Inside Television with Alan Sepinwall

Review: 'How I Met Your Mother' - 'Tick, Tick, Tick': A three-hour tour?

Barney and Robin try to confess their sins, while Ted and Marshall eat a band sandwich

By Alan Sepinwall Monday, Nov 14, 2011 11:15 PM

Robin (Cobie Smulders) tries to talk to Kevin (Kal Penn) on "How I Met Your Mother."

Credit: CBS

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A review of tonight's "How I Met Your Mother" coming up just as soon as my ability to grow facial hair correlates with my ability to be a good father...

God help me, they're screwing up Robin and Barney twice.

The first time around, the writers were afraid to commit to the idea. They turned Robin into a stereotypical clingy girlfriend, had them fight constantly, and eventually put Barney in a fatsuit. They could not get out of that storyline fast enough.

But still I let myself believe that if they ever got back to it, it would work. The chemistry between Smulders and Harris was too good, the match between the two characters too strong, for it to not work if the show wanted it to work.

Instead, it's like the "HIMYM" writers are going out of their way to make the prospect of them getting together as unappetizing as possible.

First, they had them make out, then fall into bed together, while they're both in committed relationships with other characters. Sure, we care not at all about Nora (and I'm not sorry to see her gone, given how little the show even tried to make me care about her) and only slightly more about Kevin, but they're both good people who don't especially deserve to be cheated on. So had Barney and Robin both gone through with their confessions tonight, version 2.0 of their relationship would have been built on a very unsympathetic foundation.

And yet, NPH was so good in those scenes where Barney was acknowledging how he felt about Robin that I would have probably let that go eventually. Instead, we get one of those lame sitcom contrivances where one character gets out of a relationship and the other doesn't, not because it's what that character would actually do, but because the writers want to delay things for a while. Now we get to see Barney pine for Robin (or overcompensate by going hardcore back to the playbook), get to see Robin feel conflicted, get to see the umpteenth variation on Ross and Rachel. Sigh...

Again, I like Kevin as much as I've liked any outside boyfriend or girlfriend since Stella's first couple of appearances. (The show ruined Stella after a while by only bringing her in to argue with Ted, but at first she was great.) And his answer to Robin's "why do you like me?" question was much better than Barney's. But it also seemed hollow, the sort of thing you say during the early, easy parts of a relationship, not when you've known and cared about somebody for as long as Robin and Barney have.

I imagine we're eventually going to get back to Robin and Barney linking up - with Nora out of the picture, it's hard to imagine Barney committing himself to another woman enough to want to marry her - but my enthusiasm for that is going to wane with each passing week until it's just another "HIMYM" future storyline I once cared about and now kind of dread.

Still, the performances by NPH and Smulders were very good, and I'm at least slightly curious to see how Ted starts to figure into things now that he knows how Barney was feeling about Robin (and also given what Future Ted said at the end of the Victoria episode).

Ted and Marshall eating a bad sandwich, on the other hand, was a single joke repeated over and over, and the sort of thing where I imagine you either found it funny every time or not at all. I fell into the latter camp, and so time ran very, very slowly for me during that one, and not even the "HIMYM"-y revelation of what actually happened was amusing enough to compensate for the previous batch of labored antics. I like the idea of Ted and Marshall confronting their age and (for Marshall) increasing responsibilities, but I found none of it funny. (Other than seeing David Neher - Todd from "Community" - pop up on the fourth sitcom I'm watching this season as the goateed guy with the nachos.)

What did everybody else think?

Alan Sepinwall
Sr. Editor, What's Alan Watching

Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com

Related Searches: How I Met Your Mother, Josh Radnor, Cobie Smulders, Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Segel, Alyson Hannigan, Alan Sepinwall

Next 136 Comments

sepinwall

I should add, since someone reminded me on Twitter, that Jerry Minor was very funny as the guy singing the adultery song on the cruise.
November 15, 2011 at 12:22AM EST Reply to Comment
- Basically stole the episode for me. "It's okay. I'll wait."
  
  And the back-up dancers harmonizing "Slut."
  November 15, 2011 at 2:07AM EST
- Tausif Khan I laughed out loud during that part of the show. It is the type of laughter that made me feel good about laughing. It was a really great moment for the show.
  November 15, 2011 at 2:46AM EST
- Does anyone have any idea on why was not only the singer, but also the backing vocals, ted, marshal, lily, kevin, norah and almost every support characters wearing purple on this episode?
  November 18, 2011 at 5:14PM EST
todd

The 2 minutes was enough to save the Ted/Marshall stuff. I laughed enough throughout to make the episode worth it.
November 15, 2011 at 12:23AM EST Reply to Comment
- Brendan Noel I thought the same thing, the security camera footage was the necessary payoff for the repetitive "women's bathroom line/nacho line" joke.
  November 15, 2011 at 12:28AM EST
Staci

