How I Met Your Mother – Recap & Review – The Playbook

photo: cbs

How I Met Your Mother
The Playbook

Original Air Date: Nov 16, 2009

Faye O – TwoCents Reviewer
faye@thetwocentscorp.com

Is it just me, or is the show getting better and better each week? This week included a play-by-play explanation of all of Barney’s moves from what he calls, “The Playbook” as well as a softer side to both him and Robin, after their breakup. Let’s jump right in!

Ted and Marshall: They spend almost the entire episode trying to convince Robin that she’ll meet the man she’s going to marry right away, even though she’s swearing off men. They say that despite the fact that she’s single, and not looking-she’ll definitely find someone. This goes with my own personal philosophy-I’m single and not looking and I just know someone will come my way. At the end of the episode, Robin meets her new co-host of the morning show, and is extremely attracted to him, damning Marshall and Ted for being right. I can’t wait to see how that goes.

Lily: She attempts to set up Ted with one of her co-workers. She had tried three years before, but when she went to introduce her, Ted was shoving a butt-load of chicken fingers in his mouth. That was absolutely hilarious. However, when she tries the second time to set them up, she never showed. This brings us to the Lily/Barney story…

Lily/Barney: At the beginning of the episode, we see Barney in a scuba diving costume, attempting to pick up the girl at the bar. Lily goes up to her and warns her to stay away, and this is when the story is told. Barney has what he calls “The Playbook.” This book contains every pick-up strategy he’s ever attempted, or wants to attempt. The scuba gear is for his last hurrah (or so they think). The book includes some things as “The Penis Genie” and “The Ted Mosby.”

One such play was the “Lorenzo Von Matterhorn.” This is where Ted’s date comes into play. She is at the bar, waiting for Ted, and is approached by Barney/Lorenzo Von Matterhorn. He tells her that she’s famous, and when he walks away, she googles him, finding hundreds of web pages depicting the great things Mr. Von Matterhorn has accomplished. She ends up going home with him. This was the last straw for Lily, and she decides to tamper with the book, since she finds it completely disgusting. However, the joke ends up on her. The “Scuba Diver” play is not in the book, so they don’t know what to expect. After telling this unsuspecting girl at the bar all about Barney, they bring her over to him to see what the “Scuba Diver” actually was.

Right as Barney tries to carry it out, he stops, looks at Robin, and we see this amazingly soft side to Barney, that made me almost cry. He apologizes to Robin for the way he’s been acting and then admits that the breakup has been very hard on him as well. Lily then convinces the girl at the bar to go for coffee with Barney, since she now feels bad for him. But as I said before, the joke is on her. Under the booth at the bar, is the page from the playlist called the “Scuba Diver.” This page explains that he’s going to trick Lily into getting a girl to go out with him, despite all the horrible things he’s done. WHAT AN AMAZING TURN OF EVENTS!

What do you think? Is the show getting better or worse? Are you going to miss the Barney and Robin relationship? Do you want Marshall to have a storyline too, or do you like his quick remarks in the background? What did you think about this episode? Put your TwoCents in the comments! I’ll see you all next week.