'How I Met Your Mother': Barney lends Ted's sister a helping hand

Every time I see Barney Stinson on my television screen I think to myself "man, I hope that one day Neil Patrick Harris finally gets an Emmy, a Golden Globe, or some sort of equivalent award for this role." Harris has gotten Emmy nominations for portraying Barney, but no wins yet, and now finally this past week, he received his first Golden Globe nomination for his work on How I Met Your Mother.

Not only do I hope Harris wins, but tonight was a perfect example of why he should. The man is somehow able to make Barney, this guy who acts shameless and utterly horrific in front of his friends, incredibly likable. It's hysterical, tons of fun to watch, and ought to be rewarded.

On the episode tonight Ted's sister, Heather, came for a visit, a visit that Barney wanted in on. As Heather was an attractive woman and younger than Ted, he recognized that at all costs, he had to keep Barney away from her. Smart move. Heather's apparently been visiting for years, and for years Ted has managed to hide that fact from Barney.

This year, Barney managed to figure out about the visit. Well, maybe "figure out" isn't exactly right. We learned tonight that Lily isn't able to keep a secret during the holidays and she blabbed this one to Barney. When Ted returned from the airport, little sister in tow, Barney was seated there in the apartment. Our Golden Globe nominee appeared perfectly suave and debonair, he had a snifter of brandy in his hand, and made a wonderful first impression. He had actually even rented a chair so that he could properly surprise Ted and say hello at the same time (he needed one that swiveled).

Ted, obviously, and quite rightly, wanted Barney gone. Ted knew exactly what would happen if Barney stuck around. But, somehow Barney convinced him otherwise, he told Ted some story about how he was just joking around about Heather and how he'd never act on his jokes.

Silly Ted, he invited Barney to a nice dinner with Heather and Lily. Big mistake. Ted wanted Heather gone from New York, and she wanted to land a job in financial services in the cit. It was just the opening Barney needed, he got her an interview at Goliath. I'm not sure if Ted had made that connection, because if he had there was certainly no way he ought to have let Barney go to that dinner.

Whatever the case, Heather going to Goliath to see Barney was just the opening Barney needed. It was right there in Goliath National Bank that it happened. Heather went for her interview with Lily there to chaperone, but when Lily went to say hello to her hubby -- in my mind, knowing the two of them, for a quickie of her own -- it went down. Lily returned to Barney's office to find he and Heather quickly putting their clothes back on. While I definitely admired Barney's tenacity, it was bad form of him not to lock his office door.

Lily -- still in holiday-truth-telling mode -- blabbed all about it to Ted, making him promise to keep the secret she couldn't. Yeah, good luck with that. How was Ted going to let the incident go without saying something? There was no way.

Later at the bar, one sexual innuendo after another passed between Barney and Heather right there in front of Ted. Barney talked about how Heather was willing to "take any position," how he liked "filling an opening," and Heather about how she was willing to "bend over backwards." Ted called the shenanigans in his usual holier than thou manner, and that's where our twist came this week.

Heather and Barney claimed that it was all a ruse, that they hadn't slept together and had only partially disrobed knowing that Lily would tell Ted what she saw. While it's true that the sex must have happened very quickly if it occurred, not for one minute do I believe Barney and Heather's story. I figure that Barney and Heather did in fact have sex and only later came up with the lame "we just pretended so that we could play a joke on you" thing.

Ted however bought it hook, line, and sinker. He apologized to Heather for his actions, co-signed a lease for an apartment, and bought her a new briefcase to welcome her to the city. I wonder if that means we'll be seeing Heather again.

Odds and ends:

• You know what the quote of the night is tonight, you knew it the minute Barney uttered it. Sure, the opening credits were still going, but no matter how funny the episode to follow may have been, nothing was going to top the line. Looking at a Mosby holiday card with Heather in it, Barney sung to the tune of "Jingle Bells" -- "Pulling down her pants/Yanking off my own/Underneath the mistletoe I'll make your sister moan/ Oh! Heather's hot, Heather's hot!/We'll go all the way."
• The secondary plot tonight had Robin homesick for Canada. Marshall ended up taking her to a bar for folks from Minnesota. He figured, and I think most people would agree, that the two are close enough to each other, and both cold enough, that there's really little difference. Well, little difference except to the people from one of the two places. After Robin was booted from the Minnesota bar for being Canadian (totally Marshall's fault), they went to a Canadian karaoke place, the Hoser Hut. In the truly hysterical final moments of the episode, Marshall got up and sang that Robin Sparkles' classic "Let's go to the Mall!"
• And, my question of the week -- did Heather and Barney have sex or did they make it all up to upset Ted?

The TV and Film Guy's Reviews -- we never lie, whether it's the holidays or not.

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