Inside Television with Alan Sepinwall

Review: 'How I Met Your Mother' - 'P.S. I Love You': Robin Sparkles vs. Robin Daggers

Paul Shaffer, Jason Priestley and friends highlight another trip to Canada

By Alan Sepinwall Tuesday, Feb 5, 2013 9:00 AM

Robin Sparkles (Cobie Smulders) turns into Robin Daggers on "How I Met Your Mother."

Credit: CBS

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A review of last night's "How I Met Your Mother" coming up just as soon as I'm subject to a 50-meter restraining order...

"Slap Bet," the episode that introduced Robin Sparkles, was, is and will likely always be (barring a miracle in the final season and a half, now that we know next season will be the end) the absolute pinnacle of "HIMYM." Since then, the show has unsurprisingly brought back the two components of that episode to very mixed results. The slap bet itself has seemed to have a better shelf life than Robin Sparkles, even though there were parts of "Sandcastles in the Sand" and "Glitter" that I enjoyed.

But "P.S. I Love You" was the first "Slap Bet" sequel of either flavor that felt like it had a genuine idea behind it, and a genuine reason to exist beyond the show trying to recapture that Canadian lightning in a bottle. It wasn't "Slap Bet"-level, but it's the most I've enjoyed an episode of "HIMYM" — and the least troubled I've been by any part of it — in quite some time.

Ted's Dobler/Dahmer Theory about the line between adorable obsession and creepy stalking was enough to fuel stories for all five regulars, and to make the entire episode feel like one big story, even while Barney was off in Canada and no one else got to meet Jeanette.(*) The "HIMYM" writers are still capable of coming up with good relationship theories and gimmicks, but they don't always stick with them (like ditching the Twentysomething Mad Libs after one scene a few weeks ago). This was an entire episode built around a theme, and it worked — especially because it built on pre-established continuity about Lily and Marshall's first meeting and Robin's teen celebrity, rather than ignoring what came before for the sake of the joke.

(*) Played by "SNL" alum Abby Elliott, who was originally supposed to play Kate on "Ben and Kate," but was replaced by Dakota Johnson and thus available for this arc. And I'm okay with the idea of spending time with one more significant Ted girlfriend pre-Mother, particularly since the show has framed it as his last big romantic mistake. Maybe this can be what the Zoey arc should have been.

Mainly, though, the "Underneath the Tunes" by itself sequence justified the return to this character. We had an excellent mix of Canadian celebrities, including a hockey player (though I'd have liked to see a Vancouver Canuck in there, Luc Robataille worked just fine), a Barenaked Lady, Jason Priestley, Geddy Lee and, playing Robin's manager, "SCTV" alum Dave Thomas, one of the great masters of Canadian parody as one half of the McKenzie brothers. (See the embedded clip below.) We revisited the idea from "Slap Bet" that American pop culture was slow to cross the border into Canada with grunge being "invented" in 1996 by Robin Daggers. And given the obvious homage to Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know," the cameo by Dave Coulier (long believed to be the subject of that song) was pretty much mandatory, and good on him for doing it.

Add in Barney frequently giving in to the Canadian roots he tries to hide, the return of James VanDerBeek as Simon, various other Canadian gags (one of Robin's boyfriends defines "summer love" as getting to go "under parka, over turtleneck"), Alan Thicke kicking Barney's ass and Paul Shaffer being revealed as the object of Robin's obsession (paying off the earlier bit about his stomach being in knots), and you have a very satisfying, funny episode of "HIMYM." I don't know that we need a Robin Sparkles 5 in the final season, but I'm glad they broke out the blonde wig and jelly bracelets one more time for this.

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, Cobie Smulders, Josh Radnor, Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Segel, Alyson Hannigan

Next 80 Comments

Bgklein

Maybe I wasn't in the mood for it but I thought this was one of the worst episodes of the show. To it me it really seemed like they're using Robin's musical history as a crutch almost assuming it'll work every time like the over-use of Fizbo.
February 5, 2013 at 10:10AM EST Reply to Comment
akaBruno

If you're mentioning Abby Elliott, don't you have to mention Chris Elliott as Lily's dad as well? Will there be a future scene with both of them together? Will Bob Elliott be brought in as well?
February 5, 2013 at 10:11AM EST Reply to Comment
- sepinwall Yes, that's a bad job by me. But don't automatically assume that Jeanette and Mickey will cross paths. Remember, they never put John Cho and NPH in a scene together (though it was unavoidable during Kal Penn's stint on the show).
  February 5, 2013 at 10:16AM EST
Evan

