I went out after work last night (yes, I have a life) and didn't get to watch HIMYM until I got home this evening. To be honest, I wasn't that impressed. Last night's episode was OK, but a definite step down from last week's Slapsgiving. Here's the rundown:
Ted has one of those moments where he realizes he's out of shape (I have one of those moments every morning when I get out of the shower.......ugghhh), so he decides that its time for all of them to join a gym. This results in the night's two funniest moments, neither of which have to do with the A-plot, so I'll leave them for later. Barney already belongs to gym, but he doesn't work out there. Instead, he "invests"--he chats up overweight girls so that they'll remember him when they get skinny. The man might be an innovator, but he also might be crazy. While ordering a smoothie, Barney encounters Rhonda, his mom's chain smoking friend who he lost his virginity to. There's one small catch: Rhonda has no idea who he is. Apparently Barney wasn't as good out of the gate as he thought he was. We flashback to a grungy, ponytail Barney, who has just been dumped by the girl he was saving himself for. In attempt to get him back on his feet his brother (again played by Wayne Brady, who does a really good job with the not-out-of-the-closet-yet jokes) gets Rhonda to sleep with him and tell him he was great. I think one of those shattering glass noises from a couple of episodes ago would be appropriate here, given how Barney just falls apart as he realizes his entire sexual career is based on a lie.
In an attempt to turn things around, Barney scores three passes to the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show afterparty (hey, what do you know! The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show is going to air on CBS next week!). He makes a bee line for the first supermodel he sees and totally strikes out. So he moves on the second. And strikes out. And the third. And.....you get the picture. Apparently Barney has a case of "the yips," meaning that he is incapable of hitting on girls. I always thought it was called "horribly awkward in social situations," but I'm not one to turn down a new catchphrase. Barney spots Heidi Klum (who is so freaking hot I thought my computer screen might melt) in the crowd, but instead of talking to her, he just makes noises at her, then goes to a table and cries. Heidi asks Ted if he's ok, and Ted tells her he has the yips. Heidi sympathizes and says that in Germany they call it (really long German word which she will repeat again--it's a good moment). She then cheers him and tells him to get back on the saddle by sleeping with Rhonda and actually "rocking her world" this time. After some standard back and forth between Barney and Rhonda which I don't feel like recounting because it wasn't really that funny, Barney does the deed and gets right back to his old self.
The side plots revolve around the gym and give us the two funny moments I referenced earlier. Funny moment one: Marshall's cut, petite female trainer calling him a little bitch. That was great. Funny moment two: Robin grunting as she does bench presses with Ted looking on. Cobie Smulders can pull off the physical comedy quite well.
And that's the episode. There's only one more left (unless the strike ends this week--keep your fingers crossed!), so I guess I should have savored this one a bit more. But I didn't. Eh.
