Episode Review: HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, "Little Minnesota"

Ever since Season 3, I've been going back and forth on How I Met Your Mother because it's just lacked the awesomeness that Seasons 1 & 2 had, but last night's episode righted the ship just slightly.

"Little Minnesota" is not one of the show's best, but it's been one of the few highlights of this season. The A-story line focused on Ted, Barney, and Ted's sister named Heather. Ted is afraid that Barney's going to hook up with his sister, probably because of these little ditties:

Of course, Ted doesn't trust Heather either because she's been known to be immature and irresponsible. To teach Ted a lesson, Barney & Heather "stage" a hook up so they can convince him to trust them. Now, I'm betting that Barney & Heather did the deed and just came up with a story to avoid Ted's wrath, but that's just my theory.

The real genius of last night's episode involved Robin & Marshall. Robin's missing Canada, so Marshall takes her to his favorite Minnesotan bar. She feels at home, and she quickly convinces the patrons that she's a true Minnesotan, much to the chagrin of Marshall.

Marshall eventually outs her as the Canadian that she is, but he makes amends by telling her how important she is to the group, and finds her the Hoser Hut (a Canadian themed karaoke bar).

Now, the show really takes off once they get to the Hoser Hut because it's a huge Christmas gift to true HIMYM fans because we all had the chance to witness Marshall singing "Let's Go To The Mall", which was truly a classic moment.

As a fan, the A-plot was only OK. The only real highlight was Barney's carols which only he can come up with. It's just such a Barney thing to do. The best part of the episode was Robin & Marshall's B-plot because it was a little more organic. We can understand it when someone get's homesick, and clings on to anything familiar. Also, we get to see Robin & Marshall alone, which never happens. It's kind of nice seeing them bond without the rest of the group. Plus, we got the legendary karaoke scene, which just proves how brilliant this show is. It's these little inside jokes (like last week's "Murder Train" playing during the Fight Club scene) that real fans appreciate, but they're also broad enough to not alienate casual fans.

Again, it wasn't the show's all-time best episode, but it did make up for some of the bad ones we've been subjected to this season. Maybe, just maybe, the show is back on track.