It’s very late and I’m on vacation so the bulk of this will have to wait, thought I really want to know your thoughts on some things.

First off, I thought the episode was solid. Great flashbacks, worked pretty well on continuity I thought and kept me laughing all the way through. Barney’s awesomeness and inability to take a bad photo was great. Marshall’s love for games came through even at Lily’s party too and that really made me laugh. A ton of great moments and quoted but I wonder what stuck out to you.

Secondly, Did the one year from now birthday shot tell us anything? To me it says that Ted isn’t with the Mother yet…has he "met" her, possibly (or possimpibly, whatever) but since it’s just the 5 of them I would say that Ted isn’t with a "the one" girl. No Don either… and you would think that after a year it would be acceptable. He could just be out of town but I would put my money on him being gone within the year. Also, it may be a small detail but Marshall & Lily are in the same place. No baby either..I had heard once that LAME might have a baby but I hope not since it would change the show dynamic a lot! Did you see anything else? Reading other items of interest in? It’s in my nature to search for these things, but I miss a lot. What did you see?

Finally…music. I loved Marshall’s happy Birthday Lily (Lori?) song…that guy cracks me up. But the French Rap song… just awful. Well placed, but it was so bad it was comical. Btw. It’s "Briques" by Les Cautionneurs . I can’t find the song for sale but it could be under a different name, I’ve left you the Amazon and iTunes band links above if you want to search and report back. I’m horrible at French and draw the line for listening to music at something that horrible where that combines the worst elements of rap and a language I don’t understand. Wewe? Bonjour.

I’ll do my regular roundup soon but for now, what did you think?

This week I think I’ll try moving my thoughts to the end and starting out with lines, moments and such… spoilers follow, but if you’re here you know that… btw, I’m trying out a new blog editor tonight, be gentle.

Legendary Lines

Barney: Shall I walk you through the history?
Ted: I’m going to explicitly say no…

Robin: Move past it guys. I’ve been a little bit loose, but money never changed hands.

Barney:…and so hot girls rolled into doctors offices, rendering the very erection pills they peddled ironically redundant.

Barney: What IN THE WORLD is up?!

Ted (to Robin): You are Captain Hook.

Marshall: Hang in there Scoots, I’m not gonna live forever.

Barney: Am I right people?
Robin: yea, there’s no people. Just the girl you most recently dated.

Ted: I seriously considered marrying her out of sheer awkwardness…

Moments of Awesomeness

• Remember Bait…, trampoline too dangerous. slot machine too fun. In fact, Note to single friends/readers: Buy a teacup pig.
• Old Ted breaking into Younger Ted’s conversation for clarification and insults
• Ted & Henrietta’s Engagement. Especially, the parental reaction.
• the return of Marshall’s Vintage Auburn Shirt … War Eagle anyone?
• I loved, Alyson Hannigan’s work with the pig…NO, not Barney. Lilly and the teacup pig…seriously funny. Add Marshall eventually caving to Scooter and it makes it even better.
• Although teenage Marshall looked pretty old compared to his hook, I still love those scenes.

Music

• Wish You Were Mine by Light FM – (Marshall waits in the snow to tell Lisa how he feels in song)

the Re-Return

Barney seems to very upbeat about the end of the hot pharma-girl profession, thanks to some purple pills that someone left in his couch.

Have you been the hookee or the hooker before? Before married life snagged me from the clutches of phrased activities and clutch phrases, I was familiar with the hooked phenomenon. I’ll leave out how often I was on each side, but much like everyone on the show I was on both. Tonight’s episode was great. We got to see a lot of Barney being Barney, Ted being naive, Robin being the female Barney in a lot of ways, some Carrie Underwood, and Lily and Marshall doing the couples things in a way that makes us all happy.

Carrie Underwood, while being gorgeous all night, really wasn’t as important as Barney’s teacup pig. I do love the way that the writers kept her as part of the story bit in the background. I mean after Brittany’s second appearance and flop on the show, I guess something had to happen. The pig caused me to laugh a lot more. And even though my wife kept telling me how not cute the pig was, when Lily and Marshall had it I couldn’t help but laugh. Add the pig bit with the return of Scooter, now “lunch lady Scooter” and you see a pretty strong story.

