411 How I Met Your Mother Review: S04E14 'The Possimpible'

Posted by Michael Tyner on 02.03.2009

Original title for this week's episode: "Barney Stinson: That Guy's Awesome!"

Robin faces deportation back to Canada unless she can find a new job in what was, arguably, the most laugh-out-loud funny episode of the season. The gang is all sitting around opening fan mail Metro News 1 has just forwarded to Robin after she quit, like, four months ago. Barney gets excited when the lottery girl comes on, but Robin thinks that being a lottery girl is embarrasing ("This is where broadcast careers go to die.") But Barney has invented a game to make the lotto interesting, this is sure to be classic. . .

19: Age you were when you moved to New York after a photographer 'discovered' you in a food court and said he could get you into Vogue magazine
53: Number of semi-nude pictures he took of you before you realized he had no connection to Vogue magazine
22: Age you claim you are
31: Age you actually are
45: Number of minutes it would take to get you into a cab, out of that dress, and into my jaccuzi
And the Super Big Ball is: What happens after we get out of the jaccuzi. What up?!

That is possibly the best opening to an episode in quite a long time! Anyway, still looking for a job, Robin ends up blowing an audition because one of the other women trying out for job psyches her out in the waiting room. The psyche out results in Robin nervously trying to come up with a unique signoff, and she stammers, "So goodnight New York, and may the road ahead be lit with dream, and tomorrows. . . which are lit with dreams, also. . . Stand tall, New York. Trustworthy. Recycling. Wear. . . a condom. . ."

Ted suggests that maybe Robin's problem lies in her resume, and upon looking at Ted's own resume Marshall & Lily discover he still lists his position as 'radio DJ' during college when he was 'Dr. X' of college pirate radio (furthering the backstory that Ted was a tool in college). Barney discovers a letter from the US Department of Immigration that says Robin has to find a job of go back to Canada; it is postmarked two months ago, leaving her only 7 days to find a job. They all offer to help get her a job where they work, but Marshall (the lawyer) tells them she has to get a job in her own field or they'll still revoke her visa.

Marshall thinks that she could marry a U.S. citizen, and Barney quietly stands up behind her and starts to get down on one knee! Awesome! But, no, that wouldn't work, they could never process the paperwork in time. Barney gets back up, looking both a little relieved and a little upset as he sits back down. They decide to take a look at her sample reel, a clip of her reporting in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada during a snow storm in August. Marshall thinks its a good idea because it shows her past, which is why he still lists 'Slam Dunk Champion' on his resume despite a leg problem, commonly known as "dancer's hip." This leads to a slew of jokes about him being a woman before Barney cuts them off ("I hate to cut you off before Marshall bursts into tears, but. . .") and suggests making Robin a new video resume. His own video resume is available at barneysvideoresume.com. The video resume is where this episode's title, "The Possimpible," comes from; Barney talks about making up one buzzword from two other words. Robin decides to let Barney try it, and Barney says they need to get to work because, "I probably can't use any of the footage I already have of you."

Barney tries to direct Robin on making the video, telling her to throw out buzzwords, make up words, but be vague and don't say a lot about who you are. Robin ends up wearing a warrior princess costume and a karate uniform for Barney's ideas and Robin decides she can't do this anymore. She knows what she has to do, and goes to the lottery girl auditions to find a job. The pair she auditions for doesn't buy the way she reads numbers. . . they take this lottery girl thing just a bit too seriously.

At MacClaren's, Marshall and Ted are arguing about the outdated things they list on their resume and Lily tells them to stop because they both need to just remove it and move on. But they call her out, because she is listed as a hot dog eating champion on her resume! Flashback to her winning the competition and she stands up for everyone to see her baby belly! They say its full of hot dogs, but we know what's going on. Very cute way to work that in for Alyson's fans.

Robin is reminiscing about her last night in Canada before leaving, and they give Barney the bad news when he shows up but he seems nonchalant about the whole thing. If she's moving back to Canada, she's going to have a long commute because he just got her a job hosting a new morning talk show in New York! Barney is the master of the possimpible.

Lily decides to update her resume, and ends up beating her old hot dog eating record for a second shot of her baby belly (it looked like the first one was shot a month or so before this one). We end this week on Dr. X, Monday at midnight in 1998 protesting that meal plans at the campus are racist. How is that even possible? Another hidden gem from this week's show: The Mysterious Dr. X.

EXTRA! EXTRA! It was recently announced that Laura Prepon of That 70's Show fame is going to be doing 3-4 episodes on the show later this season. Awesome!

The 411: So far it looks like the reviews for this episode have been a little mixed, but not for this guy. Simply put, this episode was the funniest all season. This is the kind of magic the show had in seasons 1 & 2 that got the buzz going and now that their audience seems to be a healthier number they could be looking to inject a little more of that writing into the show. It was a very refreshing mid-season boost and I'm looking forward to the rest of the season even more now.

Final Score:  9.0   [  Amazing ]