This is going to be short. The very last scene notwithstanding, reaction to last night’s episode has been mostly positive. But aside from a short but sweet cameo by Ernie Hudson (by the way, I would totally watch a version of ‘HIMYM’ that has Marshall trying to be a successful Ghostbuster), “The Rebound Girl”didn’t completely click for me. Parts of it were definitely amusing, but between the two stories, there just wasn’t much here that made me laugh.

Where the episode managed to right itself briefly (before the aforementioned final scene) was in Wayne Brady’s appearance (I did laugh when James and his family just appeared inside the house during Ted and Lily’s conversation). The bro-parent story was ridiculous, as it was meant to be, but the arrival of James and his kids gave it the kind of heartwarming-ness the show is good at delivering.

I think I mentioned in a previous post that I’m just fine with a ‘HIMYM’ that isn’t LOL funny as long as the more heartfelt nature of the show shines through, and while this episode wasn’t the best example of that, the first 18 minutes of the episode were pleasant enough, and the 2 minutes after that touching enough, that I would’ve placed this episode in the ‘win’ column, especially given how disappointed I’ve been with the show as of late.

But then there were those last 30 seconds. The pregnancy reveal definitely raised my eyebrows, and it also raised a ton of questions that really just made me worried about where things will go from here. I just can’t see the majority of fans watching that last scene and collectively concluding, “Robin’s pregnant?! Awesome!” Until we know more, it just feels like Bays and Thomas are digging quite a hole for themselves and I really hope they got a good plan in place for the rest of the season.

It’s been a while since I wrote anything about ‘HIMYM’ (or anything, for that matter, but that’s another story). I think my lack of enthusiasm stems from the fact that we’re almost halfway through the season, and there’s really only been one episode in which I’ve had little to complain about (which happens to be the last one I wrote about, the one with Victoria). Last night’s “Tick Tick Tick” continued the trend of problematic episodes, with an A story that managed to compound the awful decision last week to have both Robin and Barney cheat while in committed relationships. Continue Reading