Aww, Sock

Fact: People freak out when the see babies. No one ever looks at a baby and says "Oh, a baby, whatever." Nope, people either say "Awww, look at that cute little baby, it's so small and nice..........I WANT A CHILD," or "Oh god, a baby, the sign of committment and responsibility......GET IT A WAY FROM ME!!!!" Me, I usually oscillate between both answers. Tonight's episode of How I Met Your Mother saw some firm arguments from both sides of what I'll call the Great Baby Divide. Barney, who narrowly escaped becoming a father himself, invented a holiday to celebrate not being a father, appropriately titled Not-A-Father's Day. Robin, channeling her inner disgruntledness at being homeless and unemployed, makes a lot of convincing arguments about why people should be scared of babies. Ted, whom Robin and Lily peg as a dorky dad who has yet to have kids, comes up with a bunch of reasons of why people should become parents. Marshall and Lily vacillate on the issue before deciding they are not yet at a point in their lives where they can have kids. To which I say bravo, because they are so deep in debt that having a kid would make it infinitely harder to get out of it. Fortunately for the audience, they don't at arrive at this decision until after Lily gets really drunk on wine and shows up at Marshall's office, asks him to inseminate her, makes a big mess, throws up, runs up and down the hallway, and passes out in a cab. Awesome. In the end, though, Barney and Robin are brought over to the baby-loving side as a result of a little baby sock, which induces cries of "Awwwwww" in all who touch it. The sock even makes Barney sing Cat's Cradle at a karaoke bar in the post-credit sequence. Brilliant.

Tonight's episode also gave us another one of Barney's gems of wisdom: The Cheerleader Effect. The Cheerleader Effect states that the overall attractiveness of a group of girls is greater than the sum of its by virtue of their being together. If one looks at each member of the group individually, one will find that upon closer inspection each girl is not as attractive as she originally appeared. The Cheerleader Effect, also known as the Bridesmaid Paradox, also applies to men as well. Personally, I think we're looking at the basis for a Nobel Prize, but that's just me.

Two other things I liked:
(1) Robin moving in with Ted, which was foretold in the Ted's Birthday episode last season. I love that this show sticks with continuity, unlike some other shows that will remain nameless.
(2) Robin pouring beer into her ice cream to watch a TiVoed episode of The View. I don't even need to explain that one.

And our Quotable Quotes for the evening:
"You hated me?" "A lot." "Aww."--Robin and Lily after describing how all girls hate other pretty girls pon first meeting.

"Lily, no part of Barney Stinson does anything less than a 110%. If one my little Michael Phelpses got loose, he's swimming for the gold."--Barney. Shouldn't Barney have 13 kids at this point then?

"You better not be as uptight as these idiots about me shooting beer cans on the roof. 'Oh, it hurts my ears.' 'The neighbors called the cops.' 'You almost hit me.' " "Enjoy her Ted, she's in a real good place now."--Robin and Marshall. I love that Robin loves guns.

" 'Dinner' is a baby." "Lily, that's horrible!"--Lily and Robin. Hehe.

"Check out the illustration." "Oh, it appears to be some sort of Asian hooker." "Yes, because on Not-A-Father's Day, you get a Thai you'd actually wear. Word-play five!" --Barney and Marshall. Sex Metaphor.

"Put you melon-headed spawn in my belly."--Lily

All in all, loved the episode. Not the best one (that title still goes to Slap Bet), but still one of the best comedies on air. On a closing note, I apologize to you, my faithful readers, for not being as diligent about my HIMYM posts as I am about some other shows. I will do better.