The Baggage 'Mother' Load

For a lot of guys, being dragged to the latest rom-com is just about the worst form of torture, but imagine if that rom-com was actually a really bad movie about your life!  Or in this case, one chapter of your life that led to some baggage that you still haven't been able to unload.  And then imagine that the movie went on to become the 5th highest grossing movie of all-time and a box office blockbuster over seas.  Welcome to Ted's life this week.  I never liked the way things ended with Stella (that 2-minute date is still one of my top HIMYM moments), so re-living them this week was almost as painful for me as it was for Ted.  Plus, as we've discussed in the comments here at PTR, I just feel like this show has lost some of what made it so good.  The mama-drama is growing tired and I'm getting to the point where I feel the show needs to "pee or get off the pot."  But I digress.  This week, it was another girl, another failed relationship.  This one, however, was going along fine until some rather large baggage got in the way.

Everybody Loves Robin

There's something about How I Met Your Mother's Robin Scherbatsky.  There has to be, right?  This week, she had three men vying for her affection and two of them were willing to beg, borrow and steal just to win her back.  Barney suddenly decided that he had to have Robin back.  Ted got on board while trying to convince Barney that he didn't really want her back.  And then there was Don.  Since he's her current boyfriend, he had the advantage.  In fact, the only decision Robin had to make regarding Don was whether or not she wanted to move in with him.  It felt a little fast (to Robin as well), but she decided to consider it anyway.  When she finally made her decision regarding all three of them, it seemed that Ted and Barney's actions had an effect -- just not the one they were hoping for.

Ted's 'Mother' Gets Married

I know I'm not the only one trying to think up a good story from my past to quiz my friends with for "Drunk or a Kid" - the Home Version.  Marshall's stories were good -- too good.  Both the "drunk" and the "kid" stories were crazy enough to have gone either way and could have happened years ago or yesterday.  Let's face it, Marshall is sort of a big kid.  Ted, on the other hand, was desperately trying to move past his childhood years.  He wants the wife, the kids, the house with the picket fence, but this week, he had to settle for just one of these and it wasn't exactly what he had in mind.  But, there was a lot more to the house that looked like something out of The Money Pit. It may have looked like a lost cause, but as it turns out, it was a very important beginning.  And not just any beginning, but the beginning of the rest of the life he so desperately has been seeking.

Monkey Business

How I Met Your Mother was weaving quite the tangled web this week.  From Barney's constant lies to women he hopes to sleep with to Marshall's mugging/non-mugging/mugging? tale it was hard to know what to believe on this week's episode.  As a general rule, I tend not to believe Barney especially when he's talking about "conquests."  But Marshall is a different story which made the constant back and forth a constant guessing game.  So, what exactly happened on Marshall's way home from work? It all boiled down to a very important question: Are you on Team Monkey or Team Mugger?

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Skanks

Pictures and birthday parties go together like cake and ice cream, and this week's very funny episode of How I Met Your Mother used that combination very well.  There's always one in the group who never takes a bad picture and one who takes nothing but bad pictures, but Barney's good photos streak was, wait for it, LEGENDARY!  Not only could he not take a bad picture (believe me, Robin tried), but he always had the exact same pose in each one.  He chalked it up to the camera loving him, but Robin was hell-bent on getting a bad picture.   All of this led to a hilarious side story.  Meanwhile, Lily was focused on her birthday celebration and getting Ted to stop bringing random "skanks" to group get-togethers.
 

Off the Hook

After a much-too-long absence, How I Met Your Mother was back last night and it brought special guest star Carrie Underwood with it for a hilarious episode about being on and putting others on The Hook.  You know the people we have strung along and/or the people who have strung us along for far too long until it becomes painfully clear that you and that other person are never going to be together?  Well, then you have put someone on the hook or you yourself have been on someone else's hook.  The problem is, as long as there's some sign of hope kept alive, the hookee will continue to hang on.  Enter Ted, guest star Underwood and the latest "hot girl" job trend: Pharma Girls.

Barney's Super Ad

PHOTO: CBS

Barney is apparently unfamiliar with the expressions "Be careful what you wish for..." and "Too much of a good thing..." because he experienced both during his little Super Bowl stunt in this week's episode.  It might seem like a good idea to make a poster advertising your phone number and then to get said poster on during the telecast of the biggest sporting event of the year.  After all, you'll get women calling from all over the world, thus expanding Barney's dwindling supply of women he hasn't slept with in NYC.  And at first, it was great.  Women were calling non-stop and Barney was meeting many of them, but things took a turn for the obsessive.  Suddenly, Barney's bright idea turned into a very dark nightmare.

