"How I Met": Yes or Noooooo?
I knew last night's "How I Met Your Mother" could not top the first Robin Sparkles episode, so my expectations were low. And that was a good thing, because the bulk of the show was just OK. And at the very end (spoiler alert), when we see a romantic development between Robin and Barney, the show was worse than OK. I think that makeout session has the potential to screw up some of the "How I Met Your Mother" magic going forward. I can already picture the moment getting tons on votes over at jumptheshark.com.
Or maybe I am in the minority about this? Every sitcom seems to go nuts with the intercast romance sooner or later, which makes me think it might actually be a successful way to goose up a show's ratings. Maybe the Ross-Rachel-Joey-type stuff is crowd-pleasing? To me, it feels forced and gimmicky.
I'd much rather see Robin and Barney as buds, smoking cigars together, two peas in a commitment-phobic pod. Making them lovers, or sex buddies, is just too weird. It's as if the writers think that having Robin get with Barney is the only way to keep her relevant to the show, since she's not the "mother" and she's no longer with Ted.
So now, if the Barney and Robin relationship proceeds to go somewhere, that will be really disappointing. "How I Met Your Mother" won't be about a group of friends so much as a strange collection of lovers and ex-lovers. And if Barney-Robin doesn't go anywhere, well then what was the point? Just another Thing -- like the Britney appearance -- to keep the fans talking?
The "revertigo" notion was excellent, and James Van Der Beek was really good, bad Canadian accent and all. But I have no enthusiasm for that final scene. Do you?
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Was great to see the return of Robin Sparkles, but yeah, once the initial shock wore off, the idea of a Robin-Barney coupling just seems forced, and destined to go nowhere. I much prefer the idea of Robin becoming Barney's "wingperson". That would have a lot more comedic potential.
Overall I've been disappointed with HIMYM this year. I think the writers have really lost their way. It seems almost like they've forgotten how to voice these characters, which they did so well in season 2. I hope things improve, or I doubt we'll see a season 4 (and I'm not even sure I would want to).
I absolutely hate the idea of Robin and Barney. It's way too Friends. I like Friends, but there's a reason that anything after the first 4 seasons is hard to re-watch. It stopped being about friends.
There are so many truisms in HIMYM. My friends and I sit around watching it and we see ourselves: last week, when Marshall came home from and just whimpered, "Beer," Ted's St. Patrick's fiasco, which was oddly sad and a little too true, spending hours at the bar making up theories. That's what we do. We do not all make out with each other. Partly that is due to gender imbalance, but still.
I can buy Robin and Barney having an awkward one-nighter that leads to a brief period of awkwardness (and hopefully hilarity) and then is just something that gets brought up as a punchline...kind of like how they use Robin being Canadian. But that's it. No more couples. Friendships are fun.
I really enjoyed last night's episode including the ending. I can totally see them together - after a really awkward phase maybe. I trust the writers!
I just read that Sarah Chalke is signed for at least one more episode. My theory: (or I read it somewhere, I can't remember!) Barney is the father of Sarah Chalke's kid.....wouldn't that be something?
No way ... I knew for the longest time they were going to go in this direction. They keep referring to Robin as "Aunt Robin" in the show, so she must have married into or been around long enough to earn that title. Barney and Robin are perfect for each other. Also, you cite Joey/Ross/Rochel, but that isnt this. Robin and Ted are NOT Ross and Rachel. The show has been establishing that for a while. This would be like if Joey had gone for Rachel FIRST and it didn't work out and THEN Ross and Rachel happened.
I love it and I think its perfect, no doubt they will try to keep it a secret but unlike Friends it won't last a whole season, the secret will probably come out in a couple episodes.
Like Cee, I was thinking this was gonna happen since I first heard her called "Aunt Robin" many episodes ago, so I was almost expecting this to happen a little earlier. I think this relationship (or non-relationship) opens up different avenues for the writers to take not only the Robin/Barney relationship, but the groups relationships as well.
I think Robin would be perfect for Barney. How often do we see him chasing whatever woman comes walking through the bar, just by feeding her some lines or turning on the Barney charm (aka B.S.). Now he'll have to compete with a woman who can hang with him socially as well as mentally. This could really be fun to watch, whatever direction the writers take.
You and I only think about these things 22 minutes per week, but the writers must have been driving themselves crazy worrying about what to do with Robin since the breakup with Ted. Think how Cobie Smulders must feel- she's on this great show and the writers are grasping at straws to figure out what to do with her character.
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