Toward the beginning of the episode I thought to myself, "how doesn't this episode end in one of them showing up single and the other not?" Of course I also mentally dared the show to prove me wrong but my hopes were dashed yet again...
November 15, 2011 at 12:23AM EST Reply to Comment
- the minister HIMYM is the Bones of comedy, i.e. it's a show with good characters but incompetent show-running.
  November 21, 2011 at 1:35AM EST
- the minister ....could be worse of course: it could be the Castle of comedy.
  November 21, 2011 at 1:36AM EST
James

I remember a couple seasons ago thinking I was basically done with the Office, but defending this show because "at least it's still funny". Now the Office is back to being funny at least sometimes, and HIMYM is just useless. It's sad.
November 15, 2011 at 12:26AM EST Reply to Comment
Mark

Not sure I buy Kevin not wanting to know what Robin did, even after she said it was really bad etc...
November 15, 2011 at 12:27AM EST Reply to Comment
- "I'm a therapist, so I know that there are certain things that while they need to be said, they don't need to be heard."
  
  The fuck kind of attitude is that for a therapist to have? Made absolutely no sense.
  November 15, 2011 at 2:09AM EST
- Discordian No offense, Geoff, but you have no clue how therapies work, do you? This is not necessarily out of character for a person who knows about psychology. Especially if said person is involved in a personal manner.
  November 15, 2011 at 3:11AM EST
- When a person openly admits there's something they need to say, and they haven't been healthy with expressing their emotions in the past, it makes no sense for a therapist to say, "just keep the secret, despite my experience that you've bottled up a lot of feelings, and acted out poorly because of that, I'm sure it's better I not be privy to the reasons for your emotional turmoil."
  
  Kevin's trying to get to a new relationship level with Robin, which one would assume includes more "sharing."
  
  Also, the phrase "no offense" doesn't work like Talladega Nights would have you believe it does.
  November 15, 2011 at 3:42AM EST
- belinda I think I just didn't buy Kevin's entire speech that won Robin over into not breaking up with her. Come on, so OTT.
  
  I didn't find the Marshall/Ted plot B funny either, but I guess I chuckled a little at the reveal that it was only a few minutes.
  November 15, 2011 at 8:45AM EST
- Jeff I think Kevin realizes that sooner or later him and Robin won't work out. He knows her feelings for Barney as much as she does herself, but he's falling for her too. He's being selfish, trying to hold on to her as long as he can before the inevitable happens. That's how I see it.
  November 15, 2011 at 12:13PM EST
- Marlene Jeff is right! i'm sure Robin and Barney will get married, even if Robin is kind of afraid of comitment...for now ( sorry for the mistakes! ).
  November 15, 2011 at 4:44PM EST
- Rufus Jones Geoff singled out the one element of this stupid show that almost made sense and came close to being real. If I cheat on my spouse, I might desperately need to talk about it and have another person tell me "It's OK, you did a bad thing, but this does not make you an evil person. People make mistakes. Just make sure you get treatment so this never happens again."
  
  That person does not need to be my spouse. In fact, it is very cruel to make your spouse the first person you talk to. The correct approach, Geoff, is to get treatment first, work out all the issues and, only then go to the person-- and only then if it is necessary (say, you love the person you cheated with and want to marry them).
  
  There are situations where, after doing a lot of talking, you decided not to tell the spouse.
  
  It's the wrong advice in THIS situation, because we're being told that Robin has ALREADY DECIDED that she loves Barney and doesn't want to be with Kumar any longer
  
  However since Kumar doesn't know what she's going to say, it's hard to blame him for giving it.
  
  This doesn't mean that this episode doesn't suck suck suckity-sock, but the advice here isn't the sweaty dead donkey balls component. (As usual HIMYM can't get anything right any longer save occasional background element.)
  
  November 15, 2011 at 6:03PM EST
Ben

Was getting so excited that they were going to do it semi-right.... but then they did THAT. It is getting harder and harder to hit play on HIMYM in my DVR listing. Its not for laughs any more, but I just want to see what is going to happen to these characters that I like (I think I still like them).
November 15, 2011 at 12:28AM EST Reply to Comment
- tvvinny I was trying to come up with a reply agreeing with Alan and then I read this and you said what I have been feeling - thanks for putting it so well!
  November 15, 2011 at 1:09AM EST
- Ian S. Exactly my reaction. I was hopeful, and by the end I was doing an epic facepalm over how badly the writers had screwed it up again. I came very close to killing the entry on my DVR.
  November 15, 2011 at 12:54PM EST
Bill

Anyone know the song from the end of the episode?
November 15, 2011 at 12:29AM EST Reply to Comment
- sepinwall According to Shazam, it's "Heavy Hours" by Crooked Fingers (or possibly "Crooked Fingers" by Heavy Hours).
  November 15, 2011 at 12:46AM EST
- Kristine Heavy Hours by Crooked Fingers
  November 15, 2011 at 1:30AM EST
Lauren

I was angry at the writers for the whole episode, because I knew one of them would get out of their relationship and the other wouldn't, because that's what always happens. So I was ok until I saw Barney packing up the rose petals and blowing out the candles and then I just became terribly sad for a fictional character.
November 15, 2011 at 12:29AM EST Reply to Comment
- Yeah, I must confess I welled up a little bit. I really care about Barney and I have no idea why, other than that Harris is so good.
  November 15, 2011 at 12:33AM EST
- Dezbot My room suddenly became totally dusty at that moment. Poor Barnman :(
  November 16, 2011 at 11:29AM EST
- the minister Ya really gotta give NPH credit, especially when ya consider he's gay as Ethel Merman karaoke night.
  November 21, 2011 at 1:39AM EST
elizabeth_badpenny_matter

I totally saw the 'two minutes' thing coming. And I don't believe Barney would have said that. Remember when he said she was "the greatest woman in the world"? What happened to that?

