HIMYM: Bye, Bye, Playbook

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

I could not believe that Barney was willing to set his Playbook ablaze. I guess that's the first step to him really settling down... but it's SO contradictory to his character up until this point! The internet seems to be upset that Ted's storylines have slowed to a crawl, especially when the show has not yet been picked up for another season, meaning there may only be 13 episodes left for Ted to meet the mother. Now, personally, I had always been expecting that we would not only meet the mother but Ted would court her for a while, until he proposed, more or less. Maybe that's not the case... I guess we'll see. A last quick thought on this particular episode: EVERYONE stealing stuff from Ted had be rolling over in laughter.

How I Met Your Mother "The Over-Correction" (S08E09): Robin is not thrilled that Barney is still with Patrice, so she decides to explain some of his "plays" to convince her that he's a bad guy. When Patrice doesn't believe her, Robin heads over to Barney's to steal the Playbook. She can't find the book before Barney comes home, so she ducks into his bedroom closet to hide. Unfortunately, Barney invited Patrice over to trim the tree, so Robin won't have a good chance to escape for quite a while. So, she calls Ted for help, saying that she'll return his Weekend at Bernie's DVD and go with him to "Bernie Man," a festival in the desert. [I loved Barney juggling glass Christmas ornaments and just letting them fall to the floor when there's a knock at the door!] Ted claims that he saw Hugh Hefner, so Barney grabs his robe and they head downstairs. [why doesn't Barney like to look in his closet?]

Temptation is too much for Robin, so rather than leave, she makes a last-ditch effort to find the playbook and actually does. She doesn't have enough time to leave, so she dashes back to the closet, this time using Ted's red boots as ransom to get him to help her again. [ha!] Ted sneaks in but gets trapped in the living room closet, so Robin calls Lily... who is already in Barney's apartment, trapped in ANOTHER closet, as she was pumping milk over there for privacy when Robin entered. [this is sitcom humor, go with it.] Lily joins Robin and convinces her that she shouldn't have the playbook, so she tosses it where Patrice will stumble upon it. Patrice sees the Playbook, confronts Barney, and he tosses it into a garbage can and lights it on fire when Patrice goes to leave him.

Ron P. Jaffe/Fox

Robin wants to throw an intervention for Barney, but Ted, Lily, and Marshall decide to make it for Robin, as they're worried that she's obsessed. But before that happens, there's actually an entirely separate storyline taking place where Marshall's mother is staying for a week and decides to become intimate with Mickey, freaking out both Marshall and Lily. [eep!]