How I Met Your Mother - 7x18 - Karma

The episode starts with Ted summarizing the last few episodes in like six thousand less words than I did. Which just makes me wonder, why the hell am I doing this again?

Fine, let's try this in bullet points:

Robin's moved out and is crashing at Marshall and Lily's. Ted's trying to cope with his heartbreak by filling the now-empty room with anything other than a constant reminder of who's no longer there. Barney gets taken pretty hilariously, though unbelievably, by a stripper named Karma, who's probably going to end up being the woman he ends up maybe-marrying in that flash-forward-back that's framing the season. Marshall and Lily reveal they've been existing in a living death of old people and shuffleboard out in the suburbs, and try to rope/shanghai Robin into joining them.


Well that was pretty unsatisfying. Maybe let's try it old school again. So, where do we start? How about the meat of the episode, the so-appropriately-named-she-was-probably-created-in-a-freshman-writing-class Karma aka Quinn, that girl that Barney went out with a few weeks ago that he may be in love with.

Barney sees (or just finally recognizes?) Quinn on stage at The Lusty Leopard and goes back to ask her out, citing destiny and a deep connection and all that jazz. She responds by suggesting they have their dates in the club and that he pay for lap dances from her so her manager doesn't get mad at her.

Yeah. The guy who pulled a six month long Xanatos Gambit just to see Lily's breasts fell for this. For like fifteen minutes worth of episode. Is it me, or are they padding the episodes this season something fierce?

"Wait for it..."

After what seems like forreevverrrrrr Barney finally wises up and splits. Since this is sitcom-New York, it's not long before he runs into her at a Starbucks or whatever, and they somewhat-politely hash it out. He makes some well deserved cracks about being taken for hundreds of dollars. She points out that he's a skeevy narcissistic who didn't recognize her despite being a regular at the club for over eight years.

So you know, pretty evenly matched.

"No wait, I'm pretty sure I'm still worse..."

Somehow besides JUST making the perfect point on what a sleazeball Barney is though, she totally falls for his whiny self-absorbed Ted-esque "Every woman has been wrong to give me a chance. You're wrong not to." line, and they have a flirty coffee together.

Whatever. I mean I liked Nora, and I'm still not exactly sure why she had to go, but Quinn is actually a living person, with (seemingly) her own personality and interests and a pretty effective, if contrived, foil for Barney. We should (hopefully) get some pretty entertaining stories out of this that actually involve her as something other than a prop for Barney's stuttered evolution.

Moving on.

After hearing from Robin how miserable Marshall and Lily are in the 'burbs, Ted decides to do something unexpected: turn Robin's now-vacated room into a nursery and leave the apartment to Marshall and Lily. And ...wander the streets of New York homeless and with only a backpack and a naive smile, I guess? Is this what he's actually doing? Cause Ted going all Bill Bixby in Greenwich Village might actually be something to look forward to.

"You wouldn't like me when I'm douchey."

Still, ignoring the logistics of what exactly Ted's planning on doing with himself now, it was actually a very touching gesture, complete with a sweet, non-douchey note that leaves Marshal and Lily genuinely touched.

But I can't help but feel though that this should've happened years ago. Much like the constant Ted/Robin/Barney love-rigmaroles (I call that name for a circus porno!), Ted leaving the apartment feels like the latest in a string of "big changes" that they've been dying to pull off for years, but for some reason kept stalling on.

Still, it's a change. I'm going to look on the positive side. It's forward movement...right? Right?

"Yeah. Sure. Whatever, I guess."