(S06E08) Could it be that, after the whole season five build-up to the Swarkles relationship, everyone would more or less go back to normal by episode eight of season six? It seems that way, and I don’t know how I feel about it.

Relationship Barney wasn’t that pleasant to watch. Some of his patented awesomeness tried to come through but he was increasingly becoming a content guy, which is no good for comedy. But to see him immediately snap back to the way he was pre-Robin was equally jarring. Maybe that’s the way it has to be for Barney … I don’t know. But, as funny as the exploration of Barn’s playbook was, it felt like the last two dozen or so episodes never happened.

Oh, and it seems like Robin’s quickly moving on too, so it’s not all on Barney …

Like I said, the playbook plot had its merits. Was it the funniest plot Bays and Thomas ever came up with? No. But seeing the various ways Barney uses to scam and flim-flam women into sleeping with him was a hoot to experience. My favorite hoax was not the Lorenzo von Matterhorn scam, though it’s complexity was admirable — so admirable that there was actually a Wikipedia entry for him until the folks there got wind of it and pulled it down (thanks for capturing that, Dave!). But for some reason, the pure dopey simplicity of “The SNASA” was what I laughed at the hardest, especially when Barney told his dippy conquest that he was going to go on a mission to the “smoon.”

The extra layer of plot, where the playbook was part of a larger flim-flam called “The SCUBA Diver,” was a nice cherry on top. But what that did was kill all the seeming regret Barney displayed to Robin for diving into the dating scene so soon after the break-up. But then again, it’s so Barney to do that, isn’t it? It’s what made Lily say “Youuuuu sonfoabitch” to begin with — leading to a nice recurring joke — and you would expect nothing less from Barn. But the suddenness of it is what made the whole Swarkles pairing feel like it was a mistake on the part of the writers rather than something that just ran its course.

On the Robin side, you knew she was going to find someone as soon as Marshall and Ted told her about the legions of friends who found the loves of their lives as soon as they said they were done with dating. Of course, it’s one of the most overused axioms of dating — “You find someone as soon as you stop looking” — but it’s one that made me roll my eyes when I was single. You’re always looking, aren’t you? Maybe that’s why Ted still hasn’t met “the mother” yet; he’s still looking. Heck, he even admitted as much.

But Robin meeting her new co-anchor and going “Dammit, Marshall,” means she’s moving on, too, further confirming that Swarkles is being treated more as a mistake than anything else.

Sigh. I don’t know, maybe I’ll be proven wrong and we’ll see Swarkles again. But the break just feels too clean to make it satisfying.

Download “The Playbook” Episode

It’s hard to choose between just plain old single Barney and Barney in a committed relationship with Robin because both options make good TV but somewhere down the line we all know that no matter what direction Barney chooses, he’ll still end up loosing Robin. Because two awesomes cancel each other out.

The premise of “The Rough Patch” is simple yet it hits close to home for most couples. Every couple goes through what Lily describes as a “rough patch” and Barney and Robin are clear examples of people who have let themselves go simply because they’re comfortably stranded in a committed relationship. The thought of Barney giving away his porn stash, though, is enough to indicate that “legendary Barney and cool Robin” turn into “Fat Barney and Old Robin” is more than just a rough patch.   

Barney’s eating too much because he’s tied down in a relationship and is stressing out while Robin isn’t happy because of what Barney has turned into— a predicament that Ted and Marshall are starting to realize so they embark on a mission to break up Barney and Robin. Lily, who has mastered the art of breaking up, joins Ted and Marshall in formulating a scheme to reignite the four biggest fights Barney and Robin have ever been in…all at once.  In the end, though, we learn that the reenacting the battle of dirty dishes, the ex-girlfriend conflict, the Star Wars altercation and the Canadian-American war didn’t need to happen for Barney and Robin to realize that they’re just miserable together.

I like how Robin ended things with Barney by saying, “Maybe this isn’t a break up. Maybe this is two friends getting back together.” It is indeed a bittersweet ending but I have high hopes for Barney and Robin as they return to their old ways. Plus, there’s that failed Canadian variety show to look forward, thanks to Alan Thicke.

