How I Met Your Mother – Recap & Review – Mystery vs. History

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How I Met Your Mother
Mystery vs. History

Original Air Date: Oct 17, 2011

Caitlin – Associate Staff Writer
caitlin@thetwocentscorp.com

The age of the internet has changed dating forever. You can find your ideal match online, chat with them before meeting them, and above all- for the gang at least- research your potential partner’s potential faults.

This is mystery vs. history- being in the dark about what or whoever is in front of you, or finding out as much as possible so you won’t be caught off guard. Which wins in this episode? It’s difficult to say.

Marshall and Lily have been given an envelope that will announce the sex of their baby. They want to wait to open it so they won’t be bogged down by gender roles. This goes against the philosophy of Robin, who has brought Kevin to hang out with the group, and Barney. They believe in knowing things ahead of them, and thus are horrified when Ted says he’s going to date a girl he just met with the agreement that neither will look the other up. To be fair, they’ve been doing most of the looking up for him over the years.

They continue doing so with the girl, Janet, though Kevin says it’s a bad idea. Everyone gathers in Lily and Marshall’s future nursery which is being painted a shade of yellow that…is gender neutral, anyway. But tensions between theories rise continuously until Kevin explodes that they’re all totally messed up. (He’s not wrong.) In apology, he offers to paint the room and Barney and Robin seize the chance to discover the truth about Janet. What they learn is jaw-dropping. She’s not a prostitute or a man. She’s…

Perfect. Alarmingly so, with a whole host of achievements to her name. Ted tries to resist, but eventually clicks the link to learn this information. He can’t hide his intimidation and Janet walks out on him. Score one for mystery. Robin and Barney have also learned the gender of Marshall and Lily’s baby. The future parents fight their own desire to know and almost give in before Marshall throws the paper out a window. But it catches on Ted’s shoe when he walks back in. They’re having a…

Boy! We knew they’d have a boy eventually, but didn’t know it would be their first child. So score one for history and the score is even. That’s not to say everyone needs to know their baby’s gender before the birth or even that it’s always wrong to research someone- respectfully!- before you commit to a date. In the end, I don’t think there is a winner in the mystery vs. history debate. It’s about what works for you (and doesn’t piss off the amazing person you could have had a future with.)

There is one point that, though small, was very irksome for me in what was otherwise an episode I loved. One of Ted’s past dates was dropped because Barney and Robin learned she used to be fat. “Used to be” because she wasn’t even overweight when they met. Not that it should have mattered if she still was, but what does it say that someone shouldn’t give a girl a chance because she was ever not conventionally attractive? Especially hopeless romantic Ted. It really rubbed me the wrong way. The writers are better than that, and the rest of this episode proved that.

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