But that was the last 30 seconds. The rest of the episode, all in all, was pretty standard fair for the show. I didn't really like Robin's storyline as much as I liked the fact that they brought back Sandy Rivers. Barney's whole storyline pretty much existed solely for the psych- out towards the end. Marshall and Lily finally seeing a specialist was pretty much the highlight, if only for Barney's doppleganger (which is also apparently a Daniel Faraday doppleganger) and the awesome relationship between Marshall and his dad (Marshall calling to tell him about his viking hat lamp and playing go-fish over the phone were two of the five or so times I laughed during this episode). But in retrospect, the episode was much better when put in context with the rest of the series, for several reasons:
The Callbacks- Callbacks are a great way of rewarding the viewer. It makes us feel like we have an inside joke with the show and this episode had a lot of great callbacks. Almost all of Robin's embarrassing news footage was stuff that happened in earlier episodes (Robin Sparkles FTW!!!!) and I loves that they only needed to give a name and a brief description of a character we haven't seen in a long time before we remember all the awesomeness contained with the character. Barney was wearing the Sensory Deprevator 5000 in his doppleganger's office. Speaking of his doppleganger, I'm glad that they waited this long to conclude that storyline as it was better in small doses. Lily made several references to their pact with the universe and it was great that part of their pact was true as Barney's doppleganger literally told them they could have kids.
The Countdown- I'll be honest, I didn't even notice this the first time through. I noticed a couple numbers here and there. The 10 on the Robin Sparkles bedazzled jean jacket specifically caught my eye because I did not remember it being there, but I figured I was just being nitpicky for continuity. But then I went online to read others' opinions about the ending and saw something about a countdown. If you missed it, throughout the episode, numbers are displayed on random objects throughout, beer cans, signs, books, Marshall's high five (it took me forever to figure that one out), counting down from 50 to the titular bad news. The ending probably would have packed even more of a punch to the gut than it actually did because whereas I was expecting nothing the first time, I would be expecting something comical or heartwarming (I might even have jumped to 'we're going to meet the mother!') and that's exactly the opposite of what we got. I just think it's so cool that they did that. It's worth the distraction it caused from the rest of the episode. The countdown was particularly strong at the end of it's run. At 5, your figured something was about to happen. At 4, you started to know it would be bad. At 3, you had an idea of what it was. At 2, you were almost certain. And at 1, your fears were confirmed (I thought it was a very nice touch that the cab waited a few seconds before lighting up). That takes us directly to...
The Ending- That was truly shocking. You'd think with all the foreshadowing- the title and the countdown, we'd be at least a little prepared but I was totally caught off guard. It was especially effective too. The way they reminded you of the relationship between Marshall and his father (as I said earlier, funniest parts of the episode) and then go ahead and kill him later was borderline cruel. He was the most recurring character on the show so it was pretty much as close to a main cast member as they could kill off without an outcry. It was a great moment though. Jason Segal and Alison Hannigan were fantastic in selling how hard the news hit. It was a very sharp contrast from the rest of the show but it was done extremely well. For sure one of my favorite moments of television. However, the rest of the episode was rather average.
8.7/10
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