In “Noretta”, we reveal that everyone’s romantic partner is just a little bit like their parents, as creepy as that may be, in this guest star filled episode.
Kevin makes an observation that’s actually supported by real life, that we are often attracted to those who remind us of our parents. In this situation, we see that there is a striking personality resemblance between Barney’s mother and Nora. From the asute perception of Barney’s brother James ( Wayne Brady), we can see that Nora has a lot of the same mannerisms as their mother (British accent, gentle stroking, and “my sweet boy”).
Likewise, we find a lot of similarities between Marshal and Lily’s dad ( board game lover ) and between Lily and Marshall’s dad (gross home mannerisms). As expected, we get to see a lot of shots of parents taking places of spouses throughout various intimate situations. It lines up the episode for some brilliantly creepy situations with various parents reprising their hallucinated roles. Chris Elliot wins the night on creep factor as he returns as Lily’s father Mickey, with the winner being him embracing Lily from behind as he whispers in her ear.
It was also a wonderful surprise to see Bill Fagerbakke reprise his role as Marshal’s deceased father, Marvin. While his roles were also creepy, they were more funny considering he replaced Lily in Marshal’s vision, culminating in a hilariously climatic near kiss between hallucinated Lily’s father and hallucinated Marshal’s father.
Meanwhile, the storyline between Kevin and Ted seems to merely play into the concept that Ted continues to be alone and is growing more lonely as the weeks go on. I haven’t quite warmed up to Kevin’s role in the group as Robin’s boyfriend, but he does hold his old in the scenes he has, providing a strange physical comedy of dropping his pants constantly.
My biggest disappointment is the total lack of use of Wayne Brady’s reprisal of James Stinson. The interactions between Barney and James have always been legendary, and it felt like he was just brought in to inform new viewers that Barney actually has a brother. They didn’t even touch base on why this odd racial paring actually works as brothers so new viewers will be confused while older viewers will be disappointed.
Overall, tonight’s episode is more seemingly like a filler episode that provides the viewer the opportunity to see some old guest stars that haven’t been around in some time.
Other Observations
- In 55 years, my father never managed to button his pants even once. – Funny foreshadowing
- Barney’s date disaster
- Nora falls and breaks a tooth
- A New York rat lands on her head
- Man jumps off Barney’s building.
- Kevin prefers to not wear pants?
- Role reprisals
- Marshal’s Dad – Bill Fagerbakke
- Barney’s Mom – Frances Conroy
- Lily’s Dad – Chris Elliot
- Ted’s Mom – Cristine Rose
- Someone jumping off Barney’s building getting a laugh is both morbid and fitting.
- Seems that 8 year old Ted gave Weird Al Yankovich some of his song ideas, such as “Like a Surgeon”
Barneyisms
- Booty-town
- Long-thigh-land expressway
- Brest-port
- Pork-authority
- Hand-central-station!- Well, James gets credit for that one.
- Continues to wear the duckie tie
- Barney can always “turn it around” – Heh, heh
