Listen, show, this was a pretty okay episode. Any other season, it might even have been a pretty good episode, MAYBE even great. But I'm still disappointed in you, after the blatant backpedaling last ep. I know, I know, I shouldn't have expected so much from you, you can't help what you are. But it hurts me to see you satisfied with these minor accomplishments, when I can see you're not living up to your true potential. This isn't bad, show. It's pretty good. But you can be better.
You know, maybe I should be sick of them by now, but these episodes of Marshall dealing with his grief over his dad's death always just
work for me, you know? Maybe it's because I'll always have a soft spot for
Dauber, but I like that we keep coming back to this well every so often. That said, it kind of leads to an additional meta framing device that makes me think that FutureTed's kids study temporal physics in school in order to follow the timeline their dad's been laying out all this time.
Marshall visits his dad's grave to tailgate a Vikings game while he tells him about all the stuff that happened over the new years holiday. When his other two brothers (and then a nearby funeral) have the same idea, Marshall gets a little protective and defensive of his new tradition, but soon comes to embrace his father's role as consumate host of impromptu grilled meat stranger mixers. Everyone say awwww with me.
So what happened over the break? Well Barney and Ted, only a few weeks after conspiring in the felony kidnapping of a toddler, decide they're past due for another stupendously bad idea and re-open
Puzzles after getting snubbed by the bouncer (will Sasso) down at MacLarens on New Years Eve. The reality of running an actual bar, even for one night, isn't as glamorous as they assumed, and their differing visions for what Puzzles should be threatens to tear the entire venture apart. Ultimately though, the advanced logistics of finding a satisfactory
drink prices to drunken damage to free flowing vomit ratio proves too much for the boys, and they're forced to pack it in. It's a testament to Ted's dedication to a leading an uber-douchey
Salon that he didn't pull the plug the second Barney started using his room as a VIP-Lounge-For-One. Ew.
Marshall and Lily have some ridiculously contrived story about how Lily doesn't want her kids to believe in the supernatural because her dad's selfish actions taught her never to believe in anyone but herself. I'm pretty sure this entire plot was just a ham fisted way to shoehorn in a long-form joke about those
Mysteries of the Unknown commercials, but I'm not sure it was really worth it.
Robin has the most intresting subplot of all, when Sandy Rivers (I maintain that has to be a euphemism of some kind) gets absolutely schnoppered while hosting his network's version of New Year's Rockin' Eve (aren't they like CNN?), forcing Robin to chase after him all over the city in order to get him back on the air. In the end though, she has to take the mic and take over for him, marking a turning point in her career and getting her back to being an on-air reporter. Unbenownst to her, she had a little help from Kevin, who, as Puzzles' resident bartender, hid Sandy from Robin when he somehow found his way there, in order to force her to make a choice about following her dreams. Kind of sneaky there dude, but I'll allow it. I was also waiting with absolute dread for an in-bad-taste Dick Clark stroke joke, and am both relieved and disappointed we didn't get one.
So, yeah. This would've been a pretty decent episode, if we hadn't just been teased with two months of awesome changes. God damn it, HIMYM.
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