I feel like this was a bad move, and I really hope they sort it out before too long, but they have a bad track record with this pairing.
November 15, 2011 at 12:29AM EST Reply to Comment
- Hannah_Curwen I agree the two minutes thing was predictable, thats probably why I didnt find it that funny. They have surely got to pair the two up who else could barney marry now, Oh and one thing i have never understood about the whole Robin & Kevin thing is that Kevin knows she loves Barney... why is he with her??
  November 15, 2011 at 4:01PM EST
- Did we actually see how they got together? Didn't they just sort of flash forward from him being her therapist to the two of them being together? I don't know, I find their whole relationship kind of weird and off-kilter. I'm hoping we get a flashback episode or something that clears stuff up.
  November 15, 2011 at 11:15PM EST
- the minister You had me at "they have a bad track record..."
  November 21, 2011 at 1:40AM EST
annie

I'm pretty much done with HIMYM. I've been hanging in the past couple seasons because I like hanging out with NPH for 30 minutes every week, but seeing Robin crush Barney's heart like that broke me. It was in no way enjoyable television. I had to watch P&R to cleanse myself of the sadness.

I may pick up an episode here and there when you say great things about it, but it looks like Parks and Rec is the only comedy I can count on come January. :( (well, depending on how 30 Rock is upon return)
November 15, 2011 at 12:30AM EST Reply to Comment
Tiffany

Someone remind me, what did future Ted say at the end of the Victoria episode?
November 15, 2011 at 12:30AM EST Reply to Comment
- It was along these lines: Victoria said that he and Barney and Robin hanging out all the time as friends wasn't healthy, and Future Ted said that it turned out she was right.
  November 15, 2011 at 12:35AM EST
- calebis it was more than that...Vic said that she could tell that there was more to Ted and Barney still hanging out with Robin than meets the eye. Aparently, neither of them were really finished with her. Future ted said she was right
  December 10, 2011 at 5:40AM EST
Even though you could see it coming a mile away, the "2 minute" payoff cracked me up. Barney and Robin are so good together that I was ready to put aside all the horrible build up to them getting back together, and I was so disappointed by the controvance at the end Somebody remind me what Ted said at the end of the Victoria episode.
November 15, 2011 at 12:30AM EST Reply to Comment
Brendan Noel

Robin is the AT&T of people. Barney has come just as far as Robin has fallen through the years, so I knew she was going to be the one to screw that up.

This episode is only setting up another six months of Barney pining over Robin before she finally breaks it off with Kevin in time for them to get married in the finale. The two of them getting together would only have confirmed that they would break up by the finale and Barney would marry stupid Nora, which is an even less desirable outcome. It's Jim/Pam/Roy/Karen all over again, and done a lot less eloquently.
November 15, 2011 at 12:32AM EST Reply to Comment
- I agree - as disappointed as I am by this, at least it means we won't have to put up with Nora for another two seasons.
  November 15, 2011 at 12:37AM EST
- Kim This.
  
  I'm not as upset over the episode as most people, but that's probably because I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOO GLAD THAT NORA'S OUT OF THE PICTURE. There's no WAY that, after all this (and the fact that we were never made to really like Nora), that she marries Barney. And I'm so definitely okay with that. The writers and NPH totally got me during all of the Barney scenes tonight.
  
  That, plus the 2-minute security footage (I *died* laughing) are keeping me invested in the show. Nora got the boot, I still love Barney, and the show still has the ability to make me laugh (sometimes).
  November 15, 2011 at 12:42AM EST
- Michaela It occurred to me yesterday that (as far as I can remember) there's no guarantee the wedding actually happens, only that Barney *intends* to marry someone that day, and might back out, or marry the other person instead, or all kinds of wacky hijinks.
  
  I am not sure how much I care.
  November 15, 2011 at 2:46PM EST
- kh Kal Penn is only signed on for two maybe three more episodes. So Robin is going to be single again very soon, or have a relationship with a non-existent person.
  November 16, 2011 at 10:21PM EST
Rick

