Season 7 - Episode 12
CBS (US)
Wow.
Just when they've been churning out passable, but underwhelming episodes, How I Met Your Mother finishes up for the mid-season with the most hard hitting, heart-breaking episode they've ever done. When a show puts out episodes like "Bad News" when Marshall finds out his father had died, the last few minutes of "Tick Tick Tick" from a few weeks back, and even "Come On" way back in season one, to say that this is the most emotional this show has ever been is saying a lot.
But it truly is. The episode begins with future Robin narrating to her children about the time she found out she was pregnant. At first glance it looked like this was the reveal of Robin and Barney getting together, but this episode took a completely different turn. From Robin and Barney celebrating (rather hilariously with Doctor Sonya) when they find out that she isn't actually carrying his child to the hilarious scene of her drinking, smoking and eating sushi, things took a brutal 180. Robin finds out that she is uncapable of having a baby. Feeling unable to speak to her friends about it, she floats through the next days in a trance. The reveal at the end of the episode when it's shown that Robin's "children" are purely a figment of his imagination was stunning, and the very end of the episode where she breaks down in Ted's arms is absolutely devastating. Remember, this is a sitcom. Most drama's can't do emotion that well.
Elsewhere, there's a silly plot involving Marshall stuck on a roof (for purely comic relief I can only imagine), while Ted, Lily and Barney try to figure out what's wrong with Robin (and while they don't find out, Ted's Christmas light display set to AC/DC was spectacular). But everything else faded into insignificance with Robin's plot. This is exactly what How I Met Your Mother is capable of. Absolutely outstanding.
*****
No comments:
Post a Comment