TVSquad

(S03E16) Bless the peapickin' little hearts of Carter Bays and Craig Thomas. All week, they've been setting us up, telling us about the return of Robin Sparkles, saying that we were going to get an episode full of eighties and nineties goodness, complete with James Van Der Beek, Tiffany, and Alan Thicke. We even got a video (full video is after the end of the review) as a taste.

But all of it was a ruse. A week-long ruse to distract us from realizing what was really going to happen in this episode. Since I don't want to spoil it for anyone, come with me to the after-jump portion of our review and then we can talk.

For those that haven't heard, Robin Sparkles makes a triumphant return to How I Met Your Mother this coming Monday night, featuring guest appearances from Alan Thicke and James Van Der Beek.

Turns out, "Let's Go to the Mall" was only the A-side to her wildly popular Canadian pop single, first heard in the episode "Slap Bet." The B-side? "Sandcastles in the Sand," a cheesy ballad chock full of Canadian and 80's goodness... even though the song was supposedly recorded in the early 90's.

Well if you can't wait to hear it, now you can. Variety received the song and you can stream it from their website here. While not as catchy as "...Mall," the tune is still hilarious, full of Canuck references ("Together we were gonna travel the globe, from Alberta to Ontario.") and funny one-liners ("I miss your hair."). There's nothing yet on Sparkles' MySpace page, except the artwork for the album. I'm sure the full video will be posted after the show airs. It's sure to be an another huge viral hit for CBS and HIMYM.

Have you been missing those references to Scherbatsky's Canadian life? If you know what I'm talking about then you'll be overjoyed to know that on April 21, How I Met Your Mother will be all about Robin Sparkles, Robin Scherbatsky's alter-ego teen singing star. The entire episode is planned as a flashback to the 1980s 1990's when Robin became a one-hit wonder with the song "Let's Go to the Mall." Well, it turns out that wasn't her only song. Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, How I Met Your Mother's co-creators, composed a ballad. "Sandcastles in the Sand" was the flip-side of "Let's Go to the Mall." It's supposedly in the style of a power break-up ballad, like "Foolish Beat" and "Toy Soldiers."