TV Review: How I Met Your Mother 7.10-- Tick Tick Tick

Every so often there is an episode of a television show where I'm sure the writers have targeted me personally.  "Andrea," they hypothetically say, "we decided to write 20 minutes of television with the sole intention of taking your heart, squeezing and releasing it a hundred times, and ultimately shattering it into a million pieces."  This is that episode.

Needless to say, if you haven't watched it, I'm about to have a lot of detailed, spoiler-filled thoughts about it, so you probably shouldn't keep reading.

After last week's twist ending, I was pretty sure HIMYM couldn't outdo itself this week.  But it really, really did.  "Tick Tick Tick" is perhaps one of my new all-time favorite episodes, because it did almost all of the exact things a comedy needs to do during sweeps.  There was conflict, with Barney and Robin fretting over how to tell their respective partners what they'd done; there was a gradual increasing of the stakes (Barney's speech about them getting back together floored me.  I think that was the most open he's ever been with Robin and possibly with any character on this show thus far, and it was absolutely amazing.  This is how you develop a character, folks.)  There was a dramatic ending (not necessarily a "twist," since you knew the moment they set that midnight deadline that something would go awry), and potential for weeks and weeks of fallout (that I can't wait to see).  And as the icing on the cake, there was a hilarious B storyline seemingly designed solely to diffuse the tension of the Barney and Robin goings-on in the A story.  Ted and Marshall and drugs will always be funny to me.

I think this episode, when it wasn't amping up the drama between them, really gave us a good look at where Barney and Robin are individually as characters.  It was interesting to see Barney be the one to ultimately confess his transgression to Norah, who promptly dumped him, while Robin, who they both seemed to agree was less of a mess than Barney, got miraculously let off the hook by Kevin (who I personally think came off as kind of a pushover in that last scene), and didn't have to fess up at all.  I think Barney is in a place now where he wants to try his best to not be selfish, whereas Robin will still take the easy way out if given the opportunity (granted, in this case it was pretty much presented to her on a silver platter), and I think that has given us an intriguing and fresh imbalance in their relationship.  Dare I say that Barney is now the more mature of the two, willing to step up and confront what's really going on while Robin hides behind her boyfriend?  This has some definite potential, especially in contrast to season 4 when Barney was pining after Robin but afraid he wasn't good enough.

Also, that scene at the end, where Ted saw Barney in Robin's room, cleaning up his would-be romantic gesture?  Not only was that a heartbreaking moment, but I think it is also the very beginning of the conflict between the three of them that Ted alluded to in the voiceover of the episode earlier this season, when Victoria insisted the three of them couldn't all be friends.  Ted knowing that Barney is pursuing/wants to pursue Robin again is something that I think will play an increasingly significant role the rest of this season.  I only hope that it doesn't go the same way as the season 3 arc following Barney's initial tryst with Robin, where Ted held a grudge for entirely too long. 

If there's an episode next week we might get another dose of this sweeps goodness before Turkey Day, if not I'm expecting more of a focus on Ted when the show returns.  I love the Barney and Robin stuff, I really do, but this season is also supposed to show us Ted actively trying to find his wife, and so far we haven't seen much of that.  I think it'll be good to see a renewed energy on that end of things while Barney and Robin simmer in the background, at least until she inevitably breaks up with Kevin (it is inevitable, right?  Right?).