It’s nice to see Lily finally get somewhere with her love for art. In the years of the show, she’s definitely been the most stagnant character in terms of her career, and she’s really the only one who hasn’t been doing what she wants to. Even when Ted had a worse job, he was still working at an architecture firm. Marshall has had a series of good jobs. Robin is constantly being promoted. We’ve never really found out what it is that Barney does, and likely never will, so he doesn’t count. Lily has been stuck as a teacher all these years, so it’s great to see her get to a job she’ll love.
The fact she’s now working for The Captain also means that we’ll likely get to see more of him, which is a change that I definitely welcome. Then again, I assumed we’d be seeing Mickey all season and he hasn’t appeared in months, so maybe we won’t get to see Lily and The Captain together.
The plot of the episode really wasn’t all that strong. I think it’s safe to say that this episode wouldn’t have been included if the show was going to be ending at the conclusion of this season. It was a definite break in the path to Ted meeting the mother. We didn’t even see Jeannette once in the episode and they were still dating at the end of last episode. You’d think a girl as crazy as her wouldn’t be letting Ted out of her sights for that long.
I’m also not sure what was going on with Barney. It was as if there was supposed to be some profound realization that Ted was slipping away from Barney, but Barney has never been the crazy story guy before. Unless that comes back in another episode, I really don’t see why there was any need to bring an unhappy Barney into the story.
On the whole, this was an enjoyable episode delivered in classic How I Met Your Mother fashion with a lot of running jokes from the show packed into a half hour. Despite the weak plot, it still wasn’t nearly as weak as the start of season 8, making for another week that improves this season.
Other Random Notes
- Marshall’s obsession with being allowed to steer the boat was great. Hopefully he gets that chance in the next few weeks.
- Another episode that proves Marshall and Lily are the best couple on TV.
- We went to an art GARFUNKEL CONCERT
- “Not dudes except maybe one time to see what that’s like.”
- Glad to see that although the Playbook was destroyed, it isn’t dead. I’ve got to try The Royal Archduke of Grand Fenwick.
- By the way, that’s a “simple play you can do using two everyday objects; a Prussian military costume and an oil painting of yourself.”
Check back next week for my thoughts on the next episode in the eighth season of How I Met Your Mother.
