Ted prefaces the episode with the line "Kids, you may be wondering how many of these stories I'm telling you are true. It's a fair question. After all, there's a fine line between a good story and a bald-faced lie." Knowing some of Ted's flourishes, we usually know when something is off without being told directly. However, "Zoo or False" directly came out with a multitude of contradictions, leaving us, in the end, with no clue at all what happened.
Marshall says he is mugged, but after Lily goes all gun-crazy like Robin, he changes his story to being mugged by a monkey. The group constantly teases Marshall and we get a bunch of money sight gags. The phrase "mugged by a monkey" is stated maybe 100 times, each time eliciting laughter from the various characters. Alright, alright. It's kind of funny, but not when the idea isn't expanded beyond the initial concept of a monkey mugging Marshall. Are we supposed to laugh just because everyone else is laughing?
Later, Marshall backtracks, telling Ted that he only brought up the monkey to stop Lily from embracing guns. The episode ends with a funny King Kong reference, but that's probably Ted's embellishment. No story gets a satisfactory ending and we are left hanging to wonder what really happened.
Since it looks like nothing important happened or Future Ted would have mentioned it, the episode is already forgettable to the overall story. Combine that with the one-note monkey joke and "Zoo or False" is probably the worst episode of the season.
Score: 8.3/10
Monday, April 12, 2010
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