"How I Met Your Mother" Review: "Rally"

February 27, 2014

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James Canellos ’17/ Emertainment Monthly Staff

Neil Patrick Harris in the How I Met Your Mother episode "Rally." Photo Credit: Richard Cartwright / CBS. — Neil Patrick Harris in the *How I Met Your Mother* episode “Rally.” Photo Credit: Richard Cartwright / CBS.

Just hours before the wedding of Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) and Robin (Cobie Smulders), the gang tries to wake Barney up from a grueling hangover. Barney’s inability to function threatens to disrupt the couple’s wedding photos that need to be taken (or else Robin’s father will take his anger out on Barney). There is a sliver of hope though. Ted (Josh Radnor) remembers that long ago Barney made a special drink known as The Stinson Hangover Fixer Elixir. The only problem is…they don’t know the secret ingredient.
Unlike last week’s episode, this one didn’t try so hard to rub sweetness in our faces. Instead, it let it come out through the comedy of the gang trying to find out how to get Barney to wake up. In fact, this episode had a much more subtle approach to a common theme of the show, the perks of lying. Yes, lying isn’t supposed to be condoned. But the fact is, we can’t help ourselves from doing it to protect those we love. For example, one of the ingredients in Barney’s miracle elixir is grease, and it’s revealed that Ted has never tried it because his Mother said that he’s allergic, until he comes to the realization that he’s allergic to only bad things (Halloween candy, not saying ‘thank you’). While you can understand his frustration, this was a classic example of your parents knowing best. Eventually Ted gets sick from this amount of bacon and he’s clearly regretting his choices. It’s shown that Lily (Alyson Hannigan) and Marshall (Jason Segel) do it in the future when they’re dropping a grown up version of Marvin off at college. They encourage their son to stay away from bars, where they run into each other later.

Cobie Smulders, Neil Patrick Harris and Alyson Hannigan in the How I Met Your Mother episode "Rally." Photo Credit: Ron P. Jaffe / Fox. — Cobie Smulders, Neil Patrick Harris and Alyson Hannigan in the *How I Met Your Mother* episode “Rally.” Photo Credit: Ron P. Jaffe / Fox.

The biggest lie comes from Barney, who finally gains consciousness after Lily and Robin kiss. He reveals that there is no secret ingredient. At first the gang is a little annoyed, but then they look back and notice that the reason they needed that fake Stinson drink was because they were afraid of their own lives and felt like nothing would get better. The drink isn’t what they needed; it was the one who made it. Barney was always there for the gang the morning after to remind them that the worst is over. The gang wonders why when he says faintly, “I love you guys.” In order to reciprocate the love, they lie to Barney. According to them the wedding photos went on and Barney was in each one in a Weekend At Bernie’s nod.
This was a nice episode, there are only a handful left so this might be the last episode that was just pure silly joy. This episode was so refreshing because it brought everybody back together for one last funny adventure, which has been rarer this season due to the real time idea. It wasn’t overflowing with cute moments and could be very funny in the way they handle the flash forwards and even trick the audience with Robin and Barney’s flash. From here on in, the wedding will commence.

February 27, 2014

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