Neil Patrick Harris and his White Castle Comeback

Wasn’t last night’s Britney-less episode of How I Met Your Mother fantastic last night? Neil Patrick Harris’s impression of a blind man should earn him both an Emmy and a slap upside the head. And, the end of the show spoofed the ending of every Doogie Howser epsidoe, where Doogs would sign of by writing in his computer journal (sub in Barney’s blog, the computer journal of the new millennium). The ending, along with a preview of his new film, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, reminded me how far NPH has come since his Doogie days. Yeah, Starship Troopers gave him some cred, but it wasn’t until Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle that he broke through again. In his role as "Neil Patrick Harris", he was closer to Barney than to Doogie, all strippers and coke. That role paved the way for us to let go of goodie-goodie Doogie and embrace a darker, funnier NPH, who’s not afraid to send up the public’s image of him. It made me realize that Harold and Kumar is to NPH what Pulp Fiction was to John Travolta – a come back, yet a self destruction of his good-guy persona, which offered a freedom for future darker roles (Face/Off and Battlefield Earth, thank Xenu). So, who is the real NPH? Is it Dr. Doogie, Barney Stinson, or somewhere in between? Let me think about it while I write in my journal.