Barney Achieves the Impossible

We've all heard the expression, "Don't hate the player; hate the game," but this week's episode of How I Met Your Mother certainly took the sports analogy to new heights.  Guest star Jim Nantz "interviewed" Barney after he accomplished something almost unheard of: a Perfect Week.  He slept with 7 different women in 7 different consecutive nights.  And, he had to overcome several jinxes courtesy of Lily, the possibility of getting fired looming over his head and some tough competition in the form of a NY Yankee.  Despite the odds, he pulled it off and scored a one-on-one with the CBS sportscaster.  While Barney was having a seemingly good week, his friends weren't quite so lucky.

Marshall Gets Kissed

Lily and Marshall crack me up.  Between his obsession with "The Reacher and the Settler" and her disbelief that Jenkins kissed Marshall, this episode was HILARIOUS!  Jenkins, who we're led to believe is a crazy guy who works in Marshall's office, is in reality, the hot new lawyer who happens to also love the Vikings and hails from Minnesota just like Marshall.  But it was the hotness combined with the crazy Jenkins stories that kept Marshall from correcting Lily when she erroneously assumed that Jenkins was a he.  So, how jealous was Lily when she discovered the truth?  That's when things started to get interesting (and really, really funny).

One 'Mother' of a Milestone

PHOTO: CBS

It's only fitting that when a totally awesome show like How I Met Your Mother reaches a HUGE milestone like its 100th episode, that one of its totally awesome characters should reach one as well.  Cue Barney and his first stretch completely, utterly suit-less!!  No suit in the bar, no suit in the apartment, and no suit to impress would-be conquests.  Yup, Barney gave up suits.  Of course, it was all in pursuit of a conquest.  See, of all the women that he had slept with, he had never bedded a "hot bartender," so when he set his sights on the new one at the bar (guest star Stacy Keibler), he knew what he had to do.  Unfortunately, she had a thing about men in suits: She hates them!  Barney was faced with a conundrum.  Meanwhile, Ted finally met the fabled mother. Or part of her anyway.

Barney Calls the Plays

Barney was back and in a very big way this week!  Not that he abandoned everything that makes him great  while he was in a serious relationship, but it was nice to be able to both root against and for him and his never-ending quest to find the most creative way to pick up girls.  Sometimes I wonder if his ridiculous schemes would ever work in reality, and this week, I thought The Scuba Diver could possibly work (if everything played out as planned).  One thing is for sure, Barney is always a step (or two) ahead of the rest of the gang.  He got them so good, and he used them with one little trick.  Of course, his acts are a way of avoiding being himself and feeling vulnerable, but hey, it works for Barney.  For now anyway.

While Barney was busy getting over his break-up by hitting on every girl he could find who would fall for one of his silly schemes, Robin was taking a different approach to get over her split with Barney.

How Two Friends 'Met' Again

"Everyone stop!!  Alan Thicke, shut up. Marshall, it's a station wagon -- get over it.  Ted, stop talking about porn.  And for the love of God, somebody get the Storm Trooper some Pizza!" -Lily

"It's not a Storm Trooper!" - Everyone else

And that, ladies and gentlemen, summarizes the funniest scene I've seen on TV so far this season and one of the funniest I've seen on any TV show EVER!!  HI-LARITY that seemed to have no end in sight as the scene just escalated by the second.  Lily, Ted and Marshall, on a mission to break up Robin and Barney, piled into a stake-out station wagon (because the iconic van would have cost them $25 more to rent) and set a plan into motion that seemed destined to break up the pair: make them relive their four worst fights.  Lily, in a one-night only return from breaker-uper retirement, hatched the break-up scheme that brought Alan Thicke, Crazy Meg, dirty dishes and a robot who was supposed to be a Storm Trooper together in a station wagon while Lily watched the unsuspecting couple from her binoculars.  And it just got funnier from there...

