| "Symphony of Illumination" | |
|---|---|
| How I Met Your Mother episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 7 Episode 12 |
| Directed by | Pamela Fryman |
| Written by | Joe Kelly |
| Season 7 episodes | |
"Symphony of Illumination" is the twelfth episode of the seventh season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 148th episode overall. It aired on December 5, 2011 [1] This episode is a continuation of 'The Rebound Girl'.
Contents |
Instead of Future Ted narrating to his kids, the episode opens with Robin telling her two kids about the time she revealed to their father (whom she alluded to as Barney Stinson) that she was pregnant. The scene cuts to Barney and Robin in the bathroom, picking up from the end of the previous episode. Robin explains that she is a week late, and is planning to go to the doctor to be sure. She also reveals she's not yet been intimate with Kevin, meaning that if she is pregnant, the baby must be Barney's. Though Barney is giddy at the prospect of becoming a father (which causes Robin to faint), Robin is not happy and is still firmly against having children of her own. While helping Lily shop at We B Babies, Barney soon shares her feelings when he sees how the life of an old friend, 'Insane Duane', has changed since marrying and having children. Both Robin and Barney are relieved when the doctor informs them that Robin is not pregnant. Robin celebrates not being pregnant until she receives bad news from the doctor telling her that she can't have children, at all. Robin struggles to find a way to tell her friends, so she lies and says instead that she didn't make the Canadian pole vaulting team, using it as a metaphor.
Meanwhile, Marshall wants to have better Christmas decorations than rival Richard Holdman, planning an entire display he names the "Symphony of Illumination" for the house on Long Island. He is glad to receive help from a neighborhood teen named Scott. However, Scott leaves him on the roof, steals Marshall's phone and uses it to his advantage when texting Lily, and throws a party in Marshall's house. Though Marshall briefly relents, recalling his own antics when he was young, he is outraged when he sees Scott abusing a giant stocking his late grandmother knit for Marshall's future child. He remains stranded on the roof until Lily arrives, unwittingly paying Scott 50 dollars for his help, and then sees the damage Scott has caused.
The rest of the gang notices Robin has been acting strange lately, and try to figure out why. Though Ted and Lily jokingly guess that Robin hooked up with Barney, they dismiss the idea to Barney's relief and Ted assumes Robin is homesick for Canada. When Ted offers her plane tickets to his home town in Cleveland, Ohio, Robin dismisses the notion and tells Ted that he should not feel responsible for cheering her up. She goes on for a walk at Central Park, where it's revealed that the kids Robin is telling the story to are actually in her imagination, and she is actually talking to herself on a park bench. She returns to the apartment where Ted has set up an entire neon light display that says "Merry Christmas Robin" to cheer her up. Future Ted notes that even though Robin never became a "pole vaulter", she did become a famous journalist and bullfighter, and he also notes that she was never alone.[2]
"Highway to Hell" by AC/DC, played with a display of Christmas lights set up by Ted.
Barney writes a letter to International Olympic Canadian Department of Olympics, explaining why Robin should be allowed to pole vault.[4]
The episode received extremely positive reviews. Donna Bowman of the AV Club graded the episode an A, observing that "If this episode is any indication—in what (HIMYM) can accomplish, because of what we’ve come to feel about the characters and because of the confidence with which it is moving forward in its overarching story—HIMYM has never been healthier.".[6] Chris O'Hara of TV Fanatic gave this episode a 4.8 out of 5, praising Cobie Smulders' performance.[7] Eric Goldman of IGN gave the episode 8 out of 10.[8]
This episode attracted 11.51 million American viewers, making it the fourth most viewed episode of the entire series.[9] In Canada, the episode was aired by 1.028 million viewers, placing sixth for the night.[10]
|
|||||||||||