This entry should be read with an implicit November sweeps SPOILER WARNING. Remember that time when I said this show was gearing up for some changes during sweeps? Yeah, I won't bore you with the gloating, but I was right!
"Disaster Averted" contains not one but two fully realized stories: one takes place in the present, with the gang at MacLaren's, the other is a flashback sequence to the week when Hurricane Irene threatened to flood New York City. Both stories had equally fulfilling elements, and some very funny moments.
In the present, Barney is obsessed with getting Marshall and Lily to revoke their decree that he wear the ducky tie every day for an entire year. He comes up with the genius plan that they can trade the wearing of the tie for additional slaps in the "slap bet" made by Marshall and Barney so many moons ago.
Meanwhile, in the coverage of the gang's storm watch, we get a healthy dose of Ted being a huge nerd, which tends to be the times I like him best. He is in full boy scout mode, prepping for the impending disaster, donning some lovely fuschia rain boots, and attempting to convince the gang to evacuate. Through some patented Barney manipulation, they all wind up stranded inside his apartment instead. This bit is a stroke of genius because it gave us a bottle episode experience without the entire episode having to take place locked in Barney's living room.
Back in the present, Kevin riddles out the reason Barney is suddenly so dead set on removing the ducky tie: he's scheduled to meet Nora's parents in a few days' time. Marshall and Lily sympathize (and also reveal that their son-to-be was in fact conceived in Barney's bathroom the day of the hurricane), and agree that Barney can remove the tie in exchange for three additional slaps. two of which Marshall doles out on the spot. For those keeping score at home, the remaining slap count is now 2.
The best part of the episode (in my heavily biased opinion) comes in the final five minutes, after just about everything else gets wrapped up. Barney and Robin share a cab home, and Robin asks Barney if he's ever mentioned the "other thing" that "almost happened" during the storm. We then got a flashback revealing that Barney and Robin had a bit of a heartfelt moment, not to mention an almost-kiss. Now, having known going into this episode that these two were going to have a "moment," I thought this was all we were going to get, and was more than happy with it. However, the show zagged when I expected a zig, and at the last moment we went back to the present to see Barney and Robin, both now engaged in serious relationships with other people, share a pretty heated kiss.
What does this mean? Are these two and their respective significant others headed for trouble, or will they bury this incident, chalking it up to poor judgment? It seems too good to be true that we're headed for a genuine Barney and Robin reunion, and so we'll have to wait and see how they manage to steer themselves in the wrong direction. And of course, Barney's wedding and mystery bride are always in the back of my mind-- does this kiss give us further evidence it could be Robin, or will Barney re-commit to Nora even more seriously after this misstep? Time will tell, but if this is the kind of episode the writers of this show have up their sleeves for the rest of November, I say bring it on.
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