'How I Met Your Mother' Update: Life Beyond Rhyme?

Last week's episode of "How I Met Your Mother" was a stunt that most fans were not looking forward to: an episode written entirely in rhyme. Despite the overwhelmingly negative advance reaction, the episode turned out be fairly cute filler in a season that has so far been very uneven. The big question, however, is whether we can expect something more than filler in upcoming episodes.

The rhymes came out of a premise that had Marshall (Jason Segel) trying to put baby Marvin to sleep during the bus ride to Farhampton by telling him rhyming bedtime stories about the gang. The stories included the usual fare: Barney's dating antics, a failed Ted date, a bit of Robin wackiness.

The good news is that some labored plots and recurring jokes (Daphne, Lily's never-ending drinks from Linus) dropped out of sight. The bad news is that Marshall still isn't in Farhampton, and since he's apparently going to walk the last five miles to the wedding, it looks like his journey is far from over.

And, of course, there's still no mother. Cristin Milioti did not appear in this week's episode, and although there's the tantalizing possibility that she could pop up in the episode set to air on December 16 ("Bass Player Wanted"), it's not out of the question that it could be the end of January before we see her again, when the episode titled "How Your Mother Met Me" airs.