I never really knew quite where I stood with the Barney and Robin relationship on How I Met Your Mother but I finally found out this past week.Barney is legend---what for it....I hope you're not lactose intolerant cause the next word is---dairy. But seriously, he's one of the main reasons for the awesomeness of this series. And while his womanizing ways are entertaining, it was interesting to see him settle down with Robin. The best part of this pairing was that Robin really is the female version of Barney, just less slutty. Robin continues to be the character whose comedy grows on me more and more each episode so I assumed these two would be perfect.
The weird thing was they kind of were. I can't help but compare HIMYM to Friends so I'm going to. Monica and Chandler ended up being one of the best couples on television who nobody saw coming and I had some high hopes that Robin and Barney would be too after last season, but I still wasn't sold on the idea. And then "The Rough Patch" happened.
Once again, there were so many parts of this episode I loved. Alan Thicke's guest appearance was random and hilarious (especially the ending bit about him and Robin's variety show). I also always love when Lily is badass and scheming so seeing her come up with the ultimate break-up plan was wonderful. Then again, the break-up scheming really rubbed me the wrong way. I understand that Ted, Marshall, and Lily know their friends fairly well and therefore could see that the relationship was harming them both, but it seemed cruel. It's one thing to break Ted up with his annoying girlfriends, but breaking up two of your closest friends seem so wrong.
HIMYM was also reminiscent of Friends tonight with the fat suit. Barney pulled it off just as well as Monica. What could normally be used as a last ditch comic device actually worked in this episode. I loved watching Barney scarf down food and look generally unappealing. Robin's aging had a similar effect.
This blog entry seems kind of random, but that's sort of how I feel about this episode: mixed up. I find it hard to believe that Barney and Robin would break up because of some mutual desire to be free from one another. After spending an entire season with Barney realizing he liked Robin, it was all too fast-paced to have them break up in one episode. It should have been more drawn out and dramatic. I know this is a comedy but I feel as though the break-up trivialized their relationship as simply a friendship with sex. Granted, there's a good chance the pair will reunite in the future (are they the new Ross and Rachel?), but as for now I'm disappointed....and for a show that always makes me happy, this is one ending I cannot be satisfied with.
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2 comments:
Here's my thought on that episode:
It depends. Haha. Not as profound as I intended. But for me, the ultimate like-ability of The Rought Patch depends on where they take the characters from here.
While I was always REALLY sold on Robin and Barney, I didn't exactly love the way the show was SO focused on their pairing as to make every other story line seem weak. On top of that, the storylines they kept putting them in (with the exception of the awesome Canadian one) were all pretty tired sitcom cliches, allbeit jazzed up by HIMYM writing.
So part of me agreed with fat barney and old robin--> that much awesome was cancelling itself out. Barney and Robin, separately, are pretty much my favorite characters at this point (sorry Marshall), but in any wacky relationship episode, one of them was supposed to be kind of a dick or an idiot, and that was going to get old real fast.
That being said... I also think Barney and Robin ultimately belong together and that all the character development that led to them getting together was the sort of genre-exceeding excellence that keeps me coming back week after week to HIMYM. So if their break up means that Barney will revert back to old barney (don't get me wrong, old barney is hilarious, but I still need a dash of growth in with the catch phrases) and Robin will be relegated to side stories... then the show is spitting in the eye of my year and a half obsession with his growth.
But here's the deal: so far, the writers haven't let me down. So I'm going to hope for the best, and hope that The Rough Patch (which, for the record, I actually thought was a decent episode), ends up being bathed in the light of eventual positive story endings.
I concur wholeheartedly.
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