Loved the joke of narrator ted loving dave coulier saying "cut it out"
February 5, 2013 at 10:13AM EST Reply to Comment
- Kevin Yeah, that was a fantastic, semi-subtle nod to Full House. In general, I thought this was the best episode in a long time, one I especially wasn't looking forward to because of the promise of more Robin Sparkles. They handled it well though and gave me a glimmer of hope for the future of the show again.
  February 5, 2013 at 10:19AM EST
- Mike Reminded me of Ron Howard narrating Arrested Development
  February 5, 2013 at 10:50AM EST
- Chase For whatever reason, that joke just hit the perfect spot for me. I had to pause the episode for a few minutes because I was laughing so hard. Then I tried to explain it to my wife. Easily the best episode in quite a while.
  February 5, 2013 at 11:10AM EST
- E11Jam yeah, the Bob Saget jump-in certainly caught me off guard and was another nice little touch in an episode seemingly excelling due to nice little touches.
  February 5, 2013 at 11:26AM EST
- mgrabois I figured the Saget/Coulier thing was a "Full House" joke, but I never watched that show. What's the context and why was it funny?
  February 5, 2013 at 10:55PM EST
- Ben MGRABOIS - Bob Saget and Dave Coulier co-starred on "Full House"; Coulier played Saget's friend who moves in with Saget to help him raise his three daughters. Coulier's character was a comedian and one of his bits was responding to things like applause by saying and gesturing "Cut. It. Out." So Coulier said his punch line on HIMYM, and then Saget, who heard that line on "Full House" for many years, says, "I always loved that line," a fun nod to the old show.
  February 5, 2013 at 11:22PM EST
- Dan Agreed. My wife and I both immediately went "oh yeah!" and laughed for a solid minute about that. You forget that it's Bob Saget b/c his face is never on the air, so even though the joke should be expected, it's not.
  February 6, 2013 at 5:36PM EST
Jen T.

Thank you for starting my day with a little McKenzie brothers. :)

This was funniest HIMYM in a long time. Nice to see Geddy. And I hate to admit it, but the Dave Coulier stuff was funny ("Why does everyone always think it's me?")
February 5, 2013 at 10:20AM EST Reply to Comment
John

I would have true to get Trevor Linden for the hockey player. But, that was the first ep in a long time that actually felt like a HIMYM.
February 5, 2013 at 10:21AM EST Reply to Comment
nic919

I liked this one as well, but as a Canuck I think it might be required by law over here. One small point, in Canada there are no restraining orders in criminal law, they are called Peace Bonds. (s.810 Criminal Code). The writers probably could have done something with that.

I have to say that the list of doomed crush candidates was pretty awesome, with people like Knowlton Nash and Mel Lastman, known to Canadians, but obscure otherwise.
February 5, 2013 at 10:23AM EST Reply to Comment
- Brian You aren't quite right on the restraining order. Restraining Orders do exist, but they are granted by the Civil Courts in Canada, not the criminal courts.
  February 5, 2013 at 12:49PM EST
- nic919 I said there were no restraining orders in criminal law. Restraining orders only apply in Ontario for family court matters and they are not what is being referred to in the context of the show. And there are no "civil courts" in Canada per se. In Ontario, there is the Ontario Court of Justice and the Superior Court of Justice and the Ontario Court of Appeal. In other provinces the courts have different names, but I will restrict my comments to Ontario since that is where I am qualified to practice law.
  February 5, 2013 at 1:22PM EST
- Paul For you Yankees...Mel Lastman is the former mayor of Toronto and a TV furniture pitch man! NOOOOOOBODY!!
  February 6, 2013 at 4:21PM EST
PFOJ

As a Hamiltonian I was a little upset to hear my city described as "outside of Guelph." If anything Guelph is outside of Hamilton.

Also, I had no idea what Geddy Lee's conversational voice sounded like. Kind of wish I still didn't.
February 5, 2013 at 10:33AM EST Reply to Comment
- Noah Body Apparently one of the writing staff on HIMYM is from Guelph. He was probably drunk on Sleeman's when he wrote that line.
  February 5, 2013 at 11:55AM EST
- Kay Dub Oh PFOJ - come on! As a Hamiltonian you should have had a laugh at the fact that any city in Ontario would have Guelph as it's point of reference. Now that I know one of the writers is from Guelph it makes a bit more sense - but loses none of the humor. It felt like a home-grown inside joke.
  
  One final thing. We Canadians don't say "aboot" as much as we say "aboat". I have never hear "aboot". They did, however, nail our "sorry" (as opposed to a) the American "sawry" and b) van der beek's accent, which was awful)....
  
