The Foot: How I Met Your Mother "False Positive" Review

"False Positive" was mostly a transitional episode, a decent mid-season finale devoted to getting the characters where they need to be for the second half of the season. For the most part, the episode succeeded minus an inconsistent Robin story. Bob Saget enlightened the audience that the episode wanted to deal with development in everybody, and the episode focused on the characters. The baby stuff continues to be annoying but the rest of the episode worked rather nicely and hide the fact that "False Positive" belonged to Ted Mosby.

The career path of Robin has been alternately interesting and absurd throughout the six year run of the series. Robin has pursued the grand anchor job on a prestigious news network but somehow or someway shot herself and her chances in the foot. Most of the time, the bad career luck came from a character arc like Don last season. Robin, a girl who feared commitment, made the decision to stay in New York with Don to prove to herself that she could remain committed to a man, that she wouldn't choose her career over personal happiness. The poor girl lost the man to the job she wanted. In "False Positive," Robin decided to take the job of a coin flipper on the newest game show "Million Dollar Coin Flip." Later, she lands a position with worldwide news as a researcher but soon opts out of the job following the news that Lily's not pregnant. The story would've worked if the worldwide news job remained in the air, if she was unsure about her future. Considering Robin got burned the last time she took a leap of faith, it would've been consistent if she hesitated taking another leap for fear of being burned once again; however, she decided that she's good-looking and the job would be easy on coin flip. It would've worked if the Worldwide News job wasn't a shoe-in.

Barney took a small step in his arc that will surely lead to the discovery of his father. Barney became Oprah Winfrey and gave out presents to each patron in McClaren's before he donated one million dollars to his half-brother's father's church. Marshall and Lily went through the typical beats of television couples who want a child. They feared that they weren't ready nor good enough. They felt relief when the doctor revealed that the pregnancy test was false.

By the time everyone arrived outside of the theater to watch It's A Wonderful Life with Ted, the four characters let hesitation, fear and uncertainty get the best of them. Ted saved the day and gave each the courage to accomplish exactly what they wanted to in life. Earlier in the episode, Robin doubted whether or not Ted could convince his buddy to follow through with marriage when doubt got the best of him. Ted proved that he could calm his buddy down when he needed it most along with his friends when they needed it most. At the end of the episode, Robin asks Ted to be her best man at her wedding, if it ever happens---quite a sweet moment.

In fact, the episode was mostly a Ted episode despite the time spent on the other four characters. He was the calming force admist the madness. Maybe the season will be about Ted's development into the man who is ready to marry when he meets his wife at that wedding. The only one entirely sure of himself, and confident in himself, was the man himself Ted Mosby.

It was a good episode for the show to end 2010 on. How I Met Your Mother can be hit-or-miss but I like the characters enough that I look forward to how the season progresses and what happens to each. I also look forward to more Zoey and Jennifer Morrison.

With every show I write about in hiatus now, expect different kind of posts in the coming weeks. The Best Episodes of 2010 looms and other Best Of along with a new, exciting feature. Stay tuned.

THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK