How I Met Your Mother: Something Old (8x23)

This episode was strange, because I feel like I blinked and it was over. It felt shorter than a normal episode, and maybe that's because virtually nothing happened. Lily and Marshall pack some boxes. Barney plays laser tag with Robin's dad. Robin sits in the grass and digs. This episode is the penultimate one of the season, and I guess I just wanted more.

Basically, Lily and Marshall are preparing to go to Italy and they call in Ted to help them decide what should stay and what should go. There were some decently funny moments here, such as Ted's insistence that a fanny pack was not a fanny pack at all, but rather a "hands-free belt satchel." Also, Lily remarks that certain hand bags had sentimental value to her, and Marshall reminds her that she shoplifted them. Her response: "You get older, you have kids, you stop stealing, it's sad!" They also brought back in the idea of the Bermuda Triangle in front of their apartment, which I liked.

But besides a few amusing moments, this thread felt like a rehash of several other "nostalgia" story-lines we've seen in the past. Ted doesn't want to let go of the past, but then he learns that he should. Okay, I get it. We have done this so many times before, I'm getting really sick of it. With the news that there's going to be a ninth season, I'm really hoping that we meet the mother at the end of season eight properly, and actually get to know and love her in season nine. Otherwise, I'm not sure why this show is still going on.

In the other thread, Robin apparently buried a locket in Central Park when she was a kid, saying that she would retrieve it and use it as her "something old" at her wedding. She wants her father to come help her find it, but instead he leaves to go play a game of laser tag with Barney, who he calls "B-Dawg." Barney seems to be the son that Robin's father always wanted, and the two of them hit it off playing laser tag.

I was... slightly amused by Barney's game of laser tag, but mostly it was just one long joke with no substance. It just made me depressed for Robin, who just kept digging with no luck. Eventually, Ted shows up to help her, knowing she needs help because of the way she talked to him on the phone. He blows off a meeting to be there for her, while Barney doesn't blow off his game of laser tag. The episode basically says that Ted understands Robin better than Barney does, even if Barney cares for her just as much. 

No. I do not accept this. I really wish the show would stop catering to this annoying Ted/Robin possibility when we all know - we've known from the pilot episode - that it's not going to happen. Barney has a lot of problems, but his love and respect for Robin are genuine, and I wish the show would stop messing with that.

A few highlights, though: Lily and Marshall's kinky sex with the gorilla suit and the blonde wig. Barney's inability to come up with a second person from Canada after Wayne Gretzky. Barney's dramatic declaration: "He's... my father." "Father-in-law." "Shut up, Kai!"

Ted has a speech at the end of the episode about how there are no signs from the universe. Okay, this wouldn't necessarily be a problem, but it just felt like a bleak and sort of lackluster way to end this episode. I'm still holding out hope for a fun season finale, but I was a bit disappointed with this one.

5/10