True... how does one NOT meet the sister of the groom, who happens to be one of your best friends, at the wedding?

sigh

So, they're taking many people's favorite non-regular over the series (Victoria) and not using her well at all in what we already know is a dead end storyline, and taking three relationships that we already know will fail and thus aren't invested in at all and trying to create drama with them. It'd be ok if I found the story of the week funny, but I really didn't. Really piss poor episode imo.

Yeah that was terrible. I can handle the poor storylines when there is also some good comedy, and this one missed there too.

Victoria looked a lot better when she hadn't gone on a Hollywood starvation diet.

This season may be painful...

I did laugh pretty hard at Barney's Boss's description of his divorce.

So far each episode has had one point that was funny (the Barney summary in episode one and the Boss' divorce description in episode two). Sadly that's not a good rate for a sitcom.

big +1

lol

One thing I really did appreciate - usually in shows like this when the guy and girl in a relationship are fighting, it is usually the guy who has the ridiculous issue and the girl has to drill into her head that it isn't ok. In HIMYM, it was the girls who had the dumb issues (well, depending on how far Marshall threw the kid). Though yes, Barney's pre-nup was ridiculous, but its Barney - of course it was.

Why do I waste my time? They have killed Marshall's character and Ted/Robin is worse than Ross and Rachel

Yes, seriously, Marshall was just so viscerally annoying the whole episode, I couldn't even pay attention to what he was saying.

This season is a train wreck in every way.

I get the feeling that Jason Segel agreed to spend like one day a week on the set the season.

I'm not sure if I missed something on tonight's episode but what was with Robyn's "Huh" at the end?

Unless I also missed something I would guess that maybe she realized she does have feelings for him?

Either that or she realized how sincere Barney and his feelings for her are thanks to his "I'll stop trying to get you" explanation.

Some comments:

1) A show in this bad a slump doesn't get to go making references to The Wire like that and get away with it. Not cool!

2) Did anyone like the main story with Marshall's case? Him applying for a judgeship is interesting but the legal case I didn't find funny at all.

3) I continue to be underwhelmed by Robin/Barney since they've already told us how it turns out. If they hadn't done that I think this would be infinitely better.

4) Anyone else notice Mr Belding (Dennis Haskins) was one of the judges?

I thought the legal stuff was pretty funny. I work with some women who think that actor is worthy of the treatment the jury was giving him (they do stuff like print off pictures of him, sign them, and hang them in one another's office), but I thought it was pretty funny of him to overplay it.

My wife recognized the actor (Mr. Belding) and was going nuts trying to place him last night. :)

Whatever happened to the Martin Short character? He was in charge of that law firm and now the guy from Super Bad seems to own the firm.

For the lawyers out there...do sides actually have "secret" strategies in cases like these, or any cases for that matter? It just sounded really stupid to think that Marshall was somehow in trouble just because someone took some pictures of their dry erase board.

I'm over this show. Any episode that doesn't advance "who the fuck is the mother" just makes me tune right out. Still leave it on in the background in case NPH does something amusing, but Marshall/Lilly/Robin/Ted's neurosis are all fucking boring.

I thought he was in there for something that happened at the end of the case. Thought he was gonna verbally abuse the judge or something.

But yeah, show continues to be so untrue to its earlier seasons.

Well I can say that legal "work product" is something not discoverable and there is a great deal of effort in making sure that the other side does not get your work product, so I can see someone getting in trouble for allowing the other side to get their strategy for the case.

As noted above, there is "work product" that is not discoverable. But, in a civil case with competent firms, there would not be a lot of stuff that the other side would not get through proper means. Basically, we don't like trial by ambush, so you are allowed to effectively ask the other side "what evidence do you have," and they have to tell you.

Now, if a firm had internal notes like "Dr. X is not going to be a good witness for us, so let's put him on the list but not call him," that could help the other side.

But, for a half-hour comedy, you try not to overthink it too much.

Oh my goodness. Is this entire (final I believe) season just a chance for them to waste our time not resolving EITHER story line?

/tk

Haven't seen tonight's yet, but, I believe going into this year there was some uncertainty about whether this would be the last season or whether they would get one more year. I don't think they've handled that uncertainty all that well, though I suspect that's a difficult thing to do for any show, even ones that are much better at telling stories than this one (IMO) has become.

Jeez, this season is a serious waste of time. That episode sucked.

This show had turned to shit. But laser tag Robin was worth it. Didn't care to much for lingerie Robin as much though...

For all the crap we've given it...this was a really redemptive season finale.

"The Robin" was awesome and I actually grinned and felt good about this show for the last 5 minutes.

Only a half season this year?

Or half-season...year-end episode, whatever. :)

Not bad. Of course, if they hadn't spoiled the whole story in one of their flash forwards it could have been *good* instead of just not bad. But eh, I'll take what I can get at this point.

I did enjoy seeing Seth Green in the first half.

True - it would have been epic if they hadn't spoiled it in a flash forward.

Yes.

Agreed. When I saw the description for the episode, I was ready to give up on the series for good. I'm glad I decided to watch it anyway.

/tk

One good finale doesn't really redeem months of crap. Yes it was a good finale. It would have been even better if they hadn't already given us a spoiler. Dare I say it would have been legen........wait for it...................dary.

I thought the episode was crap, until the last 5 or so minutes. Horrible season, hope they wrap it up soon.

No such luck, it got renewed for next season. We'll find out who the mother is around the time the children turn 20.

Horrible news. I cant stomach another season of crap for a payoff of one moment. Just a dumb move on their part as the quality of the show is long gone.

If they were smart, they would at least introduce the mother now (or at the end of this season) which would remove one big PITA part of the show. Then use next season to incorporate her into the group, show flashbacks to older untold stories to help her learn about everyone, etc. Basically allow the last season to get as close to its roots as possible.

I nominate you to be a writer on the show now.

Seconded. That's how it works, right?

/tk

Pretty sure I read that from Sepinwall, so I'll pass along your nominations of him.

The flash forward made it too obvious that this was all a mind trick from Barney, I saw this typical HIMYM plot twist coming from the Atlantic Ocean away...

Actually, the last bunch of episodes remind me of the last couple of Lost episodes: we know it's going somewhere, but they're stalling the final series revelation as long as possible. At this pace, I'm expecting the 'mother' not to be known until the final episode of the series...

That's really how it should be though. We don't need them to have interactions with the mother. It's not "How I met, dated, and married your mother while I was a total woman"

So I'm assuming we're going to meet the mother in either the S8 finale or S9 premier since the wedding occurs on May 25, 2013 (since the subway scenes occurs about 4 months from today which means the wedding isn't postponed).