TVSquad

I have this running theory that Lily is the one Ted ends up with - which I totally realize is unlikely given her designation as "Aunt Lily" in the flash-forwards - but, like Lily says, "yeah, no!" Lily and Marshall start out rocky (it's never a good thing to spend Thanksgiving with the in-laws, especially given the size of their mayonnaise jars, not to mention, their babies) - but they end mushy as mushy can be. In fact, the ending almost ruined the rest of the episode, which was good as good can be.

Did I say "good"? That's what Ted and Robin set out to do on Thanksgiving (so they can cancel out Barney, who intends to spend Thanksgiving at the strip club). Meanwhile, Lily and Marshall head home to St. Cloud with his family - where Marshall is "the runt of the Eriksen clan."

There are so many funny bits in this episode, for the first hour or so after it ended all I had was a list of great quotes. Marshall and the whole Eriksen family (complete with custom-embroidered-and-ruffled "Mrs. Eriksen" aprons) were full of them. As the boys played "BaskIceBall - most dangerous and awesome sport in the world," the girls cooked, and Lily was entrusted with the Eriksen family seven-layer salad. Which took six cups of mayonnaise? "Oh no, dear, 16 cups." As Marshall says, "can't you see why everybody from my high school stays in this town?"

That's the last thing Lily could ever imagine, of course, and she's more upset about this than usual - she's five days late on her period. Could she be pregnant? With a "beautiful 15-pound boy - not much bigger than this turkey right here"? Of course, she's not, but she has a lot of good lines in between when she thinks about it and when she finds out that she's not (via pregnancy test viewed in the local jail, where she's been taken after getting caught urinating in public). Most especially, to Marshall's dad, who wonders how she could ever imagine raising a child in New York City: "we grew up just fine. And we grew to the proper size, and then we stopped."

Barney, though? He always has all the really good lines. It turns out Barney is the poster child (literally) of the soup kitchen. He's been going every weekend for the past year and he has to vouch for Robin and Ted so they can stay. As he says, "I'm the Angelina Jolie of incredibly hot guys." Oh...kay. "There's a lot of food to give out...and a lot of smiles." He's doing so much good, he tells them, that "I've got, like, a soul boner."

Robin and Ted, being newbies, are stuck sorting out the donations. The really good stuff goes into a box. Only - it's not a box for the needy. It's a box for the cute girl, Amanda, to take home. Ted says indignantly, "It's called thanksgiving, not thankstaking, damn." Turns out that everyone in the soup kitchen is on the dole, hoarding the portabella mushrooms for themselves. Ted takes matters into his own hands and runs through the dining room, tossing portabellas to the hungry crowd.

The strip club scene is predictable and boring, lots of grinding music and thighs. I love, though, that Robin has no qualms hanging out in the strip joint with Ted (who's reluctant, at best) and Barney (who's not). But the gotcha moment - when Ted (flashforward Ted) tells his kids that the stripper is their mom - is great. She's not, of course, but it's pretty funny, and for a split second I thought, really? A stripper? Now that would be groundbreaking TV!

But she's not, we're no closer to knowing who is the eponymous "mother." All we're left with is the Canadian Robin, musing, "Thanksgiving in November... weird." Heh.