It’s pretty difficult to look back and choose, but this is at very least my favorite episode in a while, if not for the season. I say that not because the story advanced…it didn’t. Not because of Mickey & Judy… dear God no, make it stop. Not because of Barney and Patrice, though that is the most thoughtful, romantic and heartfelt thing Barney may have ever said since Day 1 of the show. I say it because it was hilarious. I like you, would love to know who the mother is, but I gave up on that popping up randomly long ago. I watch How I Met Your Mother to laugh.
By now you need to understand the show has become about Robin and Barney. Ted and his long story about the mother are nothing more than background at this time. Individually for the most part with Ted, Marshall, Lily and whoever else may show up providing comic relief for the most part. I knew that already when I started watching tonight. Honestly, I felt like tonight’s episode would suck, but by the first few scenes I had changed my mind. What did I love so much about the over-correction? The story, the call back, the quick witted one-liners, the running jokes about borrowing Ted’s stuff… basically the details.
Let’s talk Barney & Patrice for a second. First off, I really like Ellen Williams, I think she is a great actress and even though she only gets small pieces in HIMYM she does well. I know what we saw in the flash forward and I know that Carter & Craig have said that Robin & Barney’s wedding does take place. So what will happen here? It’s just cruel to use Patrice as a play…and Barney may be a lot of things but I don’t think he is that cruel at all. If Patrice is in on it that’s another story all together, and honestly a possibility, I mean she does want to be Robin’s BFF and swinging this play to make her see the light could be a part of that. Is the relationship in fact an over correction? It’s laid out pretty well as one but Barney’s last statement begs to question was the over correction Barney or Robin. So what part does the Patrice and Barney relationship play, and how will it all end?
Robin. Poor Robin. You can’t help but just feel awful for her by the end of the episode. On an slightly related/unrelated note, Cobie has looked amazing this year. True Story. Does the intervention hit home and then she plays it straight until things unravel naturally or will it only go to exacerbate the situation? Marshall and Lily were both great tonight. No complaints, only compliments and laughs! Not sure where to stand on the Mickey and Judy “arrangement”… I did laugh at the re-return though.
So what did you think? Love to hear what you think in the comments!
Legendary Lines
Inmate: No you hang up first
Ted: No you hang up first
Inmate: HANG UP NOW YOU BITCH!
Marshall: Flounder, I barely know her
Judy Eriksen: You dress like a street walker, but my son seems to like it.
Robin: What if I told you I was looking at your red cowboy boots right now?
Ted: Describe them…
Robin: They are red and they’re cowboy boots
Ted: That’s Them!
Barney: Legen-wait for it…Merry.
Ted: What spilled in here?
Lily: Breast milk.
[Ted hands it back to Lilly.]
Barney: Sometimes you fall for someone you’d never expect, doesn’t make it wrong. Doesn’t everybody deserve to be happy
Robin (concerning the intervention): Please tell me it’s about my drinking?
Moments of Awesomeness
- Weekend at Bernie’s is always awesome. No wonder Robin hasn’t returned it.
- multiple callbacks on the red cowboy boots
- the Minnesota Twins… names for boos are always great
- Bacon gummy bear pancakes… yes please
- Barney’s Christmas Tree… decorated with ties!
- "A trout with a daughter has one job, one job, to keep her off the fishing pole." – Marshall, channeling Chris Rock for fish routine…so not funny it’s hilarious.
- Use your head, vote for Ted t-shirt that Mickey borrowed. In fact I loved all the stuff that were borrowed: T-shirt, drill, cowboy boots, pocket knife, Rudolph, the mini cooler, label maker, garbage can..
- "the Wolf" … great nickname for Lily
- the get psyched mix reference… and more importantly Bon Jovi, maybe he really was in the lobby.
- another great call back… Barney’s love for Ted’s mom and their "implied" relationship
- The Bro Code, David Lee Roth’s Crazy From the Heat, the Playbook… seriously, how many hidden compartments with angel music and leather bound books does Barney have?
New Jersey
- "Borrow-nees"… must agree with Marshall… always bad.
- I don’t care how romantic it is, you don’t burn the Playbook…it’s probably a rule in the bro code
The Re-Return
Mickey & Judy, get an apology from Marshall and Lily…
Mickey: who said anything about dating
Judy: This is just about sex…
Mickey: We’re family, with benefits
Lingering Questions
- Is Barney really happy with Patrice? Truth, over-correction or Play?
- How do you feel about Robin right now? About Patrice?
- What would you borrow from Ted Mosby?
The Prenup, Nannies, Splitsville, Stamp Tramp, and The Over-Correction have become my favorites of not only this season, but of the series overall. This episode was so hilarious, I was laughing at least every minute. Also, I see why Mickey/Judy are disgusting to Marshall and Lily, but I fail to see why their relationship disgusts outside viewers. They are just normal people, completely not blood related and obviously very lonely so why not? I thought that whole plot was interesting and entirely funny,
I am more and more convinced Barney is running a play on Robin. It’s so obvious with the way he throws in his shoes while keeping his back to the closet so he wouldn’t see Robin. Wouldn’t a guy like Barney actually carefully put away his shoes? We’ve seen him fold his “dead” tie perfectly last week and in Zip Zip Zip when he thought he would be having sex with Robin, he very carefully folded his suit over her chair. Wouldn’t he hold the same concern over his shoes? And above Robin’s head appear to be rows of shoe boxes where without a doubt, he must keep his shoes in. And when Ted was telling him about Hugh Hefner and Barney rushes in to grab the robe. It would have been easier for him to just walk inside the closet and grab it, instead he reaches his hand and kept his head facing away from the closet. Also, the whole Barney and Patrice dialog felt really rehearsed and borderline fake to me. The balcony fight was very telling. Instead of fighting in the living room, they go out to the balcony and to me, they kind of oversold the fight. Then as soon as Ted, Robin, and Lily make it inside the closet, they come in and are no longer yelling but are staging the scene of Barney burning the playbook. I JUST KNOW this is a play and Patrice is in on it, at least she better be because that would just be so cruel of Barney to use sweet innocent Patrice then dump her once he has Robin back.
