It is now only 31 hours until How I Met Your Mother‘s Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) and Robin (Cobie Smulders) tie the knot. Naturally, when it comes so close to saying “I do” the couple will reminisce about the past. That was the case in the latest new episode entitled, “Platonish.” Instead of thinking about “lovey dovey” moments between the bride and groom, we get a glimpse of Barney doing what he does best: accepting a challenge.
Lily (Alyson Hannigan) and Robin have challenged Barney to ask a girl out only speaking like a dolphin. Of course Barney agrees. After a short time, he has actually found a girl desperate enough to give him her phone number. Robin calls the girl from Barney’s phone and insists she become celibate after giving her digits to a man only speaking like a marine mammal.
Now Barney is on to Challenge #2. This time he must pick up a girl wearing a garbage bag over his suit. Sounds easy right? He also is not allowed to use the letter E. Viewers are then treated to a hilarious montage of Barney speaking to women without using the most common letter in the alphabet. This means he cannot even say his own name or the word “yes.” After multiple failed attempts, he does score a phone number, much to the chagrin of his female friends.
The challenges keep coming. They make me long for the earlier years when Barney was a single man. However, it is nice that the character has developed so much over the years. For challenge #3, Robin heads down to MacLaren’s and approaches a cute red head. She maintains that she is Ryan Gosling’s assistant. She tells the woman that Ryan spotted her from across the pub, but is too nervous to approach her. Robin discloses that she must refrain from speaking with any other men until Mr. Gosling works up the courage to approach her. Robin returns to Lily’s apartment and tells Barney to hit on the red head sitting at the bar. Believe it or not, Barney convinces the girl he is Ryan Gosling and receives her digits.
By Challenge #4, Lily and Robin are growing tired of the game. This time they challenge Barney to pick up a girl after buying diapers (Lily is out for baby Marvin) and take out (Robin is hungry). Barney welcomes the challenge and heads out. At the drug store, he bumps into “The Mother.” He tries to pick her up and she declines. They talk for a few minutes and she convinces him to go after his true love: Robin. He goes home and begins to write a new play for The Playbook. This is the play he used to win her back and the one we witnessed in season 8.
The Ted (Josh Radnor) and Marshall (Jason Segal) storyline takes place at a Washington Generals game. You may be asking yourself, “Who are the Washington Generals?” They are an exhibition basketball team that plays in the same league as the Harlem Globetrotters. They have a long streak of losing to this New York fan favorite. Ted and Marshall are die-hard fans, regardless of the fact they can’t win.
Marshall tries to convince Ted that he needs to get back with Robin. Ted reiterates they are just platonic, but after speaking with Marshall he now knows they are “Platonish.” The Ted/Robin storyline has grown tiresome over the course of the show’s run. It is unnecessary to talk about, especially now that we know Robin is not “The Mother”. You could have skipped this whole part of the episode and not missed anything except for the fact that Robin hated olives and now likes them.
Bryan Cranton reprises his role as Hammond Druthers. He phones Ted and tries to coax him into working for his architecture firm in Chicago. Ted turns him down, stating he needs to take care of things in New York. Viewers are lead to believe he is referring to getting Robin back. Let’s hope the Ted/Robin story gets put to rest and the show starts to concentrate more on Ted and “The Mother”. After all, the show is called How I Met Your Mother and not How I Keep Going After Robin.
[Photo via Cliff Lipson/CBS]
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