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How I Met Your Mother Season 6 Episode 21

Hopeless

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AIRED: Apr 18, 2011

7.6

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Episode Summary

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Barney tries to impress Jerry by having the gang pretend to have more exciting jobs to make them seem more interesting. Meanwhile, Robin has a surprise encounter with a crush from years past.

Fan Episode Reviews (7)

Barney tries to get to know his father more.

6.0

By Jon_MW_14, Sep 06, 2011

"Hopeless" is a disappointing How I Met Your Mother episode. I didn't like Barney's attitude towards his father. I didn't like how Barney didn't like his dad because he wasn't wild. I think Barney trying to get to know his dad should have been dealt more maturely, yet still funny. It just wasn't funny how Jerry pretended to be crazy so Barney would like him. Now, I did love how Jerry revealed he pretended to be drunk. I loved the theme song in this episode. I love the gang is in a band and they did a cover of the theme song. I didn't like Ted ruining Robin's secret crush. I give this episode a 6/10moreless
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An interesting set of scenes!

10

By amazing_race, Jun 07, 2011

while this episode was pretty pointless and irrelevant in terms of its contecnt, I thought it was pretty great from the comedy aspect!

The scene isn which the gang is discussing the clubs to go to was hilarious! All of that was just absolutely brilliant to watch, and I really aenjoyed it!

Another funny scnen was Robin's attempted encounter with her secret crush. Te d was quite funny over there!

Barney adn whis dad were hilarious, and I really enjoyed some of those scenes! There were quite a few good laughs, and althought this episode was not good with content, this show is a comedy, and it scertainly lived aup to that title!

Definitely recommend this episode, and I can't wait for the next one! Keep it up, guys!moreless
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The episode is about Barney and his dad reconnecting on the wild side. We get to hear the story behind the red boots and Robin meets a certain someone.

4.0

By kagexp, Jun 07, 2011

This episode was so forced. While the intro was somewhat nice, I usually like the new episodes, I really do, and I love this show but this time the show seemed like it was trying too hard. It just wasn't funny nor emotional. It seemed shallow and given the plot, it seemed like a waste. The dialogue was terrible. Especially the club naming. The Lily/Marshall part was overused, we've already seen how Lily is "The settler" (though not everyone agrees) and this was not done in a creative way at all, as if they just needed something to do. And that leads us to the call-backs. Oh dear, the call backs! It's as if the writers thought, "Hey maybe we should get back to our roots", and then did it literally. Way too many call-backs people, what is this? A special plot reunion?

The barney/Daddy part was... Well... Personally I got a daja-vu vibe from it. His father tried the "I'm going to pretend I'm a lady-killer Crime Rider to impress my dear son" before and while it was kinda cute, it just wasn't working. Barneys life speculations were out of place, no mood no nothing. And it could be great, it could be legendary, but no. I'm sorry, no cigar for you.

But we appear to get some progress on finding the mom via Robin. While the Robin part of the episode was the best (IMHO), it still wasn't quite right. I just hope it wasn't there to gain some time, because every time Future Ted says "I'll get back to that" I die a little on the inside.

Sorry!moreless
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Not so shabby, a bit hard to watch at the beginning, but it picks up at the end, certainly.

7.5

By Demophoon, Jun 07, 2011

Spoilers Ahead

I liked how hard Jerry tried... Though, with Robin and Ted pretending to date again.. that was kind of weird and hit a soft spot for me that I've always had for them, especially when Ted and Robin "Break up" after Jerry leaves and Ted summarizes a break-up by saying, "I would've stolen you a whole orchestra" before knocking back his drink.

I know it was supposed to be funny, but it reminded me of that old wound. It also made me a little sad to see where Ted has come from when we first met him; I miss the starry-eyed architect who believed in love, rather than the douche-y guy they've made him become.

Still, this is ultimately a story about how he met his future wife, so I suppose they'll have to get back to it. Concerning Barney, I like the way his character is developing; I hope he gets back together with that girl he stood up... I hope that's who he was talking about when he said, "Maybe I've already met her" at the end, rather than Robin, who he seemed to be interested in still earlier in the episode.

