'How I Met Your Mother' Season 6, Episode 9 Recap

['How I Met Your Mother' - 'Glitter']

Has a piece of the "game changer" puzzle fallen into place?

Remember in the first episode this season, when Ted was sitting outside a wedding, anxious about giving a toast? Marshall, also clad in a tux, was outside with him, reassuring him that everything will go fine. We know, at least according to Old Ted's narration, that this is where Ted meets "the one."

So what happened between Ted and his old high school friend Punchy made things very intriguing.

But, to be honest, that story was a very distant second behind what everyone wanted to see this week: more Robin Sparkles! And if you love not-so-double entendre, this episode was probably your favorite of the season. Why? Let's just say that Canadian kids' television wasn't exactly wholesome. I'll never look at old episodes of 'You Can't Do That On Television' the same way ever again...

We could go over every scene from the "veritable pornucopia" that is 'Space Teens,' but I'd just like to give you my favorite: Robin and Glitter, working the joystick while Alan Thicke (what the hell was he doing on that show? Was he that hard up after 'Growing Pains' ended?) shouted out multiplication problems to them. When he shouted "23 times 3!" to them, I almost spit water out my nose, even though I wasn't drinking anything.

Sure, most of the jokes weren't extremely clever, but sometimes you just need to hear a good beaver joke to make your night, know what I mean? Anyway, there was some cleverness there, as we saw Robin and Glitter jumping around on screen. Robin tries to defend the non-porniness of the kids genre by naming some shows by citing bad camera work. "I don't know, I think he did a pretty good job for someone who was using one hand," said Marshall. Anyway, hearing Thicke talking about how many inches of wood their beavers would have to consume almost put an end to me, and I'm glad they went away from the "porn salad" for a while.

I expected to see a little more of the adult Glitter, even if Nicole Scherzinger's Canadian accent went in and out a bit (Robin's over-the-top Canuck teen voice was fully in effect, though). How her love of the keytar landed her a job as the New York Rangers organist is something that only happens in Sitcomland. But it led to the funny sight of Lily and Marshall compulsively clapping and yelling "Charge!" while having a serious conversation with Glitter about why her friendship with Robin ended.

If the story about how we got to meet Jessica Glitter (is that her real last name?) in that organist's booth -- heh, she's playing with an organ, now I get it -- was a bit contrived, so be it. Lily does tend to "Lily all over the place," as Marshall put it, when she's got her mind set on something. And, really, what single person wants to hear about cervical mucous or watch a live water birth, especially if her married friend isn't even pregnant yet? We all know how tough it is to snap Lil out of her single-minded tunnel vision, so maybe Glitter's story of how she distanced herself from Robin after she had a kid was enough to set her straight.

OK, so let's talk Punchy for a second. The storyline pretty much blew chunks. For a second I thought he was played by Dustin Diamond, he was so bearded and annoying (turns out it's a guy named Chris Romanski... maybe he's marketing himself as a Diamond annoy-alike). But now that he's asked "Schmosby" to be his best man, that may answer the question of what wedding Ted was at in that first scene of season six. But why was Marshall there? And why was he wearing a tux? Those two items make me think that Punchy's wedding is a head fake to make everyone think that's where the scene took place. I guess we'll find out eventually.... right?

More fun stuff:

-- Ah, 'The Beaver Song.' "Ice cream cone... we'll lick it side by side." Only at the Hoser Hut -- which looks remarkably like a reconfigured MacLaren's -- could that be greeted with cheers instead of hoots and hollers. Oh, those Canadians and their lack of guile!

-- The Best Barneyism of the week? His litany of reality-show kiss-off lines. For a guy who gets laid all the time, he sure watches a lot of TV. The list was pretty current, as it included the kiss-off lines from 'Top Chef: Just Desserts' among other current reality competitions.

-- Perspective is everything, isn't it? Punchy is a dope, but he feels sorry for Ted because he's still single and doesn't have a backyard yet.

-- "No, Robin. You can't do that on television!" Kudos to Carter and Craig for referencing the classic Canadian show that gave us Moose, Alistair, Lisa Ruddy, and Alanis Morissette (who we all know is the model for Robin Sparkles).

-- Remember back when the Slap Bet was originally made? If Robin's secret was that she was involved in porn, Barney gets to slap Marshall. So for the brief moment everyone thought that 'Space Teens' was porn, Barney took the opportunity to wind up on his slap to Marshall. Nice callback to one of the show's best episodes, and it makes me look forward to Marshall redeeming his final slap at some point before the show ends. I think I'm looking more forward to that than to seeing who the Mother is.

'How I Met Your Mother' airs Mondays at 8PM ET on CBS.

(Follow @joelkeller on Twitter.)