Back in the second season of How I Met Your Mother we were treated to an extra-hilarious episode titled, “Slap Bet.” It was during that episode that we were informed that Robin was once a Canadian pop-star who went by the name Robin Sparkles. Tonight’s episode, titled “Sand Castles In The Sand” was somewhat of a sequel to “Slap Bet.” In addition to getting to see the music video to Robin’s B-side ballad, we got to meet Robin’s brief summer fling from back in her Robin Sparkles days. And while no one got slapped tonight, Robin did end up “going all the way” with someone.
“Sounds to me like he gave you your first 'Oh, Canada Face.'”
When Robin shows up at the bar sporting some impressive cleavage that doesn’t go unnoticed by anyone, she admits that her old flame Simon is in town. He’s the guy she dated back when she was Robin Sparkles. Apparently Simon had a pretty rad collection of Hard Rock Café T-shirts (hot.). The gang then passes the time by coming up with clever euphemisms relating to whether or not Simon was the one to “take Robin’s maple leaf.” Most of these jokes were cut out (but maybe the full video will turn up on HIMYM’s Myspace page).
Robin didn’t get to “ride Simon’s zamboni” because they only went out for a week and a half. Simon (played by Dawson’s Creek’s James Van Der Beek), who speaks with a really bad Canadian accent dumped Robin to get back together with Louise Marsh because her parents just got a pool. Back during her days as a teen icon, Robin was apparently far from the gun-toting, tough NYC lady that she is now. Being an insecure teenager, she was even willing to finish loading Simon’s music equipment into his van after he broke her heart.
Well Simon’s back in town and looking to reconnect with Robin. He’s still living with his mom and now works at a water park. Also, his band “The Foreskins” is still trying to hit the big-time. The gang thinks Robin will “win” this reunion for sure. But there was one thing none of them could have predicted:
Revertigo
Revertigo is when you’re around someone from your past and you revert back to how you used to act back when you knew that person. Ted and Marshall use Lily as an example. When Lily’s around her high school friend Michelle, she suffers from revertigo. Marshall mentions Michelle to Lily and gets her to set up a hang-out date so they can demonstrate the behavior. When Lily and Michelle are together, they both act all gangsta, saying things like “Aw girl, you gotta get yo drink on up in hurr!” and “I’ma get me my champagne and grape soda awn.” When separated, both Michelle and Lily revert back to speaking normally.
Robin suffers from Revertigo when around Simon. Despite the fact that the present-day Simon is fat and balding and still kind of a jerk, Robin still behaves like a love-sick teenager around him. She even finds a way to play his demo CD on the air during a promo for puppy adoption on the nightly news. Robin thinks things are finally going to happen with her and Simon but eventually, he dumps her in his van once again. This time it’s because Louise Marsh’s parents got a “jacoos” (which I’m guessing is Canadian for Jacuzzi).
Sand Castles In The Sand
Robin is left to cry by herself at the bar until Barney shows up. He’s frustrated because he can’t get his hands on a copy of the video for Robin’s B-side hit, “Sand Castles in the Sand.” Up until tonight he didn’t even know the song existed but it came out that Robin met Simon during the making of the video and after that Barney swore he’d go to the ends of the earth to find a copy of it.
When he sees how upset Robin is over getting dumped, he forgets the video and consoles her. Every once in a while we see Barney do something decent. Like the time he went and got Lily to come back to New York. Tonight he tells Robin that she’s way cooler now than she was at sixteen. In fact, he says that based on viewing her “Let’s Go To The Mall” music video more than a thousand times, he thinks she was totally, totally lame as a teenager. Now she’s the most awesome person he knows (besides the guy he sees in the mirror.)
Robin’s touched by Barney’s kindness and invites him back to her place. We’re teased with the idea that the two are going to hook up but it’s pretty obvious that she’s going to show him the video. “Sand Castle’s In the Sand” is like every other moany pop-ballad from the 80’s. In addition to Van Der Beek, the video features 80’s pop-star Tiffany (yes!) and for some reason, Alan Thicke. Barney says the video’s everything he wanted it to be and more. He also says if she re-edits the video, there’s a tampon commercial in there somewhere.
Every time the shot cuts back from the video to Robin and Barney, the two are sitting closer together and it becomes clearer during their rewatches that tonight Robin and Barney are totally going to “go all the way.” The episode ends with them making out on the couch.
So I ask you, is this just a hook-up or are these two actually going to get together? I’m guessing this could be a twisted version of Chandler and Monica’s tale. It starts out just as sex (and probably secret-sex at that) and who knows, maybe they’ll actually end up falling for each other. Can’t wait to find out!
Here’s the full Robin Sparkles video for “Sand Castles In The Sand”:
