How I Met Your Mother - "Ducky Tie" Review

What won't Barney do for a look at Lily's Pregnant Boobs?

Though I last expressed trepidations about the return of Victoria last week, I can now thankfully say that those misgivings were entirely unfounded. "Ducky Tie" was, through and through, a callback to the early days of How I Met Your Mother. It almost played like a direct sequel to "Nothing Good Happens After 2 AM" from season one, and this helped give it the feel of a classic HIMYM episode. The story of "Ducky Tie" played out in a delicate balancing act, between the funny and lighthearted Barney-Lily-Marshall story, and the deeper and heartfelt story of Ted, Robin, and Victoria. The issues between Ted and Victoria, left somewhat unexplained at the end of the aforementioned season one episode, are fully resolved here, and what be most surprising is that this appears to be the only episode in which Victoria will be, as opposed to my belief that she was back for a longer term. She gave Ted a few words of wisdom at the end, that, from Saget Ted's narration, allude to a coming change in dynamic in the group, particularly between Ted, Robin, and Barney. This could go one of two ways: either they will have a falling out, and go their separate ways for a while, or it's that Robin is, in fact, Barney's bride a little ways down the road. Then there's the previously promised Ducky Tie storyline, in which a wager is set: if Barney can do the Shinjitsu art of cooking, he gets to fondle Lily's enhanced pregnancy breasts (MOST. MATURE. BET. EVER.), and if he loses, he has to wear Marshall's ducky tie (brrr) for a year. As it turns out, Barney had been psychologically conditioning Marshall towards this bet for years, should he ever want something from him, and is an expert Shinjitsu cook. The intricacies of Barney's plan are gut-bustingly funny, and the denouement just makes it more so, and I look forward to watching Barney wear Marshall's tie for the rest of the season. Overall, though, this was both a nostalgic episode and a step forward, and continues the high quality trend that has begun early in this season.

"Ducky Tie" - 4.5/5 stars