This is a play for sure and Patrice is on it! She would love to assist Barney to make her BFF happy. The deal was closed between Barney and Patrice the night Barney was in the office. We will see this in a few episodes as a flashback. Hints in this episode were the moments when it was obvious Barney knew Robin was in his flat. It was so strange how Barney tried desperatly not to look in the closet.
ps: it wouldnt surprise me if the playbook wasnt burned and it was a magic trick or something like this
it’s totally a play. I think EVERYONE but Robin may even be in on it (but for sure Patrice to be a good BFF like Phil said in his comment). Perhaps at the “Intervention” Barney comes in and confesses his love for her and/or proposes. Also the playbook burning was def. magic/an illusion.
I have thought it was a play from the beginning, but this week sealed it for me. It was really obvious that he knew Robin was in the flat too because he was so obvious about not looking in the closet. I don’t think he actually burned the play book either. I believe
Patrice is in on it, and when she found the playbook it was a fake, then they pretended to fight, and Barney burned the “playbook” so Robin would see it happen.
My favorite line:
Marshall: “A trout with a daughter has one job, one job, to keep her off the fishing pole.”
Female Voice from Audience: You Suck!
Marshall: Lily!?
1) Judy’s comment to Lily was actually “You dress like a DULUTH street walker, but my son seems to like it.” You cant leave out the dig at Minnesota’s “big city”.
2) Lily’s nickname, “The Wolf”, is a reference to Harvey Keitel’s character in Pulp Fiction who was an underworld cleaner / problem solver.
3) Did anyone else notice that, when putting out the burning Playbook, the fire extinguisher seemed to shoot out sparkles (as if from one of Barney’s magic tricks) rather than foam?
Maybe it’s me, because a lot of people was happy about this week’s episode, but they totally lost it! I hated this week’s episode as much as last week’s, as much as this season as whole (my only exception was the 1st episode). I did laugh a couple of times, with Ted’s borrowed stuffs, but that was all. I’m really disappointed.
i noticed the confetti from the extinguisher as well
Could teds anger at everything being borrowed from him be a reflection of the borrowed time the other characters have taken from him in the overall story of the mother. And could his statement at the end of the ep, mean that we may get back on course with the story about ted and the mother?
I don’t like patrice very much and I agree with Robin. Barney is changing way too fast and I wish they would stop him. I miss old Barney: the one that has “hpld” books swung from diffrent cool places and DOES’NT throw the playbook away!!! I hope he has another copy. for it (:. I think Barney thinks he likes Patrice but it is still an over-correction of a rebound.
It was hilarious when robin send the pic to Ted when she was about to cut the boots :P.
I kinda pity Rbin and I wish Barney and Robin will be back together soon.
LOVED the Lily and Marshall parts!!!
Overall, the episode was good but I guess I don’t really like that much change. I hope things will be soon the way they used to,
That is interesting…the writers are crew are definitely details people. I think that’s overly obvious after 7 seasons… at first I was thinking maybe that was simply an effect used by the props dept…but maybe it’s meant to show a lot more.
1) not sure how I missed that… good burn though. Thanks for the info
2) I knew that from somewhere… and friend on twitter pointed it out as well
3) Extremely interesting
I’ve had my ups and downs with this season…overall funny and I’m loving it as well.
As to your point on Mickey & Judy, I feel like the relationship itself is not disgusting…but I think most people imagine it as their parents/inlaws, thus the disgust. If you are looking at it through the outside lens instead of the self lens then great for them!
Yeah, I’ll admit, this season hasn’t been the best, but it’s starting to pick up. I’m also a huge B/R shipper so an episode of them interacting makes the instant faves for me lol.
As for Mickey and Judy, I must be looking at it thru outside lens. Some people say it was disgusting and other people said it was funny, and I’m one of those who thought it was funny. Tho I’ll admit, the “family with benefits” was slightly creepy, but I still laughed and then laughed even harder when Marshall and Lily shivered in the closet and threw up in Ted’s cooler.
After re-watching this episode, I made an observation. Robin can’t handle the Barney/Patrice relationship and think it’s fake, while everyone else attempts to convince her that it is real and she should let them just be happy together. The Judy/Mickey relationship was something Marshall and Lily couldn’t handle and were disgusted by, but Barney told them it’s nice they found each other and they should just let them be happy together. In the tag scene, Mickey and Judy reveal it’s only about the sex, making their relationship not at all what it seemed to Lily and Marshall. Could it be that the writers are foreshadowing the reveal the Barney/Patrice isn’t at all what it seems with the reveal of Judy/Mickey not being what it seems?
Gonna miss the Playbook so much 🙁
I think Barney is with Patice to get laid in the red cowboy boots. Also, loved the Pulp Fiction reference (calling in “the wolf” to clean things up) and Marshall as Andrew Dice Clay (flounder?! I barely know her!)
My favorite line:
Marshall: It won’t work Mickey, my bladder is as big as your betrayal!
LOL