  Fun watching for a Canadian. Well done, HIMYM!
  February 5, 2013 at 7:26PM EST
- mgrabois My friend from Vancouver says "aboat". She said that only the Newfies say "aboot".
  February 5, 2013 at 10:56PM EST
JoJ

I thought the Behind the Music spoof was terrific and loved the seemingly endless parade of Canadian celebs who were involved in it. Agreed, Dave Coulier is a great sport. I liked the premise of Dobler/Dahmer, but the Ted story was still the weakest of the bunch by far. That said, I did like that he was on the receiving end of some of his silly "romantic destiny" kind of stuff. It had potential to end really sweetly, and I'm OK that it didn't.

Lately I've been pretty disappointed with episodes, but this one reminded me why I've stuck with the show. Would that we round out the series with more like this...
February 5, 2013 at 10:36AM EST Reply to Comment
Rd

I loved the episode. The best Himym episode since Victorias return last season (the one where they were at the Japanese restaurant). The fact that I'm Canadian only made this episode that much more awesome. And I'm not sure why, but I laughed out loud when Bob Saget said he loved Coulier's cut it out.
February 5, 2013 at 10:38AM EST Reply to Comment
filaphresh

It's amazing how much comedic mileage you can get from pointing out that another country whose culture is very similar to ours but also different is very similar to ours but also different. Still I laughed at every Canada joke in there.
February 5, 2013 at 10:40AM EST Reply to Comment
- 716 I agree - as someone who lives on the border (Buffalo) and interacts with our Canadian friends everyday (and a self-confessed Tim Horton's addict), I can't get enough of this story line
  February 5, 2013 at 11:01AM EST
filaphresh

It's amazing how much comedic mileage you can get from pointing out that another country whose culture is very similar to ours but also different is very similar to ours but also different. Still I laughed at every Canada joke in there.
February 5, 2013 at 10:40AM EST Reply to Comment
- filaphresh Sorry for the double post. I don't even remember clicking twice.
  February 5, 2013 at 10:40AM EST
Danny Robertson

The episode seemed to be saying that "anyone can be a stalker", but also "hey Ted, what are you doing? That girl is CRAZY!" Once again, HIMYM tries to have its cake and eat it too.
February 5, 2013 at 10:43AM EST Reply to Comment
Shannon

I didn't think it was all that great. The humor continues to be too broad for my tastes, and I thought the Dobler/Dahmer comparison didn't really work and was in poor taste (Dahmer wasn't a stalker, he was a murderer). That said, I did enjoy a few of the cameos, particularly Dave Coulier.
February 5, 2013 at 10:45AM EST Reply to Comment
KSM

I loved it when Dave Coulier did the "cut-it-out" gag, and "Older Ted" said he always loved that joke. As someone who grew up with Full House, it was an enjoyable nod to the show and the relationship between the two!
February 5, 2013 at 10:49AM EST Reply to Comment
KSM

I loved it when Dave Coulier did the "cut-it-out" gag, and "Older Ted" said he always loved that joke. As someone who grew up with Full House, it was an enjoyable nod to the show and the relationship between the two!
February 5, 2013 at 10:49AM EST Reply to Comment
chas

i'm a sucker for robin sparkles so i loved it! and throwing in guest spots for every canadian ever invented was great. jason segel's being disappointed by geddy lee was a nice nod to his and rudd's obsession w/ Rush in "I Love You, Man"
February 5, 2013 at 10:52AM EST Reply to Comment
- Tom Not to mention Nick's obsession with Rush in Freaks and Geeks
  February 5, 2013 at 11:11AM EST
- CHAS i remember him being a drummer and the pilot he was bummed about bonham dying but didnt watch enough to know more about the character. in 1980-81 it would only be natural for any drummer to have a Peart crush!
  February 5, 2013 at 11:23AM EST
- mslodge Stop what you're doing RIGHT NOW, get ahold of "Freaks and Geeks," (It was only one season,) and watch. You'll thank me.
  February 5, 2013 at 12:44PM EST
- I don't know if he liked Rush, but he had his way-too-many-piece drum set because of Peart's large set.
  February 5, 2013 at 1:01PM EST
- ghoti And do not forget "I Love You Man", which led to this Funny or Die video.
  
  http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/8d840b53de/jason-segel-paul-rudd-meet-rush
  February 5, 2013 at 1:03PM EST
Tom

Was I the only one waiting for a "Lady L" reference when Marshall was asking Lily out by song?
February 5, 2013 at 10:58AM EST Reply to Comment
- Casey I couldn't help thinking that Dobler Marshall was sweet but Dahmer Marshall reminded me so creepily of Nick Andopolis, in the worst way. (And I liked Nick.)
  
