In "Noretta," the group addresses how their relationships can reflect their own family issues. Does Barney/Robin compare to either of their issues with their families? Can this episode be seen as related to "Baby Talk" form the previous season, and if so, how does this exploration of the theme add to what we already got in the earlier episode?
There's a lot that the "Noretta" episode told us about Barney and Robin's family lives. For one they are a lot alike, which in this episode put parents against kids with Marshall and Lily like their parents, Nora being like Barney's mom it shows that even though Nora was like Barney's mom in season 8 that was not true because Robin is just like Loretta. And, Barney, he's just like Robin's dad except that he cares and loves Robin. Robin was just too scared in "Something Old" to look past that but Barney is nothing like her dad because even though he likes cigars and scotch they are NOT at all alike because the person who loves you for the things you don't like about yourself or your parents is that you can be somewhat like each the spouse in question but you aren't like them at all.
Episodes 10, 11 and 12 all have strong emotional undercurrents (to varying levels of overt-ness). Do they play the same way being a season and a half removed from it all? What changed (or didn't change) for you?
I honestly don't think you can get quite the emotional impact of those November sweeps if you weren't there at the time. I've tried to explain to my (admittedly not as obsessed) friends exactly why I started sobbing hysterically when the kids disappeared at the end of 8.12, but they don't quite get it, because it wasn't so much about the episodes themselves (though they're undeniably some of the most depressing of the series) but the atmosphere at the time
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Now when I look back on them I do view them differently. The simple fact that I now know what's coming changes things a lot. "Rebound Girl" in particular is just a funny episode now because nothing comes of Robin's announcement in the end and I can honestly just enjoy it as one of the funnier episodes in the season with quite a touching moment from Barney in the end
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I so agree about watching these live at the time. It was devastating. Nobody really believed Robin was actually pregnant until Auseillo said she was and then we believed it and got used to the idea of what they would do with Robin having this tragic miscarriage but showing the future happiness of B/R just to ease the horror of it a little. And then it just went in a totally different (disappointing) direction. I don't care that B/R never have kids, but I just hated the way they dropped the storyline like that (and I still do).
I agree with you that as much as Robin never wanted kids, she legitimately wholeheartedly believed she was pregnant with Barney's child and she obviously was getting used to the idea or she wouldn't have been so devastated when she found out she could never be pregnant. And that just tells you where her mindset was. She didn't particularly want to be pregnant right now but the idea of never being able to have Barney's child was dreadfully painful. That just goes to show that even despite picking Kevin
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While watching it live, I thought the first half of Season 7 was frustratingly subtle (though nothing in comparison to the second half), but this time around in the rewatch the first part of Season 7 seemed massively clear to the point of jumping out and screaming at you (a) how obviously not into their relationships both Robin and Barney are, (b) how Robin and Barney are still clearly into each other, and (c) what a manipulative creep Kevin is.
To touch on it a little from Robin’s side, all of those issues she and Kevin talk about in therapy make it very clear that Robin is trying to prove a point with Kevin just as much as Barney is with Nora. By making Kevin her boyfriend, Robin wants to prove that she is lovable and that not every guy will reject her. There is also the element of what she calls (again from their therapy sessions, making it so creepy) “looking for reasons not to be happy”. She tries to date Kevin but she knows she’s still in love with Barney, yet she considers that love hopeless (and Barney dating another woman
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On Barney’s side it’s all there too. He doesn’t think of Robin as a possibility because to his mind she’s made it clear she’s not interested and it would be “a mistake”. So unless he wants to be alone, sleeping around forever, he has no choice but to move on with Nora, much like he’ll later do with Quinn. Only with Quinn, she was a distraction and a consolation prize as well, because by that point he actually had tried with Robin and she rejected him so he’d given up all hope. But at this point, with Nora, Barney doesn’t believe that all hope is exhausted with Robin, which is why I think there’s another element to what he’s doing with Nora too. He’s not just out to prove to himself that he can be a good boyfriend. He’s also trying to prove that to Robin so she will want to try again with him. And his choice to date an over-the-top, goody-goody woman with very strict standards plays into that all the more. If someone like Nora thinks he’s a good boyfriend, than any woman would - Robin included. We know Barney thinks
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Talking about "Disaster Averted", the moment where the gang find out that Barney's gonna meet Nora's parents says it all about how Robin's feeling about Barney and how she's so not over him: during the whole Kevin's "you're gonna meet Nora's parents tomorrow!" and Barney's "wrong, it's in two days..." Robin's face is clearly upset. She's speechless and almost worried about that. It's like the fact that he's gonna meet the PARENTS of his girlfriend, is the clear proof that their relationship gettin' pretty serious and it hurts her
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"When i let a day go by without talkin' to you... that day is just no good". For me this is the most amazing declaration of love of all time. It's so simple but so sweet. And Barney's face while he's sayin' that is lovely.
