How I Met Your Mother: How I Met Everyone Else

ORIGINAL EPISODES, MONDAYS @ 8PM ON CBS

The gang over at "How I Met Your Mother" gave us the "How I Met Everyone Else" show tonight. Ted met a woman online while playing "World of Warcraft" (an online role playing game) and invited her to meet everyone at the bar. So the writers used this as a good opportunity to show us how everyone met all those years ago. Robin's story we all know and so we didn't get all that much on her but the backstories to Ted and Barney, Ted and Lilly, Lilly and Marshall, and Marshall and Barney were hilarious! Easily the best was Ted and Lilly but a close second was Ted and Barney.

They almost got me I have to admit. I honestly believed that Ted and Lilly made out the night before she met Marshall. Not that I could ever see the two of them together but I really did think this was exactly the kind of thing HIMYM would bring us. Something totally out of the blue and almost ridiculous that we could never have expected yet at the same time can't help but laugh at. The absurdity of Lilly and Ted's kiss at the dorm party and the fact that she felt drawn to his room the next morning not knowing why because she had been drunk the night before was damn funny and I wish it had turned out to be true. Unfortunately, Ted made out with a different girl that night and at their 20 year college reunion we officially found out Ted's version of that night was wrong. I thought we might get a glimpse of Ted's wife at the reunion but they snubbed us again and even Ted wanted to know, "where's my wife?" Very nicely done.

Now Ted meeting Barney was classic and AWESOME. Only Barney could start a friendship after beginning a totally random and ridiculous conversation with a stranger while they were both using the urinals. The best part though was that it seems their relationship was exactly as it is now from the very start. Barney tried to use Ted as his wing man to pick up a woman by telling her Ted was his deaf brother. Unbeknownst to Barney, the woman he was trying to pick knew sign language and tried signing to Ted. Even more hilarious, was that Ted knew sign language too and spoke to the woman who then gave her number to Barney. So that's how they started off, Ted as Barney's wing man; or so Barney thought. In fact, Ted told the girl that Barney was crazy and she should give him a fake telephone number. Classic Barney-Ted moment. Love it.

Meanwhile, Marshall and Lilly's story was extremely boring. How could it not be actually? As Ted told us, when couples are together for as long as them the story becomes rehearsed and a bit cheesy. This was 100% accurate and the only thing that saved it from being a drag on the episode was it's connection to Ted's version of meeting Lilly for the first time. It was so boring in fact, I don't think we really need to rehash it here.

As for Robin, thank you (writers) for finally bringing her back to the group and not sending her off on random boring dates. I've been saying all season that she's only funny when she's in the group and tonight proved me right. Her awkward conversations with Ted's online friend were hilarious. I especially liked her description of Ted's sex life. If you want to know what she said watch the episode and I promise you'll laugh. I just hope this wasn't a fluke. The writers should stick with this week's idea and keep her around everyone else from now on.

Couple things I want to point out real fast: 1) Ted should never, ever, ever grow back a gotee; it was terrible! 2) Barney's graph about online women was freakin hilarious! You have a graph of Crazy vs. Hot and the Vicky Mendoz Diagonal below which the girl is too crazy to date and above which is so hot that you ignore the crazy. I also like his mention of the Shelly Galesby Zone which was a crazy zone dedicated especially to the insanity exhibited by a women he once hooked up with. 3) Ted's use of "eating a sandwich" as a substitute for smoking pot when talking to his kids was funny if only because it was totally random watching them all eat sandwiches at random times during the college scenes.

Great episode and definitely a classic format of HIMYM. We had a lot of laughs mixed in with flashbacks and flashforwards. I feel like the producers have finally established a consistent and pervasive vision for the direction of the show and it's showing. I feel more on track in one direction than I have in the past and it's really working. Until next week, enjoy the review.