  As a result, Lady L has been in my head all morning.
  February 5, 2013 at 11:07AM EST
- Tom I think Nick is a good example of Dobler vs. Dahmer. If Lindsay actually liked him back, his serenading her would be cute/charming. Instead, it was over the top and kinda creepy.
  February 5, 2013 at 11:10AM EST
- mslodge In the course of singing Styx's 'Lady' to her, he managed to go from Dobler to Dahmer in the course of two minutes.
  February 5, 2013 at 12:47PM EST
- Dan Yea I was waiting for Styx's Lady in a big way there.
  February 5, 2013 at 3:15PM EST
- Tom Exactly, Lindsay thought it was complete Dahmer, but Sarah would have seen it as Dobler
  February 5, 2013 at 5:33PM EST
Heisenberg

In terms of having a story and being funny, this episode wholly worked. The Underneath the Tunes segment actually neared brilliance.

But it does bare mentioning that HIMYM once again sacrificed continuity and established history for the sake of a joke:

-Guess the writers decided to sell out the whole Season Two plot of Robin losing her "I love you-ginity" to Ted.
-Robin Sparkles only had one song that was so rare Barney moved heaven and earth to find it in "Slap Bet." Now there are three music videos, a behind-the-music special and whatever the hell sequence they showed in "Glitter."
-Lastly, remember when Lily and Marshall were the couple that supposedly told each other everything? Neither dot he writers. The reveal that Lily forced destiny is a smaller complaint because you could argue the show's intermittent reveals of Lily lying portended this. I'd still call it lazy and inconsistent writing to make a cheap joke happen because the writers have failed time and again.

If you can get passed the continuity flaws, this episode was a winner. Overall, I laughed enough to not have too big of an issue with the flaws.
February 5, 2013 at 10:59AM EST Reply to Comment
- Anon This. Even though it was a strong episode on its own, Point 2 especially bothered me, because Robin Sparkles was such an interesting part of Robin's character, (and her current desire for fame-thru-journalism), the lack of continuity bothered me.
  
  The Lily-thing less so, because she has been caught lying/embellishing before, and their origin story is pretty important to both of them.
  February 5, 2013 at 11:28AM EST
- Anon This. Even though it was a strong episode on its own, Point 2 especially bothered me, because Robin Sparkles was such an interesting part of Robin's character, (and her current desire for fame-thru-journalism), the lack of continuity bothered me.
  
  The Lily-thing less so, because she has been caught lying/embellishing before, and their origin story is pretty important to both of them.
  February 5, 2013 at 11:28AM EST
- S Yea the riches of Robin Sparkles material now available is watering down the whole one-hit wonder thing.
  
  As far as Lily and Marshall telling each other everything you have to remember Lily has been pretty selective in her truth telling (going to art school, her debt, losing her virginity to Scooter).
  February 5, 2013 at 11:45AM EST
- NJMark I have to agree with point 2.
  
  Once Barney learned of "Robin Sparkles," there's no way he wouldn't have searched for every bit of information about her. Even a simple Google search (in the HIMYM world) should have found the other videos, the Grey Cup incident, and Underneath the Tunes.
  
  However, her half-time experience explains why she's never been interested in watching the Grey Cup - or any CFL action.
  February 5, 2013 at 12:58PM EST
- EAS I consider Season 2 of HIMYM to be one of the great sitcom seasons in the history of the medium, so anything that they do to screw with that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
  
  They've now retrofitted Robin Sparkles so much that, not only would it have not been all that hard for Barney to find the original video, but the gag has gotten so big that it can no longer be treated as a small part of Robin's past. Robin was basically a celebrity at that moment we saw her in the pilot. That completely changes everything about her character, and it also seems pretty silly that the rest of the gang never knew who she was. If that gag is supposed to be that everything took place in Canada, so no Americans would know about it, well that's just lame.
  February 5, 2013 at 2:11PM EST
Shawn Mahone

This Dobler/Dhamer thing seemed like a variation on the Hot/crazy schtict from HIMYM hay days.

Also did Ted say or not say in the Platinum rule that he was done with all these rules for dating because it got in his way of finding the one? I mean I thought Ted was actually going to go for something more mature...when will the show stop screwing itself over to continue telling half baked stories?

They finally screwed over Marshall and Lily's meet cute for the sake of a joke. That was not necessary to be honest.
February 5, 2013 at 11:03AM EST Reply to Comment
C

Far and away my favorite part was during the music video when the robot told Robin Daggers to move on and she screamed, "I"M TRYING!!!!!". LOL.
February 5, 2013 at 11:09AM EST Reply to Comment
- RyanT I agree w/ Alan that we probably don't need a Robin Sparkles 5 for the final season, but I'll be DAMNED if we don't get to see this robot again. Can it appear at the wedding?
  