We’re going to let Ted sum up How I Met Your Mother’s fourth season. “That was the year I got dumped at the altar. The year I got fired. The year I got beaten up by a girl goat. It was the best year of my life.” We’re not sure if this season would qualify as our favorite, but it certainly was still a good one! We have plenty of How I Met Your Mother quotes to prove it.

Here’s a sampling of some of our favorite quotes from the season:

Barney: Bimbos make me happy. Bimbos make me feel alive. Bimbos make me want to pretend to be a better man. This whole thing with Robin was just a fling, but at the end of the day, my heart belongs to bimbos.



Ted: The lamb here is supposed to be great.
Nora: I am a vegan. I wish I could tune out that moral voice inside me that says eating animals is murder. But, I guess I’m just not as strong as you are.
Ted: That’s ’cause you need protein.

Ted: There aren’t any black people in Minnesota?
Marshall: Not if Prince is on tour.

Ted: Can’t you just leave the place open a little while longer? We’ll keep an eye on things.
Carl: You two? No way, you wouldn’t know the first thing about running a bar.
Barney: Serve the hotties first?
Carl: Here’s the keys.

Woman: You said that if I slept with you my son would get the part.
Barney: Well apparently I’m a better actor than your kid.

Ted: I never said I was gonna get back together with her. But I was thinking, she’s new in town, would it be the worst thing in the world if I gave her a call?
Marshall: No, no, Ted, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. It would be the fourth worst thing. Number one, supervolcano. Number two, an asteroid hits the earth. Number three, all footage of Evil Knievel is lost. Number four, Ted calls Karen. Number five, Lily gets eaten by a shark.
Lily: I’m Lily and I approve the order of that list.

Ted: Well after he proposed a vocational paradigm shift, I made an impromptu presentation using a four pronged approached that really brought him to his knees.
Barney: Hit him with a chair?
Ted: Yep

• The word “awesome” appears in almost every episode. The word awesome does not appear in the episode entitled “Purple Giraffe.”
• Barney’s catchphrases: “Legendary,” “True story,” “Suit up,” “High five,” “What up?” various uses of the word “awesome” and “awesomeness.”
  
• For emphasis, Barney inserts the phrase “wait for it” into the middle of a word, e.g. “Legen– wait for it– and I hope you’re not lactose intolerant because the second half of that word is– Dary.”
  
• Barney calling himself Ted’s best friend or Marshall’s best man, only to be corrected.
  
• Barney first uses the “Have you met…?” line, introducing Ted to random women in the bar, simply by saying, “Hi, have you met Ted?” then walking away. The phrase has been adapted and used with all of the characters except for Lily.
  
• Slap Bet: The season two episode “Slap Bet” featured a wager between Marshall and Barney where the winner would slap the loser. Lily (the Slap Bet Commissioner) gave Barney (who lost the bet) the choice of 10 slaps immediately or five to be dished out at any time. Barney, having chosen the five slaps, has been slapped twice by Marshall since then:
  
  • At the end of”Slap Bet”, a few minutes after losing the bet.
    
  • At the end of season two episode “Stuff,” while performing his one-man play “Suck It Lily.”
    
  • There is a “slap bet countdown” on cbs.com that implies that the third slap will be dealt out on Monday November 19th at around 8:23 pm ET.
    
• “Famous telepathic conversations:” If the characters want to have a private conversation in the presence of others, they will attempt to communicate with each other telepathically. Marshall has done this successfully with Ted and Lily, but when Robin attempted it with Lily it failed.
  
• When asked what his job is, Barney laughs and says “Please” (and never reveals it).
  
• Barney loves laser tag and Sky Mall.
  
• Barney often makes up statistics (Ted claims that he always uses 83% but he has only done this once, using completely different statistics on previous occasions) in order to make his arguments sound credible. Marshall always catches him out and ‘lawyers’ him.
  
• In response to a snarky comment about him Barney will often silently nod his head “no” slowly to hilarious effect
  
• Similarly, Marshall can often be seen staring incredulously at someone after being the butt of a joke. This usually is visible in the outer edges of the screen while another characer is talking.
  
• Marshall often does The Robot when he is excited about something.
  
• Robin being teased about being Canadian. She will sometimes respond with a truism about America, such as a flawed medical system or poor knowledge of international geography.
  
• “Lawyering”: Marshall uses his law skills to interrogate someone else in a courtroom-style fashion.
  
