No Pressure (How I Met Your Mother)
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| "No Pressure" | |
|---|---|
| How I Met Your Mother episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 7 Episode 17 |
| Directed by | Pamela Fryman |
| Written by | George Sloan |
| Featured music | "Shake It Out" by Florence and the Machine |
| Production code | 7ALH15 |
| Original air date | February 20, 2012 |
| Guest appearances | |
| |
"No Pressure" is the 17th episode of the
Plot
Meanwhile, a hungover Barney wakes up at Lily and Marshall's house after taking the "drunk train" and becomes convinced that they have a sex tape hidden somewhere in their house despite Lily's insistence that there is not one. While searching for it with the aid of some cleaning women, he finds a box of long-term bets they have been keeping, one of which involves Lily betting Marshall that Ted and Robin will not end up together. As Ted tells Marshall and Lily what happened between him and Robin (with Lily encouraging Ted's ill-judged plans of an elaborate welcome home party), Barney arrives and calls Marshall and Lily out on their numerous long-term bets. When Barney learns that one of the bets confirms the existence of a sex tape, he returns to Marshall and Lily's house and eventually finds the tape. Ted learns of the bet regarding his relationship with Robin and becomes upset with Lily, who forces Ted to consider why he has not gotten back together with Robin in the past five years.
After successfully finding the sex tape, Barney returns to Ted's apartment to use his VCR. When Ted considers that the reason why he and Robin never got back together was because she is in love with Barney, he is surprised with Barney's tepid reaction. Barney tells Ted everything that happened between him and Robin, saying, "Whatever I thought was there, she thought differently", and despite being told that Robin and Kevin broke up, he gives his blessing to Ted if he and Robin begin dating again. However, before they can watch the sex tape, Marshall and Lily arrive to try to win the bet involving the sex tape—Lily wins if Barney watches it, while Marshall wins if Barney does not. After scaring Barney with possible images that he will not want to see, Marshall wins the bet when Barney destroys Ted's VCR.
When Robin returns from Russia, she and Ted have the chance to re-examine their relationship. Ted picks her up at the airport and takes her to dinner at the Brooklyn bistro where they had their first date. Then at home, he realizes that they are not going to work out and turns down Robin's consolation that they still have an agreement to get married if they are both single at age 40. When Ted asks if Robin loves him, Robin admits that she does not and feels comfortable with them as friends. Ted asks her to forget that the past week ever happened.
Ted tells Marshall that he is giving up on the idea of being with Robin in any romantic context, and says he is happy about this because he knows he can finally move on from her. Marshall knows Ted is lying and that it is killing him on the inside, so he tells Robin that she should move out for Ted's sake, which she agrees to do, leaving Ted forlorn and alone on the roof of his apartment building. Some time later, as future Ted tells his children that getting closure on his relationship with Robin finally opened the possibility of meeting their mother, Ted walks out of MacLaren's Bar as all the people on the street walk by with yellow umbrellas. At their house, Lily, convinced that this is the definite end of Ted and Robin, asks Marshall to pay up on their bet. Echoing his words at Ted's wedding to Stella, Marshall refuses, smiles and then says "Not yet".
Cameo appearance by Conan O'Brien
Talk show host Conan O'Brien makes a very brief cameo appearance in the episode as a non-speaking patron at MacLaren's; he can be seen in the first part of the episode, watching on as Barney races out of the bar. O'Brien won the role via a 2011 charity auction.[2] According to show co-creator Carter Bays, when the show's writers and producers first learned that O'Brien won the auction, they started to brainstorm ideas about what he could play. O'Brien, however, replied back that he just wanted to be an extra who would blend in. "We realized this was really the funniest version [of a cameo]", said Bays. "In New York, every now and then you'll see somebody famous at a bar, but nobody really makes a big deal out of it."[3]
Critical response
![[icon]](/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2015) |
Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club gave the episode an A−.[4]
After being particularly critical of the previous episode, Television Without Pity's Ethan Alter gave "No Pressure" a B, stating that the Ted and Robin storyline was "mercifully brief" but criticised Lily and Marshall for breaking character.[5]
References
- ^ Vlada Gelman (January 30, 2012). "How I Met Your Mother Season 7 Episode 17 Photos". TVLine. Retrieved February 1, 2012.
- ^ Chris Harnick (June 24, 2011). "Conan O'Brien Books 'How I Met Your Mother' Extra Gig". AOL TV. AOL. Archived from the original on November 13, 2012. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
- vulture.com. New York Magazine. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
- ^ Donna Bowman (February 20, 2012). ""No Pressure" | How I Met Your Mother". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Grade it. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
- ^ Ethan Alter (February 20, 2012). "How I Met Your Mother TV Show - No Pressure". Television Without Pity. NBCUniversal. Archived from the original on June 14, 2012. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
External links
- "No Pressure" at IMDb
