HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER: Not A Father’s Day

Before I turn things over to Jen may I just say how difficult it is to post this review of last night’s episode without actually reading it.  As I was on a plane I missed all of my Monday night shows and I need to catch up online this morning.  So while you are reading and commenting on last night’s ep, I’m going to give it a watch.  Once again…the internet FTW!!

And now on to Jen’s review…

It must be really difficult in the writer’s room to come up with so many different dating lingos, with definitions, for the character of Barney to invent. Lemon Law, Hot/Crazy Scale and now we have The Cheerleader Effect. If anyone missed the definition, here it is: when a group of women seem hot but only as a group. Take them individually and they are hideous. Also see: Bridesmaid Paradox, Sorority Syndrome and Spice Girls Conspiracy. Kudos to the cantina scene reference from “Star Wars”. Does George Lucas make money for each time “Star Wars” is mentioned? This is the third time this season his brilliant trilogy has been mentioned. Yes, I know there are six movies, but I believe there really is only one true “Star Wars” trilogy, Episodes IV – VI.Barney gets a phone call, acts nonchalant and then let’s the gang in on some news: he might become a father! Anyone else completely freaked out about the possibility of Barney being a dad? Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Barney. I sometimes think that one day he’ll settled down a bit but I’m not ready for that now. No way, no how. And he’s so calm and collected about it. At first this was not the Barney that freaked out during Lily and Marshall’s wedding over the possibility that Robin was pregnant. But after a brief moment he realized what was happening and had to leave. Barney doesn’t want children, doesn’t understand why anyone would. Come on! I know Barney is a sucker for children. We saw in the not so distant future that he has bonded with his adopted nephew. James and his new hubby celebrated their marriage while Barney had a little man-to-man discussion, including fist bump, if I remember correctly. How do you think Michael Phelps is feeling about having Barney’s little men being named after him? At least they always go for the gold. Does Barney usually answer his phone weirdly? Seems like I know he does but it still caught me off guard each time.

Future Ted remarks that when you are thirty and in a couple you start to see babies everywhere. I don’t think that’s 100% accurate. I see cute little babies everywhere and I still have some time before I’m 30. Not a lot of time but again, I’m not 30 and I do enjoy the sights of baby clothes and little hands and feet.

Lily and Marshall have baby fever. They’ve been married for about a year, it is inevitable. Plus with the real-life news of Hannigan being pregnant, the baby-buzz on the show is definitely on. But Marshall and Lily have someone that keeps getting in their way, the couch-crashing Robin. She’s unemployed and has no apartment. Sounds like we’re going to find out soon about Ted and Robin’s not-so-distant future living arrangements that we first heard about in “The Goat”. The Aldrin-Ericksons push Robin on Ted so they can get some alone time. Robin is definitely not in a good place. She is eating beer floats with an ice cream scooper out of the canister and has been shooting cans off the roof of the apartment building. Good luck, Ted! Great company.

We find Barney in a church, the least likely place I would have ever thought to look for him. Hallelujah! Barney is not a father! How many pregnancy scares has this man had? I’m pretty sure Robin’s possible scare was like his fifth most worried. He decides to create a holiday, alongside a functional website, www.notafathersday.com. Bays and Thomas always makes sure that they have it all set up by the time they announce another dotcom. Head over there for four different postcards, a mug or to read the “Not A Father’s Day Oath” that Barney performed near the end of the episode.

Unfortunately for Marshall his baby-making plans for the night are interrupted because his breakfast time in China is preventing him from coming home. Nolan, played by Dan Lauria aka Kevin Arnold’s dad on “The Wonder Years” is counting on Marshall. I love “The Wonder Years”, especially Fred Savage. I totally crushed on him throughout the series. Marshall being hung up at work gives Lily some time to crack because now she realizes that she may not be ready to have a baby and seeks guidance from Ted and Robin.

Lily asks them to plead their cases, Ted being pro and Robin being against. Robin did connect with a child once but I guess she’s back to being afraid of little children and their soft heads. Lily was worried about carrying Marshall’s baby when she was visiting Marshall’s family for Thanksgiving. The Erickson boys are huge. Marshall’s mom is a little lady like Lily, and Marshall has a head like a late August watermelon, as Robin so nicely phrased it. Of course Ted is pro-kids, he’s already in dad mode, with his lame jokes, the way he disciplines and the waitress “I will be your customer” line. Yes, he totally is already the dorky dad! That’s why it is so easy to see Current Ted as Future Ted, telling his kids all these stories that led up to him meeting their mom. While I’m pro-kid, I do agree with Robin about talking baby commercials. That one for trading stocks with the baby in front of the camera, totally creepy!

Drunken Lily escapes from Robin and Ted and ends up on Marshall’s desk ready to be impregnated. The drunken Lily/Robin talking about babies in the cab sequence was probably the most difficult thing for me to watch. I know it was meant to be clever and I love Alyson no matter what, but that part was definitely the most wretched HIMYM sequence. I get it, drunken Lily is like a child, hard to control, you don’t know what will happen next, and the crying, the constant attention I just felt like I was being clubbed over the head.

While at MacLaren’s looking for Lily, Ted finds Jeremy’s sock in Robin’s purse. This little tiny item of clothing has the magical properties to warm the entire gang’s hearts about babies. Ted and Robin bond over having a bad few months and decide to move in together while Barney is celebrating “Not A Father’s Day” by the bar. When he comes over, he is astonished to learn that the Cheerleader Effect isn’t primarily subjected to girls. Poor Jason Segel, he has to play the ugly one twice. Well, with that hairstyle, why not? Thankfully, Marshall isn’t ready to have kids right now either. So, to all that was worried that a baby was going to barge into the group and ruin the entire dynamic, not yet, my friends.

I do believe it will happen. We saw that Lily wouldn’t drink her Scotch and with Hannigan being pregnant in real-life, they will need to confront the subject again. Just hopefully when we are all ready.

Did this episode give you baby-fever? Or did this casting news scare you as much as it did me? I go a feeling that something could happen between Ted and Robin again, anyone else? Did you enjoy Barney, the sock and “Cats in the Cradle?” And seriously, was anyone else really annoyed by the laugh track last night?

— posted by Jen

Our HIMYM aficionado Jen is constantly exhausted from staying up late to watch all her favorite television shows. During her NYC trip she was inches away from Rachael Ray on GMA, went into a chocolate coma and found a woman carrying a yellow umbrella.