  Anyways, great episode.
  February 5, 2013 at 11:30AM EST
TC

Jeanette appears to be the female version of Ted - which actually could create some funny storylines as he slowly realizes he's dating himself (even if it is somewhat a ripoff of a classic Seinfeld). Maybe dating the female version of himself will make Ted realize how weird he's gotten and he'll be more low key when he meets "the Mother" at the upcoming wedding.
February 5, 2013 at 11:33AM EST Reply to Comment
srpad

I didn't hate this but I didn't like it as much as Alan and some others here seemed to. I would say "Glitter" was a better return of Robin Sparkles than this was but this was not bad.

It seemed to me they actually kind of spoiled the whole "Canada is a decade behind the US" because 1996 was around when Alanis Morissette (who is ironically Canadian) really hit big in the real world. But still, it was a good direction to take and as good as any explanation why Robin walked away from that whole life.
February 5, 2013 at 11:35AM EST Reply to Comment
- srpad Meant to add that the Dobbler/Dahmer stuff was vintage HIMYM. So true (something I have said myself in a different way) and very funny.
  February 5, 2013 at 11:39AM EST
- Casey Maybe in the HIMYM universe, Alanis Morrissette doesn't exist?
  February 5, 2013 at 11:45AM EST
- MBeth It's not really "ironic" (ha, no punny song reference intended) that Alanis Morissette is Canadian. Robin Sparkles whole career is a send-up of Morissette (who was a bubblegum teen pop princess before her breakthrough CD "Jagged Little Pill" and its first single, "You Oughta Know").
  February 5, 2013 at 7:15PM EST
Noah Body

Coincidentally, there is a very good Canadian 2-piece band named PS I Love You. Very much like Japandroids.

I quite liked the episode. If only there was a way to tie in Canadians' fear of the dark in it, too...
February 5, 2013 at 11:59AM EST Reply to Comment
- Brian Canadians don't fear the dark, they just aren't huge fans of it is all.
  February 5, 2013 at 2:38PM EST
M

When did Abby Elliott start doing her Drew Barrymore impression full time?
February 5, 2013 at 12:35PM EST Reply to Comment
- Col Bat Guano smirk
  February 5, 2013 at 1:40PM EST
- T Lo My wife and I were watching this, asking each other, "Who IS that actress?"
  
  Me: "She's like a poor man's Drew Barrymore."
  
  Her: "OMG, it's Abby Elliott, duh."
  
  So, ... yeah.
  February 5, 2013 at 3:42PM EST
Julie

I enjoyed all the Canadian celebs listing which Timmy Ho's they were in and which doughnut they were eating: "The Priestly." And k.d. lang saying she wished she was the subject of the song.
February 5, 2013 at 12:39PM EST Reply to Comment
Hooty McGoogs

No one else notice or think to comment the clue to the crush in the episode title? Guess I will then.

P.S. I Love you. = Paul Shaffer I Love you.
February 5, 2013 at 12:40PM EST Reply to Comment
- Jon, The Earl of Hamm Sandwich Boom! we have a winner
  February 5, 2013 at 1:08PM EST
- NJMark They did mention it in the episode.
  
  But "PS I Love You" is also an actual expression, not related to any person. So it's not something that would be immediately recognized as a "clue."
  February 5, 2013 at 1:30PM EST
- Hooty McGoogs @Njmark, So you think its a concidence that the happened to pick someone who has the initials PS? Im sure it will come out eventually but in my opinion its the whole reason why they picked Paul Shaffer. The only question is, what came first.
  February 6, 2013 at 7:33AM EST
- NJMark Sure, they could have used Alan Thicke or Alex Trebek, but "A.T. I Love You" is not a commonly-used expression in letter writing.
  
  What I'm saying is it wasn't an "obvious clue" that it had to be Paul Shaffer. "P.S." is used on letters even when the recipients initials are NOT "P.S."
  February 6, 2013 at 1:39PM EST
John Dellaporta

Loved this episode. Bays/Thomas say its the last one, but if they change their mind, there's only one more left in the well - the origin story, Tomboy-to-pop princess.
February 5, 2013 at 12:56PM EST Reply to Comment
mslodge

It's a little embarassing to admit now that I'm well past my 20's, but there was a time when I was very Ted-like. At least in the sense that I was looking for 'destiny' to pick my mate. Things happened, I matured, and I traded in my notion of an ordered romantic life ruled by 'fate' for the fragile beauty of romantic randomness. I am crossing my fingers that the show-runners are bringing Ted on this journey.
February 5, 2013 at 12:57PM EST Reply to Comment
louisjab

Just in a small note: the hockey player name is Luc Robitaille.
February 5, 2013 at 2:05PM EST Reply to Comment
Dan

I think this was the best episode this season. The Underneath the Tunes bit was hilarious. Also I like that Ted and Barney are kind of switching places since the engagement. Where Ted is coming up w/ the ridiculous theories. The Dobbler-Dahlmer line reminded me a lot of the Hot-Crazy scale.
February 5, 2013 at 3:11PM EST Reply to Comment

