Robin's sister Katie is visiting New York, where instead of staying with Robin, she wants to spend a very special night with her boyfriend. Robin is less than thrilled about the idea of her younger sister losing her virginity and convinces everyone to help her talk Katie out of it - well, everyone except Barney. Ted gets through to Katie by telling her the story of his first time - a story that comes with a plot twist. In the end, it's Ted and Robin's relationship that takes an important next step.
Cobie Smulders doesn't get too many opportunities to shine in the early seasons of How I Met Your Mother. Ted is the main character. In late season 1 and early season 2, the story focuses a lot on Marshall and Lily. And Neil Patrick Harris as Barney steals every scene he's in. In this episode however, Smulders gets to play a bigger role as new layers are added to the character she portrays, Robin. Robin is highly uncomfortable throughout the episode, about her sister's plans as well as about getting more serious with Ted. Which is interesting to see, since she's usually portrayed as a very tough person. We see a subversion of the old rom-com cliché that only the guy has to work on his flaws to make a relationship work. Here it's Robin who has to get out of her comfort zone. This is done well by the actress and also once again by the writers.
Apart from the main storyline, this episode is rather strong on the continuity front. We see a flashback to Marshall and Lily having sex for the first time with Ted in the top bunk, which was referenced in the pilot. Lily's high school boyfriend Scooter is mentioned for the first time since his introduction in "Best Prom Ever". And Barney's true story about his first time hearkens back to his not-so-awesome years we were introduced to in "Game Night". Later in the series, the story lines of Barney getting his heart broken by Shannon and him losing his virginity to his mother's divorced friend Rhonda even get connected.
Still only a 7 out of 10 in my (br)opinion, because it's overall not quite as funny as what we're used to from the series. Especially the gag with "random suicidal guy" fell a bit flat to me, partly due to his overacting. I also don't particularly like it when Ted is portrayed as an insufferable pathetic architecture nerd. This gets worse as the series progresses, to the point where his character is sometimes reduced to this trait. Here it's still tolerable, as it is probably the first time in the series and you can forgive him for getting too excited about spreading his knowledge about the Empire State Building. Besides, for the second episode in a row, there's an uncensored mention of pot smoking, which old Ted would avoid in front of his kids in later episodes. Again justifiable, since old Ted could have come up with the sandwich metaphor halfway through his story.
All in all, it's nice to see the relationship of Ted and Robin move forward. The highlights of the episode however are certainly Barney's fake stories.
Cobie Smulders doesn't get too many opportunities to shine in the early seasons of How I Met Your Mother. Ted is the main character. In late season 1 and early season 2, the story focuses a lot on Marshall and Lily. And Neil Patrick Harris as Barney steals every scene he's in. In this episode however, Smulders gets to play a bigger role as new layers are added to the character she portrays, Robin. Robin is highly uncomfortable throughout the episode, about her sister's plans as well as about getting more serious with Ted. Which is interesting to see, since she's usually portrayed as a very tough person. We see a subversion of the old rom-com cliché that only the guy has to work on his flaws to make a relationship work. Here it's Robin who has to get out of her comfort zone. This is done well by the actress and also once again by the writers.
Apart from the main storyline, this episode is rather strong on the continuity front. We see a flashback to Marshall and Lily having sex for the first time with Ted in the top bunk, which was referenced in the pilot. Lily's high school boyfriend Scooter is mentioned for the first time since his introduction in "Best Prom Ever". And Barney's true story about his first time hearkens back to his not-so-awesome years we were introduced to in "Game Night". Later in the series, the story lines of Barney getting his heart broken by Shannon and him losing his virginity to his mother's divorced friend Rhonda even get connected.
Still only a 7 out of 10 in my (br)opinion, because it's overall not quite as funny as what we're used to from the series. Especially the gag with "random suicidal guy" fell a bit flat to me, partly due to his overacting. I also don't particularly like it when Ted is portrayed as an insufferable pathetic architecture nerd. This gets worse as the series progresses, to the point where his character is sometimes reduced to this trait. Here it's still tolerable, as it is probably the first time in the series and you can forgive him for getting too excited about spreading his knowledge about the Empire State Building. Besides, for the second episode in a row, there's an uncensored mention of pot smoking, which old Ted would avoid in front of his kids in later episodes. Again justifiable, since old Ted could have come up with the sandwich metaphor halfway through his story.
All in all, it's nice to see the relationship of Ted and Robin move forward. The highlights of the episode however are certainly Barney's fake stories.
