'How I Met Your Mother' Season 7, Episode 12 Recap - 'Symphony of Illumination'

If you're a regular sitcom watcher, you may have seen an episode before in which the entire events of the episode turn out to be just a dream.

In this case, the events of the episode are usually fairly earth-shattering, and you think that the show might be forever changed, but then the character wakes from the dream at the end and you, the viewing audience, are left thinking "well then what did I just spend that half an hour for?"

This episode of "How I Met Your Mother" wasn't "all a dream" per se, but it felt like it nonetheless.

It opens with Robin narrating to her kids(!) about how she met their father(!!). Sounds earth-shattering, right? It gets even more exciting when the narration reveals that the father of these two children of hers are actually Barney's. Well, there's the mystery of the season solved, eh? Barney and Robin get married and that's that!

Nope, not quite. We're taken on a bit of a ride following Robin's announcement to Barney that she's pregnant. A few punches and a trip to the doctor later, though, and we find out that it was a lie. Yep, you spent the last two weeks wondering who the father of this baby was, but it turns out it's nobody! Ha ha! Joke's on you!

Get used to the lying, by the way, it's about to get worse.

Robin then gets called back to the doctor, where it's revealed that she's actually unable to have children. This is where this episode excels: the emotional rollercoaster that Robin and Barney (especially Robin) go on through this process. Before the news, Barney is excited about the idea, until he sees Insane Dwayne, who is no longer insane, completely defeated by his new family responsibilities. Robin doesn't want kids at all. So when they find out Robin isn't pregnant, they actually do a dance.

But when Robin finds out about her condition, suddenly the thing that she thought she never wanted becomes something she think she might. Her cover, that she's too tall to be a Canadian pole vaulter, acts as a metaphor: she never really wanted it, but knowing that it was an option down the road was nice.

But there's still the hope of those two healthy teenage children we saw in the cut-aways, right? Wrong. Robin tells us flatly that they "aren't real," and the kids, the couch, and the apartment (which looks a lot like Barney's actually) disappear.

Really? You're going to bring up that possibility at the beginning of the episode and that's your out? A dissolve and a "just kidding they never existed?" Lame.

But Ted's AC/DC light show helped make that bitter pill a little easier to swallow. And Marshall got trapped on a roof, so that was fun. And Cobie Smulders, despite the cheap out from the storyline, was great tonight. I give you this warning, though, HIMYM: you get one "dream" episode. After that, you're pushing it.

Other notes:

-Robin drinking scotch, smoking a cigar, eating sushi and watching "Teen Mom." That looks like fun.

-Ted's overcomforting, Lily's implosion, Marshall's questions and Barney's jokes.

-Scott eating a sandwich. Love when the sandwiches come up.

-"THAT'S GOTTA BE IT!"

-"I wouldn't go to cleveland for $125 million paid over six years."

-"You can't fire me. I'm union, bitch."