My wife pointed out how funny the 'Two guys get high and get themselves lost and confused' storyline would be if Ted & Marshall were still in their twenties, or even early thirties, but by your mid-thirties stories of getting high don't involve madcap adventures anymore. And when they do, everyone else's ride home involves a talk about not seeing these people as often in the future.
November 15, 2011 at 12:34AM EST Reply to Comment
- manofacertainage I think that was the point of the storyline, to make them realize, in the words of Danny Glover, that they're too old for this sh**. It's not fun getting old...
  November 15, 2011 at 1:23AM EST
- Chris Aren't the characters still supposed to be early 30s, even if the actors' faces are beginning to belie that? (Right there with 'em - late 30s are rough, folks)
  November 15, 2011 at 9:12AM EST
- Dan I just watched a rerun the other night where Lilly identified a mix tape that Marshall made for her in the fall of their sophomore year. Marshall then mentioned 1997 being a good year (or something like that). So Ted, Lilly, and Marshall graduated high school in 1996 and were probably born in 1978. So they're 33 now.
  November 15, 2011 at 12:09PM EST
dapperdan29

I liked the "sandwich as pot" metaphor at first - they even had the people sitting behind Ted & Marshall passing a sandwich back and forth too - but you're right. Once they got into the "nacho quest" I was done with it.
November 15, 2011 at 12:39AM EST Reply to Comment
- sepinwall The sandwich/pot substitution is an old joke the show has done many times previously.
  November 15, 2011 at 12:47AM EST
- Matt They also have sandwiches at their college reunion in a flashforward where Ted says "Where is my wife??"...so its definitely a part of the characters are.
  November 15, 2011 at 1:47AM EST
- Matt who*
  November 15, 2011 at 1:49AM EST
Shannon

I definitely felt crushed by what Robin did to Barney, but at the same time I felt angry with the writers, because I just don't believe she'd actually do it. And that terrible answer Barney gave her was so unlike him. We've witnessed him telling her multiple times in multiiple ways exactly how awesome he thinks she is. Contrivance run amok.
November 15, 2011 at 12:40AM EST Reply to Comment
- twocents Yeah, I can buy Robin being scared of getting hurt or screwing up a second try at a relationship with Barney, but I didn't buy Barney's terrible answer. It just seemed like a contrivance so Kevin could give her an amazing one instead. Barney has told Robin how awesome she is so many times over the seasons that it was stupid that he could only think of "you're less messed up than me" as a reason.
  November 15, 2011 at 2:22AM EST
- Discordian Maybe that is just me, but I can really relate to Barney here, which is why I totally bought the line he brought up. It's one thing to lie, to come up with amazing stories to get laid or even tell people how amazing they are... it's completly another thing to actually try to be saved, which is something only happens if you are as messed up a person as Barney is. But if you are, "You're almost as messed up as me" (not less, almost. That's really important here.) is an incredible good answer. I liked it way better than Kevin's.
  November 15, 2011 at 3:19AM EST
- taylorashleigh The thing that bothered me the most about this ep was Robin's line, "Why do you even like me? I'm so messed up." Regardless of the respective answers, I just don't buy that a confident woman in her 30's would throw out such an angsty question usually reserved for 19 year-old girls. I know Robin has her issues, and that she is fairly insecure deep down, but she knows why both men like (love) her, and her asking just made me cringe. Yuck.
  November 16, 2011 at 4:21PM EST
Lewis POPKIN

Stupidest episode of the show which did not progress in telling how Ted meets the mother. I liked the show but after 5 years, this show is losing its premise and and should be title Marshall and Lilly and robin and Barney.
November 15, 2011 at 12:40AM EST Reply to Comment
- robinsparklesfanclub And as Alan and others have recently commented, the better shows of late have been the ones not dealing with looking for Mrs. Mosby. I almost think the show would be better off the rest of this season dealing with the other characters, and maybe set up the season finale with Ted giving us another mom clue.
  November 15, 2011 at 1:26AM EST
- Sarah I disagree. Only because future Ted has made it clear that he meets the mother at the wedding so seeing how Barney gets to the point of his wedding is very important I think.
  November 15, 2011 at 1:36AM EST
Benmo

i typically agree with you alan but i have to say that for me this was the most enjoyable episode of the season, might have been the best.
November 15, 2011 at 12:43AM EST Reply to Comment
- tbone1989 thank god someone else thinks the same!! i mean seriously this episode was the first in a looooong time to make me spill my drink when i laugh and also make my eyes wet..it was genius..the 2 minute security footage was brilliant and tied everything up neatly and the barney robin ending was really emotional..this episode is a hit! dont believe the reviewer..every other review on the internet raved about this episode!
  November 15, 2011 at 3:01AM EST
- Spence I absolutely agree. I thought this was one of the strongest this season and the fact that it dealt with real emotions and the fact that relationships are, not just hard but complicated... I don't know. I really liked it. I was starting to feel like the Ted/Marshall stuff was running long, but "It's a sign, dude" made that entire storyline worth it for me.
  November 15, 2011 at 9:53AM EST
- Anna I agree, it was well done. Barney's shtick irritates me and has done for a long time, so I definitely prefer the show when he's a real boy with actual feelings. And NPH played it perfectly, it's exciting to watch such good acting even though it was terribly sad.
  
