum Rule" is a great How I Met Your Mother episode. I love how Ted says that he's getting his tattoo removed and he mentions asking out the doctor and everyone disapproves of it. I love how he uses Marshall and Lily getting too close to a neighbouring couple, Robin dating a fellow news anchor, and himself trying to sleep with Wendy the waitress, as examples of The Platinum Rule. I give this episode a 9.5/10

This is a classic episode in the Seinfeld vein of tv comedy. The platinum rule is dead-on and well thought out, with each tenet of the rule flashed on screen in a possible nod to Frasier. This show has been a favorite of mine since it came on, but it has been in a way a take it or leave it show, that I could have survived if they did not renew. This episode changes that passive indifference and reveals "How I Met Your Mother" to be an important part of today's tv diorama. The fallout from this episode is clear: this show is a must-add to your tivo list!

Easily the strongest episode of this season, comparable in hilarity to 'How I Met Everyone Else'. It seems like when Bays and Thomas try to make a new story to add to the narrative they fall over badly, but when making up stories to fill in the gaps, they are positively brilliant. The writing this season has been of a terrible standard, but it's episodes like these that make HIMYM worth watching.



What I enjoyed most was the fact that Barney was the real driver of the episode - I think Neil Patrick Harris is the only actor out of them with the gravitas to do that. Using the recurring chain of events and the identical reactions of Barney, Robin and Lily and Marshall as a couple was not only incredibly hilarious but very intelligent. From the Barney parts, he was back to his usual chauvinistic, insensitive best in his dealings with Wendy the Waitress. Especially the line, 'she's gullible and I'm bored, we're a perfect match'. The way he dumps her is also pure gold. The way he slapped the burger out of Marshall's hand like it was a bomb going off was a real highlight.



Kurt 'The Iron Man' Irons proved anything but an iron man with his neediness and sensitivity. Robin's line of 'if he was missing teeth I would have already hit that' was a classic. Cobie Smulders better have a good sense of humour, because the amount of Canada bashing on that show is incredible - and perhaps justified too. What the writers really haven't explored are the secondary faux pas that occurs by being married. Buying that house together is probably the only new ground that they've managed to look at with Lily and Marshall as a couple, but it was good to see them go through new territory with 'dating' other couples to do grown-up kind of things. The obsession married couples have with charades is something that really needed to be examined. You usually need to be drunk to enjoy charades. I don't know if this part was added in purposely or slipped in because this was the last episode for a while, but the line from Ted 'that was it with Stacey - for now' maybe hinting at something else in the future. The writers have stopped trying to drop Barney and Robin hints, and maybe they're focusing back on the actual plot of the series - finding the mother.



The best part of the episode for me is seeing the dichotomy between Barney and Ted. Barney with all his rules, and how he thinks he has life worked out as opposed to Ted who believes in romantic ideals such as fate and random chance. Even though Barney is so outrageous, he is probably far more representative of everyone else in his attitude to life, and Ted is a real dreamer, who lives his life hoping to find the right woman. The writers hadn't explored enough of that this season, possibly because they thought they were on a roll from last season and tried to keep it going. But what made the first season strong amongst its weak episodes was the continual storyline of Ted looking for love, and his hopeless romanticism. If HIMYM doesn't want to be canceled, it needs to re-examine this in the post-Robin context and I'm sure they can get some stronger episodes out.

This episode was fantastic, as everything worked in it! :) The time-switches where the friends uses examples from different mistakes to convince Ted that dating the doctor is a really bad idear was hilarious. You would think they would learn from eachother's mistakes, but apparently not... :)

Barney is just hilarious with all his rules, and this one really topped the cake. Imagine having an 8 step-rule for dating someone that you have to see every day... :) Somehow I wonder, if you put all the things together that has happened to Robin on the air, it's surprising she's still on television... ;)

We didn't have to see this episode to know about the platinum rule. It's obvious not to get involved with people you see every day. Ted tries to go against all odds in this episode. Barney, Lilly, Marshall & Robin say otherwise and share their past experiences with the platinum rule. Barney briefly dated Wendy, the waitress and almost ruined the bar for everyone. Lilly & Marshall started "playing charades" with their new neighbors and become very attached only to find out they're crazy. Robin gets involved with an anchor from her work with some consequences. They all share their experiences hoping that Ted doesn't walk out the door to meet with his dermatologist who will be removing his tattoo (201). Who he has to see for 10 sessions, by the end he goes on the date anyway, and it turns out it wasn't a date, it's against the law to get involved with you're doctor. It's not just the platinum law. It was an an enjoyable format, but other than that: I didn't get that much laughs. I'm interested to see more of Stella since Future Ted said, that's enough of Stella "for now". So excited for the episodes to come.

