How I Met Your Mother – “The Rough Patch”
It was bound to happen. Barney and Robin’s relationship finally hits a real snag. When the two begin to let themselves go, which is heavily exaggerated in Ted’s retelling of the story, the rest of the group (Ted, Marshall, and Lily) decide to try to break them up. Ted and Marshall enlist Lily to do the dirty work, considering the fact that she sabotaged seven of Ted’s past relationships, and she develops a master plan to destroy the couple. But Lily’s plan doesn’t play out quite as expected, which makes the end of the episode particularly intriguing to watch.
After Barney gives his entire porn collection to Ted, the group realizes that he is not the same person, and that’s when they start to really notice the changes in his lifestyle. Observing Barney as he grows fatter and fatter and Robin as she becomes more strung out is really the highlight of the episode. Barney’s “player” mentality is completely gone and he’s turned into a lazy, fat version of himself with zero sex drive. Also, the stakeout scene with Ted, Marshall, Lily, a “Stormtrooper,” Alan Thicke, and a sausage delivery boy is flat-out hilarious. The constant banter between everyone in the stakeout Station Wagon makes for an incredible scene.
This episode is the beginning of a big change for this season. That said, I view it as a very welcome change. I don’t want to spoil the ending, but I’ll leave you with one hint: “Daddy’s home.”
Grade: B+
The Big Bang Theory – “The Guitarist Amplification”
When Penny announces that an old friend of hers (an ex-boyfriend, to be exact) is coming to crash on her couch, it sparks a huge fight between her and Leonard. This fight then spreads to Raj and Howard as they begin bickering over who is right or wrong in Leonard and Penny’s argument. We soon learn that Sheldon had multiple traumatic experiences as a child with his parents yelling constantly, so he cannot take the continuous fighting. The entire episode is a nightmare for him, and he eventually takes refuge in one of the corners of the comic book store.
The constant spats between the cast members aren’t really a huge source of humor. What does manage to rake in some laughs is, like always, Sheldon’s quirkiness and goofy mannerisms. For instance, to block out the noise of fighting, Sheldon fills a blender with ice cubes and goes to town. Furthermore, he hides in the corner of the comic book store with a graphic novel and some toy robots to protect him.
Overall, I would consider this to be a great episode, but there are quite a few guaranteed laughs. They keep pushing the boundaries of Leonard and Penny’s relationship but it never seems to have any repercussions. For example, I saw the preview for next week’s episode (it looks fantastic, by the way) and it’s like the conflict from this episode was completely thrown out the window.
Grade: B-
Jordan is a high school student and aspiring journalist. He loves playing/watching and writing about video games, television, and movies. 