Let’s talk Robin for a second. I loved the fact she kept being the hooker, as she called it, long enough to get her laundry done despite everyone else’s change of heart. What I don’t get is why haven’t we seen more of Don? Maybe the Olympics are just fooling with my timeline but I expected more from that story already. Past her relationship status, I feel like HIMYM struggles at times with what to do with Robin. Anyone else feel that way? I mean I love everything she does but it all feels like it adds but in more of a space filling and not necessary way. Then again, maybe I’m still feeling jilted because the Robin/Barney relationship was cast aside so quickly.

Barney’s wink at the camera never gets old. I felt that Barney’s history of hot-girl employment was one of the stronger points of the show but I had seen it so many times in the promo stuff it lost a bit of the edge. What didn’t fall flat was the end of the Ted and Henrietta story. Even though you knew what was going to happen once he accidentally dropped the ring, it was still one of the best moments of the night. When her parent’s ran out to congratulate Ted, I nearly lost it. SON! I will admit though, the reaction was vaguely reminiscent of another proposal that happened between Barney and another guest appearance.

So overall I thought it was a strong episode, not a ton of substance but a lot of laughs for sure. Enough about me, what did everyone else think?

    Rabbit or Duck? So which is it? I’ll answer that as soon as my phone stops ringing… Do your ears hang low do they… Isn’t this fun?

    I don’t know what everyone else thought, but I felt this was one of the funniest episodes this season. All the story lines were great tonight and I rarely like them all, where to Start first, let’s go with Barney. 

   If you watched the Super Bowl last night then you saw the Call Barney Stinson sign with Barney in the stands of Super Bowl 44. Tonight’s sign had a different number but wow, how clever are these guys? Even my friend who didn’t watch the show wanted to know what the message said. Barney usually carries a lot of the comedy but tonight he may have been most visible but having Ranjit with him made it so much better. Near the end, when Ranjit carries Barney from the bar while wearing the red scarf, hat and such that he knitted, I almost lost it. The best part of Barney’s story tonight was that despite being the center of attention other players shined.

     While Ted, Robin, Lily and Marshall were all lumped together with Barney passing through tonight, they each had distinct parts. Ted, passionately arguing for the duck, accompanying Robin, preparing for his arranged date/marriage and succumbing to the temptation of the magic phone. Marshall and Lily were together all night but still had time to forget to arrange Ted’s date and come through at the end…both for his date and to dispose of the phone.

   Meanwhile, Robin was repelling the opinions that she liked Don. We all know that she and Don become a couple eventually, but it’s nice to see the transition there. Plus, we got the see Robin passing on the naked man this time despite falling for it earlier. The fact that Don found the move on “some guy’s blog,” maybe mine…but probably Barney’s made the reference even funnier.

   All in all it was quite a solid episode. Lots of laughs, lots of call backs and a ton of what makes HIMYM the best comedy on TV…I don’t care what the polls say.

   Enough about me, what did you all think?

Music

see the music from every episode on the How I Met Your Mother Music Page

• Turkey in the Straw –

(the ringtone on Barney’s phone.) I’ve managed to round up the mp3 and iPhone ringtone for it so enjoy!
-mp3 version
-m4r ringtone

• Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn – (plays while Robin cleans & tells Ted to go meet his “future wife”)
• Someday by Haroula Rose – (Ted and Robin drink together on the couch at closing)

Legendary Lines

Ted: Well, that explains where Barney is.
Robin: Dibbs on his wings.

Marshall: What would your viewer think?

Barney: Does she text her mother with those fingers?

Ted: There’s always a hotter girl. Isn’t that the problem in a nutshell.

Marshall: Have you ever been in a fight with a duck? Ducks are jerks!

Marshall: Who carries around a duck foot for good luck?

Ted: Permission to say lawyered?
Marshall: Permission Granted.
Ted: Lawyered!!!

Barney: No Please! Please! Please! It could be an emergency! She could be trapped in a giant bra!
Ranjit: Barney, Barney, Let it go…to voicemail.

