'How I Met Your Mother' Season 7, Episode 15 Recap - 'The Burning Beekeeper'

With the exception of "Community," there might not be another show on television that plays with time and structure as well as "How I Met Your Mother" does, which is exactly why this otherwise conventional sitcom can still be original and fun after seven seasons on the air.

"The Burning Beekeeper" was a prime example of this: the structure of the episode told a story that only took place in a stretch of five minutes. But because of the way the whole thing was put together, that five minutes of storytelling (with bookends at the beginning and end) gave us a full half hour. Such is the nature of time with "How I Met Your Mother."

Neil Patrick Harris (who plays Barney, you know) introduced the episode last night on Twitter thusly:

At last: a brand new episode of HIMYM is on tonight! It's a 'structure' episode, one of my favorite kinds. Hopey you likey.

— Neil Patrick Harris (@ActuallyNPH) February 6, 2012

Sounds fun, right? NPH also noted that each "act" was the same length, which is an extra cool little feature of the episode.

Here's what it's all about: Marshall and Lily have a housewarming party, but Lily is worried that things aren't going to go right. This is a sitcom, so of course everything goes wrong, and it only takes five minutes... which is introduced by Ted setting a timer on the stove to warm up Robin's kugel.

We then see the same five minutes played out three times, but from the point of view of each room: the living room, the dining room, and finally the kitchen. In all three, we hear Barney scream from the kitchen and we see someone in a beekeeper's suit run through the house in flames. How it all pieces together is revealed through the action.

Marshall and Lily are dealing with Lily's dad, who is still being a bit annoying and has now taken up beekeeping, which means there's about 10,000 bees in the basement. Barney tells hiim that bees hate the smell of kerosene, which means of course that the suit gets doused in kerosene, hence the fire. But while we think all along that it's Lily's dad who is in the suit, it's actually Mr. Cootes, who is having a bit of a spat with Marshall, who confronts him about calling everyone back to the office later that night.

Meanwhile, Ted gets into an argument with Cootes over eating the vegan spring rolls, which Barney actually did, and manages to argue with Robin as well over how Robin blew up at an old lady earlier. Barney hits on the cougar next door, but has second thoughts when he learns that she's crazy and cut off her last boyfriend's penis with a cheese knife. Marshall ends up quitting his job, and Lily has a realization that this kind of stress is what it will be like having a baby around.

Eventually everyone learns their lesson: Ted is glad that Robin is bad-ass, because he's too nice. Marshall stood up for himself. Lily prepares for motherhood. Barney... well Barney still sleeps with the crazy lady, but he has to run a gauntlet of bees to escape.

As for the burning beekeeper, turns out it wasn't Lily's dad... it was Mr. Cootes, who has a bit of an epiphany about relaxing while he is on fire. Go figure.

So there you have it: three five-minute "acts" that tie together the story by revealing small pieces each time. Pretty fun. All in all, the episode could have been better edited, and it seemed at times that the jokes fell kind of flat, perhaps because of the writing or the acting. There was a lot going on, so it could be that the actors had an off day with all the choreography happening. Still, another fun structure to a HIMYM episode.

Barney's Wisdom:

-Every penis is a girl, like ships or aquatic monsters.

-"Oh you are crazy. Aaaaaaabout cats!"