Directed by Pam Fryman
Written by Kourtney Kang
One Paragraph Synopsis: As Ted's architecture firm is finally starting up, he's doing literally anything he can to stall the application part of it, including hiring an intern, who rests firmly in the office of Ted and Robin's living room. It takes no time for PJ the intern and Robin to hook up, which helps to delay whatever process Ted can make with his work. He fires PJ not too long after, which results in Robin breaking up with him, as she enjoyed his authority in the apartment, giving Ted incentive to hire PJ back, only for him to hook up with Robin again, ad nauseam. It takes some scheming from Marshall and Barney, who are busy trying to find a way to make Marshall stand out in the building. All of this would be easier if Lily was around, but she takes a break after Barney reveals a particularly offensive joke.
This is it, the run of the double pregnancies. The way both are handled is thankfully done differently, as Lily is written out for a brief period after Barney's peanut butter joke in the cold opening (the punchline is available online, btw). It's cute, but doesn't last too long, probably since Hannigan needed to collect her paycheck by episode, so enough time could have taken place between the end of her pregnancy and the birth of her child.
By contrast, there is barely an attempt to hide Smulders' pregnancy, as her baby bump becomes embarrassingly present in certain scenes. If I had to retract points for anything, it would be Fryman's lack of effort in this regard.
But Robin still manages to hold her own in "Mosbius Designs", as she does a good job of playing her frustration towards her current livelihood. When Robin tells Ted how she didn't expect to settle on a guy who was literally just at her apartment, it comes off as sad, that she knows that she should be doing better, but really isn't. It's unfortunate, because she is a smart, likable person, but life isn't dealing her a great hand right now. Robin is still reeling from the disasters of her past few jobs, as nothing is going the way she'd normally want it to.
PJ isn't given a whole lot to work with, but his blind devotion to Ted indicates a kind of naivety that makes it easy to fancy him as stupid, or at least undesirable. Robin almost literally is only attracted to him due to his control of the bathroom, a concept that is weird, but also weirdly hot to her, as PJ has some sort of authority in the apartment. Take that away, and he has nothing.
It's not a whole lot to work with for a relationship, and Robin knows. So does Ted, who is understandably annoyed about the whole thing. And so does Marshall, who isn't afraid to call her out on it. And Barney might also realize this, but he's too hurt over Robin's neglect of his feelings to articulate this.
But I should focus on Ted a little before I go to Barney, or Marshall for that matter. After all, this is his episode, and his company's name referenced in the title. His fear of Mosbius Designs failing is a believable one, being that he started the firm all by himself after a string of rejection. But similarly to what Robin reminds him, you can't fail without even attempting to succeed, let alone actually succeed. Ted's fear of embracing his work is understandable, but also destructive.
We see Ted block any actual attempts at work throughout in the episode, as he focuses on good pens to use, plans detailed trips before obtaining any clients to discuss, and, like me, probably can't think of a third example to note. Fear is one thing, but deliberate ignorance is moronic.
In a way, the whole PJ ordeal was helpful to Ted, as it gives him enough time to consider forming a game plan. Or, in this case, gain the momentum to pick up the phone and try some numbers out. The way this builds onto Ted helps to make this one of the most interesting parts of the episode, building his idiosyncrasies into a unique method.
Ted and Robin's dilemmas fit well with Marshall and Barney, as the four each are at pivotal crossroads of their lives, but each have ultimately silly issues to deal with in an effort to distract each person from bigger things.
Marshall just wants to keep his job, at least for now. This still isn't what Marshall imagined that he would use his law degree for, but it's still a well paying job that he at least moderately enjoys, thanks to Barney and some wacky characters at GNB. While in most other instances, Marshall would hesitate to indulge in such gimmicks as Toy Guy (complete with plug-ins to fellow Fox production X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the ever-so-average addition to the wholly inconsistent franchise), or the cool-looking Fantasy Guy, here he sees merit in Barney's speech, as there really is something to say about the need to stand out.
Marshall's take as Sports Guy results in a successful way for him to stand out in the crowd, but as usual for Marshall, paranoia steeps its way in. Especially when money is involved, which results in some crack-up moments from him as he tries to hide the office's bets. This bit of fear sticks to Marshall's character, just as a surprising ploy near the end may shock, but not quite as much as you'd expect if you recall who Marshall is married to. This allows for Marshall to show how some of Lily's know-how has rubbed off on him.
Barney, meanwhile, continues to his crush on Robin to signify, in one way or another, his increasing need for growth. He has yet to put any actual pressure on Robin, as she is mostly unaware of his feelings, but she is still somewhat on a pedestal, which isn't a whole lot better. But it is hardly a secret, as everyone else but she already knows, and Barney is slowly becoming ready to let her know.
PJ plays the dopey romantic interest well this week, as it becomes easy enough to support Barney and not be crazy about the guy. His disappointment is palpable, and comes to a head as Barney and Marshall share a welcome heart-to-heart, which even helps to push aside how the lack of Lily might hurt the episode. Her husband really has learned some good things from her, and the two pull off magic throughout, as their core story is pretty great.
This is a pretty great episode, in fact. We're near the end of season 4, and have yet to hit a real misfire. If Fryman had only fixed some angles a little, this could have been close to a perfect episode.
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