  That said, I think the writers could have done better this season setting up Robin's thing about how she's "so screwed up" - it could have worked, but we haven't seen enough of her internal struggle. The mistake was making Kevin her therapist in the first place. If we had been able to keep on seeing her in therapy now and then, the writers could have used it to explore Robin's issues with her Dad and so on that would have felt organic and still been funny. And Kevin could just have been a good guy with the same dry sense of humour - he didn't need to be a therapist. At the end of the day, though, it should be the reason Robin will break up with him - a therapist dating a patient is such an abuse of power that the audience is never going to feel complete sympathy for the character. There needs to a be a call back to that eventually.
  November 15, 2011 at 2:27PM EST
- I feel the same way. I usually always agree with your reviews, but this time I largely did not.
  While I did think the Ladies bathroom joke started to get old toward the fourth time around, I generally liked the sandwich jokes. I've always enjoyed them, though I think it was a little weird he had to explain what they were once again.
  And yes, I was frustrated with Robin's decision, but NPH's stellar performance was... well, stellar. I wish I knew how many episodes Kal Penn was signed up for. Then we'd know how long this relationship would last more or less... But hey, we'll see what happens next week... I'm curious about the Ted and Barney plot for next week (if curious, see the WIkipedia page for HIMYM season 7)
  November 15, 2011 at 11:19PM EST
srpad

You had to go and mention Community...sniff

Count me among the crowd that found the "Sandwich" humor funny. I expected Robin to back out of their deal. If there is a person more afraid of commitment than Barney, it's Robin.
November 15, 2011 at 12:44AM EST Reply to Comment
david

Your ability to grow facial hair is prodigious, Dark Alan!
November 15, 2011 at 12:52AM EST Reply to Comment
Christina

Did anyone else think that the running around in circles looking for nachos but (almost) missing the concert was maybe a metaphor for all of us looking for clues in the HIMYM mythology but missing the goodness of the show? I think they downplayed the metaphor by making it fun of it with the tape recording, but it struck me as something the writers would comment on at this stage (concert pun intended). Maybe they're saying: chill.
November 15, 2011 at 1:00AM EST Reply to Comment
Antonia

I liked the "It's a sign" comment at the end; it felt a lot like the "He's a pawn" pun from Community (Modern Warfare). I'm a sucker for good puns.
November 15, 2011 at 1:03AM EST Reply to Comment
- srpad Jeez I just got that now. And I don't even have a sandwich as an excuse.
  November 15, 2011 at 8:36AM EST
- That was pretty much my favourite line of that subplot.
  November 18, 2011 at 12:15AM EST
AC

Despite the bad plotting, I couldn't help but feel for Barney at the end of the episode. Part of that is NPH's moving performance, another part is what the writer's did to Barney last season. I don't think this kind of emotional weight would've been possible three seasons back.

On the other hand, both Robin and Kevin were totally unbelievable. And I liked Barney's answer better, because it was honest. Kevin's was just some starry-eyed romantic cliché.
November 15, 2011 at 1:05AM EST Reply to Comment
Joyeful

It takes superb acting, to make me hate someone as much as I hated Robin when she shook her head at that moment. The pain on Barney's face made my skin crawl and my heart drop. I actually hurt for him. Neil Patrick Harris...wow...that's all I can say...

Robin has low self-esteem, clearly. She went with the answer that made her sound beautiful, not the honest answer. The age old question, really. Do you want someone that sees you for who you are, or who sees you for who you want to be?

But I still think they'll get together.

As for the other guys - again, Marshall owned the scenes, but they were both hilarious freaking out at the sign! Marshall reminded me of his days on Freaks and Geeks.
November 15, 2011 at 1:17AM EST Reply to Comment
- playitbyweir Speaking of Segel, he's hosting SNL this Saturday. If I thought the cast could pull it off, it would be great to see them try and do a Freaks and Geeks related sketch (with a Linda Cardelini cameo).
  November 15, 2011 at 1:29AM EST
- BELLEKW I completely agree with the point about Robin going with the answer that made her seem better. While Kevin's answer seemed so phony (I'll get to that in a moment), I can completely understand what Robin did. Plus, we can all say that we know she belongs with Barney and whatnot, but it's not easy to dump someone when they just poured their heart out to you. Especially when you care about them, as I'm sure Robin does.
  
  As for Kevin's answer, someone above commented that he knows he's going to lose Robin, and he's trying to make it last. I can see this; when you feel someone slipping away, you tend to hold on tighter, do and say what you can to keep them. While I'm sure Kevin feels that way about Robin, it did seem like he was going over the top a bit, because he sensed that what Robin wanted to tell them could tear them apart. He's being naive, definitely, but his answer is completely understandable.
  
  I disagree with most people here, in that I LOVED this episode. I watched it twice in a row, just because I was so invested in it. While most people HATE Robin's decision, I can relate. It's easy to say you're going to break up with someone, but it's not as easy to do it. Especially when you care about them, and even more especially when they just said they loved you for the first time. I can understand Barney's almost ease with it; Robin is the only woman he has ever (seemingly) loved, and he'll do anything to be with her. But Robin has been in love before, with Ted and with Don, so while she does have those feelings for Barney, it's not as easy to end things for something she knows can end. Barney seems more in that idealistic, we can run away together and be in love stage, while Robin realizes the impact of what she feels and what she is going to do.
  