This is one of my favourite How I Met Your Mother episodes. Seriously, this show never gets old, I'll probably still watch reruns ten years from now just for the fun of it. This is my first review, so I'm going to have to think back to when I last saw this...which wasn't so long ago.



The Platinum Rule, the namesake of this episode. It's all about how Ted decides to go off on what he believes to be a date with the woman who's going to remove his tramp stamp. Don't you remember the tramp stamp? You know, that butterfly on the small of Ted's back?



Alrighty, so Ted's going to get it removed, and none of the gang is particularly happy about it really. I mean, it's the tramp stamp. As Barney would put it, that thing is legen...wait for it...DARY!



As Ted tells them about his date to the movies with this lady, Barney cuts him short and explains to Ted the Platinum Rule. As Ted gets ready to head off on his date with the doc, everyone begins to explain their own incidents with the Platinum Rule, which is, by the way, that you should never date someone who you'll have to see later on.



Barney, as the others explain, attempts to slow Ted down and make him stop the date, even revealing his own experience with the Platinum Rule. He slows Ted down by usually messing up his hair, which, in the end, Ted decides actually looks better than how he had it before, and he goes off on his date.



Well, all went well, it seems. Ted admits to the gang that she didn't think it was a real date. So, Ted got by the Platinum Rule.



And now, for my imput.



I think that this is one of the best How I Met Your Mother episodes. I know, it sounds crazy that, in my first review, I'm not trashing everyone on the show or something. But really, this is one of my favourite episodes, and I decided to review it first.



I honestly see nothing wrong with it, nothing worth complaining about. And so ends my review. Hope the writers get paid soon or whatever, 'cause guess who can't wait for the next episode?!



~ Darkness-13

When it comes to the game of dating we all have our own rule book, most of the stuff we put on it actually rings true. For me I'm always a bit cautious when it comes to dating anyone that works in the same business building as myself, those kinds of relationships for me don't always work or end too well.



Despite how ridiculous Barney's rules may sound they always ring true, we've all suffered a bad date that we just wanted to bail out of and had to go though the motions to do it. This episode is structured on each of the steps that Barney presents on the bad signs of a bad date, and it's split of course to four of the characters all having different kinds of dates.



I thought all of them were really funny, for Robin seeing her date a sportscaster that is litterally the girl in the dynamic who is under the delusion their in a love relationship. It cracked me up just seeing him act broken up when Robin broke it off with him and he does what no sports caster ever done or should do, he actually cries and then runs away, which just flushes his masculenity down the toilet.



Marchall and Lily's subplot was pritty good it was just funny seeing them trying to hide or avoid those annoying and slightly creepy new neighbors of theirs, the way they reacting was almost like they were in a slasher film, I don't blame them.



Barney though really doesn't have it bad, his date is actually pritty good he just feels she restricts his freedom. They break it off and she takes it well but Barney doesn't as he's developed an accute paranoia thinking she may'be trying to pull something on him but of course hasn't.



This episode is pritty simple, there are always certain rules we all abide by whenever we date, their the things that keep our love lives harmonious.

How I met your mother isn't your average sit come. It's no surprise that these five characters gel well together and each episode has a unique and creative storyline. As Ted attempts to have a tattoo removed from his lower back, which the other cast members refer to as a "tramp stamp", they also try to convince him not to date his doctor. The entire premise is based on not dating those you have to see everyday in case it turns out for the worst. Each of the characters have a story for Ted to support there argument. The stories overlap in entertaining and humorous ways. While Barney is the first and most passionate about the argument, citing his "Platinum Rule", we find he suffered the least of the consequences. Each episode is a well written account of the lives of each character, contuing to lead up to the ultimate point of the story - How did Ted meet the kids' (shown in the begging of each episode) mother? More importantly, who does he ultimately meet and marry. The characters all play a strong part in each storyline. The dialogue borders on hilarious and is always unique to other shows in its genre.