I loved how he and his father got along at the end; I'm glad they bonded through magic; that's the dorky sort of thing they needed between them. Looking forward to the next episode.moreless
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Hopeless...

6.0

By AjMc91, Jun 07, 2011

This week's How I Met Your Mother sees the return of John Lithgow as Barney's former badass turned suburban driving instructor dad, as Barney tries to get him to connect with his former self. To aid the process Barney enlists the help of his friends, or rather slightly improved versions of his friends that he has concocted to make his life seem more exciting. He tells his father that he and his playwright friend Marshall, who is in an open marriage with fashion mogul Lilly, along with toned down Ted and his girlfriend the professional scotch taster Robin, are in a band. This beat brought about the first genuinely surprising and fairly legendary thing that How I Met Your Mother has done in a fair while, in that we get to see the fake band perform their own opening credits.

After the short-lived song we get to see a modern take on the classic vaudeville routine "Who's on First?" as the guys decide which of the many New York clubs with conveniently inconvenient names they are going to go to. Ending up in Hopeless, the episodes namesake, Barney's dad then proceeds to cut loose and return to his partying ways. He and Barney terrorize the city with their drunkenness until finally being brought to a stop by the police, when Jerome reveals that he isn't really drunk and was just acting that way to try and show his son what trying to party forever really looks like. Using their respective magic skills they both break free from their handcuffs and escape custody. As they drive to Jerome's house they have one of the many revelation conversations that Barney has had in the sixth season of How I Met Your Mother, but it does feel that this time he may have finally gotten the message; that at some point he has to settle down. In amongst the father son bonding session we also get to see Marshall and Lilly compete at getting phone numbers to prove who would really score more were they actually in an open marriage and we see Robin come across a crush from her past, guest star Michael Trucco. Voiceover Ted seems to imply that the relationship between them might go somewhere, however for now, it is little more than a cool addition to an episode for any Battlestar Galactica fan.

Overall I find it difficult to say definitively whether or not "Hopeless" was a good piece of television. On the one hand it was a refreshing change from the abysmal "The Exploding Meatball Sub", but on the other it didn't do too much in the way of humor. I will simply settle for saying that you wouldn't be bored or find yourself thinking about watching re-runs of Gossip Girl whilst watching "Hopeless", but you might not have many other feelings either.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Neil Patrick Harris	Barney Stinson
Josh Radnor	Ted Mosby
Cobie Smulders	Robin Scherbatsky
Alyson Hannigan	Lily Aldrin
Jason Segel	Marshall Eriksen

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Riley Thomas Stewart	Young Barney	Guest Star
Cristina Rosas	Penny	Guest Star
Michael Trucco	Crush	Guest Star
Bob Saget	Voice of Ted, 2030	Recurring Role

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Cobie Smulders, John Lithgow and Neil Pa...

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Cobie Smulders and Josh Radnor on How I ...

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Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) tries to bo...

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (0)
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QUOTES (1)
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- (Barney is telling the group about their new roles they have to play when his father is around)
  Barney: Finally, Robin, you're dating Ted.
  Robin: Awww, man! Why?
  Barney: I can't have any single, female friends lying around. My dad'll be all, "Why don't you marry Robin? You guys are cute together! Deep down you know you were never happier than when you were with her!" Uhhh, no thanks!
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NOTES (1)
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- International Airdate: Australia: May 26, 2011 on Channel 7; United Kingdom: July 21, 2011 on E4; Germany: November 23, 2011 on ProSieben; Czech Republic: February 16, 2012 on Prima COOL
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ALLUSIONS (1)
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- Jerry comments, "Oh, sorry, small town preacher from the Midwest. Is there a law against dancing?" a sly nod to John Lithgow's role in the 1984 movie Footloose, where he played… a preacher in a small midwestern town where there's a law against dancing.
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