Review - How I Met Your Mother Season 5 Episode 8 The Playbook

I guess the writers are going to route of making Barney's character development punctuated, if indeed they are even planning on having him change. One episode after his breakup with Robin, Barney is back to his old tricks which are all documented in his ingenious playbook. I'm not going to fault the writers for doing this -- The Playbook was totally hilarious from beginning to end. What I'm worried about, and cautiously optimistic about is how they are going to deal with Barney in the long run which may or may not included Robin. I thought the two could have good dramatic and funny moments, but since they are broken up, we'll see.

Barney's playbook went from the simple " The Don't Drink That" which involves telling a girl not to drink a poisoned drink, to the more elaborate "The Mrs. Stinsfire" which involves dressing up as a house mom. The list goes on and on, and if you haven't watched the episode, or don't watch the show, you have to at least watch the tricks on Youtube...including "The Cheap Trick."

The most complex was of course "The Lorenzo Von Matterhorn" which is the most amazingly elaborate plan ever. To recap, Barney makes a bunch of fake webpages, walks up to a girl, and announces himself as Lorenzo Von Matterhorn whom everyone should know. Of course she doesn't, but then Googles him, and finds the webpages. Stories of glory and honor pop up, and she's instantly interested. It's legen...wait for it...dary.

The episode revolves around "The Scuba Diver" which is about as ingenious as "The Lorenzo Von Matterhorn." Basically Barney cons everyone into helping him get a girl. Once the plan is set in motion, all he has to do is wear a scuba outfit.

I'm a stickler for continuity and cohesiveness across the episode, and while "The Playbook" didn't feel quite right after the breakup, there was so much good content that I have to give a high score. Looking ahead, the writers hinted that Barney may not be over Robin, but since that was part of "The Scuba Diver" there's a chance Barney wasn't being forthright about his trickery.

Score: 9.7/10