HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER: Bagpipes

Welcome everyone to another bagpiping good episode of HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER.

Last night the gang all had disagreements that they had to work through. Ted and Robin have new upstairs neighbors that “play the bagpipes” all the time. That is Ted’s new euphemism for, well, you know, wink wink, nudge nudge. Marshall and Lily’s fight originally started about the dishes and then escalated into many other arguments. And Robin and Barney were secretly fighting in order to maintain their “best couple ever” cover.

Barney came to Ted worried about Marshall and Lily. After witnessing Lily ask Marshall to wash his dish right away, Barney feared that our favorite married couple was heading toward a divorce. Barney has “new relationship smugness,” Ted proclaimed and assured him that everything would be fine. Unfortunately Barney wouldn’t let go and convinced Marshall to stand up to Lily. Marshall is very susceptible to peer pressure and found logic in Barney’s words. Did anyone else get the feeling that Barney was the devil and Ted was the angel on Marshall’s shoulders? Ted did what he could to convince Marshall that Barney’s theories would lead Marshall to end up in a fight with Lily and they agree upon a slap bet.

Marshall tried to carbon copy Barney’s theory with Lily but he bumbled his way through it and they ended up in a huge fight, leading Marshall to stay with Ted and receiving one well deserved slap in the face. As Marshall admits, he’s a lawyer, he gets paid to argue but with Lily he gets totally flustered and apparently nonsensical. And like all good fights, it is never about one thing. Theirs mutated into several fights. Marshall taking relationship advice from Barney is just poor judgment. I know he knew better but if I were presented with a world of no dirty dishes, I’d fall into Barney’s logic too. Though the easiest solution to me in this particular argument is to buy a dishwasher. I’m sure Barney has a guy.

Barney claims that he an Robin never fight.  And they don’t, because every time it looks like he will get into a fight with Robin, Barney just walks out. For Robin, she just gets naked. Obviously not the proper way to handle conflict but this is Robin and Barney we’re talking about here, two of the most emotionally ill-equipped individuals.

When Robin and Barney return from a ski weekend away all nauseating with cuteness, T Mos knows that something is definitely up. Ro-Ro hates nicknames and they were just too sugary sweet with each other. (I’m surprised Robin hates nicknames so much. How could she put up with Barney at all? He has a million and one nicknames for himself.)

To prove that Barney and Robin have been fighting, Ted finds Barney’s downstairs neighbor Phil who confirms the two have been fighting.

During their ski weekend Robin and Barney ended up stuck on a chair lift with no way to either walk out or get naked when things got tense. The pair ended up arguing over Barney’s theories on Marshall and Lily.

Barney and Robin, always wanting to be the best at everything, didn’t want to admit that they argued. And after seeing how they argue, I would be embarrassed too! Lily and Marshall’s fighting was tame compared to Robin and Barney’s. Robin and Barney learn that to settle an argument you have to set your ego aside and the love for that other person is way more important than winning.

As for Ted and his upstairs neighbors ‘bagpiping’, he let the entire issue go since they ended up being an old couple. Good for them to be able to still bagpipe like Sting.

All and all, I thought this was quite an enjoyable episode. For the first time in awhile I don’t really have any complaints. It was light-hearted and a fun watch.

My fave moments:

-The visual of Barney as Lily’s husband

-The mutated fights of Marshall and Lily

-Robin and Barney’s beat ‘em, drag ‘em down fights and the angry music that accompanied

What did you think of this episode? Let me know in the comments below!

Jen is our resident HIMYM guru. She likes to avoid fights when she can but if you do hit that wrong button, be prepared for two things: to be ripped apart by a tiny little person a la Lily or a walk out like Barney.