(S03E07) One of the grand unfolding mysteries we've been given this year by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas is "What the hell happened to Marshall and Lily?" I mean, every couple gets away from the hearts-and-flowers ideal that was pervasive when they got together, but it seems like Marshall and Lily lost more of it than most; Lily goes from flower-print-wearing kindergarten teacher to pearl-wearing hard-ass, and Marshall goes from youthful environmental supporter to balding corporate stooge. Something must have tripped them up along the way.

Well, tonight we're starting to find out what that is. It started with Lily's love of boots and Marshall's new corporate law job, and now its spreading to an apartment that's in a neighborhood that no one ever wants to live in. What's next? Sexual inadequacy? Kids who deal drugs? Clinton-esque side nookie? The mind boggles at the thought.

Anyway, you don't have to be from New York to know that the real estate agent (played by guest-star extraordinaire Maggie Wheeler) was loading Marshall and Lily a load of crap with this Dowisetrepla business. I've seen some dumb made-up-by-realtor names for New York neighborhoods -- DUMBO, RAMBO, NoLita -- and I was wondering what "Dowisetrepla" was short for, curious that no one mentioned it throughout the episode. Of course, right at the end of the episode, we found out; it stands for "Down Wind of the Sewage Treatment Plant." The New York Times recently had an article on how to not judge a neighborhood until you've seen it at night; maybe they should write one on how to wait until the sewage treatment plant fires up after the weekend is over.

The the way-too-expensive apartment with the sewage smell is the least of their problems; now Lily's credit card debt is out in the open. I thought it was sweet that she offered to get a divorce just so her credit problems didn't ruin his credit. And it was even sweeter for Marshall to pass on it. But you have to wonder what other secrets we're going to hear about, from both sides, down the road. I can't wait to find out.

I really liked the storytelling method in this particular episode. I counted six variations on "that's what he/she/we should have said," most of which were reasonably unexpected. In other words, the "what they should have said" part seemed like it was something very reasonable and logical for that character to say, even within the context of the episode. But, of course, if they did say those things, Lily and Marshall wouldn't be heading for pearls and baldness, would they?

My other favorite part of the episode was Ted Mosby: Detective. He put on his CSI hat and deduced the hows and (almost) the whys of Marshal and Lily's fight. The recreation of a typical CSI episode, including grainy flashbacks, was well-done. Robin's wise-ass retorts at the beginning of Detective Mosby's run through the apartment ("The Mosby Boys? You mean you and your sister?" and how she pointed out that the Case of the Mystery Retainer was solved because "it was in the garbage") but even she was sold after . Then you have the scene immediately after that where Robin, Ted, and Barney sit on the kitchen floor, eat ice cream and contemplate the prospects of a Marshall and Lily divorce. Robin thinks she'd go with Lily in the divorce, leading both her and Ted to figure out that the two of them still hanging out is a bit odd and uncomfortable (duh! They were the last to know).

Of course, as we saw last year when he married the couple, Barney cries. "The world needs Marshall and Lily together!" he sobs. This act, and his unconvincing recovery once he knows the real news, is my Best Barneyism of the week. Why isn't it his ploy to use the furnished Dowisetrepla apartment to make a conquest think he's a commitment kind of a guy? Because, believe it or not, it didn't feel devious enough. Barney has set a high standard when it comes to duping women, and for some reason, this didn't meet that standard. This felt like something Jack Tripper (or worse yet, Larry Dallas) would do, not Barney Stinson. Though the plot did yield some good lines, as I'll mention below.

More fun stuff:

• Barney's conquest, by the way, was played by April Bowlby, last seen in a recurring role on Two and a Half Men.
• Barney on her breasts: "Imagine the heads of two Irish babies, one named Brrrr and the other named Wbbbb."
• When Marshall started to lose it over the open peanut butter jar (he thought Ted did it, even though it was Lily), he equated the living arrangement with being in The Real World house. "And not the early years, when they had jobs and social consciences. It's Hawaii and after!" Boy, I'm with you, Marshall.
• After Lily said she was going to take care of her credit card debt as soon as she furnished the apartment, Robin just looked at her and said "You should be on a reality show."
• Ah, the ridiculously large bottle of Champagne. I wonder how it actually tasted, considering how warm it was. Was it good enough to give that poor waitress that shiner?
• When Robin found out about Barney's scheme, she realized that he did the same thing when he volunteered to watch her dogs for a week. "Is that why my Yorkie trembled for a week after that?" she asked. "That Yorkie saw things that should never be seen," replied Barney.
• Ted in his obnoxious detective phase, refuting Robin's true version of why Marshal and Lily argued: "There's a reason why your name is Robin and not Batman."
• Robin pulls out her Canadianness again, citing that Lily's debt is "as tall as Mt. Waddington." Of course, when she tells Lily that Waddington is 4000 meters, all Lily can say is "meters?" Funny that she later tried to Americanize the statement by saying the debt was "as tall as Mount... Rushmore."
• Lily and Marshall's divergent visions of life in the new apartment: Marshall dreams of a band with three of their four boys and Lily making chocolate pancakes, while Lily dreams of painting with their two daughters while Marshall makes chocolate crepes and speaks French.
• Robin suggesting to Lily that she tell Marshall the apartment is haunted so he might drop his interest. "You really don't know Marshall, do you?" said Lily. Of course anyone who loves Nessie loves ghosts.
• So we now know about all of Marshall's three big mistakes in life, the others being a flight off a roof as a kid and his wedding-day hair-shaving freak out.

I've noticed that the longer my bulleted list is, the better the episode is. So you can imagine that I thought that this was a pretty damn good episode. I want to keep seeing more of the life of Lily and Marshall, and these last few episodes have been the strongest of the season so far. Will we have to go away from their story for a while? Sure. But I'm not looking forward to it when they do.