Bye Brover, Bye Victoria

How I Met Your Mother, S08E05

Barney was getting a little too attached to his new dog, which Robin worried was due to his recent breakup with Quinn.  Ted realized that  Victoria wanted Ted to make a commitment to marry her and promise not to be friends with Robin anymore.  Marshall was being trained by Lily to give out sassy advice and got too carried away with it.

I groaned when I heard that Barney had named his dog "Brover." But I suppose him letting a dog be his wingman was kind of cute and better than seeing him use some stupid gimmick to pick up girls like he usually does.  His story also helped to put some strain on Robin's relationship, which needs to end already.  I felt a little bad that Barney had to give back the dog, but at least at the end it looked like they still could hang with each other.

Ted was incredibly thick in this episode.  I don't know why he would think that Victoria would want to take things slow when she had ruined a wedding to be with him.  I sort of forgot that he did owe her a commitment for taking such a big risk with him.  Yet, Ted couldn't give her 100 percent.  She should have known that asking him to cut Robin out of his life (which he has already tried at least once) wasn't going to fly.  But at least they sort of ended things on a less disastrous note.  They both saw that it wasn't going to work with them both wanting different things.  I feel bad for Victoria wasting her time with freaking Ted.  He should have just returned her to the church and never looked back.  Was there really a point in them being together this short time again?  So far, it just seems like a delay tactic before the "mystery woman" finally appears.  Get on with it!

Marshall and Lily were a little funny in this episode.  I thought it was weird that Marshall's inner goddess came through as this southern lady.  But as a Lily-in-training he wasn't so bad.  I mean, at least it was cute that they were dishing out advice with attitude together as a team.  It's just too bad that he didn't get the hang of actually dishing out good advice most of the time.  I also liked how annoyed Ted was to have Lily and Marshall keep telling him what he needed to do, especially when he told them they were the worst.  I don't know why that was the funniest thing to me, but it was.

Now that Robin has shown that she puts all of her friends ahead of Nick, I hope that their relationship falls next time because we haven't even really seen anything sweet or meaningful between them that would make you want to see them last.  Anyway, Robin is a train wreck, so she doesn't really deserve any guy (even Barney because she made him break up with Nora and then stayed with Kevin).

Not a great episode.  But I see potential for the next few episodes because we're getting rid of more clutter the more we progress.  It's just not progressing fast enough for my tastes, but as long as we're sort of moving along, I'm momentarily pacified.  I won't be , though, if next time Robin and Nick don't bite the dust already.

I Liked Mrs. Buckminster

How I Met Your Mother, S08E03

Marshall and Lily had a hard time finding a nanny before Lily went back to work.  Robin and Ted tried to best each other in whose relationship was going better.  Barney tried to return to his own tricks as a single man, but was bored with his old shtick.

Well, I knew from the beginning that Lily and Marshall would eventually pick Lily's dad to look after Marvin, but I had hoped that I'd be wrong and they would keep Jane Carr who played Mrs. Buckminster.  I've liked her ever since she did voices on Fairly Oddparents.  She just has such a comforting voice--I love it.  And it was kind of weird but funny how she was looking after Barney and then screwing him at the end.  Not that surprising because I anticipated it when I saw her helping him out, but still.  Weird.

Robin and Ted's fight was just so stupid.  Especially since we all know that they're arguing for no good reason because their relationships are both doomed.  I'm annoyed that they didn't even break up one of them in the episode.  The torture goes on...  But I did like seeing Victoria being so slovenly in Ted's apartment.  She was just throwing things left and right as soon as she entered the door like a tornado of filth.  That was amazing.

Barney's story was even sadder and more boring.  It was a little twisted that he was interviewing nannies just so that he could get sympathy as a single dad and sleep with one of them, but it wasn't enough for me to think I was glad he had a little story of his own.  I also knew that he would be the one to pay for Mrs. Buckminster from the moment I heard that her salary was too high for Marshall and Lily (still hoping that she'd be on the show more).  I can't say that I'm happy to see the old Barney back.  In fact, he just seemed like an annoying fly buzzing around talking about "Bangtoberfest."  Geez.

I guess I didn't hate this episode because I did like seeing Lily's father show he did do more for her than abandon her and take her to race tracks, but it wasn't enough for me to be glad I had watched it in general.  I feel like I was just waiting for it to be over so I could enjoy 2 Broke Girls.  Even though they don't really have the same sentiment as this show, I find that its brand of comedy is less taxing than HIMYM right now.

One Down, Two To Go

How I Met Your Mother, S08E02

Barney, pressured by a coworker, decided to draw up a prenup and have Quinn sign it.  However, his ridiculous terms for their future marriage not only had Quinn questioning their relationship in general, but also the ones of the previously happy couples of Ted and Victoria, Lily and Marshall, and Robin and Nick.

