How I Met Your Mother "No Pressure" Review

The introduction of the long-term bets is a contrived plot device. Lily and Marshall made bets on their friends' lives for an extended period of time out of boredom. The bet went as far as "Will Ted Marry Stella?" Until the very last second, Marshall didn't waver in his belief that he'd win the bet. Indeed, when Stella left Ted at the altar, Marshall and Lily felt more invested in their bet than their friend. On one hand, the long-term bets transformed Marshall and Lily into slightly less likeable characters. But HIMYM is not beyond sacrificing characterization for the sake of story when forced to; "No Pressure" is an episode that required some kind of forced contrivance via plot device. Ted's suddenly in love with Robin, though Robin isn't sure of her feelings for him, and Barney's on the outside, a catalyst waiting to become active in the triangle.

"No Pressure" lives and breathes on the A story. Conveniently, Robin needs to fly to Moscow to cover a butter festival. For one week, she's in Western Europe, while Ted frets over the possibilities of his confession on the rooftop. For veteran and loyal fans of the show, the story might've worked incredibly well and probably induced tears or something similar. I felt more annoyed by the portrayals of Marshall and Robin. Thomas and Bays needed to involve their principal characters in the drama some way, and I'm not sure why a contrived device like 'long-term' bets needed to exist to include Lily and Marshall. It felt like a cop-out on the part of the writers, a reluctance to have a character react negatively to the romance. Lily threw water onto the fire as soon as she heard the story because she made a bet with Marshall that Robin and Ted wouldn't end up together. Yes, it was a stupid bet that drove the motivations of Lily. Marshall, meanwhile, behaved like a friend, and even pointed out the times when Ted showed his love for Robin without noting it, specifically the Christmas light display in the nonsense 'Robin tells story to fake children' episode. Of course, Marshall made the bet that Ted and Robin would get together so one must question the source of his encourgement and 'go get em', champ!' attitude. Couldn't Marshall and Lily have been written like the reasonable 30-something year olds they are? Why can't this show express ideas without a goddamn gimmick?

The second act concludes with Ted realizing that Robin might not love him because she loves Barney. Ted and Barney have a heart-to-heart talk which ends with Barney granting Ted his blessing if Robin wants to begin a relationship with him. Obviously, the triange is in its infancy. I should've mentioned that Ted and Robin kissed a lot after his confession, and she left for Moscow by telling him that they'd continue 'this' upon her return--whether 'this' refers to kissing or honest communcation about their feelings for another, and for the future, is unknown. Robin returns. They have dinner. At the apartment, Ted realizes that a relationship won't work between them. Robin lists reasons for her reluctance. Ted nods, apologizes for his outburst, tells her how he loves their friendship, and suggests him and her forget any of this happened. Ted's not okay though. Marshall listens to his friend at the bar, and then goes to Robin to tell her what Ted cannot: she needs to move out, which is a fact Robin's accepted already. The string of events are handled with maturity and tact. Ted and Robin behave like 30-something year olds. Ted loves her. Robin doesn't love him--whether she told the truth or not isn't important yet. The dialogue's refreshingly honest for a TV series.

Of course, the episode ends as Lily attempts to collect the money from the bet to which Marshall replies, "Not yet." Indeed, the story of Robin and Ted isn't over. The teaser, or cold open, began with Future Ted telling his children about the first time he said, "I love you" to his wife. Ted hadn't spoken the words since that night on the rooftop, apparently. One wonders what the children think. They've spent untold amounts of time listening to the story of how he met their mother, and he's spent an awful lot of time on their Aunt Robin. The final image of the series, in which Ted walks through a sea of yellow umbrellas on a rainy Manhattan afternoon, suggests that Ted will emerge from the situation as the man who's ready to meet his wife. Ted's on a very long journey. This seems to be the last significant chapter of Ted's pre-mother years. After all, Future Ted says, "When one door shuts...well, you know."

There are many miles to travel, though, before that special door opens for Ted. Indeed, "No Pressure" barely scratched the surface of what this story will mean for Ted in the grand scheme of the narrative. I trust the series to make this story worth the audience's time, though I'm skeptical about how successful it'll be. I had a difficult time caring about Ted's feelings throughout the episode and, indeed, was more annoyed by the shitty writing for Lily and Marshall. I thought Robin's trip to Moscow reeked of lazy storytelling, evidence that one shouldn't expect Bays and Thomas to pull this story off. I didn't even mention how overwrought Ted and Robin's final scenes were, especially the somber montage as Robin packed her stuff and left the apartment. I'm willing to follow this story though. I'll give it a fair shake, I promise.

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