How I Met Your Mother - "The Rebound Girl"

Season 7, Episode 11

Look, not everybody liked last week’s episode. I find it kind of hard to believe, since I found it to be one of the strongest episodes that the show has produced in quite a while, but it’s true. A large reason for that appears to be that some people didn’t like the ending, whether because they saw it as a stall tactic or because they felt it represented the show putting up just one more unnecessary road block. Tonight’s episode had a similar twist ending, and considering that fan reaction will be just as divided (if not more negative) as it was last week, it seems like a bold move for the show to pull. But it also got me thinking about how the show does a lot of things in pairs, and how maybe that’s worth taking under consideration.

I know that the previous statement may sound a bit unfounded, so hear me out: Ted falls for Robin in season one, dates her in season two. Barney falls for Robin in season four, dates her in season five. Ted’s relationship with Robin started just as Marshall and Lilly’s ended. Ted buys a house in season five, and here we are in season seven, and Marshal and Lilly may soon own their own house. Barney begins dating Nora, and not long after Robin is dating Kevin. Lilly gets pregnant at the end of last season, and now it appears that Robin is similarly with child. (And while this wasn’t the writers doing, let’s not overlook the fact that Allyson Hannigan and Cobie Smulders both had their children around the same time a couple of years back.)

Do not misunderstand me. This is a stupid, stupid move for the show to pull. Making Robin pregnant not only feels as if the show is doing it because it's entered old age and the writers have run out of ideas, but it also feels like some sort of setup created just to have an endgame started on the whole Barney/Robin storyline already. (Alan Sepinwall has come up with a fairly impressive list of possibilities, none of which sound all that promising.) What’s more, the twist itself feels forced, both because it’s the trite sort of thing that most shows have pulled after two characters hook up, and because Robin’s actions in the rest of the episode weren’t quite specific enough to her problem. I get that she would act out in some way about this news, but clinging on to her desire to have Marshall and Lilly stay in the city doesn’t exactly match up.

However, I don’t want to give up hope that the show will find a way to make this work, given how strong I think this season has shaped up overall. The optimist in me wants to believe that there could still be a way to make this work, though I’m not quite sure what that might be. Fittingly, this isn’t the first time that a pair of developments has happened where one feel stupid while the other makes sense. Ted dating Robin made sense; Barney dating Robin  did not, at least retroactively. Ted buying a house was a stupid move (both within the show and from a narrative perspective), but Marshall and Lilly owning a house does, especially since they have a baby (which is makes sense, compare to the stupidity of Robin’s pregnancy) and are now moving on with their lives.

And I of course bring up stupidity because, well, half of the episode sort of hinged on it. Having Ted and Barney star in their own version of Three Two Men and Baby is a straight-up ridiculous and silly idea, but it’s one that the show owned up to early tonight, and that made the plot immensely enjoyable. And my point is this: When the show has characters do stupid things, but owns up to them being stupid, it works as a piece of comedy. And when their stupidity comes out of their current situation and/or the character learn from their stupidity, it works as something more, as their storyline did tonight. For comparison, that two-episode arc where Ted dated Karen again? That worked out pretty well. Antithetically, Ted starting his own business and buying his house early were actions that were stupid yet funny at the start, but quickly became narratively stupid and unfunny when the show began to take treat them as serious developments. (These storylines were also hurt by the fact that they didn’t/haven’t really gone anywhere.)

Now, I doubt that all these pairings/parallels that have developed over the years are intentional, as only the Barney/Nora-Robin/Kevin matching felt like a premeditated storytelling device. (If we were being really cynical, we might just chalk up all this to lazy recycling of storylines.) But, if the show recognizes the patterns of its past (though there’s no reason that as showrunners Bays & Thomas would need to think like that) or if they came across the above theory in time (that would be an even more unlikely occurrence), there is still time for them to turn it around. They could draw important, meaningful parallels between Lilly and Robin’s pregnancies. Hell, they could even rescue the subplot about Ted’s house if they just work Marshall and Lilly’s storyline in the right way. (And their arc is really developing quite nicely, by the way.) All of this is to say that Robin’s pregnancy doesn’t have to be a show-wrecking development, that it could still be written into a piece of solid storytelling.

But for now, it’s just a plot twist that holds no meaning, and frustrates me in its apparent lack of grounding to the rest of the series. And considering that the show has screwed the audience over with ridiculous plot developments in the past, this isn’t really the smartest place for the show to remain for too long.

Quotes and Other Thoughts:

Another plot development that could be risky: Marshall and Lilly’s house. I said above that I like it as a storyline for the couple, but considering they're in Long Island, and Ted has his own house in some other suburban area, the logistics could be quite painful to work out. (Or, to put it another way: There’s a reason Friends ended with the gang all moving out of the city.) I realize that the characters have ways of getting to these places, and enough money/time that this wouldn’t be a problem logically, but it would also A) stick these character into their own individual plotlines more often, and B) rob them of the bar and other external settings to hang out at, thus limiting the kind of stories that the show can tell. Because as Robin reminded us with her 4 a.m. shopping spree, things are just far more interesting in the city than in the suburbs.

As much as I enjoyed Ted and Barney’s plot, there was one thing that bothered me, and that was their conversation at the top of the hour about what it would be like if they were gay. Now, it was funny and tastefully done, but there’s something about watching gay actors playing straight characters who start talking about being gay that bothers me, like a meta joke that’s just not that funny. It’s especially bothersome when said gay actor plays straight so well – as Neil Patrick Harris does – because the reminder that said actor is gay in real life sort of ruins the illusion of the show for me, as reality starts poking in on this fictitious world.

In case you were wondering, no, that’s not the original actor that played James’ husband way back in season two. Fittingly neither actor has ever gotten a line, and at least the writers remembered that his name is Tom. (And how giving/broke is Wayne Brady that he would pop in for such a thankless cameo for his character?)

“Your grandparents gave us this house outright, so the way I see it, we have five options: One, sell it. Two, year-round haunted house. Three, giant fence around the perimeter – monkey sanctuary. There’s already a tire swing in the backyard. Four, we destroy is with sledgehammers. I like four….”

“I’m done with girls. I just don’t think I like them anymore.” “Based on the what you’ve done to them over the years, I’m not sure you ever liked them.”

“You know what would be awesome?” “Being gay?” Being gay!”

“They have a little pouch. They should be called sea kangaroos!”

“Jeez, how many lamps do you guys have?”

“We’re having a baby!” “Bro-parents, activate!”

“Let’s talk baby names!” “Barney…” “Oh my god, that’s my first choice too!”

“Here are a few fact about Long Island. Number one: it’s Brooklyn’s fart trail.”

“And if I don’t have a guy for something, then I have a guy-guy to get me a guy. And oddly enough, his name’s Guy.”

“And did Marshall go through with being a Ghostbuster?” “That firehouse is still there…” “Even Ernie Hudson begged you not to go through with it.” “ERNIE HUDSON IS A COWARD!”

“Okay, we’ll get two nannies; one for banging, one for child care.”

“HAVE YOU NEVER HEARD OF OVERHEAD LIGHTING?!”

“Did Guy the guy-guy get you a baby guy?”

“Well, the other night we were talking, ‘We hate girls. We wish we were gay.’ Just guy stuff…”

“And once we iron out that whole pet cobra thing, we will be amazing dads.”