‘How I Met Your Mother’ season 9, episode 12 review: ‘The Rehearsal Dinner,’ and a ‘big’ reveal
We have waited for a long time for “The Rehearsal Dinner” episode of “How I Met Your Mother,” mostly because this is one that based on the title alone, should have been pretty fantastic.
But we have to say that really for the first twenty or so minutes of this, we found it to be incredibly irritating. There are times when Barney can become a nagging cartoon character, and boy was he ever here with his constant claims that his rehearsal dinner was going to be some sort of laser tag party. Instead, it was all part of some big play to surprise Robin with an ice-rink / Canada themed bash that he had to work very hard to cover up, including faking getting himself arrested by a security guard.
But does the surprise at the end make up for everything that we saw beforehand? That is what we are trying to wrestle with now. It was a sweet moment, but it was the same exact some of sweet moment that we had with him proposing last year. Plus, there has to be a certain point where you wonder if the emotional anguish that Robin goes through with all of these ‘surprises’ is really worth it.
In the end, we were mostly surprised that almost nothing actually happened during the episode. There was no appearance from The Mother, barely any mention of Marshall at all, and Ted’s entire story revolved around the Liberace costume. While this was not an episode that we wanted to necessary turn off by any means, this is definitely not one we can see ourselves watching again. It was just 20 minutes of hype for a 2-minute reveal that really did not change the game. We didn’t even get more about Ted’s feelings for Robin, which was assumed based on most of the previews regarding him having a secret. Grade: C.
What did you think about “The Rehearsal Dinner,” and was this entire reveal really worth the entire buildup of Barney’s complicated lie? Share your thoughts below! Also, click here to see some information about The Mother’s next appearance.
Photo: CBS