HIMYM 8x04: Who Wants to Be a Godparent?

Lily and Marshall have a nanny, but now they need a godparent for baby Marvin. Strangely enough, while they're comfortable with leaving their baby alone for several hours with Chris Elliott, they're not comfortable with having him completely in charge of the child's upbringing. Not that I can blame them. They argue over which of their various family members would be best before settling on Marshall's older brother Marcus. Unfortunately, Marcus and his wife have split up, and his new job has taken him out of the country.

I don't care what Marshall and Lily say. Carnalism 2 is a fine place to raise a child.

So, with no family available (why Marshall's eldest brother Marvin Jr. wouldn't work isn't touched on), Marshall and Lily are forced to choose between their best friends. The three amigos attempt to curry favour with gifts and demonstrations of their parenting skills, it gets pretty tiresome, and Marshall decides that the best way to choose a godparent is via game show.

Which gets started right after a word from their sponsors.

The game show goes on for a while, but eventually it turns into a big argument. Lily and Marshall aren't sure any of their friends are ready to be parents, and Barney, Robin, and Ted are ticked at them for being completely unavailable since the baby was born. While one can see the parents' point that the baby trumps all, they recognize that they've been a bit extreme about it. Thus, they decide to revoke the rule that says their friends can only talk about their problems if they're at an 8 or higher on the 1-10 scale, and they decide to make all three of their best friends Marvin's godparents.

Which is apparently somehow legal in New York.

What I Liked
-Barney's mental self-five. After seven years, they're still coming up with innovative ways to high-five.
-The bro-based children's songs. I'd like to think NPH sings them to his kids in real life.

I'd also like to think he wears the costumes.

What I Hated
-Lily keeps breaking down when she and Marshall are talking about death. Even about simple things like not getting mail ever again. It was incredibly unrealistic, even for this show.
-Professor Infosaurus. It's becoming harder and harder to make Ted seem like more of a douche, but the writers keep making it happen. The most unbelievable thing on this show is now the fact that Future Ted's kids listen to him at all.

Final Thoughts
They used the death angle several seasons ago when Marshall and Lily had to write goodbye letters to each other. She seemed pretty nonchalant about it at the time, but I guess having a baby has made her more emotional.

Why does Robin even want to be a godparent? She doesn't want kids. She doesn't want kids so badly that it caused her to break up with a man who asked her to marry him. I'm pretty sure she also broke up with Ted because he wanted kids and she didn't. Now she wants one so badly that she's willing to fight Barney and Ted. That makes no sense at all.

Also, I'm fairly certain there's only one spot for a name on the guardianship form because only one person should be a child's guardian. This isn't Issue #1 of Radioactive Man, it's a kid. Moving him around from house to house seems like it would really mess him up.

Fifteen laughs, but I think the show is starting to fall back on standard sitcom cliches this season. I fully expect Ted to accidentally schedule dates with two women at the same time and run back and forth between them Jack Tripper style.