Episode 7 - The Rough Patch
12 November 2009
Review
Synopsis: Barney gives Ted his porn collection and on one of the videos is a hidden message asking Ted to save him from a committed relationship. Soon Barney has developed a ‘relationship gut’ and Robin is letting herself go. The two seem increasingly unhappy but too stubborn to break up. Lily eventually agrees to help Marshall and Ted break them up.
The Good: Broadly speaking this is easy to watch. There is a clear purpose behind all the characters behaviour and crazy plans usually make good sit com plots.
The recorded message from Barney to Ted was classic How I Met Your Mother. Barney loves to do things the way crazy movie characters do things and this fits that mould perfectly. His insistence that if he is dead Ted recreate the movie Weekend at Bernie’s is a good line which fits Barney’s bizarre desires. The suggestion that he really isn’t happy in the relationship with Robin could have made for a fun investigation for Ted but it didn’t go in that direction.
I suppose this story does fill in some of the gaps from last week’s episode. We do learn what Robin and Barney’s main arguments were. And there are believable arguments during the stakeout as Ted tries to save money and Lily assumes that storm troopers are robots.
The Bad: Again though this just feels like an episode written by people who don’t understand storytelling. Shouldn’t this story be about Robin and Barney? Then why do we spend the whole narrative with Ted, Marshall and Lily? I understand the idea that Ted is telling this story but the lack of detail in Robin and Barney’s interaction is one of the many things which robs their breakup of any emotional resonance. We just never got a real sense of what they were like as a couple and how it had affected them as individuals. The argument that they were both too “awesome” to be a couple is way too vague to mean anything.
The other thing taking away from this story is the exaggeration in their behaviour and appearance. The appearance question is one of taste I suppose. The idea that Ted’s memory can be manipulated makes sense to add cheap laughs. But once you have seen Barney in a fat suit the joke rapidly becomes tired. For me, the real problem is that by making Robin and Barney look so different it further distanced their breakup from reality. As for their behaviour, Robin’s constant yelling and complaining seemed completely unconvincing. And their decision to get married couldn’t be more out of character for either of them. Again the show can’t help but exaggerate to try and make the point that they are being stubborn. But it bears no relation to reality where we all know someone a little like Barney or a little like Robin. There just seems no reasonable way that they would agree to get married.
Are Robin and Barney really broken up? Seriously? Didn’t we spend most of last season watching Barney fall in love? Didn’t we spend every episode this season watching them together? I guess we shall see where it goes but it seems a bit weak if that’s the end. Where does the show go from here?
Boy do those writers love their double entendres. You almost suspect they wrote this storyline just to get some porn movies on screen so they could indulge themselves in their favourite style of joke. Pity that their double entendres are so old, predictable and childish.
I’m really not looking forward to a fake variety show with clearly older Robin and Alan Thicke camping it up.
Comic Highlight: As they break up...
B: “Maybe when like you turn 40 if you haven’t found anyone...”
R: “I already have that deal with Ted.”
B: “Oh right stupid. Well maybe when you turn 39...”
How I rate your episode: An episode which is easy to watch, if not all that easy to enjoy. If this is the end for Barney and Robin then it feels like a waste of a relationship.
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