The other half of the episode focuses on the fact that Robin has never held baby Marvin before. She’s always found a way out of actually holding the baby. Unfortunately for her, she finally gets put in a circumstance where it looks like she’s going to be forced to hold the baby.
Robin’s fear of babies is almost too irrational to accept. She’s been around babies before, heck she was one, and while I understand someone not liking little kids (I’m not the biggest fan myself), to fear her best friends’ child even after it’s been alive for 7 months is a bit too much.
I would’ve been completely unhappy with the Robin aspect of the episode if it weren’t for the mode with which they chose to tell it. The fact that the real truths of her story are revealed slowly over the years makes it much funnier and more interesting than it otherwise would have been. Then you throw in the kicker of the old lady actually being Mike Tyson and it was brilliantly hilarious.
The ending where Robin seems slightly sad about the baby is definitely hinting at something in the future. Whether Robin will want to adopt kids I don’t know, but she definitely will be more involved with Marvin from this point on. The fact that attention was directly drawn to her change makes me think there will be a future episode with that as the focus, I’m just not sure what exact story they’ll go with.
I’m having a really hard time buying the whole “Ted isn’t actually ready to settle down” thing. Ted’s been ready to settle down for years. He was legitimately ready with Stella, and that’s not the only girl he could have ended up happily married to had the cards fallen a little differently. I think it’s an attempt to justify Ted dating a girl who is completely bonkers for more than one episode, and it’s a justification I simply don’t buy.
I also don’t like the fact that Lily was willing to say Ted needs to be with someone crazy right now. Ted doesn’t need anyone crazy, and I’m very upset that we’ll have at least another full episode of Jeanette. On the other hand, we know this is the last girl Ted dates before the mother, so too much time of him as a depressed single guy wouldn’t be great either.
Other than that qualm with the plot, I was extremely happy with this episode. It was easily one of the funniest of the season, and it did a very good job of propelling Ted’s story forward while continuing to build toward the reveal of the mother.
Other Random Notes
- “Why’s the earth round? Why does the sun rise? What do I do for a living? Some things are meant to never be answered…”
- A séance to talk to Marilyn Monroe’s cat? I’m game.
- I haven’t laughed as hard at anything on the show as I did at the “she’s a cawp!” exchange. Maybe I just love The Departed too much, but that was awesome.
- The break-up would’ve been easy if Ted had a blaster pistol instead of a sword.
- Senator Mike Tyson. Enough said.
- Also the joke about Mike Tyson saying the baby was so cute he could eat it up made me laugh a lot. Evander Holyfield probably didn’t laugh quite as much.
- How in the world did Ted never find out what Jeanette does for a living? I feel like that’s an automatic question for a first date.
- Robin and Lily both aged very nicely, especially for part of the story being 16 years later.
- Good ole Lily “with her fancy medical degree and sexy southern drawl!”
- Robin’s hand in the “12 years” shot didn’t have a ring on it. I don’t want to make too much of that minor detail now, but a potential indication of how her wedding turns out?
Check back next week for my thoughts on the next episode in the eighth season of How I Met Your Mother.