photo: cbs
The Drunk Train
Original Air Date: Feb 13, 2012
Caitlin –Staff Writer
caitlin@thetwocentscorp.com
It is, of course, time for the gang to celebrate Valentine’s Day. What does that mean? For one thing, it means Barney and Ted hanging out with drunk people on the last train of the night to Long Island.
It does also involve some more traditional themes: double dates, flirting with the potential for more…and perhaps some things you might not expect, and that eventually lead to the departure of a guest star.
Barney learns of “the drunk train” when Lily and Marshall express discomfort at the idea of being trapped with inebriated and desperate women. Barney’s reaction is slightly different. He’s on his way, and taking Ted. For their part, Marshall and Lily eat dinner with Robin and Kevin and end up arguing over “keeping score” in a relationship. While Ted and Barney fall asleep in their first attempt to land a one-night stand, Kevin pulls Robin away for a surprise. That is, a marriage proposal. Wait, what?
Robin is shocked, and asks Kevin to give her time. Ted and Barney’s caffeine-fueled second attempt on the train goes as well as the first, and the two wind up at Marshall and Lily’s (bee-free) house. Robin laments over her indecision to Marshall and Lily, telling them how she can’t have kids, and saying this is why she doesn’t know what to do. They encourage her to tell the truth. She does, and Kevin still wants to ask for her hand. This time, she accepts.
We’ll let that sink in for a few minutes while Barney turns out to be a math genius, Ted realizes that the key they’re missing on the drunk train is being drunk themselves, and Marshall and Lily think they can avoid “keeping score” as parents. (Spoiler alert: they can’t). But back to Robin and Kevin. She knows how much he wants to have kids, and pushes him more on what he’d give up. At first he’s confident he’ll be happy, but the truth soon starts to sink in.
With the help of booze, Barney finally lands a train rider’s interest but immediately turns it down. See, he’s been talking all this time about Quinn, a girl he met who he dislikes because she doesn’t take any of the lies he tells women. In other words, the two slept together, and now he can’t stop talking about her. (She’s also a stripper.) Ted sees something more there, but wants to avoid relationships for a bit himself. So, naturally, when Robin tells him she and Kevin are over, he tells her he loves her.
Keeping in mind Robin said yes to Kevin after cheating on him, thinking she might have been carrying Barney’s baby, and having doubts about their relationship, why was it a step on the way to their break-up at all? To show Robin’s now open to getting married? Maybe, but it still bothered me. The kid thing was always going to doom them, and this felt unnecessary. As for the end… Don’t get me wrong, Ted and Robin have chemistry. But their potential was denied in the pilot episode. Why are we still returning to it? Hopefully we’ll find out soon. Hey, at least Becki Newton was awesome as Quinn.
Next Week: No Pressure
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In the classic “Bracket” episode, Barney ruled out Karma as being one of the girls talking badly about him… I wonder if it’s meant to be the same girl or a different stripper named Karma.
I did like the little twist that Karma (played by the amazing Becki Newton from Ugly Betty) is a dance at the club he regularly frequents, but he apparently didn’t recognize her out of context (or even naked)!