And we’re back! After dropping a bombshell that we’re thisclose to finally meeting the mother, How I Met Your Mother returned this week with series-altering episode for Marshall and Lily, and a dark foreshadowed warning from Ted to his bro Barney. Oh and Robin is single-handedly sabotaging her relationship with Barney. But what else is new?
For the past few months, Lily has been happily working her dream job as an art consultant for the sea-obsessed Captain. However her perfect world came to a hault when The Captain announced that he was packing up and moving to Rome — and he wanted Lily to come with him. Lily was thrilled at the idea of living abroad for a year but she ultimately turned down the offer.
What are her reasons for passing up this opportunity you ask? She’s married, she has a baby, and they just opened a Shake Shack on her block and there’s never a line. (Solid argument girl! We’d never leave our street if that were the case…) In reality, Lily knows how much Marshall loves working as an environmental lawyer. She does not want to be the one responsible for taking away his identity as a lawyer and forcing him to be an Italian househusband who spends his days making pasta and watching the Italian version of The Price is Right.
But when Lily went to surprise her man with brownies at the office, she discovered that ever since the Gruber case, Marshall’s law firm has lost nearly all their clients. It’s now just Marshall and one other co-worker named Bernard, filling their days with as many fun things as possible — but Marshall was always clear not to lie to Lily about what he was doing.
Every time Lily has called her hubby at work, Marshall has urgently hung up the phone explaining that he’s working on a “huge case” (of beer) or that he’s “got a lot on his plate” (It was a plate full of burgers.) Marshall also once told Lily that he “was about to get reamed” but it turns out he and Bernard like to throw reams of paper at each other. Phew! Marshall did not want to admit to Lily that his dream job has fallen apart.
In an endearing surprise, Marshall explained that he would be more than happy to uproot their lives so his wife could follow her dream job abroad and he quickly went to convince The Captain to offer Lily the position again. Of course being HIMYM, Lily turned down the job offer once again to express to the gang how nervous she is that she is going to fail. In an adorable faux-Italian speech, Marshall and Lily had a heart-to-heart, and decided that they were definitely moving to Rome.
While it’s wonderful that Lily and Marshall are the couple that always seems to make their dreams come true, what does this mean for us? Will future episodes flash over to the couple’s crazy antics over in the “Rome” sets or does this mean that Marshall and Lily are going to bow out next season so we can watch Ted’s relationship with the Mother blossom? While you all ponder that, let’s take a look at the couple that we’re supposed to be rooting for, but we really just don’t care about anymore: Barney and Robin.
It’s the classic HIMYM story: Ted and Barney are in the bar when a super hot girl walks in that Ted knows from yoga class. (Yoga? Really? Since when does Ted do yoga?) Apparently this girl has a “redonkulous” body and Barney quickly becomes obsessed with getting her out of the freakishly oversized coat so he can take a look at her curves — he even pays the bartender $100 to turn up the heat.
It turns out that super hot yoga girl is actually Liddy, Robin and Barney’s wedding planner and despite the awkward connection, Barney is still trying to find a way to get that coat on the rack so he can see the rack that’s under the coat. Barney wishes that Marshall were there to suggest that Liddy takes off her coat because he does not have “the stink” of desperation that all single guys ooze into the atmosphere. (Side-Note: As a lady, I can confirm this is true. It kind of smells like a mixture of body odor, old pennies, and fear.)
Robin then poises an interesting question, “Aren’t you a guy who has found the girl of his dreams and want to spend the rest of his life with her and only her? Then why don’t you ask her to take her coat off?” So Barney gathered up his courage, asked the girl to take her coat off and was able to drool over another woman while sitting directly next to his fiancé. So basically Robin just taught Barney how to channel his douchebagery and disguise it behind a non-threatening soon-to-be-married façade. I hope you feel dumb girl.
Barney later expressed his gratitude to Robin for giving him that little push saying, “Robin thanks to you I can now go up to any girl and say whatever creepy disgusting thing that I want and totally get away with it! I think I’m going to like being married.” Later at the bar Barney expressed to Ted that he can’t wait for his wedding day because he is excited to see Liddy wearing something “slinky and backless.” Aww how romantic!
Ted then offered some friendly best man advice: Be careful. Despite Robin’s cool exterior, Ted is worried that Barney is not acting like a guy should who is about to get married in three weeks. Barney quickly shut down Ted’s concerns and snapped, “But you’re not getting married in three weeks Ted, I am. Robin is marrying me, not you.” Ted apologized, bought the next round, and when Barney got back to his apartment we see a coat-wearing Robin is waiting for him with a smug smirk on her face.
Are we supposed to believe that everything is a-okay with Barney and Robin? And at this point who should we be angry with? Barney for never shedding his single-guy mentalities, or Robin for not wanting to lose the title of “Coolest Fiancé” and telling him the truth? Obviously we’ve seen in multiple flash-forwards that Robin is going to have some serious second-thoughts at the wedding — but will she actually pull a Stella and leave her man at the alter? If she has any shred of respect for herself then she most certainly should. Sorry Barney, but it’s true.
Follow Leanne on Twitter @LeanneAguilera
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