One 'Mother' of a Fight

Anyone who is in or has been in a long-term relationship can completely relate to Lily and Marshall's power struggle fight over dishes in this week's episode.  I am a "Lily,"in that, I too want the dishes cleaned as soon as you're done eating with them.  They can simply be rinsed off and placed into the dishwasher, but for the love of all that's good and holy, please don't leave them in the sink!  As you can see, Mr. TVFan and I have gone back and forth over this very issue in the past.  Luckily for him, he did not suggest that I clean all the dishes since it's "my problem" that I want them clean.  If he had, I'm afraid that he would have been packing a much bigger suitcase than Marshall.  Nonetheless, the bottom line with these sorts of domestic differences is you have to learn to live with each other's differences in order to make the relationship work.  And as Lily and Marshall stated at the end, these fights boil down to swallowing your pride and realizing that your love for each other is greater than winning.  It can be a tough pill to swallow at times, but if you love the other person enough, then you do it.  But, I got the impression that neither Barney nor Robin will be swallowing that pill anytime soon.  Yeah, that relationship is never getting off the ground.

O Canada!

There are no words to express how much I enjoy the "Robin Goes Canadian" episodes of How I Met Your Mother. I love the jokes, the accent, the excitement over hockey (which, I don't get, but it's funny), and Robin's strong pull to the mother country. There are so many good things about these episodes. This one was HILARIOUS! LOVED the way Robin committed herself to becoming an American citizen, studied for the test (both the official and Barney's version) and even started "acting American" until she spotted her favorite Canadian bar. Suddenly, she was having a relapse and when she woke up, she was in a Toronto hotel room after the Brian Adams concert! Luckily, Barney was there to help her sort through every humorous detail. And to defend her Canadian-to-American honor at Tim Hortons (where he was promptly beaten up).

Meanwhile, Marshall and Ted were reliving a tiny piece of their youth: making the 22-hour drive to Chicago for their favorite pizza. But there was a slight problem -- Marshall brought Lily. This was bad from the get-go since Ted was looking forward to a boys' road trip. Then, it became painfully obvious that Lily was a frequent pee-er. This meant lots of stops along the already long drive. But no problem because Marshall had booked them in a quaint little B&B along the way (for couples) meaning no "drive all night" road trip this time around (much to Ted's chagrin). Ted wasn't too keen on staying at the B&B, so he kidnapped Marshall and the two finished the road trip alone. In the end, Lily got the last laugh, though. Both Marshall and Ted wound up with severe stomach pains courtesy of their favorite pizza place.

How I Met Your Mother airs Mondays on CBS. If you missed last night's episode, watch it for free at cbs.com.

How Marshall & Lily 'Met' the Perfect Couple

Barney's "Sexless Innkeeper" poem was So. Freakin. AWESOME!!! Seriously, the rest of the episode could have sucked and I still would have loved it because of that poem. Luckily, the rest of the episode was sheer awesomeness as well. Everything from Marshall's photo/music montage to Barney and Robin trying to woo back Marshall and Lily had me laughing out loud throughout the episode. Let's start with that poem, though. Ted thought that chicks were digging his new professor attire: tweed jackets with the elbow covers. He seemed to be the right -- at first -- when a cute girl asked him to take her upstairs to his apartment. The next morning, we learned that nothing happened because she "fell asleep on the couch." Barney jumped in to explain that Ted had become a "sexless innkeeper." This is when the poem commenced and it took place in the time of Oliver Twist (even though it was supposed to be 2008), making it even funnier. Apparently, Ted was the victim of being taken advantage of by girls who live outside the city and need a place to crash after partying. In the end, Ted got the last laugh as he wrote the final chapter by finding a girl who was interested in sleeping with him and not just at his place. Then, Barney started to have second thoughts about his decision to date Robin and ended the episode with a "What have I done??!!" Uh-Oh!

Elsewhere, Marshall and Lily were on an endless quest to find another couple to hang out with, play charades with and take a trip with to Vermont during maple syrup season. They came on too strong (as usual) with Robin and Barney and ruined the Vermont trip with gouda, a broken egg timer and Marshall's photo/musical montage tribute to the night. But things took a different turn later when Marshall and Lily found a new couple who was just as into them as they were them. Suddenly, Robin and Barney got incredibly jealous, then depressed, and finally desperate. In a hilarious ending bit, the duo wooed Marshall and Lily back with a series of egg timers and a rain-soaked reunion that culminated in a group hug. HI-LAR-IOUS!!!

How I Met Your Mother airs Mondays on CBS. If you missed last night's episode, watch it for free at cbs.com.

