‘How I Met Your Mother’ season 8, episode 9 review: Barney’s with [spoiler]?

Monday night’s new episode of “How I Met Your Mother” season 8 was an excellent one, and there a number of twists thrown in here that we never saw coming. After all, the episode had one key theme to it: progress, and it kept evolving and changing over the course of the half-hour.

As for the biggest shocker, let’s just say that you may be screaming “why?” at the heavens by the end of the episode if you are a fan of Barney and Robin. Throughout the episode, Robin was desperate to have one final hookup with her ex as a way to get him “out of her system,” but he was not reading into any of her plays despite how desperate they were (trying to make out with another woman, laughing at his inane stories, dressing up as Lara Croft during a laser tag game).

Instead, Barney was eventually drawn to a woman who is completely nothing like anyone who he has been with in the past: Patrice. She’s Robin’s arch-enemy, but she has a nurturing side that he truly needs at this very moment. The man is in the process of finding himself, and for the time being he may have found a way to make himself happy … but at the expense of a woman who clearly loves him.

As for the rest of the episode, it was largely spent on a story that was all about Ted trying to fill a void in his life with taking care of Marvin, as he had nothing major to look forward to with no major job on the horizon or a girlfriend. He in many ways hilariously angered Marshall and Lily by completely taking over as a nanny, but in the end, they were the ones to help further him along the path that will (hopefully) get him closer to the woman of his dreams. Of course, they also acted selfishly to ensure that Ted didn’t get to have any more “firsts” with their baby.

What did you think about this episode? If you want to see what else is going to be coming up this season for Barney and Robin, all you have to do is visit the story that is online over at the link here.

Photo: CBS