How I Met Your Mother Episode 8.09 "Lobster Crawl" Recap

Well… Marshall and Lily are apparently over being over-protective of baby Marvin. He even got to hang out with the gang at MacLaren’s – though that wasn’t for the first time, if you remember back in the beginnning of the season. Still, for those two, it’s a big step. Not only are they fine with baby-in-a-bar, but they’re also more than willing to let Ted keep baby Marvin for a bit, since Lily’s dad is out of town.

Things quickly go south for them and Ted, however, as Ted promptly starts taking over every facet of baby Marvin’s life. Lily’s upset when Marvin crawls for the first time when only Ted is there to see it – and then they proceed to miss his crawling steps every time they’re around for the rest of the episode. After Ted sneaks off and buys Marvin’s entire winter wardrobe, which includes a new onsie supporting a football team Marshall does not approve of, the two decide to fire Ted [though I’m not sure what there is to complain about – Ted saved Marshall and Lily A TON of money doing that. Maybe they should have tried a “thank you” instead of a “you’re fired” – but no one asked me].

Meanwhile, Robin is starting to act really crazy around Barney – like valley girl flirting crazy. Lily immediately figures out what Robin’s real problem is: she always wants what she can’t have – like lobster, when Robin’s doctor first told her she was allergic, Robin just had to go out and eat it anyway. Robin tells Lily about Barney having told her he’d given up chasing her – so naturally, Robin wants him again.

So, she spends the rest of the episode trying her absolute best – to get Barney to sleep with her [but just one last time, to get him out of her system!]. When she turns to Lily for advice, Lily tells Robin to get into some lesbian action in front of Barney [though Lily later got upset when Robin showed up with her co-worker Brandi to switch teams with – Lily clearly had some Robin/Lily fantasies of her own]. BUT… even that backfires as Barney ends up asking Brandi to sleep with him instead, leaving Robin unsuccessful – and really starting to lose it.

Of course, Barney is revealed to be having some problems of his own – mainly revolving around the fact that he has no idea what direction he wants his life to take to move forward. So, in lieu of a real plan, he comes up with a new marketing gambit: Bro Bibs [which are not in any way affiliated with, inspired by, or a derivative of Dude Aprons].

Once the gang realizes that the new entrepreneurial side to Barney is just a sign of bigger problems under the surface, Robin feels guilty about being so single-minded in her pursuit in his time of need – for about five seconds. Then, she’s at his door, sporting a trench coat and little else, trying to tempt him with her charm. Isn’t Robin in for a surprise, though, when it’s revealed that Barney’s actually sort of on a date – but not with Brandi. Turns out, someone did finally ask you, Patrice – and that’s how Patrice ended up in Barney’s apartment on a date.

However, the episode doesn’t end there. Lily and Marshall realize that the reason Ted was acting so insane was that he was out of sorts having just finished his last big architectural project. So, when the two realize that he cancelled his meeting with a new client, they set the meeting back up and push Ted into going for it so that he can move on.

The big end-all to the episode comes later. Though Lily and Marshall seemed pretty sincere in their forgiveness of Ted’s crazy trip with baby Marvin’s “Book of Firsts,” the end of the episode shows us they weren’t quite as forgiving as they seemed. We got another flash-forward – to when Ted has his daughter and leaves Marshall and Lily to babysit, only to have them rush out to get his daughter’s first picture with Santa taken while Ted and his wife are away! Payback.