• Giving each other a variety of unique high five, such as the “hypothetical high five”, the “air five”, and “the phone five” (slapping the phone in a way that imitates the high five).
  
• Characters (or more specifically Barney) calling Robin by her surname, Scherbatsky.
  
• Robin hates olives and Ted loves them. This parallel was used to describe what makes “the perfect couple”. Throughout thier relationship, Marshall and Lily based their great compatibility on this “olive theory”. In the pilot episode Barney revealed that Marshall had been faking and does, in fact, like olives (it was he who allegedly disliked them, Lily has always liked them). Lily was not put off by this revelation.
  
• Ted has bad luck ending relationships.
  
  • In the episode Return of the Shirt (S01E04) he tries to rekindle a relationship with an old girlfriend that he’d broken up with on her birthday, on her answering machine.
    
  • Later in the episode, when the second try at dating hasn’t worked, he inadvertantly chooses her birthday to break up with her a second time.
    
  • In the episode Columns (S02E13) Ted must fire his one-time boss for poor performance. As he’s about to fire him, a birthday party begins.
    
• Ted apparently likes/loves jazz.
  
  • He has two jazz related posters in his room. One of Count Basie, the other of Thelonious Monk.
    
  • He’s worn two jazz related shirts. One of John Coltrane’s album Lush Life, the other of Max Roach, worn on the show shortly after Roach’s death.
    

For a show with a simple, one-plot premise, there are certainly many stories to be told. When How I Met Your Mother began, it was clever – but really, who believed they’d pull three (going on four) seasons out of some guy telling his kids a story about how he met their mother?

Over the course of this season, many dynamics and friendships within the group changed – some for the better, and some took a small step backwards. For instance, we know Ted and Robin are still friends in the future, we didn’t know how they’d get to that comfortable friends place after their breakup. We were able to see some progress in their relationship, and it felt authentic and very real – considering this is sitcom TV, after all.

Robin’s cornrow hairdo was highly distracting for the first couple episodes – we’re so glad she came to her senses and moved on. Marshall discovered a secret about Lily that threatened their happiness and their financial security, in a plotline that felt very forced and hit a low with stories about the money pit apartment they purchased.

One of the best assets of this show is the ability to blend special guest stars in with the regular cast. Highlights this season were two appearances by Britney Spears (one good, one meh) and a recurring role by Sarah Chalke. Heidi Klum also appeared, but oddly, as herself.

While Britney’s appearances were cute – especially her fawning over Ted, even while ‘dating’ Barney – it definitely had the feel of stunt casting. And even though the goal was probably more to help repair her image, it was at times funny, smart and great.

More notably, however, was the addition of Sarah Chalke to the show. From her first appearance as Ted’s doctor (and later, Ted’s girlfriend), Stella was a fantastic fit with the rest of the cast. Still an outsider and a little put off by Ted sharing all the intimate details of her life with his friends, she was a good match for Ted. From the moment she fell off a chair laughing at his jokes, we began to hope she was the mother. Is she? Perhaps. Either way, we hope she returns next season.

Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) is possibly the most unique, disgusting, and yet somehow loveable character on television. The horrible ways he’s broken women’s hearts were the central part of an episode (”The Final Four”), and yet? He’s legen – wait for it – dary. The single most remarkable event of this season for Barney, however, is that he may have actually met his match and found a woman worth growing up for. Hopefully he’ll remain the same awesome bro, no matter what his future holds.

Aside from the crappy Money Pit plot, Marshall had some excellent moments this year, too. Our favorite was the conclusion of last year’s Slap bet in the “Slapsgiving” episode. Definitely don’t get on the wrong side of a slap bet with this guy (and the slap song was worth repeated viewings, too).

- CBS

This is how Marshall rolls on Slapsgiving

In other music video news, this season saw the return of Canadian pop singer Robin Sparkles, and a viewing of her second music video, “Sandcastles in the Sand”. From the redundant title to the guest stars (James Van der Beek, Tiffany, and inexplicably Alan Thicke) the episode rocked – and made us roll with laughter.

Overall, the season was fun and clever, a good, consistent flow from the first two seasons – and we’re always surprised how far they can go with such a simple premise, how Ted met the mother of his children.