i know i'm one of the only people on ilx who watches *how i met your mother* on a regular basis, but did anyone else see the robin sparkles episode? where robin didn't want people to know that she had

^^yeah my basic problem with the ep - veered a bit too much between serious barney and cartoon barney.

there are plenty of episodes where they get that balance just right, like that ep where he learns that his mother lied to him all the time or even the last ep with Nora.

also didn't really buy either extreme - crazy cool dad or lame suburban one.

^^^ OTM, it felt like a vehicle for John Lithgow to do some wacky comedy, but even so, I thought he was great in this episode.

I don't think the writers or NPH have really figured out how to split the difference between serious and cartoon Barney, although it's been fun watching them try (I think they managed it best on the "Superdate" episode from last season -- the one where J. Lo. was a co-star).

that was pretty bad, treading-water stuff, im sure marshall has almost quit 4x now

true, but...he did quit, so the water treading would be before, not now right?

sort of, but i guess this means we're gonna be saddled with a bunch of Marshall goes through wacky jobs episodes

also the Zoe thing has been dragged out for an entire season now - seems like it was even longer than the Sarah Chalke thing

yup -- Morrison has been in 12 episodes so far, and Chalke was only in 9 (wow they almost got married in 9 episodes, Ted really did rush things!). i do like that they established the character for a while before they started dating, though.

i watch this show because i like these characters and their wacky adventures, maybe Marshall will have some dumb ones, maybe he won't, it's all good imo.

i basically feel the same way, but i can't shake that feeling for the last two seasons they're running to the generic sitcom premise well a lot more than they used to, a feeling reinforced often by earlier season reruns on cable all the time

but yeah i'm with this show to the end, pretty much attached to the characters for better or worse

More than any other sitcom I've been into, growth is important to HIMYM and I feel like it's going to stall hard knowing they've got to fill at least two more seasons.

The mother is Robin. I'm convinced.

Not sure if you're joking. He constantly refers to her as "Aunt Robin" to the children and has pretty much explicitly stated that she is not the mother in the first season iirc.

Not so convinced anymore.

so Robin is secretly a student at the college Ted teaches at and is the roommate of a girl he dated?

we all lead double lives. are you really only SOME DUDE?

They're probably really mad that they wrote themselves into a corner with Robin, never expecting to last 18 seasons.

i dunno, how is Robin in a corner? they've exhausted the potential for her pairings w/ other members of the cast but they've gradually gotten better at writing her/letting her be funny.

> they've exhausted the potential for her pairings w/ other members of the cast

lily?

ys plz

They boxed themselves in with 'Aunt Robin' and ruling her out completely - at the end she's going to be the only constant sexual female presence in Ted's life over 8-9 seasons, the most logical mother (the way they've written Ted and Robin's relationship - if she hadn't been eliminated, would anyone be shocked for them to get back together) and enormously popular with the average fan.

would be massive lols on my part if they just retconned everything at the end with "Oh, have I been saying Aunt Robin? I meant Aunt Debra, Robin is what we called your mom."

Robin's popular with fans but i don't think Ted & Robin is popular like Ross & Rachel or anything, i'm sure there are some goofballs out there rooting for them to get back together or for the show to wave some LOST-style fairy dust and make her the mother, but probably not most viewers?

The "Mother" is a brunette, I am sure of that at least.

i get the general impression that more fans root for Robin and Barney than Robin and Ted actually.

Did I miss something or did the writers screw up a little? I thought that originally Barney had never met his Dad at all: That was why he could believe that Bob Barker was his Dad and later believe, if briefly, that his Dad was black. If he had actually known and even lived with his Dad until he was 6 (looked older than that!), what we know about his background so far makes less sense. Besides, his mother was not supposed to be the type who would have stayed with a man for 6 years.

his dad posed as his uncle iirc

Oh, he said "Uncle Jerry"? Cool, I thought maybe I missed something since they're usually really good about narrative and continuity.

i sort of feel ted wasn't going out with robin when he got the boots

ha you're right -- the original red boots episode was halfway through the 3rd season, which began w/ them breaking up.

yeah but didnt he already have them in that episode?

i guess he could have bought the boots during the relaish but not really made a thing of wearing them till after

I believe it was bought up how he couldn't pull off his red cowboy boots, thus making him wanting to prove he could. I don't think there was a mention of when he bought them.

Chick that sold him the boots was smoking.

I have to say I really liked the transition "We're also.... a band!" and then them playing the credits.

Especially since I really dislike their usual credits.

did not care for this episode at all. but my lithgow tolerance is pretty low. kinda feel like this show is winding down in a big way and yet i know its probably gonna be on for another 3 years.

waiting for lithgow to turn out to be a serial killer

that episode DID kind of suck. but yes, title sequence was a nice change-up.

well overall i didn't really enjoy this episode a lot but there were still some things I liked. I don't really know why but like the fake lives Barney gave out made me laugh and I really enjoyed Marshall completely getting into his playwright thing. Tbh I kind of tend to give this show a free pass and enjoy it however shitty the episode is.

yeah, I feel the same way. It's just that when it's on, it's really motherfuckin ON

actually dug the club talk

Don't know why when Segel said he had written one rock opera, he didn't finish off with "about Dracula, but with puppets."

nah Marshall's rock opera is probably about Nessie

xp to Phil that would have beem sublime

really enjoyed Marshall completely getting into his playwright thing

yeah. and i liked the idea of the credits but not the credits. there was something kind of sour about the robin/ted thing and it didn't make a lot of sense to me. anders is swole but doesn't have a particularly handsome face. whatever. if they're closing the season with the wedding then they haven't shown much sign of doing so.

Ted's friend (Punchy?) is engaged. That makes the most sense, at this point, for it to be his wedding.

best scene ever
http://video.aol.com/video/whos-on-first-sort-of-how-i-met-your-mother-41811-tv-replay/482495844

Thought last night's was excellent.

Wish Zoe (Zooey?) would fall down a well, but otherwise I thought it was a good episode.

She's hotter here than she was on House.

^^^

This is true. Unfortunately, not hot enough to make this angle worth suffering through.