How I Met Your Mother

How I Met Your Mother - Season Eight Episode Fifteen - P.S. I Love You


It is another instalment of Robin Sparkles this week and as usual leads to a very funny episode.  After talking about obsessions Robin admits that she was obsessed with someone in the past.  Barney becomes obsessed with finding out the identity of her obsession.  After interrogating her exes he uncovers an episode of Underneath the Tunes featuring Robin Sparkles.  It shows a darker side of Robin Sparkles where she looses her sparkle and gets edgier.  Meanwhile, Marshall and Lily have some concerns over Ted's new girlfriend who seems a little creepy obsessed.  Ted argues the acts of stalking are actually sweet if the recipient is into the other person; the Dobler/Dahmer distinction.  Dobler being after Lloyd Dobler from Say Anything whose declaration at the end of the film with the speakers is sweet because Diane Court the recipient was into him came across as sweet.  However if Jeffrey Dahmer did the same thing = creepy.  It was pretty amusing and I loved the Robin Sparkles segments of cheesy 90s edge.

How I Met Your Mother - Season Eight Episode Fourteen - Ring Up!




With the engagement ring back from being re-sized Robin begins to notice changes in men's reactions to her. Lily reveals it is the power of the ring and that with it on she is now invisible but that she is all Barney sees.  Ted meanwhile starts seeing a 20 year old and Barney pushes him to pursue the relationship so he can live vicariously through his one night stand.  However, the problem is they have nothing in common but eventually Ted finds a tenuous connection and goes for it.  Barney is over the moon until he discovers that the twenty year old is actually his half sister.  It was a decent enough episode and I do like Barney and Robin together again.  The whole Marshall and Lily story line with the role playing was a little weird but still fairly amusing.

How I Met Your Mother - Season Eight Episode Thirteen - Band or DJ?




After Robin discovers Barney never asked her father's permission before proposing she gets them to meet.  However, it turns out that her father has been married for a while and never bothered to tell her.  This leads to a much needed venting and a disturbing brunette Barney.  Lily and Ted feud about planning the wedding and while Lily and the others want a band Ted pushes for a DJ.  Lily works out why Ted is obsessing so much about the wedding plans and confronts him on the roof about his feelings for Robin.  Ted finally confesses his feelings after Lily confesses that sometimes she regrets getting married and having Marvin as this is her life now.  It was quite an emotional moment for How I Met Your Mother but it didn't feel out of place and was quite a sweet moment.

How I Met Your Mother - Season Eight Episode Eleven and Twelve - The Final Page 



Before the opening of his building Ted confronts his old college professor who told him he would never be an architect and seeks his approval to no avail.  While on the college campus Marshall and Lily run into an old college friend who freaks them out but turns out to be a pretty decent successful guy.  On the way back Barney tells Ted that he plans on proposing to Patrice and Ted struggles with whether or not to tell Robin.  Meanwhile Robin confronts Patrice then feels guilty about it and tries to move on by accepting an invitation from Ted to be his date for the opening.  However, he decides to tell her about Barney and convinces her to go after him which she does and it turns out it was the final page from the playbook.  Barney proposes to Robin on her favourite spot in a very sweet way and she accepts.  I was really happy as I have been waiting for this all season as they are great together.  Lily and Marshall have their first night away from Marvin and have separation anxiety as they miss their little guy.  

How I Met Your Mother - Season Eight Episode Ten - The Over-Correction




Robin is convinced that Barney is up to something with his relationship with Patrice and decides to put a stop to it.  Meanwhile, Marshall's mother is visiting and decides she is ready to date again but her choice of partner make Marshall and Lily sick to their stomachs, literally.  Overall a pretty funny episode.  The gang try to convince Robin to just let Barney be happy but she cannot let it go and decides to try and break them up. Ted is upset that everyone keeps lending his stuff without ever returning them which is a running gag throughout the episode which does get old fast.  However, the narrative does lead most of the cast hiding in closets at one point or another which led to some very funny moments.  It is nice to see How I Met Your Mother back on form and I am curious to see where this Barney Patrice narrative will go.

How I Met Your Mother - Season Eight Episode Nine - Lobster Crawl




Robin does her best to hook up with Barney to get him out of her system.  Elsewhere Ted steps in as Marvin's nanny and goes overboard with celebrating too many firsts.  Marshall and Lily realise that he is using Marvin as a replacement for his other baby, the GNB building.  It was a funny episode but Robin at times was a bit over the top and ridiculous.  I know that was kind of the point to the episode but I prefer when her and Barney are in scenes together as usual as they are usually hilarious.  The surprise ending was a bit peculiar and I'll be interested to seeing where that goes.  The Ted, Marshall and Lily storyline was less funny but it was still good.  Overall, I am happy to see How I Met Your Mother back on form.

