How I Met Your Mother: “Twelve Horny Women” (Episode 8.08)

It’s rare for a How I Met Your Mother episode to come along where I just want it to be over, but it happened with “Twelve Horny Women.” Normally the romantic comedy is laugh-out-loud funny with an emotional pulse that has kept viewers invested for eight years. However, this week fell flat while its focus seemed to be non-existent.

Marshall’s trial that began in last week’s episode takes centerstage as it is discovered that he will be sitting in front of the New York State Judiciary committee “a little ways down the road” because of his actions in court. For starters, I like when the show plays with the timeline and gives us bits and pieces out of order. It is part of the charm that makes HIMYM special. This time was no different. The mini flash-forward offers an insight no other comedy is really able to give. The only problem this week was my lack of interest in Marshall’s trial. I found the whole situation involving his ex-bro Brad to be hokey with the inability to be sincerely interesting. If this was the subplot of the episode, it would have been fine. Yet, it wasn’t.

Recently I’ve felt that the writers are giving the wrong stories top billing because they can’t seem to find a way to make Ted’s story work now that we know the when and where of his meeting with his eventual wife. It’s as if he’s taken a backseat in his own love story to his friend’s lives.

Ted, however, is involved heavily with the B-plot as he and the rest of the gang try to convince each other how badass they were as teenagers. I’m not sure why this story is happening because they’ve all already told each other their entire life histories. Regardless, they’re trying, and there are some fun flashbacks, but none really stick out. It just seemed like filler up until the end of the episode.

It turns out Marshall isn’t being reprimanded for his actions in court like Future Ted’s voice over alluded to. He’s there because of the court’s actions. Marshall has realized the real power to change the world lies within the hands of a judge and he wants to become one. It was a nice character development, but didn’t deserve one entire episode. This could have taken place in small increments over a story arc, but the show has lost patience and doesn’t have a lot of time when it comes to plotting the characters’ futures.

The one part of the episode that stood out was Barney and Robin’s awkward relationship after they shared a kiss in the last episode. This relationship has become the center of Ted’s story and is what most viewers tune in to see nowadays. We’ve been waiting for the catalyst for the two to finally start getting back together, and the kiss wasn’t it. The catalyst seems to be Barney’s confession to her that he will stop trying to win her back and just wants everything to be OK between them. It was a positive note to end an average episode on.