Moments of Awesomeness

• Ranjit! I love it when Marshall Manesh makes an appearance on HIMYM. And tonight he had so much screen time! Knitting during Barney’s travels to and from the bar, arguing in his native tongue about Rabbit or Duck, carrying Barney out of the bar…simply awesome.
• Barney’s Super Bowl payoff from last night. PLUS!!! We got call backs to the Super Bowl tradition from Season 2’s Monday Night Football, The Naked Man from Season and a reference to Barney’s Blog!
• Robin’s glass of Scotch… wow.
• Teddy “West Side”…and Ted’s nice blazer
• The most intense arguments the group has ever had. Marshall had all the good points/lines in the Rabbit vs. Duck fight btw. And Ranjit arguing and leaving was hilarious!
• The jokes and lines about Robin and Don weren’t that great But their story line was.  The Naked Man he pulled and the re-return moment were great. Plus we finally got the see Don in pants.
• Lily & Marshall put so much thought into Ted’s future wife. I mean Marshall even got mased for the cause. Their approached were so different too. Classic.

The Re-Return

Don apologizes to Robin…not for pulling trying the Naked Man, but for not caring about being her co-host.

Now she sees him as a duck, not a rabbit.

Robin: Aww Duck.

    I may be starting with the end but there is always something alluring and exciting about the little bits of future and glimpses of how much is still involved in the telling of the story of how he met his future wife and “the mother” (do we really wanna debate hopes and theories here…please say no, I’ll do another post for that). And it kind of makes me wonder if when Ted really quits smoking is two weeks into dating the mother, and it’s important for Lily (when she starts trying to get pregnant) and Marshall (day his son was born), then will Barney’s and Robin’s be important or are they just random and insignificant dates? FYI, Robin quits smoking in June of 2013 and Barney quits in March of 2017. Still, it seems like all we get are glimpses…glimpses and not a lot of actual finding the mother. Still, it’s funny so I’m pretty happy.

    It’s nice for Marshall to get more of a story tonight, I’m still hoping for a good Marshall and Lily centered episode. I know we have had mentions of smoking before from Robin and Lily at the end of Season 2, remember the first lie of Marshall and Lily’s marriage? It’s pretty ironic/comical that Marshall was the one trying to hide it now. The nicotine fits from everyone are hilarious, though it is really cool that it brought about the first time everyone watched Robin’s morning show…well at least they watched some of it.

     And I know it’s just a fantasy sequence when Marshall goes back to see his younger self, but it seems like there have been a lot of references to time travel this season. Just so we don’t become LOST…I mean there are some out there theories about the show, but there is a limit right?

Mother Music:

• Cigarettes And Chocolate Milk by Rufus Wainwright (the perfect time for the “last cigarette ever”

Legendary Lines:

Ted: I meant to watch it I just got so busy with the being sound asleep thing. Took all night, 8 hours down the drain.

Barney: I just left something like this in my apartment.

Ted: I think that girl is smiling at me.
Barney: That’s a chair but yea dude, hit that.

Barney: I’m always precoidal Ted.

Barney: What do you think cigarettes are doing right now? Do you think they are thinking about us?

Robin: I don’t wanna’ sleep with Marshall!
Marshall: I have seen the looks.
Lily (at the same time as Marshall): Right.

Don: The second you get used to it they go find someone who isn’t “going through a bitter divorce”  or doesn’t “reek of gin”

Moments of Awesomeness:

• all the random places Robin smokes…I mean seriously, theses were funny.
• What it took to get everyone to decide they want to quit smoking. Lily’s voice. Barney’s tie and shriek.
• I mentioned it above, but there is something very cool and seemingly significant about their quitting dates.
• The affect Don has on the show crew. So much so that he isn’t the only one in his underwear. Also…Robin and Don will be dating within 3 months (more on that later)
• Marshall and Artillery Arthur. Not so much Arthur’s fascination with his dog, but the whole relationship. Odd. That and every time they show work or GNB I always hope to get a new view of Barney’s office.
• Seems like we saw more of the kids this episode than ever before…did the background seem different or was that just the camera angle?
• Love Marshall’s Auburn shirt. War Eagle.

The Re-Return:

Marshall, goes back to apologize to his younger self (fantasy or time travel…who knows) for being so rough on him. Marshall’s friend runs off. He even gives him a picture of his future wife to let him know things will be ok. Lil Marshall steals it and leaves to be alone in his tent.

Marshall: Have fun for me.

    I thought this episode was pretty well written and executed. I realize sometimes many reviews get really technical and overanalyze, but at the end of the day my recaps can be boiled down to 1 point. Did it make me laugh. And tonight it did.