How I Met Your Mother - Season Eight Episode Eight - Twelve Horny Women




This week Marshall has to go up against his law buddy Brad in the biggest case of his life.  The episode is told via flashback where Marshall is telling a panel of Judges about what brought happened during the case and his reason for being there.  Elsewhere the others argue over who was the biggest delinquent when they were teenagers.  It was a pretty good episode but for me the best scenes were the ones between Robin and Barney.  Things are awkward since the kiss from last week and so they do there best to work through it.  I do not exactly look for realism is How I Met Your Mother but Marshall has only been an attorney for a short while and it seems way too early to try and become a judge.  That said I can see what the writers were going for and it would lead to new possibilities for story lines etc...  I am looking forward to next week where Robin tries her best to get back together with Barney. 

How I Met Your Mother - Season Eight Episode Seven - The Stamp Tramp




Marshall recommends his law school friend Brad for a job at his firm but as expected this backfires.  Elsewhere, Robin helps Barney find a new strip club by becoming his representation and plowing through all the offers coming his way.  The episode was very funny and I love Barney and Robin back together in story lines at least and I can not wait for them to rekindle their relationship.  The gang talks about giving their stamps of approval to things which leads to Ted obsessing about his lack of originality which sends him on a trip back to his college video diaries.  It was a very funny episode this week and even though there were separate narratives they were all linked and the gang were back together which is what makes the show work.  It's good to see the show back on track and hopefully this is the way the season means to continue.  

How I Met Your Mother - Season Eight Episode Six - Splitsville




Barney helps Robin break up with Nick when she has trouble doing it herself and Lily and Marshall are desperate for some time alone.  This weeks episode was better than HIMYM has been in a long while.  It may have been because it was a slightly Barney led narrative but I think it was more the whole group were involved in the same narrative even though there were two plot lines in the episode.  Barney and Robin were hilarious trying to deal with Nick who was just not getting it and Barney's speech was so sweet even though you just knew he was going to pretend it was for show.  Lily and Marshall were a bit less annoying this week too as they struggled to deal with the lack of sex as new parents - Lily going into fantasy mode and Marshall working out like crazy.  This was the best episode for a while and now all the break ups are finished with hopefully HIMYM is back on track.

How I Met Your Mother - Season Eight Episode Five - The Autumn of Break-Ups




What have they done to Marshall????  He has turned in to more of a girly man than ever.  This week Lily is training him to be sassy advice giver and as Ted points out he's becoming a bigger girl than Lily.  I don't know what the writers are doing this season but we're five episodes in and so far this season is not great.  Ted begins to have relationship issues and Robin is worried about Barney as he has found a dog to be his new wing man.  There were some funny moments as always but I hop whatever the problem is they sort it out soon as it is a great show and I want it back on track.  Next episode deals with the final break up in the Autumn of break ups and will hopefully signal the end of what has so far been a mediocre season.  

How I Met Your Mother - Season Eight Episode Four - Who Wants to be a Godparent?




This week on How I Met Your Mother Lily and Marshall cannot decide on who to name as guardian of Marvin if something should happen to them so in order to make the decision Marshall comes up with a game.  This episode was a lot better than last week which I felt was a little bit of a paint by numbers How I Met Your Mother episode.  The programmes strength comes from the relationships between the five characters so the best episodes come when they are all involved in the same narrative.  That was what made this episode so good, the interaction between the cast who have great chemistry together.     


How I Met Your Mother - Season Eight Episode Three - Nannies


This weeks episode of How I Met Your Mother was pretty much a filler episode as not a lot happened and it was as if they needed to write something to fill a space. The episode deals with Marshall and Lily interviewing nannies for Marvin which inevitably leads to the stereotypical older British lady who is immediately trusted because she speaks like Mary Poppins. Barney is embracing being single with bangtoberfest and Robin and Ted are competing for who is happiest in their respective relationships. It may have been because there were not many scenes where all the characters were together or where there was a connected storyline running throughout which affected them all together. This is the strength of How I Met Your Mother where they are all involved in one or two narratives that flow through the episode and the comedy comes from their reactions to each other from said narrative. All in all it was a bit of a filler episode but hopefully next week will be back on track as Lily and Marshall cannot decide on godparents so put the gang through a quiz show inspired test.

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