This episode was very much a girls versus boys story where both sides thought the other was being unreasonable when they were both pretty much at fault.  It wasn't much of a surprise that it turned out this way since all the couples (minus Lily and Marshall who have just been together too long not to have something to squabble about) are pretty much doomed.  I was expecting that Robin and Nick would be the first doomed couple to fall because they had the least amount of time together, but it ended up being Barney and Quinn.  That wasn't too unreasonable since the prenup spinning out of control was a wonderful sign that they weren't meant to be.  I'm just glad their breakup didn't end up having to do with Robin.  And I'm just glad that we don't have to see Barney sinking any deeper into a relationship that he isn't entirely into.

Besides, finally seeing one of the 3 stupid couples fall, I was glad to see that Thomas Lennon was back on the show as Klaus.  I've liked him since I watched Reno 911!, and he's just a man of multiple comedic talents.  Particularly, as we saw in the episode, he is really good at just making people feel awkward in a funny way.  The best example was when he was walking around naked with nothing to censor himself but a bowl of popcorn.  It's crazy that Ted, wanting to show off that he can be generous (what a moron), offered to let Klaus stay and then instantly regretted it.  However, at least Klaus will be able to speed up the clock before the Victora and Ted breakup time bomb goes off.  So I'll be happy to see more of him for as long as it takes for the end of those two to happen.

I suppose I did like this episode because it showed that things were going to get moving a little bit, as far as not stringing along these frivolous relationships on until the end of the season.  It would be nice if one of the other couples fell as well (since October was the month of breakups), and we could finally get to see how Barney and Robin got back together.  Hopefully after this big run around with failed relationships, that story is going to be interesting enough to really get me invested in this show again.

Let's Hurry It Up

How I Met Your Mother, S08E01

The eight season premiere started with a look further in the future where Robin and Barney are getting married.  However, the main focus is on a little back in the past where we left off last season.  Ted and Victoria were trying to leave a note for her ex-fiance Klaus, but having difficulty sneaking in.  Barney wanted to keep his relationship with Robin a secret from Quinn, but a sleep-deprived Marshall and Lily made that difficult.

I can't say that I wasn't a little bit encouraged by this episode to keep watching, but that had little to do with almost everything that happened.  My biggest frustration was that they are continuing to do this leap forward in the story, while still talking about the past.  Well, we all know that despite Barney is engaged to Quinn and Robin has a new boyfriend that it's not going to work out.  I think I have no patience left for this show, and I just want them to hurry up and show how Robin and Barney get back together again.  Why fool around with this unimportant piece where they are apart?  Seriously, I wish I could snap my fingers and get to the point.

It was even more torture watching Ted and Victoria scrambling around to leave that note for Klaus.  We know that they aren't going to be together because Ted in the "Barbin" wedding future is sitting at a station where his future wife comes holding that famous yellow umbrella.  Frankly, for all the trouble that he went through to leave that letter for it to be that Klaus didn't even want to get married was annoying.  It absolves Ted and Victoria of looking like assholes for leaving a man at the altar, but it makes me wonder if they could have just gotten together in the end without this dramatic fleeing from the wedding and stupid return to the venue to leave a letter.  Again, I felt like I was being jerked around.  All for a relationship that isn't even going to last the entire season (presumably).

Despite all my complaints there was one thing I did like about the Ted and Victoria story and that was when Klaus thought that Ted knew German because he understood "wunderbar".  He then proceed to go off in German as normal.  This was particularly funny to me because I've had this sort of experience before.  Also, Klaus was telling Ted that he was inconsistent with his knowledge of German since he knew "kindergarten," but didn't know this other ridiculously long German word.  But by that time, it was nearly the end of the episode, and it didn't particularly save it for me.

With all these complaints, you would wonder why I would want to continue to watch.  Well, it's mostly because Ted's wife has finally shown up again.  Now, we're not sure that Ted is going to have a fateful meeting with that woman there at the train station in the next episode, but I hope he does.  If he does, I think I can keep watching.  If she's just going be there in passing just to tease us again, I think I'm gonna be done.  I'll just catch the finale of the last season so I can figure out who he marries.  Because I'm not enjoying the journey anymore.  Marshall and Lily are pretty much done--they have a kid.  Barney and Robin are going to stop going around in circles and get married.  We just need freaking Ted to fall into place.  But I don't think I have it in me to stick around if this isn't going to happen a little faster.

So for now How I Met Your Mother is still within my list of stuff to watch, but it's not out of the danger zone by a longshot.  After all, there may be something better to watch at its time slot on Monday (especially if Regular Show or Adventure Time were to move to that time), so it may not be worth it.  Hopefully, next time we are going to see the first encounter between Ted and the future Mrs. Mosby.