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Review: 'How I Met Your Mother' - 'P.S. I Love You': Robin Sparkles vs. Robin Daggers

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Comments

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Bgklein Maybe I wasn't in the mood for it but I thought this was one of the worst episodes of the show. To it me it really seemed like they're using Robin's musical history as a crutch almost assuming it'll work every time like the over-use of Fizbo.

akaBruno If you're mentioning Abby Elliott, don't you have to mention Chris Elliott as Lily's dad as well? Will there be a future scene with both of them together? Will Bob Elliott be brought in as well?

sepinwall Yes, that's a bad job by me. But don't automatically assume that Jeanette and Mickey will cross paths. Remember, they never put John Cho and NPH in a scene together (though it was unavoidable during Kal Penn's stint on the show).

Evan Loved the joke of narrator ted loving dave coulier saying "cut it out"

Mike Reminded me of Ron Howard narrating Arrested Development

Chase For whatever reason, that joke just hit the perfect spot for me. I had to pause the episode for a few minutes because I was laughing so hard. Then I tried to explain it to my wife. Easily the best episode in quite a while.

E11Jam yeah, the Bob Saget jump-in certainly caught me off guard and was another nice little touch in an episode seemingly excelling due to nice little touches.

mgrabois I figured the Saget/Coulier thing was a "Full House" joke, but I never watched that show. What's the context and why was it funny?

Dan Agreed. My wife and I both immediately went "oh yeah!" and laughed for a solid minute about that. You forget that it's Bob Saget b/c his face is never on the air, so even though the joke should be expected, it's not.

Jen T. Thank you for starting my day with a little McKenzie brothers. :)This was funniest HIMYM in a long time. Nice to see Geddy. And I hate to admit it, but the Dave Coulier stuff was funny ("Why does everyone always think it's me?")

John I would have true to get Trevor Linden for the hockey player. But, that was the first ep in a long time that actually felt like a HIMYM.

Brian You aren't quite right on the restraining order. Restraining Orders do exist, but they are granted by the Civil Courts in Canada, not the criminal courts.

Paul For you Yankees...Mel Lastman is the former mayor of Toronto and a TV furniture pitch man! NOOOOOOBODY!!

PFOJ As a Hamiltonian I was a little upset to hear my city described as "outside of Guelph." If anything Guelph is outside of Hamilton.Also, I had no idea what Geddy Lee's conversational voice sounded like. Kind of wish I still didn't.

Noah Body Apparently one of the writing staff on HIMYM is from Guelph. He was probably drunk on Sleeman's when he wrote that line.

mgrabois My friend from Vancouver says "aboat". She said that only the Newfies say "aboot".

filaphresh It's amazing how much comedic mileage you can get from pointing out that another country whose culture is very similar to ours but also different is very similar to ours but also different. Still I laughed at every Canada joke in there.

716 I agree - as someone who lives on the border (Buffalo) and interacts with our Canadian friends everyday (and a self-confessed Tim Horton's addict), I can't get enough of this story line

filaphresh It's amazing how much comedic mileage you can get from pointing out that another country whose culture is very similar to ours but also different is very similar to ours but also different. Still I laughed at every Canada joke in there.

filaphresh Sorry for the double post. I don't even remember clicking twice.

Danny Robertson The episode seemed to be saying that "anyone can be a stalker", but also "hey Ted, what are you doing? That girl is CRAZY!" Once again, HIMYM tries to have its cake and eat it too.

Shannon I didn't think it was all that great. The humor continues to be too broad for my tastes, and I thought the Dobler/Dahmer comparison didn't really work and was in poor taste (Dahmer wasn't a stalker, he was a murderer). That said, I did enjoy a few of the cameos, particularly Dave Coulier.

KSM I loved it when Dave Coulier did the "cut-it-out" gag, and "Older Ted" said he always loved that joke. As someone who grew up with Full House, it was an enjoyable nod to the show and the relationship between the two!

KSM I loved it when Dave Coulier did the "cut-it-out" gag, and "Older Ted" said he always loved that joke. As someone who grew up with Full House, it was an enjoyable nod to the show and the relationship between the two!

chas i'm a sucker for robin sparkles so i loved it! and throwing in guest spots for every canadian ever invented was great. jason segel's being disappointed by geddy lee was a nice nod to his and rudd's obsession w/ Rush in "I Love You, Man"

Tom Not to mention Nick's obsession with Rush in Freaks and Geeks

CHAS i remember him being a drummer and the pilot he was bummed about bonham dying but didnt watch enough to know more about the character. in 1980-81 it would only be natural for any drummer to have a Peart crush!

mslodge Stop what you're doing RIGHT NOW, get ahold of "Freaks and Geeks," (It was only one season,) and watch. You'll thank me.