  As for Marshall and Ted, I found it hilarious. The fake-out, three hour wandering was way less funny than the video of what actually happened, but when you put the two different perspectives together, especially the "it's a sign" and the heart attack, were HILARIOUS, and had me cracking up. The bathroom line/nachos thing got old the third time, as we came to expect it, but it was still funny at the end when they really didn't remember where it was. And I will ALWAYS be a sucker for the creative ways they use the sandwich cover, like hard meats. Hahaha!
  
  Overall, one of the most emotional episodes I can remember, but, for me, one of the most real.
  November 15, 2011 at 1:01PM EST
- Litzie Brilliant comment BELLEKW. Glad to see someone else enjoyed it as much as I did.
  November 16, 2011 at 9:32AM EST
Turtle

What bothered me about this episode is that it made Robin look terrible. Just a few episodes ago she was struggling with seeing Barney with another woman, then she jumps into this relationship with Kevin, and now she's confused about her feelings for Barney? Robin used to have some direction, even if she had troubles in her romantic relationships. Now she's just an insecure mess.

Also, Barney was so hung up on Nora, made a grand effort to get her back, and then tossed her aside just like that?

And okay, Nora was rather bland, but she's Robin's co-worker. Isn't it going to be uncomfortable once Robin and Barney inevitably get back together? I love Robin as a character, but I hate when love interest stuff make characters come off as self-involved, flaky and thoughtless of their actions. I'm kind of dreading the future wedding stuff now.
November 15, 2011 at 1:37AM EST Reply to Comment
Anoel

I love Barney/Robin a lot and I was super disappointed last time they messed them up (to the point where I could barely watch the show) but I don't think it's quite as bad as you write here. Last time they messed up their characterizations and their relationship, THAT I had a problem with. This time they're just torturing us with almost, almost which I suppose I'm used to and can appreciate when I love them so much. Plus I found the Barney/Robin scenes funny (not the other ones). I don't think them cheating is unsympathetic-with their histories (especially Barney's), it's almost expected. And a part of me is glad they didn't get together right after that so they're future relationship (I hope) is not built on cheating at first. I am afraid Nora is going to come back to make the wedding question still happen (I'm still not sold on a wedding either way though).

We'll see. At least they didn't ruin my love of the characters like last time and I'm still enjoying the show.
November 15, 2011 at 1:47AM EST Reply to Comment
- Litzie I really agree - last time I found it incredibly difficult to forgive the show for what they did to their characters, and it took awhile before I could get back into Barney and Robin. This episode (which I actually quite liked) didn't hurt the characters at all to me - Barney became much more sympathetic, and I find Robin's lack of self-confidence incredibly human. I'm now really looking forward to them getting back together.
  November 16, 2011 at 9:36AM EST
Sparky Z

Heh. I gave up on HIMYM a while back, but I had to click through to find out what a "band sandwich" was.
November 15, 2011 at 1:49AM EST Reply to Comment
BigTed

I realize it was brief and we're supposed to have gotten over it, but still... Kevin was Robin's therapist. Is it any wonder he knows exactly the right thing to say to keep her? (And it's something that happens to assuage her surprisingly low self-esteem. Really, is it possible that a woman who keeps saying "I'm such a mess -- why do you even like me?" doesn't need therapy?)

I think Kevin is intended to be a good guy, especially as played by Kal Penn, but you could also see his character as a manipulative creep.
November 15, 2011 at 1:53AM EST Reply to Comment
- twocents That's true. I hadn't really thought about Kevin knowing the exact right words to say to manipulate Robin. But you're right, I don't know that we're supposed to see him in that light or not. Probably not, but with him being her therapist there's always going to be that possibility for manipulation there.
  November 15, 2011 at 2:26AM EST
- Sarah Good point! I'm not a Kevin fan I mean why would he want Robin knowing how she feels about Barney and knowing that they are always hanging out. I mean he has to know that the something really bad was her hooking up with Barney. He seems super manipulative now that you mention it
  November 15, 2011 at 3:23AM EST
- kh Kevin also knows why Robin came to see him in the first place, because she was jealous of Nora. You don't have to be a therapist to put two and two together to see why she was jealous of Nora. He knows she still has feelings for Barney, and probably suspected what happened, Barney pretty much let that slip at dinner with his little word plays about "cheating", "breaking trust", if Kevin is any kind of therapist he picked up on that right away. So he said what he had to keep Robin his for the time being.
  November 16, 2011 at 10:50PM EST
Jonathan

There must be something wrong with me but I laughed every time Marshall or Ted wound up back on the Women's bathroom line.
November 15, 2011 at 1:55AM EST Reply to Comment
- Col Bat Guano I did the same thing, so you're not alone.
  November 15, 2011 at 2:28AM EST
- kh Nope, not alone, and at first when Ted says "Everything will be fiiiine." So been there done that. And when Marshall accidentally leans over to Lilly and says "Lilly has no idea how messed up I am." She calls him on it and he just leans over to Ted and repeats the same thing....my god I was rolling!! Really enjoyed it!
  November 16, 2011 at 10:53PM EST
geoff_rose

I kept being nagged by the thought that any sandwich with enough "extra stuff" to really get Marshall loopy had to basically make Ted comatose. Seriously, the size difference between the two, it would have hit Ted more.

