HIMYM Recap Episode 7.21: Now We’re Even

Remember the days when HIMYM went in that crazy direction where they were trying to tell this story about how Ted met his wife? Well, this is not one of those episodes. Is it just me, or has it been a while since we’ve had any new information on that front? This episode was one of those episodes – and we’ve had a lot of them lately – where nothing much goes on as far as moving forward with that core storyline.

That being said, it still had some funny moments. Of course, it wouldn’t be HIMYM without them. Let’s review.

The Campbell’s summary:

Ted loves the freedom of not having any roommates, and Barney hates that his girlfriend is a stripper. Lily has a sex dream about someone they know who is not Marshall, which causes them to fight. Robin is upset, because she isn’t famous, but then she is placed in a dangerous situation that puts her in the spotlight. Barney – being Barney – drags Ted along on a series of adventures to distract himself from the fact that his girlfriend is a stripper. Naturally, shenanigans ensue.

Now, for the Homemade version:

The episode opens with Ted and Marshall hanging out at MacLaren’s, chatting about how Ted likes living alone. We get a few casual glimpses of his reasons why.

Marshall reveals that Lily had a sex dream about someone else – someone who she was too embarrassed to tell Marshall about. Naturally, Marshall thinks it’s because that someone is one of the gang, and he’s determined to figure out which one.

Barney’s focus this episode is on the fact that he is dating a stripper. He spends the entire episode telling everyone how awesome it is to be dating a stripper. (So much time, in fact, that it becomes a little suspicious – more on that later.)

However, Barney decides that, because his girlfriend is a stripper and her life is so awesome, he wants to have every night be LEGEN – wait-for-it – DARY!

How is he going to accomplish that? By dragging Ted along with him on a series of epic adventures.

These adventures included starting a Mariachi Band, bringing a horse into MacLaren’s, and a night of eating everything on MacLarens’ menu.

Back to Lily and Marshall, who have dinner plans – which includes a limo ride, driven by everyone’s favorite: Ranjit. Of course, Marshall then learns who the subject of Lily’s sex dream was.

Naturally, Marshall is upset. On the way to dinner, they get in a fight, and Marshall accuses Lily of “sleep-cheating” and “sleep-sleeping around” (say that five times fast). Lily refuses to go to dinner with him, and leaves Marshall to go talk to Quinn, who calms her down and talks her into going back to Marshall.

Meanwhile, in one of the less interesting and entertaining story-lines of the episode, Robin Scherbatsky is having a bit of a life crisis. She wants nothing more than to be famous, but she finds that she isn’t even recognized at her job. That is, until she goes on an assignment in a helicopter to cover the traffic report – and the pilot has a heart attack. Robin is left having to land the helicopter on her own, with the whole world watching. Obviously, she’s successful, as we all knew she would be. Again, not one of the better story-lines.

The last few minutes of the episode is spent tying up the story-lines – story-lines that do not further the show’s arc of how Ted met his wife. Marshall and Lily talk and realize they’re arguing, because they’re nervous about the baby coming – Robin fields phone calls from everyone she knows calling to tell her they’re glad she’s alive – and Barney admits to Ted that he actually hates that his girlfriend is a stripper, so he wants to keep busy every night to distract himself from that fact.

Overall, not one of the better HIMYM episodes, but it still had it’s funny moments, particularly Barney’s ideas for epic LEGENDARY nights.

Catch an all new episode of HIMYM Monday, April 30^th on CBS at 8/7c

Author: Hello! I’m Brittany, currently surviving as a graduate student. I am highly opinionated, but seldom a “shipper”. I love the entertainment industry – books, television, movies, music – and enjoy engaging conversations on it all. Currently, my favorite TV shows include: The Vampire Diaries, How I Met Your Mother, Awkward, Switched at Birth, The Lying Game, and New Girl. Find me on Twitter at @ItEntertainsMe!