I don't know if he liked Rush, but he had his way-too-many-piece drum set because of Peart's large set.

ghoti And do not forget "I Love You Man", which led to this Funny or Die video. http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/8d840b53de/jason-segel-paul-rudd-meet-rush

Tom Was I the only one waiting for a "Lady L" reference when Marshall was asking Lily out by song?

Casey I couldn't help thinking that Dobler Marshall was sweet but Dahmer Marshall reminded me so creepily of Nick Andopolis, in the worst way. (And I liked Nick.) As a result, Lady L has been in my head all morning.

Tom I think Nick is a good example of Dobler vs. Dahmer. If Lindsay actually liked him back, his serenading her would be cute/charming. Instead, it was over the top and kinda creepy.

mslodge In the course of singing Styx's 'Lady' to her, he managed to go from Dobler to Dahmer in the course of two minutes.

Dan Yea I was waiting for Styx's Lady in a big way there.

Tom Exactly, Lindsay thought it was complete Dahmer, but Sarah would have seen it as Dobler

C Far and away my favorite part was during the music video when the robot told Robin Daggers to move on and she screamed, "I"M TRYING!!!!!". LOL.

RyanT I agree w/ Alan that we probably don't need a Robin Sparkles 5 for the final season, but I'll be DAMNED if we don't get to see this robot again. Can it appear at the wedding?Anyways, great episode.

srpad Meant to add that the Dobbler/Dahmer stuff was vintage HIMYM. So true (something I have said myself in a different way) and very funny.

Casey Maybe in the HIMYM universe, Alanis Morrissette doesn't exist?

MBeth It's not really "ironic" (ha, no punny song reference intended) that Alanis Morissette is Canadian. Robin Sparkles whole career is a send-up of Morissette (who was a bubblegum teen pop princess before her breakthrough CD "Jagged Little Pill" and its first single, "You Oughta Know").

Noah Body Coincidentally, there is a very good Canadian 2-piece band named PS I Love You. Very much like Japandroids. I quite liked the episode. If only there was a way to tie in Canadians' fear of the dark in it, too...

Brian Canadians don't fear the dark, they just aren't huge fans of it is all.

M When did Abby Elliott start doing her Drew Barrymore impression full time?

Col Bat Guano smirk

T Lo My wife and I were watching this, asking each other, "Who IS that actress?" Me: "She's like a poor man's Drew Barrymore." Her: "OMG, it's Abby Elliott, duh." So, ... yeah.

Julie I enjoyed all the Canadian celebs listing which Timmy Ho's they were in and which doughnut they were eating: "The Priestly." And k.d. lang saying she wished she was the subject of the song.

Hooty McGoogs No one else notice or think to comment the clue to the crush in the episode title? Guess I will then. P.S. I Love you. = Paul Shaffer I Love you.

Jon, The Earl of Hamm Sandwich Boom! we have a winner

NJMark They did mention it in the episode. But "PS I Love You" is also an actual expression, not related to any person. So it's not something that would be immediately recognized as a "clue."

Hooty McGoogs @Njmark, So you think its a concidence that the happened to pick someone who has the initials PS? Im sure it will come out eventually but in my opinion its the whole reason why they picked Paul Shaffer. The only question is, what came first.

NJMark Sure, they could have used Alan Thicke or Alex Trebek, but "A.T. I Love You" is not a commonly-used expression in letter writing. What I'm saying is it wasn't an "obvious clue" that it had to be Paul Shaffer. "P.S." is used on letters even when the recipients initials are NOT "P.S."

John Dellaporta Loved this episode. Bays/Thomas say its the last one, but if they change their mind, there's only one more left in the well - the origin story, Tomboy-to-pop princess.

louisjab Just in a small note: the hockey player name is Luc Robitaille.

Dan I think this was the best episode this season. The Underneath the Tunes bit was hilarious. Also I like that Ted and Barney are kind of switching places since the engagement. Where Ted is coming up w/ the ridiculous theories. The Dobbler-Dahlmer line reminded me a lot of the Hot-Crazy scale.

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How I Met Your Mother is updated

Bgklein

Maybe I wasn't in the mood for it but I thought this was one of the worst episodes of the show. To it me it really seemed like they're using Robin's musical history as a crutch almost assuming it'll work every time like the over-use of Fizbo.

akaBruno

If you're mentioning Abby Elliott, don't you have to mention Chris Elliott as Lily's dad as well? Will there be a future scene with both of them together? Will Bob Elliott be brought in as well?

Evan

Loved the joke of narrator ted loving dave coulier saying "cut it out"

Jen T.

