I really enjoyed this one. Barney being at his most Barney-esque and messing up Marshall's bachelor party was one of those "why do they still hang out with this guy?" moments in the show. But then the reveal at the end, with Barney's speech and gesture to Lily not only shows a depth to the character beyond the usual Looney Tune Lothario routine, redeems much of his bad behavior, leads to a sweet moment of co-best manhood, but it makes his caddish behavior earlier in the episode work as a way to build the conflict and contrast up to that point to make the reveal all the more meaningful. In short, in justifies the time the episode devotes to showing Barney being repugnant for much of the episode, and explains his jerkish behavior earlier this season where he kept stealing Marshall's dates to boot! It was well-constructed, and had a number of good laughs (the wink exchange for one) to keep things moving.
And while not nearly as serious, the Lily/Robin bridal shower story was perfectly done comedy. I'll admit, I'm a sucker for double entendres, but this was a great exercise in comedy from panic, with Robin's frantic schemes to avoid being outed as the giver of the vibrator getting sillier and sillier (I love the misunderstood psychic conversation), the stakes getting comically puritan (old ladies, children, and nuns), and most of all the resolution that shows the group of older women as mature and sex-positive as the twenty-somethings who were fretting over the gift. So many laughs and fun little character moments.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2016-02-27T06:16:34Z
I really enjoyed this one. Barney being at his most Barney-esque and messing up Marshall's bachelor party was one of those "why do they still hang out with this guy?" moments in the show. But then the reveal at the end, with Barney's speech and gesture to Lily not only shows a depth to the character beyond the usual Looney Tune Lothario routine, redeems much of his bad behavior, leads to a sweet moment of co-best manhood, but it makes his caddish behavior earlier in the episode work as a way to build the conflict and contrast up to that point to make the reveal all the more meaningful. In short, in justifies the time the episode devotes to showing Barney being repugnant for much of the episode, and explains his jerkish behavior earlier this season where he kept stealing Marshall's dates to boot! It was well-constructed, and had a number of good laughs (the wink exchange for one) to keep things moving.
And while not nearly as serious, the Lily/Robin bridal shower story was perfectly done comedy. I'll admit, I'm a sucker for double entendres, but this was a great exercise in comedy from panic, with Robin's frantic schemes to avoid being outed as the giver of the vibrator getting sillier and sillier (I love the misunderstood psychic conversation), the stakes getting comically puritan (old ladies, children, and nuns), and most of all the resolution that shows the group of older women as mature and sex-positive as the twenty-somethings who were fretting over the gift. So many laughs and fun little character moments.
Altogether, it's a recipe for a superb episode.