'How I Met Your Mother' Season 7, Episode 9 Recap - 'Disaster Averted'

Hey everybody, remember that big hurricane that hit New York and everybody was worried about it but then it wasn't that big a deal? Well "HIMYM" does too, and thus the episode "Disaster Averted" recounted just what happened to the gang that not-so-fateful weekend.

This episode was kinda like a reverse sandwich, where all of the good stuff was at the beginning and the end, but then also stuff in the middle was pretty good too. The opener, which played out Barney's elaborate lie explaining where the missing ducky tie was (it involved a guy in a fez, a kid hanging off of a building, and some kind of hawk), was hilarious. And the end... well, we'll get to that later.

What was especially cute was that this episode was structured in much the same way that (natch) "The Ducky Tie" was. That is to say, we have a current conflict between Barney and Marshall, once again involving a bet over the ducky tie, playing out while Ted attempts to relay a story, this time to Kevin.

First, the bet: Barney wants this tie off of him (Kevin figures out it's because Barney is going to meet Nora's parents), so he gives Marshall an offer: he can get an extra slap. That brings in the long-standing Slap Bet, from which Marshall still has one remaining. Marshall doesn't want to give up the ducky tie bet, so he chooses to sit with his remaining slap... but if Barney can get him to use that slap by the end of the evening, Marshall might need to cut a bargain.

"Le jeu commence," says Barney. "Je m'appelle Marshall," says Marshall.

While all that is going on, Ted explains to Kevin why there's an "absolutely no boogie boarding" sign outside of MacLaren's. See, during the hurricane, Ted tried to get everyone to go upstate, but nobody listened. So they ended up just being stuck at Barney's with Ted worrying about getting out, Robin calling the storm "barbeque weather," Marshall fretting about being randomly attacked by bears now that his health insurance had expired, and Lily getting annoyed at Marshall's clinginess.

Of course, it all works out (even though Ted tried to ditch Barney to take a random hot chick along with him), and the gang ended up celebrating with a little bit of clearly illegal sidewalk drinking in front of the closed pub. The celebration also involved Marshall boogieboarding on a trash can lid straight through the bar window.

But, lost in all this were a couple of important details: one, Marshall and Lily conceived their child in Barney's bathtub, which they felt bad about and let him off the hook on the ducky tie (in exchange for three more slaps). Two, Barney and Robin had an almost-kiss, which they discuss in the car back in the present. "Disaster averted!" they declare.

And then they totally make out.

So, here's where the wrinkle in Barney's wedding gets official. Does Barney smooth things over with Nora and marry her, or does Robin edge her way in here in time? This will have to be resolved pretty soon (I hope), so there shouldn't be as much delay going forward in addressing the Barney-Robin-Nora triangle as there has been thus far.

Other notes:

-"A boy scout is always what?" Oh Ted, you should know better than to set yourself up like that.

-"Death is all around us."

-"I'm gonna like the way I look. I guarantee it!"

-Nice with the staying/going bit between Barney, Lily, Marshall and the hot chick.

-"Therapisted!"

-I love the mirroring of "The Ducky Tie" in this ep. They even managed to use the "so, boogie boarding" segue, much like the segues in the previous episode.