For the first time in several episodes, I laughed out loud a lot during How I Met Your Mother. The show kicked off a run of the last few episodes of the season on Monday night and “The Exploding Meatball Sub” was the perfect way to reacquaint me with the gang.

Now that we know Ted and Zoey are definitely not going to end up together, their relationship is a little easier to take. Don’t get me wrong, my feet still remain firmly planted in the “Show me the mother!” camp. But since I know we can’t meet her for a while, I do take a little pleasure in watching Ted be a part of a lousy romance. We’ve all seen friends in these kinds of relationships at some point or another. That kind of relationship where everyone except the people involved in it know that it’s not right, that the people don’t have anything in common, that they don’t really seem happy. But it takes a while for the people actually in the relationship to see that (hell, sometimes they’re married and have kids by the time they realize) and right now Ted is in that position.

I always like when Ted and Lily interact, because it can be easy to forget that they’re almost as close as Ted and Marshall. They’ve known each other just as long and are friends in their own right. So I loved watching them argue over whether a supportive relationship is better or just as good as a challenging one. Supportive is always better, as old, wise Ted told us at the end of the episode.

Meanwhile, Marshall quit his job at GNB this week. We’ve known this was going to happen for a while now. He’s never loved the job. Then at the museum function, where we saw “Corporate Marshall” as an extinct species. And we knew his hatred for his career really hit home when his dad died. So it was only a matter of time, but I think the show dealt with it in a really great way. Lots of people in their twenties and thirties struggle with whether they should take a high-paying job they hate or a low-paying (or non-paying) one they love, if they should go back to school to do something they love, etc. If you’re married to that person, it’s not easy to support them. Not only was Lily putting up with a lot for Marshall, but she’s had to put having children on the back burner. Because of glimpses into the future we know Lily will be pregnant someday, but right now she doesn’t. She had a great scene at the airport with Ted when she confessed that she wasn’t actually feeling so peachy keen supportive of all of Marshall’s decisions.

Robin and Barney had some awesome moments this week, ones that now have me wondering if maybe ‘shippers of the couple are right – maybe they do end up together? The only thing funnier than Barney trashing his office was the fact that in his blind rage he forgot that Robin had been standing there the entire time. Sure, his anger was over the fact that he’d spent god knows how long planning the perfect exploding meatball sub revenge to be executed on Marshall, but Robin certainly wasn’t wrong in suggesting that Barney is still hurting over how things went with his dad. These two just get each other. That doesn’t mean I necessarily want them to be together – I’m still not sold on that – but I do love their friendship.

I’m glad the show is addressing some of the larger overarching storylines as the season wraps up. We were recently reintroduced to the house Ted bought, and now the Arcadia building has been brought back into our lives. Zoey has a good chance of killing Ted’s dream, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what tears them apart. Maybe it’s because I never really cared for Zoey, or maybe it’s because I’m just kind of mean, but I’m a little bit looking forward to their nasty breakup.

What did you think of the episode? Was the titular exploding meatball sub all you’d hoped it would be? Now, check out these highlights:

• “Marshall and I have been together for fifteen years and the only debate about Tommy Boy we’ve ever had is whether it’s awesome or super awesome. That’s love, bitch!” – Lily, then high-fiving Marshall
• “Marshall you can’t pay your mortgage with hacky-sacks and good vibes.” – Barney
• All the things that had been bothering Marshall at work. They really hit the nail on the head there.
• “The point is you can’t trust graduation goggles. They are just as misleading as beer goggles, bridesmaid goggles and that’s just a bulky outdated cell phone in his front pocket goggles.” – Robin (Gradutation Goggles is brilliant! HIMYM really has a knack for coining terms that I will actually use in real life.)
• The use of a Sarah MacLachlan song to portray the effect of Graduation Goggles.
• Robin’s harrowing fictional story about the time she saw her dad kill someone with a clock. The tick, tick, tick reminded me of the most recent season of Dexter, which reminded me of the second-most recent season of Dexter with Trinity, which reminded me that Barney’s dad is the Trinity killer! Eek!
• Ted realizing what support feels like when Lily apologized for judging his relationship with Zoey. 
• Barney saying “More marinara!” after the exploding sub blows the test dummy’s head off.
• The fact that Ted came up with three comebacks to Lily’s insult that he has a feminine pouty mouth. 
• The game of “Who’s hot and who’s Scott?”
• Barney: “Well I know a trip there costs some serious lira.”
  Ted: “It’s dinero.”
  Barney: “Where? I want his autograph!”
  **This was extra good because even though dinero is a Spanish word for money, it wasn’t actually the currency in Spain before the Euro. That was the Peseta. I love that my knowledge from tenth grade Spanish class has come in handy in proving that Ted is a douche. Wait…does this make me a douche?

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