    Ted was completely Ted tonight. His pursuit of Maggie was from start to finish caught up in who Ted is at heart. I loved the way he had her neighbor call him as soon as the window opened, and the moment when his class show their love for Architecture by all raising their hands because they really DO want to hear about it for an hour. Especially, when he realizes how cool Maggie’s love story was and decides (again) that’s really what he wants in his life.

   Marshall was phenomenal tonight. I echo a lot of his sentiments. I do still wish I could dunk a basketball. And the call backs are always good. Lily’s nymphomania is always brought up at the funniest moments.  The basketball court scene had to be one of my favorite Marshall and Lily moments of the series. The closing scene (what I call the Re-Return) was so very funny. I got really excited when I first noticed old Marshall in the background. Even then, the whole premise of the Marshall not fulfilling his original expectations and being the corporate sellout all being ok because of his love for his wife was great. I love how she really his his life. Maybe I’m just a softie for that kind of portrayal of marriage, becasue it’s true for a lot of us. I just love good Lily and Marshall subplots.

    Barney in the overalls and Robin’s frustration at not being able to keep Jim’s mind off of Maggie was played very well. Both had funny scenes. I’ll even admit that the writers had me at the end. I thought that Barney was really fixing to open up to Ted about “where he was” and how much he really did miss Robin and having a relationship…then, same old Barney. Very funny all over.

    I’m always curious if anyone else had some favorite lines or moments that I didn’t mention. If so leave them below. I also left a few unanswered (in my mind) questions below the jump…some people don’t like too may spoilers.

    What did everyone else think?

Moments of Awesomeness:

• Robin’s really bad joke about the movie Se7en was hilarious to me… “What’s in the box!?!”
• Vanilla Thunder, love that call back from the 1995 Slam Dunk champion (see The Possimpible for more info)
• M.A.G.G.I.E – make adjustments go get it energized. I so love that Ted ends up talking relationships with his whole architecture class. How Ted.
• Barney’s overall speech was so good. I suppose they are called overalls, thus you could wear them over all, not sure I could pull off the overall/suit look though.
• Did I mention that I loved the Re-Return? 

Mother Music (Check out the growing list of How I Met Your Mother Music):

• Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks (find it on Amazon or  ), plays near the end as Ted tells the second greatest love story he has ever heard
• Informer by Snow plays for 15 year old Marshall as he write the note to 30 year old Marshall (Amazon or )

Questions Raised:

• If Maggie’s story is the second greatest love story he had ever heard, who is number one? His? Marshall and Lily? Someone Else?… I’m just curious.
• Was that Wendy in the Re-Return? I miss Wendy.
• Would you ever be that desperate to take off overalls?
• Does Ted’s re-re-re-realization that he is ready to start chasing his forever girl mean anything or is is just another moment…

Legendary Lines:

Ted: I hate Barney Stinson.
Random female in NY:  Me too!

Barney: No one could get laid wearing these…ha ha… Challenge Accepted.

Barney: Ted, you have 10 minutes to get down here or the window is closing
Ted: 10 minutes
Barney: Yep, because we’re bro

Marshall: I barley grazed the bottom of the net and now my legs hurt so much I can’t even fall down.

Robin: He’s not telling you hello, he’s just telling you what he feeds his horsees.

The Re-Return:

Marashall writes another letter to his 60 year old self… and ask for a sign if time travel is possible in the future. He gives a date and time to show the sign.

Lilly comes up with some free wings that someone said were too hot.  Marshall adds to his letter, “Old Man Marshall, as long as you are still Married to Lily you’re doing just fine.”

Then we see it was Old Man Marshall from the future is at the bar.

The thing that annoys me most about most season finales is that someone most always has to die. Luckily, the makers of How I Met Your Mother, must share my feelings and thus we get our own set of clichés. And while we did end up at the hospital (again), a relationship blossomed (again), and a cliffhanger (duh) it was so funny, I really couldn’t care less. The only thing I didn’t like is they HIMYM doesn’t get an hour long season finale.

The callbacks in this episode were priceless. And All the plotlines were done well and made me laugh the whole way through. Also, I LOVED the goat. It appears that putting a barnyard animal in a sitcom is instant comedy genius.  I’m honestly not sure which has more hype and build up…the goat, what really happened with that pineapple or who the mother is? Well at least one question has been answered now, though I wonder how they “get rid” of the goat? Plus we did anyone else catch a glimpse of “the slutty pumpkin” as Marshal stood as Dracula to make the leap?

