HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER: “The Drunk Train” – RECAP

After last week’s major disappointment, How I Met Your Mother had nowhere to go but up. “The Drunk Train” wasn’t a huge escalation in quality, but when compared to “The Burning Beekeeper” the difference is staggering. It follows a typical sitcom format, giving it a simplicity that allows it to focus on the stories it wants to tell: Marshall and Lily’s score keeping in their relationship, Kevin proposing to Robin, and Ted and Barney’s new playground to pick up hood rats; the last train into Long Island. The strongest story, surprisingly, is Robin and Kevin’s. Ever since his introduction, I’ve had a pretty big hate for Kevin (Kal Penn), a psychiatrist who breaks all of his moral codes to date his patient, Robin. He’s a bland character with only the slightest glimpses of a personality occasionally peeking through.

It’s because of my overall dislike of Kevin that I was really taken aback by how moved I was by his discussions with Robin. After popping the question, Robin is terrified, not because she doesn’t love Kevin, but because she still hasn’t told him she cannot have children. Robin has been having a tough time of things this season and telling Kevin her secret was not easy for her. Making it more difficult, Kevin at first is still 100% down with marrying Robin, if only because he doesn’t fully understand exactly what he’s giving up. You see, Kevin still believes they’ll have children, just not necessarily their own. It’s not until Robin drops yet another bombshell on him, that she doesn’t even want kids, does Kevin realize the gravity of the situation, and only after she forces him to see what he’ll lose. I really liked how Marshall and Lily’s talk of keeping score leaks into this storyline.

Giving up certain parts of your life for someone you love is an inevitability, but usually it’s something small, like smoking or moving to a different state. But when you have to give up something you’ve always dreamed of, like having children, you could forever hold that over your spouse’s head, more than likely leading to a rift in the marriage. Robin smartly sees down the road to this possibility and doesn’t want to owe Kevin nearly that much. Robin doesn’t believe anyone can handle giving up that much for her. However, as we find out in one of two cliffhangers, Ted thinks he could be that guy.

I kind of wish Ted’s confession of love toward Robin had more of a build up in this particular episode. It just sort of came out of left field. I’m not at all disappointed it happened, just with how suddenly it came about. I’m actually really excited to see where the writers are taking him, Robin, and Barney. A strange love triangle is definitely in the works. The only thing keeping it from becoming a full blown love disaster (in a good way) is the new character, Quinn (played by Ugly Betty’s Becki Newton). She already has way more going on for her than Nora ever did. Like Nora, Quinn has no time for Barney’s games, but isn’t nearly as squeaky clean as Nora, as we find out in the second cliffhanger that Quinn is a stripper at the club Barney frequents.

What was supposed to be the funny parts of the episode weren’t always that funny. I’ve noticed a trend this season of the emotional moments standing out more so than the humorous ones. The drunk train scenes were probably the best comedically, especially the montage of shut downs (What you think you’re better than me!?) while everything else was kind of hit or miss. Marshall and Lily’s storyline felt like it was mostly just there to help Robin and Kevin’s, which I’m fine with. All the parts moved when put together as a whole, but it wasn’t a smooth motion. Oh well, it’s still better than “The Burning Beekeeper.”