But then, I usually hate shows trying to go for "we're soooo high" jokes because of how badly they're executed.
November 15, 2011 at 2:16AM EST Reply to Comment

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Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

sepinwall I should add, since someone reminded me on Twitter, that Jerry Minor was very funny as the guy singing the adultery song on the cruise.

Basically stole the episode for me. "It's okay. I'll wait."And the back-up dancers harmonizing "Slut."

Tausif Khan I laughed out loud during that part of the show. It is the type of laughter that made me feel good about laughing. It was a really great moment for the show.

Does anyone have any idea on why was not only the singer, but also the backing vocals, ted, marshal, lily, kevin, norah and almost every support characters wearing purple on this episode?

todd The 2 minutes was enough to save the Ted/Marshall stuff. I laughed enough throughout to make the episode worth it.

Brendan Noel I thought the same thing, the security camera footage was the necessary payoff for the repetitive "women's bathroom line/nacho line" joke.

Staci Toward the beginning of the episode I thought to myself, "how doesn't this episode end in one of them showing up single and the other not?" Of course I also mentally dared the show to prove me wrong but my hopes were dashed yet again...

the minister HIMYM is the Bones of comedy, i.e. it's a show with good characters but incompetent show-running.

the minister ....could be worse of course: it could be the Castle of comedy.

James I remember a couple seasons ago thinking I was basically done with the Office, but defending this show because "at least it's still funny". Now the Office is back to being funny at least sometimes, and HIMYM is just useless. It's sad.

Mark Not sure I buy Kevin not wanting to know what Robin did, even after she said it was really bad etc...

"I'm a therapist, so I know that there are certain things that while they need to be said, they don't need to be heard."The fuck kind of attitude is that for a therapist to have? Made absolutely no sense.

Discordian No offense, Geoff, but you have no clue how therapies work, do you? This is not necessarily out of character for a person who knows about psychology. Especially if said person is involved in a personal manner.

belinda I think I just didn't buy Kevin's entire speech that won Robin over into not breaking up with her. Come on, so OTT.I didn't find the Marshall/Ted plot B funny either, but I guess I chuckled a little at the reveal that it was only a few minutes.

Jeff I think Kevin realizes that sooner or later him and Robin won't work out. He knows her feelings for Barney as much as she does herself, but he's falling for her too. He's being selfish, trying to hold on to her as long as he can before the inevitable happens. That's how I see it.

Marlene Jeff is right! i'm sure Robin and Barney will get married, even if Robin is kind of afraid of comitment...for now ( sorry for the mistakes! ).

tvvinny I was trying to come up with a reply agreeing with Alan and then I read this and you said what I have been feeling - thanks for putting it so well!

Ian S. Exactly my reaction. I was hopeful, and by the end I was doing an epic facepalm over how badly the writers had screwed it up again. I came very close to killing the entry on my DVR.

Bill Anyone know the song from the end of the episode?

sepinwall According to Shazam, it's "Heavy Hours" by Crooked Fingers (or possibly "Crooked Fingers" by Heavy Hours).

Kristine Heavy Hours by Crooked Fingers

Yeah, I must confess I welled up a little bit. I really care about Barney and I have no idea why, other than that Harris is so good.

Dezbot My room suddenly became totally dusty at that moment. Poor Barnman :(

the minister Ya really gotta give NPH credit, especially when ya consider he's gay as Ethel Merman karaoke night.

Did we actually see how they got together? Didn't they just sort of flash forward from him being her therapist to the two of them being together? I don't know, I find their whole relationship kind of weird and off-kilter. I'm hoping we get a flashback episode or something that clears stuff up.

the minister You had me at "they have a bad track record..."

Tiffany Someone remind me, what did future Ted say at the end of the Victoria episode?

It was along these lines: Victoria said that he and Barney and Robin hanging out all the time as friends wasn't healthy, and Future Ted said that it turned out she was right.

calebis it was more than that...Vic said that she could tell that there was more to Ted and Barney still hanging out with Robin than meets the eye. Aparently, neither of them were really finished with her. Future ted said she was right

I agree - as disappointed as I am by this, at least it means we won't have to put up with Nora for another two seasons.

Michaela It occurred to me yesterday that (as far as I can remember) there's no guarantee the wedding actually happens, only that Barney *intends* to marry someone that day, and might back out, or marry the other person instead, or all kinds of wacky hijinks. I am not sure how much I care.

kh Kal Penn is only signed on for two maybe three more episodes. So Robin is going to be single again very soon, or have a relationship with a non-existent person.

manofacertainage I think that was the point of the storyline, to make them realize, in the words of Danny Glover, that they're too old for this sh**. It's not fun getting old...

