HIMYM's got a lot of work to do before the end of the season, and it's laboring under several handicaps. Alyson Hannigan is unavailable, and Cobie Smulders' baby bump is growing between takes, it seems. Ted has a serious case of the douche. And two big storylines need to be moved forward: Barney's secret love for Robin, and the master plot of Ted meeting his future kids' mother.
Counting this week, there are five episodes left to get that all done. Are they on track? Let's check the scoreboard:
Hannigan absence: Before the credits rolled, the writers knocked this one out of the park. Ignoring warnings from Ted and Marshall that it's "boy funny, not girl funny," Barney tells Lily a really dirty joke. (You can read it — including the answer, which was not revealed in the episode — here.) Lily storms off, and Bob Saget intones, "And we didn't see Lily for four weeks." See you in the finale (filmed out of order, months ago), Alyson!
Cobie's pregnancy: Still in the stage where it can be camoflaged by bathrobes, floaty tops, lampshades, and the inevitable oversized purse. But just barely. Good thing she's still in the game, because without Robin, this ensemble is merely good rather than great, as her work this week with Ted's assistant and mentee PJ proves. "A hot guy telling you when you can and can't pee? That's the dream!" she muses, reflecting on her opportunistic affair with headset-wearing PJ who guards the keys to the bathroom in her apartment.
Douchey Ted: We're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel on this one, and I know it's none too soon for many of you. On his own after being fired for losing the Goliath National Bank project, Ted decides to finally start his own firm, Mosbius Designs. The firm is a desk in his and Robin's apartment, an official pen (maybe felt-tip?), an unfinished brochure and website, and a lot of "wisdom walks." His problem with delaying actual work in order to preserve his firm's pristine, failure-proof dream state pegs douchey Ted's doucheyness: Disappointed that he's not farther along in achieving his goals, he continues to play at life rather than live it. As far as I'm concerned, though, douchey Ted has a lot more comic potential than sweet, romantic, boring Ted circa season 1. So I hope that serious growing-up Ted will retain the flavor of his particular brand of doucheyness, as it were. (Would that be vinegar?)
Barney's case of the Cupids: All season long, NPH has been rocking the funny, and never more so than his flailing efforts to hold it together when he learns that not only is PJ not a hot chick that Ted is banging, but it's actually a hot guy that Robin is banging. "Wait for it" has been conspicuously absent this season, and I'm starting to think the writers have withheld it deliberately in order to make Barney's halting confession to Marshall that much more hilarious. "I'm—wait for it—in—wait for it—love—wait for it—with—wait for it … a—wait for it—certain—" The way NPH oh so subtly varies the "wait for its" should be part of the core curriculum in sitcom school. Now Marshall knows (actually, he already did), and Barney is getting more agitated at Robin's behavior. We're heading for a crisis.
The Mother: Nothing yet. But we've been promised action by season's end, and by moving the growing-up storylines along, the show is putting the pieces into place.