The How I Met Your Mother Blog

Great, a Robin episode. It’s about time. Although it wasn’t really just a Robin episode, it focused on everyone. This double plot line makes me wish they’d done this all along instead of letting some characters languish in episodes past. Tonight we saw that Robin and Ted’s lives have been better, that Marshall really is Ted’s best friend, and that sometimes Lily wishes she was single (apparently still from the first time she went out with Robin in Sweet Taste of Liberty.)

The Good

I love that Marshall can translate the girl speak. “You know who, at the place, events transpired.”

Drinking beer at work during “conference calls” is awesome. I might have to start that up. The Mad Men bit was really well played too. I love that show.

Oh my god, Sven is the greatest thing since that band in The Big Lebowski with Flea. Also great that Barney thinks they’re French. “Your desk is here in the head of the Tyrannosaurus Rex.” It’s even better that the lead Sven guy resembles Neil Patrick Harris, in the pitch I thought it was him. “This is a waste of time. Pushups!” It’s nice that Marshall fathered Barney a little and then covered up for him in the bar too.

The whole Ted/Barney/Marshall storyline would’ve been a B-plot in a lesser episode. This proves that with a little extra effort both plots can be legendary.

I love the girl who’s secretly in love with Sigler offering a three-way. And then she suggested Ted! Poor Barney in the background, not able to stand. Although his physical humor is one of the show’s best, under-utilized strengths. Although now both he and Ted have ridden the tricycle. Or has Ted now ridden it twice? Although, for you continuity nazis it’s true that Ted said they left the bar after tying Barney to the bull. I like to think the girls found him somehow. I don’t think we’ll ever get 100% confirmation on a tricycle ride, he is telling this story to his kids.

Lily in the plastic fireman’s hat is adorable. Something tells me she was never a woo-girl. I love that the show sticks to the fact that Lily and Marshall have been together forever and are lacking a lot of the social navigation factors that one learns as a single adult. It’s really good characterization. Lily isn’t a woo-girl and Marshall drinks girly drinks with reckless abandon.

The Bad

The “Lily wants to have fun like a single girl” plot was a little too morally motivated in an episode that was otherwise fairly irreverent. Robin was right about the true nature of a woo-girl though, and the captions were awesome. This isn’t really a complaint, I loved everything in this episode. This is just as close to a complaint as I could find.

I guess it does annoy me that they did such a good job with double story lines here while they’ve ignored characters for a single plot in past episodes.

Favorite Moments

• “Talk blocking” Nice
• Good to see Bilson, the douche who hazed Marshall when he started at Barneycorp. “No one hates other countries more than me.”
• Love Ted drawing Princess Leia topless. All the Star Wars stuff this season has been wonderful.
• “My boob just fell out at the bar. Trick! I pulled it out for a free drink!” Jamie Lynn Sigler did a great job. She’s totally a Woo-girl. Also a real First Class Jerk.
• “You want to go down to the current GNB building, and, pee on it a bit?”
• “You picked it because you wanted to work in a cool dinosaur building.” Who wouldn’t?
• “It brings the fire, Marshall.”
  “Fire Marshall!”
• Do pigeons hold a grudge?
• Ted “wooing” was great. The comic timing on this show is amazing. You did not see that coming.
• “Paint mixer” setting? I think I’ve seen how that ends.

Barneyism of the Week

Woo-girl. Why haven’t I thought to name this species before? Robin’s line was good. “Maybe she only observes the high holidays.” Barney would run like hell for a gaggle of woo-girls, it makes sense. Guys love woo-girls, at least at first. It’s instinctual, we can’t help it. The Barnicle’s speech is motivational though. “Tiny cowboy hats would only be worn by tiny cowboys.” What would the world be without body glitter, novelty shot glasses, and stretch Hummer limos?

What I always thought was true Robin proved. Every girl is secretly a woo-girl. Or at least wants to be one. Even though they are sad, sad, creatures. It’s the mask single girls wear when at their most desperate. Maybe this is why guys like it, easy targets. And the guys liking it causes the jealousy of the non woo girls. What a vicious cycle.

Closing

This was a great episode. If this is where the show is going, I’m on-board. There was top-notch humor, a good moral, social depravity, and all that without any active search for a mother. It still moved the characters forward—we saw that Ted and Robin are not in a very good place in either their social life or their careers, but that it’s OK, that’s part of being an adult. For those that are worried the show is off course, I offer this episode as proof everything is A-OK.

And bully for Ted! Landing a huge architecture contract and (potentially) riding the tricycle all in one night? That’s pretty legendary.

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