Chris Aren't the characters still supposed to be early 30s, even if the actors' faces are beginning to belie that? (Right there with 'em - late 30s are rough, folks)

dapperdan29 I liked the "sandwich as pot" metaphor at first - they even had the people sitting behind Ted & Marshall passing a sandwich back and forth too - but you're right. Once they got into the "nacho quest" I was done with it.

sepinwall The sandwich/pot substitution is an old joke the show has done many times previously.

Matt They also have sandwiches at their college reunion in a flashforward where Ted says "Where is my wife??"...so its definitely a part of the characters are.

Matt who*

Lewis POPKIN Stupidest episode of the show which did not progress in telling how Ted meets the mother. I liked the show but after 5 years, this show is losing its premise and and should be title Marshall and Lilly and robin and Barney.

Sarah I disagree. Only because future Ted has made it clear that he meets the mother at the wedding so seeing how Barney gets to the point of his wedding is very important I think.

Benmo i typically agree with you alan but i have to say that for me this was the most enjoyable episode of the season, might have been the best.

srpad You had to go and mention Community...sniffCount me among the crowd that found the "Sandwich" humor funny. I expected Robin to back out of their deal. If there is a person more afraid of commitment than Barney, it's Robin.

david Your ability to grow facial hair is prodigious, Dark Alan!

Antonia I liked the "It's a sign" comment at the end; it felt a lot like the "He's a pawn" pun from Community (Modern Warfare). I'm a sucker for good puns.

srpad Jeez I just got that now. And I don't even have a sandwich as an excuse.

That was pretty much my favourite line of that subplot.

playitbyweir Speaking of Segel, he's hosting SNL this Saturday. If I thought the cast could pull it off, it would be great to see them try and do a Freaks and Geeks related sketch (with a Linda Cardelini cameo).

Litzie Brilliant comment BELLEKW. Glad to see someone else enjoyed it as much as I did.

Sparky Z Heh. I gave up on HIMYM a while back, but I had to click through to find out what a "band sandwich" was.

Sarah Good point! I'm not a Kevin fan I mean why would he want Robin knowing how she feels about Barney and knowing that they are always hanging out. I mean he has to know that the something really bad was her hooking up with Barney. He seems super manipulative now that you mention it

Jonathan There must be something wrong with me but I laughed every time Marshall or Ted wound up back on the Women's bathroom line.

Col Bat Guano I did the same thing, so you're not alone.

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How I Met Your Mother is updated

sepinwall

I should add, since someone reminded me on Twitter, that Jerry Minor was very funny as the guy singing the adultery song on the cruise.

Basically stole the episode for me. "It's okay. I'll wait."

And the back-up dancers harmonizing "Slut."

todd

The 2 minutes was enough to save the Ted/Marshall stuff. I laughed enough throughout to make the episode worth it.

Staci

Toward the beginning of the episode I thought to myself, "how doesn't this episode end in one of them showing up single and the other not?" Of course I also mentally dared the show to prove me wrong but my hopes were dashed yet again...

James

I remember a couple seasons ago thinking I was basically done with the Office, but defending this show because "at least it's still funny". Now the Office is back to being funny at least sometimes, and HIMYM is just useless. It's sad.

Mark

Not sure I buy Kevin not wanting to know what Robin did, even after she said it was really bad etc...

"I'm a therapist, so I know that there are certain things that while they need to be said, they don't need to be heard."

The fuck kind of attitude is that for a therapist to have? Made absolutely no sense.

belinda I think I just didn't buy Kevin's entire speech that won Robin over into not breaking up with her. Come on, so OTT.

I didn't find the Marshall/Ted plot B funny either, but I guess I chuckled a little at the reveal that it was only a few minutes.

Bill

Anyone know the song from the end of the episode?

Tiffany

Someone remind me, what did future Ted say at the end of the Victoria episode?

Michaela It occurred to me yesterday that (as far as I can remember) there's no guarantee the wedding actually happens, only that Barney intends to marry someone that day, and might back out, or marry the other person instead, or all kinds of wacky hijinks.

I am not sure how much I care.

dapperdan29

I liked the "sandwich as pot" metaphor at first - they even had the people sitting behind Ted & Marshall passing a sandwich back and forth too - but you're right. Once they got into the "nacho quest" I was done with it.

Lewis POPKIN

Stupidest episode of the show which did not progress in telling how Ted meets the mother. I liked the show but after 5 years, this show is losing its premise and and should be title Marshall and Lilly and robin and Barney.

Benmo

i typically agree with you alan but i have to say that for me this was the most enjoyable episode of the season, might have been the best.

srpad

You had to go and mention Community...sniff

Count me among the crowd that found the "Sandwich" humor funny. I expected Robin to back out of their deal. If there is a person more afraid of commitment than Barney, it's Robin.

david

Your ability to grow facial hair is prodigious, Dark Alan!

Antonia

I liked the "It's a sign" comment at the end; it felt a lot like the "He's a pawn" pun from Community (Modern Warfare). I'm a sucker for good puns.

Sparky Z

Heh. I gave up on HIMYM a while back, but I had to click through to find out what a "band sandwich" was.

Jonathan

There must be something wrong with me but I laughed every time Marshall or Ted wound up back on the Women's bathroom line.

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