HIMYM 8x18: Weekend at Barney's

The Playbook is gone, but the plays didn't go with it. No matter what happens, they will remain in the mind that cooked them up, and with no other outlet, they're starting to bleed into his dreams. While Robin assures him that he doesn't need the plays anymore and that destroying The Playbook was what made her believe he was worth marrying, he still can't keep them out of his head. He wakes up screaming the name of the titular "Weekend at Barney's".

As well as the inferior "Weekend at Barney's II"

Fortunately, Jeanette breaks up with Ted. To prevent his friend from attempting to win back his crazy ex, Barney uses him as an outlet for his own insanity. And, wouldn't you know it, but the Playbook he destroyed was just the ceremonial copy, and the real one is in pristine condition.

Always keep two copies of your life's work.

Barney rigs Ted up with a microphone and earpiece and wires MacLaren's with a couple cameras so he can run things from Mission Control in Ted's apartment while Mosby does the dirty work. The first play they run is called 'The Special Delivery' and it fails when Ted is unable to deliver his package. 'The Kidney' also fails because even though the girl is touched by his willingness to donate a kidney, she doesn't want him to give her a different organ.

As a third effort, they run the 'I Have a Pet Loch Ness Monster', but Robin invades Mission Control just as they're getting started, and when she notices The Playbook, Barney has to let Ted fly solo. He's intercepted by a bogey almost immediately.

Abort! Abort!

After seeing The Playbook, Robin takes off, and since it's a sitcom, Barney chases her down the street. She's really pissed off that he didn't destroy it, but it was his life's work, and well... Weekend at Barney's! His explanation of how that particular play is supposed to work doesn't help matters, and she continues down the street until he stops her again. She's not angry about The Playbook, but about the fact that he lied to her. He rightly points out that she's taking a bit of an unreasonable position because everything he did that led to them being together was a lie. In fact, since he's a magician, most of what he does is a lie. There is one thing that he's been truthful about, though: He loves her.

That, and some fake magic flowers, are enough to earn him forgiveness.

In the b-plot, Lily is now The Captain's art buyer and she has to attend a gallery opening by young up-and-comer Strickland Stevens. Marshall goes along as her arm candy, and since he doesn't expect there to be any food, he buys a big bag of Skittles to bring along as a snack.

Now, since Lily has to spend the whole night schmoozing the artsy types, Marshall's left on his own. Luckily, he's an extremely outgoing guy and shouldn't have any trouble chatting with people. He was even voted 'Most Outgoing' three times in high school.

His Junior year was a tie.

Art people aren't the same as high school students, though, and he can't seem to hit it off with anyone. Things get even worse when Stevens tries to have a moment of silence for his dead grandmother and Skittles begin pouring out of Marshall's pocket.

Taste the rainbow!

While the custodian sweeps the rainbow of fruit flavours off the floor, Marshall apologizes to Lily for screwing up and decides to head out. She won't let him go, though; they're a team. He agrees to stay, but resolves to keep quiet and stop making bad jokes about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In a twist of sitcom fate, Stevens overhears that last comment, and it turns out he's a huge TMNT fan; one of his paintings is even based on Master Splinter. Marshall uses his new found connection with Stevens to introduce him to Lily, and he proves his worth as arm candy.

As the party winds down, Lily gets a text from Ted. Jeanette has discovered The Playbook and she's a little less forgiving than Robin. Ted's stuff (including his red cowboy boots, which Jeanette lit on fire) rains down on the gang from his apartment window, and they watch as his crazy ex destroys The Playbook with some fireworks. It's all too much for Mr. Mosby, and he decides that it's finally time for him to settle down and stop dating.

And to call the fire department, maybe.

What I Liked
-Barney has stacks of fake concert tickets set up so he won't have to go to any of the boring things Lily invites him to. That's a really good idea.
-Ted knows all five of Barney's "one rule"s. He's been paying attention.
-We only get to see one half of the conversation when Ted argues with Barney during 'The Kidney'. It's a really, really old gag, but it still works out sometimes, and I like the way they did it.

What I Hated
-Robin says that destroying The Playbook was what made her realize Barney might be worth marrying. They weren't even remotely a couple at the time, and Robin's not exactly the marrying type, so why would she even think about marrying him? It's just more revisionist history on the part of the writers to try to make Barney and Robin's nonsensical engagement make sense.
-Marshall just lets the Skittles fall. The bag was in his pocket, and a little tap probably would've shoved them down enough to stop them from spilling out.

Final Thoughts
Lily and Marshall's plot was ludicrously bad, and just painful to watch. Watching someone tell a series of bad, unfunny jokes isn't exactly my idea of entertainment. And, I don't know if the Skittles thing was bad product placement or anti-product placement, but they were certainly displayed quite prominently. It was strange.

Jeanette was a really terrible character, and I'm not sad to see her go. Ted didn't need an external reason to want to stop dating and settle down, he just needs to meet the freakin' mother already. Her existence sort of invalidates a large portion of Future Ted's story, too. It's supposed to be about how he became the man he needed to be in order to finally meet the kids' mother, but it wasn't actually a journey. The reason why the story is so long and didn't seem to be going anywhere is because it wasn't. The previous seven and a half seasons were pointless filler because they were literally about how awesome it is to be a single guy in New York. Ted wasn't growing as a character, he was just sitting around, waiting for a catalyst. The story could've been cut down to something along the lines of "Kids, being a single guy was great. But, one time I dated a crazy woman who threw all my stuff out the window and set it on fire. So, I decided to stop dating and settle down, and three months later I met your mother at Uncle Barney and Aunt Robin's wedding. The end."