“Last week, I went out with a girl whose favorite band was Glee.” – Ted
There’s an important plot point that the episode reminds us of every ten minutes or so—but that doesn’t really resonate in the interim periods for whatever reason. We see in flashbacks that, on the night prior to their railroad adventure, Ted had employed Barney as a wingman on his date with a girl who turned out to be both uninteresting and uninterested. But Barney really hit it off with Ted’s date’s wingwoman. Quinn, played by Becki Newton, is a quick-witted, brazen and sardonic young lady who sees right through all of Barney’s B.S. Naturally, this draws him to her—so much so that even through his Drunk Train endeavors—both his unsuccessful sober one and his second, more profitable intoxicated one—Barney can’t stop thinking about Quinn. In fact, after Ted calls Barney out on his feelings for her, Barney even cuts short a date with a Trainee, deciding he’d rather pursue something more substantial with Quinn. Who, by the way, is a stripper—but he doesn’t know that yet.

“Good circling, Ted.” – Barney
“This ain’t my first word search.” – Ted
Again, resounding “No!”s. I don’t think I’m in the minority in hoping that the wedding set to close this seventh season will be between Barney and Robin—not Barney and Quinn, or Barney and Nora, or Barney and anyone else. But if that does end up being the case, we’ve got an awful lot to wade through before then: Barney’s pursuit of Quinn and, of course, that whole Ted-loves-Robin-again/still thing I mentioned earlier.

Barney isn’t the only one who realizes on the train that he wants more. Ted admits sadly that all he wants is to love someone, but that there is no one for him to love. Upon returning home, he finds Robin, sad, alone and with cigarette on the roof. After she explains to him what happened with Kevin, Ted proudly and earnestly professes his love to her.

“I was all, do I look like I’m from Ronkonkoma?” – Barney
“Ohhh!” – Long Islanders
So what the hell are we supposed to do with this? Unless there is some sort of reality-altering paradox, we know that they can’t end up together. Once we all came to terms with that, we figured, “Well, Robin and Barney would be a pretty sweet deal!” But now, How I Met Your Mother is doing everything in its power to complicate that ride. I still do believe that by the end of the season, Robin and Barney will wind up with one another. But I don’t really know what’s going to come from this whole fiasco.

Also, apparently, Barney went to MIT.

What did you think about this week’s episode? Which duo are you pulling for: Ted and Robin? Robin and Barney? Barney and Quinn? Robin and Kevin? Let us know whose camp you’re in in the comments section or on Twitter (@MichaelArbeiter).