The Robin and Robin story line was excellent, yet not too revealing. Barney’s conversation with Ted was such a good scene, and the hug (holding tears back).  The continual back and forth of Robin Mosbying Barney and Barney’s reaction was priceless. Their hospital scene was great, the trouble doesn’t seem so troubling. Throughout the entire season we have seen Barney make this gradual push towards this…and while I don’t think that he or Robin can change their ways immediately, I do think the journey will be strange but funny. I hope they keep the two together long term or something of the sort.  The scene before Barney makes the leap speaks volumes to their feelings. While we have seen many episodes where Barney glances at Robin, knowing there is something more, this may be one of the first time we have seen Robin look that way at Barney.  It was so significant too, Barney making that leap, Robin urging him on with their shared look. Robin belongs with Barney, but we will see how they play this out.

I do love all the talk about the mother, it’s fun to think about, discuss. But I enjoy the journey al lot more. Carter Bays said in an interview with Alan Spinwall that he won’t answer the “when will we meet the mother” question because his preference is a spoiler. And knowing that the mother is in Ted’s class, well that could make things move quick but if the final moment of the show are “and that’s how I met your mother” which I am more of a fan of then I hope they postpone it as long a s possible. I think they could keep the show going after she is introduced but I enjoy the journey and stories of these 5 friend so much I really hate to see it move too quickly. And since we know the Mother was in Ted’s Architecture class, I would think we can easily eliminate some mother candidates (ehem…Robin, Victoria…)

“You know what? Let’s sort this out later”…shall we? I’ll recap a bit more with the bullet points and Legendary Lines…

What did everyone else think?

How I Met Your Mother Music: (looking for a song from this season? try here)

• Murder Train by the Foreskins (played and Ted and the Goat fight…it’s the go to violence song for the show now, bravo) now if they would only release it!
• Prophets by AC Newman (closing, as they all make “the leap”)

 Legendary Lines:

Marshall: Lily, when Evil Knievel sat astride his star spangled rocket on the rim of Snake River Canyon, do you think his wife said, “Honey, Get down from there!”
Lily: For the last time I am not Linda Knievel. I will never be Linda Knievel!
Marshall: You don’t need to remind me.

Lily:  You’re gonna break whatever it is that pumps that black sludge through his brains.

Barney: You happened upon a beautiful suit. A beautiful Canadian suit. Double breasted…mmmmm…

Barney:  This is so not pimped out, if anything this is pimped in.

Hospital Orderly: But remember buddy. Baahh means baahh.

Barney: The trouble doesn’t seem so troubling.

Lily: Barney planned on being a violinist.

Marshall: I AM NEVER EATING RIBS AGAIN!!!… in front of Ted.

Marshall: I did it!
Lily: Yes you did!
Marshall:  I’m getting a motorcycle.
Lily:  You absolutely are not

Moments of Awesomeness:

• First and foremost , the goat. The fight scene had me rolling…also I love it when they play Murder Train. I wish I could find that song for download.
• Vampire Marshall. All of his “leap scenes” were cool but the vampire look at the Halloween party took the cake.
• “The Mosby”… you know I actually used “the Mosby” before Ted did, though I eventually married the girl…true story. (ps, this is not fuel for you Ted/Robin peeps)
• Callbacks, Marshall and Evil Knievel, the goat, the roof events, Sven, no one watching Robin’s morning show (somebody watch it please?), Lily keeping secrets, Marshall’s “I can jump that far”, the Halloween party and the slutty pumpkin, Murder Train … callbacks are great anytime in HIMYM but ESPECIALLY in a season finale! (also, I’m sure I missed some)
• Robin and Barney’s conversation. The back and forth. Fear or commitment vs. the Mosby reaction. Then the kiss. All in all the hospital scene was funny and awesome.
• I love the way Ted goes through half the episode with the goat hoof print on his forehead.
• So funny when the Rib Town guys broke up with Ted.

No re-return for the Season Finale..but do check back here often over the break. I have some cool ideas planned, some contests and also I plan to start from Season 1 with How I Met Your Mother Recaps. And as always, discussion is recommended and encouraged!