How I Met Your Mother

I didn't mind the Robin/Barney breakup, because you if it had gone on for any great length of time you just know Barney would have cheated on her. These are not people who do well at long term relationships; their self-destruction was inevitable.

And I really liked Season 5. The running storylines weren't so hot, but a lot of the episodes, taken as standalone stories, were pretty awesome.

Yeah, except we weren't shown any of that. IT literally came out of nowhere—one episode they were doing fine, the next BOOM relationship troubles. If you're going to break them up, give us the typical HIMYM-style slow leadup and show the reasons why they're breaking up.

In the latest episode, why the hell did everyone think it was so important for Ted click on that link? There was nothing urgent about it, nothing he really needed to know right away. I would have thought it would have been much more awesome for him to discover that on his own. That kind of bothered me.

They were just really impatient to hear what Ted thought about it. They probably had no idea that hearing great things about her would mess the date up.

.... I call bullshit, if only because they have known Ted since college.*

They must know Ted enough to know that his having too much information about the other would screw up his date. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that they did it on purpose... Mostly because Ted can't get a girlfriend who is "better" than his current crop of friends are...

After all, Lily is evil, conniving, and most of all subtle...

edited 21st Oct '11 6:27:28 PM by Swish

But Ted always thinks whatever girl he's dating is fantastic and "may be the one". You'd think getting that opinion confirmed by an objective source wouldn't affect him so much.

I knew that the baby was going to be a boy. I seriously would have bet money on it.

edited 23rd Oct '11 9:46:05 AM by Sabertooth1000000000

Seeing as it was revealed earlier in the series, i doubt you would have found someone to take the bet.

It was? Oohhhhh yeeeaahhh, the cigarette thing. Even without that it was obvious because of how much Marshall wanted a son to continue his family's tradition while there were no real plot reasons for them to have a girl.

edited 24th Oct '11 9:08:46 PM by Sabertooth1000000000

So apparently in the next episode Barney finds out he's part Canadian. Oh, how I look forward to it...

Oh my. Considering the fact that he mocks Canada at the barest opportunity, it might destroy him.

That's absolutely hilarious. That means we might get more of Barney's relationship with his father too.

Anybody else subscribe to the theory that The Mother is Barney's half sister?

Maybe. What's the evidence for it?

Barney has a half sister who goes to Ted's university, and would most likely be at Barney's wedding.

Yeah, that's the theory. I just like it. It's probably a Red Herring however.

So Ted finally meets the Slutty Pumpkin, but they don't have Instant Hollywood Chemistry, so they give up.

Lily suffers from "pregnancy brain," because apparently carrying a child cuts your IQ in half.

Robin teases Barney about his Canadian heritage. NPH's reactions were pretty funny, but I'm getting so tired of Robin's unrealistic Cliché Storm comments ("colder than a shaved prairie dog in Regina on Boxing Day" or what have you) — they're more like lists of "goofy Canadian things" than actual jokes. I'm sort of disappointed that this show goes with the standard Canada Eh stereotypes so often... Seen It A Million Times.

For the Slutty Pumpkin thing, I'd argue that that's entirely justified because of the fact that the two of them had spent literally a decade building up to this moment, and the disappointment was absurdly crushing for the two of them. It's perfectly understandable to me—after that much drumroll, no way could any real relationship live up to that, so the two of them didn't even try.

Agreed wholeheartedly with everything else you said though.

In this case, though, Robin was intentionally playing up Canadianisms to annoy Barney, so it's in-universe Canada Eh.

I have to say, as someone who was born and raised in Chicoutimi, a poutine shortage is as serious as Robin makes it out to be in any situation. The curling bonspiel only aggravates the issue.

Hmm. Well, maybe I'm too much of a city-slicker to appreciate the truth in some of these references.

I don't know what half those words mean. Talk English!

Anyway, I spent much of the episode wondering why Ted took so long to put forward any effort to find the Slutty Pumpkin. I suppose the writers mainly wanted to tie up that loose end. Also if she was trying to find him, then why did they never run into each other on the same roof again? Oh well, probably better not to dwell on a mediocre episode.

edited 3rd Nov '11 7:55:49 PM by Lawyerdude

Ha! I never even noticed that plot hole, but yeah, didn't she explicitly say that she waited there year after year? Maybe she gets her roof parties confused easily.

Sidenote: I wonder how Nora handles Barney's over-the-top patriotism. What's his stance on Great Britain?

She didn't say she waited there year after year... She said she went as a slutty pumpkin to all the Halloween parties she went to for the past 10 years.

I'm almost certain she went to that roof-top party with a friend, and didn't expect the "hanging-chad guy" to go to the same party over and over again, because she probably had no idea he lived in that building...

Ah. Well, that makes sense.

With how awkward those two were together, I was half-expecting a reveal that the Slutty Pumpkin was actually Ted's daughter from the future.

Anyone else find the ending a little contrived? Barney and Robin hadn't had much romantic interaction lately, and BOOM! this.

edited 9th Nov '11 9:29:39 PM by Sabertooth1000000000