How I Met Your Mother - Recap: The Last Crusade

By Nick Roman ·

Recap and review of How I Met Your Mother - Season 9 Episode 6 - Knight Vision:

It's fun every now and then to have an episode of How I Met Your Mother that doesn't really deal with the serialized storylines and instead just focuses on being a funny half-hour of television. "Knight Vision" is the funniest episode of the season so far, a wall-to-wall study in zaniness that almost plays out like a cartoon. The entire ensemble shines here in a way they haven't, as a single collective unit, for a while. And the writing is arguably as sharp here as it's ever been. In fact, I'd argue that we need more episodes like this, and fewer focusing on the more dramatic, serialized story arcs that have become HIMYM's bread-and-butter, because this was just terrific stuff.

The episode is split three ways, and each storyline works in isolation from the others. Ted (Josh Radnor) is on a mission to find the perfect weekend wedding hookup, because the story conceit of the entire season taking place over one weekend apparently doesn't mean that Ted won't still end up with a wide variety of women over the course of the season. Here, the potential hookup is a woman named Cassie (Anna Camp), who is beautiful, vivacious, and sane enough when Ted meets her. But because this is Ted Mosby we're talking about here, everything quickly goes awry. Cassie falls to pieces when, in a one-two punch of bad luck, she loses her job and runs into her ex-boyfriend. She's a complete emotional wreck, and it turns Ted into a hilariously desperate man, as he continues to accept advice from a ghost -- the Knight Templar from Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, who simply tells Ted that "chose poorly." Ignoring the inherent absurdity of Ted talking to a ghost, or the fantasy sequence with Ted and Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) in an Indiana Jones movie, this storyline was the best of the episode. Josh Radnor continues to quietly steal the show by imbuing Ted with a hammy charm that makes his line deliveries all the funnier (“So what were we about to do? Meaningless something. Meaningless socks?”).

In addition, Anna Camp is just terrific playing Cassie as a woman gradually unhinged. By the end of the episode, she's gone all-in on the over-the-top displays of grief, and I found it hilarious. Anna Camp really is one of those people who needs to be way more famous, so I'm glad her profile has shot up in the last year between Pitch Perfect, The Mindy Project, and her return to True Blood. She was always my dream choice for Cathy Ames in an adaptation of East of Eden, but I suppose that's Jennifer Lawrence now. Just as well, I suppose, as we get to enjoy Camp here. But the story has more to offer than comedy, as we learn that this all ties directly into Ted's origin with The Mother (Cristin Milioti). Had things not gone badly with Cassie, Ted would not have been available to meet The Mother, and while some might find that to be a fairly flimsy justification for what is ultimately a lightweight, one-off storyline, I found it to be a perfectly reasonable rationalization for pursuing this particular plot, especially since it delivered to such a high degree.

The story between Barney and Robin (Cobie Smulders) also delivered in a big way. The gist of the story is that Barney and Robin are lying to their minister (Edward Hermann) about how they came to fall in love with one another. Inevitably, the truth comes out, and the minister finds it so horrific and twisted that he simply dies. It's a darkly comic turn for the plot, but it's one of the funnier bits of the episode, leaving an opening for my favorite fantasy sequence in a while: a two-second "Wedding at Bernie's" proposal that is immediately shot down by Robin. And that's not even the only fantasy sequence in the storyline, as we get wholesale reenactments of Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lily's (Alyson Hannigan) meeting story, as well as Barney and Robin's past, but with the couples' roles reversed. Neil Patrick Harris and Jason Segel do tremendous impressions of one another, and I wouldn't mind seeing a fantasy sequences like this again as the season rolls on. As for the storyline itself, Harris and Smulders continue to have winning chemistry together, playing off of one another like a married couple. That familiarity serves their storyline, and their onscreen pairing, considerably.

As for Marshall, he discusses the judge position he's been offered, and Daphne (Sherri Shepherd) suggests honesty. However, she inevitably ends up revealing that she herself is a lobbyist for a big oil company, which infuriates Marshall beyond reason, since he's an environmental lawyer. The biggest takeaway from this storyline is the discovery that Marshall has already accepted the judge position, and it's a pretty big reveal, all things considered. With that said, I could see this revelation serving a worthwhile storyline function, as Marshall might be able to officiate Barney and Robin's marriage ceremony, in lieu of their minister. If nothing else, he'd at least be able to draw up and sign the necessary paperwork. Whatever brings Marshall into the storyline sooner is alright by me.

"Knight Vision" is ultimately the funniest episode of the season so far, showing the kind of breathless, effortless fluidity that has characterized some of How I Met Your Mother's best moments. I wish more episodes were this off-the-wall.

Thanks for reading my recap and review of How I Met Your Mother - Season 9 Episode 6, "Knight Vision"! What did you think of the episode? Sound off in the comments!

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