HIMYM: Relationships Come in All Sizes

All over the internet, I'm reading gripe after gripe about how slow and pointless this season of How I Met Your Mother is shaping up to be, but I rather enjoy it. I'm really left wondering what's going to happen next every week, and with the large number of flashbacks, I'm not sick of the scenery, either. We're getting good insight from the characters, and, although it's a risk, Bays & Thomas calculated it just fine, in my opinion. Besides, with Barneyisms like "Lambracuzzi," who's going anywhere? Of course, there are some scenes that seem simply implausible, which make the drawn-out story more difficult to endure, but you never know when "the Mother" is going to appear, so you have to stay tuned... I guess that's how they've kept me all these years!

How I Met Your Mother "No Questions Asked" (S09E07): Friday, 11:30pm, 42.5 hours before the wedding. Lily calls, claiming that their room is haunted by a ghost. Marshall, always interested in fantastical creatures and the paranormal, had heard about it on a television show, and was hoping for that room. Turns out, a ship a captain murdered dozens of people with his hook for a hand, then wound up freezing to death when he got his hook stuck in the wall next to an open window. [really? couldn't get it out? Didn't Aron Ralston CUT OFF HIS ARM to live?? surely the Captain wasn't alone in the building...] Lily tried to complain, but got nowhere, as the night clerk blames all problems on the ghost. [so weird.]

Marshall asks Ted to sneak into Lily's room and delete the message Daphne sent. He uses his "no questions asked" card to do so, but Ted makes it more complicated than he needs to, and scares Lily. She allows him to stay in the room until she falls back asleep, but he soon runs into Barney, who also got the call to help Marshall. [haha, smart of Marshall to get backup!] While Ted decided to shimmy up the drainpipe, Barney decided to use the air duct system. Oh, and Robin got in by riding a room service cart, because she's also helping out.

facebook.com/HowIMetYourMotherCBS

Robin and Barney both being there yet again forces them to realize that they're terrible about communicating their plans and working together. But, they're able to work together in order to delete the text... except Ted managed to get Lily to smash it, "no questions asked." [this is where the gag went to far, I think.] Marshall realizes that he's never kept something from Lily before, and tells her the truth over Ted's phone. [all that work and waste of "no questions asked" and he tells her anyway?? wait the 43 hours, Marshall.]

How I Met Your Mother "The Lighthouse" (S09E08): Saturday, 9am, 33 hours before the wedding. Barney asks Loretta to "be cool" and bury the hatchet, but Robin isn't quite ready, flaunting the blouse she won from Loretta. [omg!] Robin then claims that her mother makes the best scrambled eggs, which is in direct contrast to Loretta, who also makes "the best" scrambled eggs. [am I the only one who doesn't have a high scrambled egg standard?] Robin's mother is due to arrive shortly, and will have to compete in an egg-off with Loretta... only when she doesn't show, Robin has to compete, and she has no idea how to make them. [pre-scrambling! ha!] Loretta is hit with the blow that Robin is infertile, and Robin is crushed to learn that her own mother will miss the wedding because she's afraid of flying and didn't get on the plane. [this is a great place for me to tell a personal anecdote about my own mother's issues with flying, but it's a pre-9/11 story so the situation is now much less believable...]

There's a lighthouse near the inn, but Ted isn't allowed to go because he could be a suicide risk. [ridiculous. I don't see what's stopping him. surely someone else in town knows where it is...] Lily tells him that he should go back to Cassie and just settle, which she later realizes is bad advice. The couple head off anyway, both gritting their teeth through the commitment. Ted even pukes. [haha, "vomit free since '93!"] But, this is also the site where he will propose to The Mother less than two years later.

Marshall and Daphne get caught in a storm and stop in at Ted's parents' house in Cleveland to stay the night, but Clint stows away and begins some "conflict resolution" with the two. [I like nice guys and all, but Marshall kills me.] Clint soon freaks out and has to meditate on the side of the road, and Daphne tells Marshall that he's always getting pushed around, so he decides to take control of his life... leaving Clint on the side of the road. [that's going to come back to bite him...] Also, Lily is still upset about Marshall's judgeship situation, and keeps breaking glasses whenever she hears a word that reminds her of Marshall's situation. [Linus' tip can't be worth this much hassle.]