This week’s episode of How I Met Your Mother did little to further the plot, but it at least didn’t completely flop like many recent episodes did. For the first time in a long time the episode picked a joke and ran with it through the entire episode, with the little moments building up to actually be quite funny.
The Over-Correction begins with Marshall asking Ted if he can borrow his air mattress since Marshall’s mom is coming to town. We then find out that Ted frequently lets his friends borrow his things and rarely gets them back. He even ended his friendship with Stuart over not getting back his red cowboy boots. When Judy gets in town she informs Lily that although she doesn’t think Marshall is ready to know, she’s at the point where she’s looking to get back into dating.
The main plot in this episode is Robin’s struggle with Barney and Patrice’s relationship. Yes, they’re still together, and things have actually gotten decently serious. Robin, however, still doesn’t believe it’s anything legitimate. She thinks everything Barney is doing is an attempt to get back at her for rejecting him, ignoring the fact that he rejected her more recently.
Robin takes things such as Barney asking Patrice if she’s ready for lunch as a direct shot at Robin. She attempts to find a way to get Patrice to break up with Barney, with the main plan being the reveal of The Playbook. Patrice doesn’t believe that her “honey bear” could ever do anything like have a playbook, so Robin comes to the conclusion that if Patrice is to see the playbook she must steal it.
Robin then breaks into Barney’s apartment (with a drill labeled “property of Ted Mosby”) and searches for the playbook. She finds a series of elaborate triggers that reveal The Bro Code and David Lee Roth’s Autobiography (signed “to the best wingman ever, we’ll always have Panama. Love, Diamond Dave”) but still no sign of The Playbook. Before she can search further Barney comes home, and she scampers out of sight to his suit closet.
Robin is trapped so she resorts to calling Ted. He gets Barney to leave his apartment by saying Hugh Hefner is in the lobby of his building. Robin leaves the closet and falls into the stormtrooper costume, causing The Playbook’s location to be revealed. Barney returns home before Robin can leave and thus she is trapped again.
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