'How' to Keep a Girl Like Robin

Remember in the season premiere when Lily made Robin and Barney define their relationship and they thought they got the better of Lily because they "lied" and said that they were boyfriend and girlfriend? And remember how Lily knew they were lying, but said it was to themselves and not to her? Well, this week's episode kinda proved her right. Either that, or Barney was going to an awful lot of trouble trying to keep up that lie for Lily's sake! It's not that I think Ted teaching a class on Robin (with Barney as the sole true student -- auditing doesn't count) was a good idea, but I'm both surprised and touched by the fact that Barney cares so much about Robin that he's going out of his way to keep her from dumping him. It's sweet! And here I was thinking that putting Robin and Barney together could potentially ruin the dynamics on this show! Everything is moving right along without skipping a beat!

Meanwhile, Marshall was concerned about finding a good home for his barrel nightstand "Mabel." He couldn't keep it because Lily hates it is "allergic to barrel resin." He decided to put it into "The Bermuda Triangle." Not the freaky stretch of ocean located between Miami, Bermuda and Puerto Rico, but the slab of concrete outside their building better known as a sidewalk. In the past, the gang has put objects there and turned back around to find them mysteriously gone. Marshall placed his barrel in the Triangle and watched from his window with his binoculars. He caught a dog urinating on it, but no takers. By the end of the episode, no one had taken "Mabel," but knowing his show, I have a feeling this story isn't over yet.

How I Met Your Mother airs Mondays on CBS. If you missed last night's episode, watch it for free at cbs.com.

How Marshall 'Met' Lily's Dead Ringer

I love how this show plays with the concept of fate and destiny. Whether it's the girl with the umbrella, Ted trying to lecture the wrong class or this week's story (Ted on a second blind date with the same girl), this show really shines when it centers the episode around it. I love how it took both Ted and his date until about halfway through the date at the same restaurant with the same conversation to realize they had done this before. And I love the way they mutually decided to help each other out by pointing out what went wrong the first time around. I figured this was going to lead to them realizing that they had feelings for each other, but I didn't see the twist at the end coming. Ted, in a moment of complete clarity, realized instead that he and his date weren't compatible. Neither was willing to accept the other's faults (his stupid jokes and perceived "snobbery" and her propensity to talk about her cats), so they ended things (again) before they even began. But this time, they ended them on good terms.

Meanwhile, Barney and Marshall were busy spotting the Triple Doppelganger (apparently, they had already found Robin's and Marshall's). Barney dragged Marshall into a local strip club (I know it sounds crazy, but he seriously had to drag him in there and then convince him to relax and to fantasize about other women) and they were both shocked when the featured stripper took the stage. She looked exactly like Lily! They were so surprised, Barney ran back and told Lily who wanted to see "Stripper Me." She was so impressed with her stripper doppelganger that she threw a hundred at her (much to Marshall's chagrin). The biggest surprise to this story, though, was Robin's reaction to Barney's strip club ways. Like Barney, I thought she would be totally cool with it. It seems we were both wrong. She was definitely not cool with it. And Barney being Barney, he decided to avoid discussing the topic all together. Uh-oh, I sense issues forming between the non-couple/couple.

How I Met Your Mother airs Mondays on CBS. If you missed last night's episode, watch it for free at cbs.com.

'Mother' of a Commitment

Going into this week's season premiere of How I Met Your Mother, I was a little concerned about reports that put Barney and Robin in a relationship this season. How can Barney be Barney if he's in a serious, committed relationship? And how would I feel about these two together? Last night's opener showed that HIMYM knows how to tackle a show-stopping obstacle with humor and continued intrigue. Barney and Robin's inability to have "the talk" to define their relationship was hilarious! And, the ramifications were even funnier. Barney punched a guy who was 100x larger than he is! They both got uncomfortable anytime someone mentioned the words "boyfriend" and "girlfriend." When Lily locked them in the bedroom until they defined it, they "lied" to the gang in order to get out of the room. Of course, as Lily pointed out, they're really only lying to themselves. I wonder how long it will take for both of them to realize this fact?

Meanwhile, Ted started his new job: Professor of Economics Architecture. Loved the way he flip-flopped between being their buddy and being their authority figure. As is usually the case, Barney's advice (in this case, that Ted shouldn't take questions on the first day because it shows weakness) came back and bit Ted 7 minutes into the class. Then again, had he not listened to Barney, he might not have been in that classroom long enough to make the necessary impression to meet the mother. She was in that class, so Ted's accidental foray into economics was fate lending a hand. I can't wait to see what she does next.

How I Met Your Mother airs Mondays on CBS. If you missed last night's season premiere, watch it for free at cbs.com.