Sometimes our day jobs are taxing and while I love How I Met Your Mother and beawesomeinstead.com I’ve gotta pay the mortgage and I have a meeting tonight. That’s bad news for me. The good news for you is that you get an amazing recap from HIMYM & beawesomeinsted.com fan Caitlin ( @cbyrne19 on Twitter), so I’ll not waste anymore space. Let’s get some good discussion and make sure to thank @cbyrne if you could.
“We’re done here.”
You know you’ve been waiting to hear those words come out of Ted’s mouth as soon as he started making googley eyes at Zoey.
So they’re finally deciding what to do with this hotel! Marshall and Ted are both making presentations in front of the NY City Landmark Council, and Ted gets saddled with a terribly difficult question: Should the Arcadian be a landmark? Which two days ago would have been answered with a solid “YES!” But we all know that Ted is super wishy-washy, so it’s not so easy anymore. Let’s see what changed in those two days:
Barney vs. the group: He’s still mad at Marshall for agreeing to defend The Arcadian PLUS Ted for deciding to side with Zoey. So Barney wises up on Ted’s plan to sabotage the GNB presentation. After checking in with Artillery Arthur on what would happen if Ted goes through with it, Barney finds out the harsh truth: both Ted and Barney would get fired.
Crazy dream time! Barney/The architect of The Arcadian shows up in Ted’s dream to convince him that the hotel should be torn down so that Ted can “dance with the skyline of New York City.” And just when we were convinced it was NOT a dream…Ted’s mom shows up in a nightie with a dreidel. OK OK! It’s a dream, it’s a dream!
So Ted calls up Zoey in the middle of the night and they head back to the spot where they met (The Arcadian of course). And I was totally convinced he was going to dump her right after he recalled the point that he confused her for a prostitute. But back to the present day and the hearing: Ted tells the board that he doesn’t think the Arcadian should be a landmark. Just in time for Zoey to pull out that pesky tape recorder from the Natural History Museum! Throwback to Ted calling GNB a bunch of “weiners and gonads” and all the wind seems to go out of our Teddy’s sails.
The group goes to drown their collective sorrows, and what’s the only logical thing for Ted and the guys to do? “WE SHOULD BUY A BAR!” But not right now guys! Lily’s got a plan! And it’s gooooooood. They hunt down Artillery Arthur walking his new dog (and yelling at him, because he’s not Tugboat). But back to the plan…which we can’t know for legal reasons. Boo. The board was all ready to call it a landmark until the lions head stonework (that Marshall made such adorable rhymes about) on the side of the building disappeared. Motion denied, that hotel is coming down.
Time to deal with Ted and Zoey. Things have to fall apart to make way for better things….meaning this chick is out of here. It was quick and painless. Which is more than I can say for their entire relationship.
Oh and that lions head? Now gets to keep watch over the bed of the Barnacle.
LEGENDARY LINES
“We must make sure the lion is always there…Destroy the Arcadian? Oh no, don’t you dare!” – Marshall
“It gives me the confidence I need to convince girls I’m a fighter pilot!” – Barney, on his job.
“Really? Because it feels like my insane friend renting a costume and breaking into my apartment in the middle of the night for what I wish I could say was the first time.” – Ted
“Mo’ buildings, mo’ problems.” – Dream Barney
MOMENTS OF AWESOMENESS
- Barney acting out his letter to the group while Robin reads it…especially the evil laugh.
- Throwback to Ted wanting to name his kids Luke & Leia!
- I 100% believe that The Captain would hire a ninja to assassinate someone.
- Robin totally plays chess…no, Angry Birds…no, not even that, because she can’t get it to download.
Lingering Questions
- Where does this leave us going into the finale in your opinion?
- Are you glad that Zoey & Ted are over?
- What did you think of Landmarks?
(This was fun guys! For more snaky TV commentary from me, hit me up on Twitter: @cbyrne19)
Great episode. I loved Marshall’s rhymes and Barney’s hypothetical yet strangely accurate drawings of Lily’s boobs. Also, I hope I one day meet a woman with magical lady bits.
Best line “Things have to fall apart to make way for better things”
What really struck me was when Ted called Zoë in the middle of the night because he knew it would be the last time they would be together. He looked at her when she commented that they were there to get one last look at what was really important and not the building. Ted never mattered to her as much as the Arcadian. He did what he knew is right and if Zoë was the girl for him she would have conceded…but by having the tape ready to sink him, it only confirms that she’s as myopic as they come, only seeing her side. Sad. They were crazy attracted to each other but poison at the same time.
I also love the Barnacles evil laugh, Robin being a computer ope, Lily as the Evil Puppetmaster and Marshmellow doing his best Johnny Cochran.
i wasn’t a fan of the episode. true story. maybe it owuld have been fine in the middle of the season, but as the next to last episode of the season. it didn’t cut it. i learned nothing new, it was pretty predictable.
ok son heres whats gonna happen in the finale, barney bumps into Nora while Ted attends Punchy’s wedding SON!
Thank you for re-telling the episode after I had already watched it myself.
I could imagine that it could be a totalle different wedding but Punchy’s because I read that the wedding will be a lookahead.
I am not sure if Ted and Zoey are really over yet cause he still seems in love with her despite what she did to him. But I loved Robin in this episode, she was so funny even though she did not have the most important role here.
hi,, i do not understand the lady bit joke and the girl in the bar and first name that robin told barney..please explain…
Who knows the meaning of “Jine” when Barney wrote on the letter read by Robin to the gang. “Feelin fine and gettin some jine” is that slang for Vagina?
really hated ted in this episode. I mean marshal I can understand siding with Zoe as he was screwed over. but ted wasn’t bothered that if he did speak against GNB then barney would lose his job. I mean he got him the architecture job for the building twice and this is how he was going to thank him. that also for a girl he meet a few months ago.