Tedtoria--Not So Much. Barbin--Knew It All Along

How I Met Your Mother, S07E23-24

Barney and Marshall struggled to get back to New York for the birth, while Ted and Robin tried to keep Lily calm with stories.  Marshall just managed to get there in time to see his son, Marvin be born. A week later, Ted decided to contact Victoria and found out she wanted to run away with him on her wedding day.  Robin continued to fail to take a decent family picture for Lily and Marsh to use for their announcement cards.  Barney got held up in the airport security when he refused to reveal the trick inside of a magic box.

Since the finale was an hour long, it had a lot more opportunities for funny moments.  I think it was really funny how Ted had a huge picture of himself in the labor announcement email that he sent against Lily's wishes.  It should be more pathetic that he's living his life through Lily and Marshall, but it just reminds me of how ridiculously close Ted is to his friends.  It's really hard for him to see themselves as separate people.

My favorite story that Ted and Robin told Lily about was the one about Marshall's cursed pants.  He found a note in the pocket written in Chinese that sent him to some interesting shop in Chinatown.  Despite that the owner went into the back where it was glowing bright green as if there was magic afoot, it was only a ticket for dry cleaning.  Of course, it would be.  This is pretty much how my second favorite story, the mysterious door, ended.  I would love to do that to one of my friends, but you would have to trust that they would be so cautious they wouldn't go into the broom closet until the very last second. 

I also liked how younger Lily made it seem like her dad was a stranger and got security to get rid of him.  Then in the present as he was freaking her out, she simply called for security and they dragged him out of the room in seconds.  Man, I would like to go to a hospital where I could just remove people like that (or any place, really).

It was cute how they all dressed as John Bender because they didn't coordinate well for their group Breakfast Club costumes.  The idea of each of them dressing as one of the characters is interesting.  They have exactly enough people and all the right genders.  Lily could be Claire, Robin could be Allison, Marshall could be Andrew, Ted could be Brian, and Barney could be Bender (although, I think Neil Patrick Harris resembles Brian more).  I'd just love to see that.

What I didn't love was Robin coaching Ted on who he should have ended up with.  She was quite right that he kept betting on the wrong horses for love (thus, why I'm fed up with him after these years), but I can't believe that she thought the best thing for him to do was re-explore Victoria, a woman who was supposed to be engaged.  I really liked Victoria and I thought she and Ted made a good couple, but it just didn't feel right for her to suddenly come back and want to run away with Ted.  To me it sounded like she just wanted a quick out and was scared.  If she really wanted to be with Ted, why not just tell her fiance her feelings in person instead of telling him with an empty altar.  I was really happy that Ted was going to take her back to the church until he started remembering all the good times.  I wanted to choke him when he passed the church.  Really?  You're going to go for Tedtoria??  That was the last thing I expected!  I can't help but to think that the start of the next season will show Ted's actions blowing up in his face.

What I did expect was that Barney's mystery box was somehow a proposal ploy.  I don't know why I knew, but he was being overly secretive about it and purposely ruining their getaway.  Any man that can hug his girlfriend upon seeing that she had remodeled his bachelor lair into "Tinkerbell's vagina" has to love a girl deeply enough that he wouldn't actually try to ditch her for some magician's convention instead.  I know it's TV, but Barney would have definitely gotten shot before he had one chance to explain himself in the airport.  But I'm glad it was dragged out so we could see his elaborate trick where a ring appeared on top of a growing flower.  That was amazing!  It was a really wonderful proposal.

But I knew Barney was meant for Robin, the second he mentioned this was their last chance to go off together.  That connection between them has always made me think the woman he was marrying in those random previews of the future was Robin.  I never doubted it for a second, even when both of them started dating others.  I just knew they would find a way.  I still think Robin is a jerk for abandoning Barney for Kevin and then tossing him away too, though.  After breaking his heart like that, I really wonder what Robin did to win Barney back (especially when he already had Quinn).

This was a pretty good ending to this season and had one surprise that I didn't see coming.  I just really can't be happy that Ted is simply recycling his relationships (that's how he got in trouble with Robin), but maybe Victoria will finally lead him to the girl he's supposed to be with.  I know the series is supposed to be about the events that led up to Ted meeting the girl of his dreams, but I can't imagine being less enthused about who his true love is if I were his daughter and son listening to the story in the future.  It's a shame that Barney made such an inventive proposal on a girl that he won't end up with in the long-run, but I feel a little proud that Barney is transforming into a man who can at least commit enough to want to be engaged to someone.  Robin is going  need some transforming of her own and that will be something I look forward to in the next season.  Not looking forward to Ted wasting his time with Victoria.  Or Marvin (Waitforit--are you kidding me with that middle name?) turning Marshall and Lily into boring parents.  Hopefully, they won't do any of those things next season and I'll have a reason to want it to come back in the fall.