Directed by Pam Fryman
Written by Kourtney Kang
One Paragraph Synopsis: When Robin discovers that much of Ted's personal belongings come from ex-girlfriends, she starts to feel uncomfortable until they agree that he'll replace everything that came from an ex. All seems amicable until it's revealed that all of Robin's dogs come from her ex-boyfriends. But, it's harder to agree to replace dogs, so Ted tries his best to adapt until it becomes too difficult, leading Robin to relocate her dogs to her aunt's farm. When she comes back to Ted's place, though, she sees that he brought back all of his ex's old stuff, causing the two to fight until they finally agree on something- they're moving in together. In the midst of all this, after Lily drags the gang to an awful low-fi play, Barney unleashes his true feelings about it on her, giving him the incentive to come up with his own stage production.
I like how we didn't have to wait too long for the next slap. It shows that the staff knew that the episode was going to catch on, so another was reserved for not so long away. It's also helpful that not only is this episode also written by Kang, but that the slaps bookend this disc. I'm not sure if Bays, Thomas and crew had this in mind when working on the order of the season, but it works out quite well.
While I'm not a big fan of the A-plot (which I'm choosing to touch on later), I don't have too many negative things to say on the subplot. After spending more time in smaller, artistic productions and anarchic free poetry than I've been comfortable with, both Lily and Barney's plays come off as hilarious to me. Both nail the aesthetic behind these shows in traditionally goofy fashion, but that's what you expect from a sitcom, anyway.
There are many quasi-neck beards who run tiny productions that try their hardest to call out consumerism but come off as the most obnoxious, pretentious kind of art house crap you can think of, with no visual flair or subtlety to offer. Virtually none are pleasant to watch, thanks to a tiresome, jaded post-college mentality that ages badly by the time you hit 30 and you're helping people with their taxes, instead of asking for help. Lily is still in her artistic stage, and while she means well, her performance doesn't give much towards a future in stage. To be fair, the dialogue doesn't give much for a performance to begin with.
Barney, on the other hand, knows just how excruciating his show is. I mean, he uses Lily's beloved word moist for 40 minutes as a starting point. But it is in his image, after all, which explains why he begs the gang to stick around for his second act, even after Lily caves in. He has them in his hands, and Barney intends to roll with it for as long as he can.
The fact that he adds a robot piece in adds something a little different, since on top of his attempt at arthouse- this is a callback to allegorical science fiction, which has admittedly been made for as long as the genre existed, and is still made today, but here, Barney has his eyes on the 50's. The age of Cold War and communism parallels. Just check out the vintage tin foil look on the robot! But Barney isn't Rod Serling, and he revels in that fact. That's where the fun of his performance comes from, which is quite funny overall.
It's a great subplot that works with Aristotle's belief about subplots- that there's no real thing. Any good story worth its weight in plot and development have every little addition to the core story connect, no matter how small. With this being a story of trust and understanding, it makes sense that Barney and Lily are dealing with the same thing, as Barney doesn't seem to realize how offensive his honesty could be, but at the same time, there are some things even your best friends could have trouble sitting through. I'd argue that Barney learns his lesson the easy way, with a slap to the face being a quick, if painful, concrete end. Lily had to deal with hours of tedious bullshit to get to her point.
Now as for Ted and Robin, huh. Have you ever been in the middle of a fight between two friends, and wanted to slap both, since they both sounded pretty off? That's how I am with their argument.
Both of them have their right to be jealous. Jealously is a perfectly natural emotion that practically everyone feels at some point. If something doesn't make you feel jealous or cautious when you're with your significant other, you might just be too serene. And while it is true that Robin is considerably more lackadaisical than Ted, she has her limits as well. And I can never fault the show for embracing Robin's true feelings for Ted.
I just wish Robin could have addressed this without shut shaming women she's never met before. Even if we did have receipts of her encountering any of Ted's exes, besides Victoria of course (who isn't even mentioned here, btw), it's still kind of gross to hear Robin call any of the women who left or gave Ted any of his possessions whores, not to mention unbelievably catty. There's a difference between defense mechanisms, and misogyny itself.
Otherwise, I'm fine with Robin asking Ted to consider replacing his stuff. While the memories may be gone for him, I can definitely see how Robin would keep a mental note of different periods for Ted, where she wasn't a part of his life. Serious relationships are meant to be new beginnings, and Robin wants to have hers with Ted, which is a perfect excuse to get rid of some furniture and doo-dads. Now, they can find their own little things to spruce up the apartment and cement their time together. Ted may have a point about items like the lamp and the phone box being just items with little sentimental value kept to them, but it isn't hard to retire them for new memories.
But I can't defend Ted's hope of wanting Robin's dogs to go. There's a difference between some furniture and accessories, and actual life. Dog raising is different from child raising, but it's still an obligation, one that Robin chose to accept. Yes, she adopted each of her dogs while she was with different men, but the fact that she kept each one of them and continues to care after them years removed proved that this is more than just a romantic gift, but that her dogs meant a sense of duty and passion to Robin.
It's also weird, since Ted has mentioned more than once before that he loves dogs, but he can only see faint ideas of Robin's ex-boyfriends in each of her pups. If he really loved dogs, he wouldn't have made a big deal of this to begin with, let alone keep on going on with his issues of Robin keeping them, which just rubs me the wrong way. Although from what I've heard, Josh Radnor is extremely allergic to dogs, so it makes sense that his admiration for canines became ignored after a certain point.
I would say that in Ted's, and the episode's, favor, Robin is the one who decides to finally relocate her pups. I'm not crazy on her doing this to begin with, but it is an important notion of her dedication to Ted, that she's willing to give up her doggies to please him if need be. Does this mean that she's ready to go further with Ted?
Well, I'd take the fact that they don't adopt a dog of their own as a no on that regard. Even though the two were able to patch things up well enough to move in, Ted isn't willing to sign up on the insurance to go through. There's still a disc's worth of episodes, so maybe he'll change his mind and find a dog to share with Robin. Or maybe he isn't as willing to keep going with their relationship.
Depending on how you take the core story here is how you'll appreciate "Stuff". If you think my most recent paragraph is the direction this episode is set, I can see how this episode works as interesting foreshadowing. But as someone who considers this to be an episode about the two trying to prove their worth together, it's not all that strong. There have been weaker episodes made, but I've seen the show do much better at this point. Perhaps if there was less slut shaming and Barney, I'd be happier with the episode itself.
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