Spoilers if you haven’t seen last night’s How I Met Your Mother! If you want to watch the episode, CBS has it available streaming on their site.
The clip reveals the twist during last night’s episode of How I Met Your Mother, when Robin had reached the end of her rope and Barney admitted that sometimes he was going to have to lie to her. Or rather, that he would need to bamboozle her every once in a while. Robin’s Canadian-ness has been the source of many a joke on How I Met Your Mother, so it’s not all that surprising that her country of origin would be addressed during the CBS comedy’s final season, especially considering she and Barney are preparing to get married. Last night’s “The Rehearsal Dinner” managed to poke fun at Canada and celebrate the country all in the span of a half an hour or so. And isn’t that fitting, considering that’s always the approach the series has taken toward our neighbors to the north?
As if to balance the episode out, early on we were treated to a string of Canada jokes, during a flashback where Robin mentioned wanting to get married in Canada. This prompted her friends to come up with as many Canadian-wedding jokes as they could think of. Would she hire the Crash Test Dummies to be her band? Would she register at Tim Hortons? Would they wear mittens? Would they serve elk and moose? Or my favorite, Marshall’s “Canada, what? Is everyone going to have access to universal healthcare so no one has to choose between going bankrupt and treating a life threatening illness?”
In the end, Canada came into play in a big way as Barney sneakily set up an elaborate and excessively Canadian surprise rehearsal dinner — a rare repayment for his glorious bachelor party — set in a skating rink with at least one pro figure skater (and one amateur one, thanks to Ted). Alan Thicke was there to sing Crash Test Dummies’ “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm.” Labatt was served. An autographed photo of Wayne Gretzy was presented. And there were people there representing some of Canada’s greatest achievements, like the discovery of insulin, the invention of the paint roller and the creation of the wonderbra.
Given that Barney spent the duration of the episode pretending to be waiting for a surprise laser tag rehearsal dinner, the twist was even more surprising when things seemed to go wrong and the big reveal followed. In the end, this week’s installment of the wedding weekend that never ended was all about bringing a little bit of Canada to Robin. It was romantic and sweet and altogether goofy, which is a combination that’s always worked well for HIMYM. Robin being Canadian is just one of the many things Barney loves about her, and that came through loud and clear in this week's episode.
There wasn’t much (or anything really) about the mother in “The Rehearsal Dinner,” but it looks like we’re in for a dedicated “Mother” episode early next year.
