How I Met Your Mother: Rally (9x18)

I'd put this episode on par with some of the average ones from better seasons. It wasn't spectacular, but it was decently fun and had a few particularly clever moments. Let's dive in, shall we?

On the morning of the wedding, Barney is really hung over. Robin, Ted, Lily and Marshall all struggle to cure him, because wedding pictures are supposed to take place that morning, and Barney needs to be there. They recall a special hangover drink that Barney gave to each of them over the years, which seems to work great. The only problem? They know all of the ingredients except for one, which Barney has kept a secret.

Ted and Marshall hunt down the ingredients that they do know about. One of these ingredients is grease, which the kitchen refuses to hand over. Ted is forced to eat an entire tray full of bacon in order to force the cooks to make some more, and thus supply them with grease. Ted's mother had always told him he was allergic to bacon, so he had never tried it before. He devours the entire tray, and they get their grease.

Meanwhile, while the guys are collecting ingredients, Robin and Lily try to wake Barney up so he will tell him the secret ingredient. They try all sorts of things, but what finally wakes him up is Robin and Lily sharing a kiss. However, Barney then tells them that there is no secret ingredient - the hangover drink is a fake. He says he lied about it because he loves them all, and then the four friends realize: each time Barney gave them the drink, it was right when they needed to be cured of a hangover the very most, and be shown that they could rally. However, this doesn't help them with their problem... how are they going to get Barney to the wedding pictures?

Well, they don't. They have to cancel the pictures, and Robin's father is furious. However, the friends tell Barney that they did the "Weekend at Barney's" and took the pictures with him that way, and that Robin's father doesn't know a thing.

Throughout the episode, each of the friends makes a vow that they will never again get as drunk as Barney did the night before, and we see flash-forwards where each of the friends break that vow. We also see some flash-forwards involving Ted and The Mother going to a New Year's party. In the morning, The Mother is severely hung over, and Ted offers the placebo effecting drink that Barney had used on all of them. The Mother gratefully drinks the cure just as the two kids rush into the room.

Okay, quickly. What did I not like about this episode?

1. Ted's bacon thing. It was pretty base comedy. Not horrible, but not great.

2. Inconsistencies with Robin's father... the last time we saw him and Barney, they were playing laser tag together and acting like father and son. In this episode, they treated the relationship as if Barney still hadn't gained Robin's dad's approval. I was confused by the discrepancy.

Things I did like!

1. Robin and Lily finally share a kiss, and now Robin is the one who wants to make out with Lily a little bit. That was a funny and unexpected reversal.

2. Big Fudge. Apparently the origin of that nickname goes back to an incident in which Marshall ate a huge amount of fudge in celebration for getting into law school. That was funny, since we've heard Marshall called that so many times before.

3. Barney cares about his friends! I liked how Barney's general trickery was turned around and used to do something sweet. I find that this doesn't happen enough on this show, even though Barney's character has developed considerably since Season One!

4. The flash-forwards with The Mother were very precious. You know I really like her, and always want more.

There ya have it! Short and sweet. I liked many things about this episode, and others were more so-so. Still, I wouldn't mind catching this installment in a repeat some time in the future.

7.5/10