Yeah, this episode was pretty weird.

When we watch a sitcom, it’s the humor that initially keeps you coming back for more. If it doesn’t make us laugh, it’s probably not going to keep us around for very long. How I Met Your Mother became such an initial success because of its unique style of storytelling but also because it was just funny. But as initial viewers turn into diehard fans, they need something more solid to grasp onto — dependable, well-developed characters and deeper plots.

How I Met Your Mother took its first foray into its darker side around the sixth season. It began as we learned about Barney’s sad childhood, forayed into Marshall and Lily’s struggle and disappointments as they tried to get pregnant and then dove into a heartbreaking string of episodes when Marshall’s dad died. These episodes might have been a deterrent if they had occurred earlier in the life of the show, but they come perfectly at a time when viewers have a firm sense of who the characters are and are prepared to see the characters face more daunting challenges than the comparatively trivial pursuit of romance. Not to mention, these episodes are well-balanced with humor, carefully placed highs and lows, and surprising twists that relay the full impact of the moment. For example: When we learn Marshall’s dad is dead, it comes at the end of a peak moment — Marshall has discovered he is capable of having children — and the news is as shocking to us as it is to Marshall. We felt connected to him because we experienced the moment with him.

This episode, while it was overall solid, did not exactly represent the same carefully crafted darkness that was so well carried out in the sixth season.

Barney really wants Ted to come with him to see Robots vs. Wrestlers: Legends (complete with wheelchair-accessible ring) but Ted is not convinced that it would be a fun time. To convince him, Barney brings in Future Ted and Future Barney to convince Ted that it will be an event he will look back on fondly. As the night unfolds, 20 Hours Later Ted also joins in to convince Ted that tomorrow’s hangover won’t be worth the fun, and 20 Minutes Later Barney inexplicably showing up to point out a girl who will walk in who Ted will want to hit on. (It’s coat check girl from season 1, episode 5: “Okay, Awesome,” one of Ted’s many lost loves.) Ted talks himself into talking to her but two possibly future versions of the girl — one clingy and one angry — pull Ted back to convince him this will only end in one of them growing sick of the other, as all of Ted’s other relationships have.

Meanwhile, Marshall is upset that McClaren’s has named his signature — and totally not girly — drink the “Minnesota Tidal Wave” after Robin because of how often she orders it. Marshall challenges her to a dance off, but Lily says no (“I’m an adult, you have to let me dance my own battles!”) so instead he writes Robin’s name on the bathroom stall in the men’s room, believing Robin would never go into the men’s room to clear her name. But without hesitation she does, and then makes her way into the women’s room to set up an elaborate trick to get Marshall stuck in a stall, unable to leave until he finally bursts out, scaring the women inside and earning the shorthand “pulling a Marshall Erickson” for someone being creepy.

Lily finally relents, blasting Marshall’s song on the jukebox and allowing him to challenge Robin who says she can’t lose (“because I’m SPARKLES, bitch!”) though the dance-off is never resolved.

The reason the subplot is never resolved because just as the pair begins their dance, the Future Teds and Barneys go away and the initial Barney reveals that it is all in Ted’s head. The Minnesota Tidal Wave debate took place almost five years ago, and Ted has just been sitting in the bar this whole time, alone, staring at a single Robots vs. Wrestlers ticket. The moment is so depressing that it’s almost uncomfortable to watch: Ted has clearly reached the lowest point of his life. The show then devolves in a series of heartfelt but cheesy moments as older Ted reflects to his children on all the things he wished he would have done instead of going to the show that night: visited baby Marvin, hung out with Robin and Barney, and especially gone to see his future wife, who we find out lives very close by and whom Ted will meet in exactly forty-five days. The scene ends as Ted delivers a really corny imaginary speech to his wife about how he wishes he didn’t have to wait those forty-five days, and then his future wife’s boyfriend (who is surprisingly buff and scraggly for someone who supposedly works on Wall Street) comes and punches a happy and dreamy Ted in the face.

The whole thing didn’t really come together as well as it could have, creating an unnecessary amount of confusion. It was a weird episode.

However, it is exciting that the quest for the mother may be over soon. 45 days should leave just the right amount of time for Ted to meet her at the very end of this season, paving the way for a recent prediction by TV.com to come true: That next season may very well be the story told through the mother’s eyes. The prospect is exciting, and if the show did take that direction it would be a much-needed twist on a show living well past its glory days.

Tidbits:

– The last scene in which the current and future Teds and Barneys join together for a perfect rendition of Billy Joel’s “For the Longest Time” was incredible. A much-needed moment of silliness amidst the pure weirdness of this episode.

– Barney: “Nobody’s saying you need to have alcohol to have an exciting and memorable night…” [grumbling] …”but in this case yeah you kinda do.”

– Marshall, on Robin allowing the bar to name the drink after her even though it was Marshall’s creation: “So you’re gonna Zuckerburg me?”

– Marshall, on why he won’t go into the ladies’ room: “I know that I have the sexual charisma of a bad boy but I certainly don’t have the manners of one!”

– Marshall: “LADIES PUT YOUR BLOUSES BACK ON I’M COMING IN.” (What does he think goes on in there?!)

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