"I'm such a mess. Why do you even like me?" "I guess 'cause you're almost as messed up as i am".
The kiss at the end of 'Disaster Averted'. That is probably my favorite BR kiss ever.
Their dance in 'The Best Man'.
Robin's face when she sees Barney's costume on Halloween.
"You never even called Nora. Or did you call her? Not that i care... did you? I don't care! Did you?" Hahahahah, this cracks me up every single time.
~I love the B/R dance in 7.01 SO much. I love the look on Barney’s face and the way he pulls her in with his charm. It’s indicative of their relationship as a whole, the way he’s just so irresistible and the way Robin just can’t help but love him like crazy. And at the very end where he’s lowering her back to the ground, the way she looks at him adoringly and strokes his hair, it’s so very obvious that she’s deeply in love with him
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I agree with you that as much as Robin never wanted kids, she legitimately wholeheartedly believed she was pregnant with Barney's child and she obviously was getting used to the idea or she wouldn't have been so devastated when she found out she could never be pregnant. And that just tells you where her mindset was. She didn't particularly want to be pregnant right now but the idea of never being able to have Barney's child was dreadfully painful. That just goes to show that even despite picking Kevin ( ... )
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To touch on it a little from Robin’s side, all of those issues she and Kevin talk about in therapy make it very clear that Robin is trying to prove a point with Kevin just as much as Barney is with Nora. By making Kevin her boyfriend, Robin wants to prove that she is lovable and that not every guy will reject her. There is also the element of what she calls (again from their therapy sessions, making it so creepy) “looking for reasons not to be happy”. She tries to date Kevin but she knows she’s still in love with Barney, yet she considers that love hopeless (and Barney dating another woman ( ... )
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On Barney’s side it’s all there too. He doesn’t think of Robin as a possibility because to his mind she’s made it clear she’s not interested and it would be “a mistake”. So unless he wants to be alone, sleeping around forever, he has no choice but to move on with Nora, much like he’ll later do with Quinn. Only with Quinn, she was a distraction and a consolation prize as well, because by that point he actually had tried with Robin and she rejected him so he’d given up all hope. But at this point, with Nora, Barney doesn’t believe that all hope is exhausted with Robin, which is why I think there’s another element to what he’s doing with Nora too. He’s not just out to prove to himself that he can be a good boyfriend. He’s also trying to prove that to Robin so she will want to try again with him. And his choice to date an over-the-top, goody-goody woman with very strict standards plays into that all the more. If someone like Nora thinks he’s a good boyfriend, than any woman would - Robin included. We know Barney thinks ( ... )
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"I'm such a mess. Why do you even like me?"
"I guess 'cause you're almost as messed up as i am".
The kiss at the end of 'Disaster Averted'. That is probably my favorite BR kiss ever.
Their dance in 'The Best Man'.
Robin's face when she sees Barney's costume on Halloween.
"You never even called Nora. Or did you call her? Not that i care... did you? I don't care! Did you?" Hahahahah, this cracks me up every single time.
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