Thank you for starting my day with a little McKenzie brothers. :)

This was funniest HIMYM in a long time. Nice to see Geddy. And I hate to admit it, but the Dave Coulier stuff was funny ("Why does everyone always think it's me?")

John

I would have true to get Trevor Linden for the hockey player. But, that was the first ep in a long time that actually felt like a HIMYM.

PFOJ

As a Hamiltonian I was a little upset to hear my city described as "outside of Guelph." If anything Guelph is outside of Hamilton.

Also, I had no idea what Geddy Lee's conversational voice sounded like. Kind of wish I still didn't.

filaphresh

It's amazing how much comedic mileage you can get from pointing out that another country whose culture is very similar to ours but also different is very similar to ours but also different. Still I laughed at every Canada joke in there.

filaphresh

It's amazing how much comedic mileage you can get from pointing out that another country whose culture is very similar to ours but also different is very similar to ours but also different. Still I laughed at every Canada joke in there.

Danny Robertson

The episode seemed to be saying that "anyone can be a stalker", but also "hey Ted, what are you doing? That girl is CRAZY!" Once again, HIMYM tries to have its cake and eat it too.

Shannon

I didn't think it was all that great. The humor continues to be too broad for my tastes, and I thought the Dobler/Dahmer comparison didn't really work and was in poor taste (Dahmer wasn't a stalker, he was a murderer). That said, I did enjoy a few of the cameos, particularly Dave Coulier.

KSM

I loved it when Dave Coulier did the "cut-it-out" gag, and "Older Ted" said he always loved that joke. As someone who grew up with Full House, it was an enjoyable nod to the show and the relationship between the two!

KSM

I loved it when Dave Coulier did the "cut-it-out" gag, and "Older Ted" said he always loved that joke. As someone who grew up with Full House, it was an enjoyable nod to the show and the relationship between the two!

chas

i'm a sucker for robin sparkles so i loved it! and throwing in guest spots for every canadian ever invented was great. jason segel's being disappointed by geddy lee was a nice nod to his and rudd's obsession w/ Rush in "I Love You, Man"

ghoti And do not forget "I Love You Man", which led to this Funny or Die video.

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/8d840b53de/jason-segel-paul-rudd-meet-rush

Tom

Was I the only one waiting for a "Lady L" reference when Marshall was asking Lily out by song?

Casey I couldn't help thinking that Dobler Marshall was sweet but Dahmer Marshall reminded me so creepily of Nick Andopolis, in the worst way. (And I liked Nick.)

As a result, Lady L has been in my head all morning.

C

Far and away my favorite part was during the music video when the robot told Robin Daggers to move on and she screamed, "I"M TRYING!!!!!". LOL.

RyanT I agree w/ Alan that we probably don't need a Robin Sparkles 5 for the final season, but I'll be DAMNED if we don't get to see this robot again. Can it appear at the wedding?

Anyways, great episode.

Noah Body

Coincidentally, there is a very good Canadian 2-piece band named PS I Love You. Very much like Japandroids.

I quite liked the episode. If only there was a way to tie in Canadians' fear of the dark in it, too...

M

When did Abby Elliott start doing her Drew Barrymore impression full time?

T Lo My wife and I were watching this, asking each other, "Who IS that actress?"

Me: "She's like a poor man's Drew Barrymore."

Her: "OMG, it's Abby Elliott, duh."

So, ... yeah.

Julie

I enjoyed all the Canadian celebs listing which Timmy Ho's they were in and which doughnut they were eating: "The Priestly." And k.d. lang saying she wished she was the subject of the song.

Hooty McGoogs

No one else notice or think to comment the clue to the crush in the episode title? Guess I will then.

P.S. I Love you. = Paul Shaffer I Love you.

NJMark They did mention it in the episode.

But "PS I Love You" is also an actual expression, not related to any person. So it's not something that would be immediately recognized as a "clue."

NJMark Sure, they could have used Alan Thicke or Alex Trebek, but "A.T. I Love You" is not a commonly-used expression in letter writing.

What I'm saying is it wasn't an "obvious clue" that it had to be Paul Shaffer. "P.S." is used on letters even when the recipients initials are NOT "P.S."

John Dellaporta

Loved this episode. Bays/Thomas say its the last one, but if they change their mind, there's only one more left in the well - the origin story, Tomboy-to-pop princess.

louisjab

Just in a small note: the hockey player name is Luc Robitaille.

Dan

I think this was the best episode this season. The Underneath the Tunes bit was hilarious. Also I like that Ted and Barney are kind of switching places since the engagement. Where Ted is coming up w/ the ridiculous theories. The Dobbler-Dahlmer line reminded me a lot of the Hot-Crazy scale.

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