How I Met Your Mother’ Season 8 comes out of the closet with its tenth episode of the (potentially) final season “The Over-Correction,” as Robin goes to obsessive lengths to expose Barney's relationship with Patrice (Ellen D. Williams) as a fraud, while Marshall and Lily discover their respective parents have taken up a disturbing new pastime.

Last week’s ‘How I Met Your Mother’ episode “Lobster Crawl” saw Robin trying desperately for one last fling with Barney, while Ted’s over-enthusiastic babysitting of Marvin caused Marshall and Lily to miss his most important moments, so what did tonight’s episode bring?  Are we any closer to learning how the last year for Ted, Robin, Barney, Marshall and Lily plays out?

Read on for your in-depth recap of everything you need to know about ‘How I Met Your Mother’ season 8 episode 10, “The Over-Correction!”

We open on Marshall, Lily, Robin and Ted all whispering from different closets on a cross-connected call, before getting back into what led them there.  Earlier at MacLaren’s, Lily voices her distaste at having Marshall’s mother stay at their apartment, while Ted refuses to lend his air mattress given how the gang never returns any of his things.  Robin still thinks something must be wrong with Barney to be dating Patrice, but the gang assures her it’s an “over-correction” dating Quinn’s trustworthy exact opposite.

Later, Lily finds herself uncomfortable that both Mickey and Marshall’s mother are staying over, while Robin complains more about Patrice.  She borrows Ted’s drill in the interest of breaking into Barney’s apartment, hopefully scaring off Patrice by showing her Barney’s playbook, but has difficulty finding it.  When Barney returns to the apartment, preparing for Patrice’s arrival, Robin is forced to hide in the closet.

Lily gives Marshall’s mother advice on dating, now that she’s looking to move on from her husband, while Robin calls Ted to beg for his help.  Ted reluctantly agrees, while a short time later, Marshall accidentally walks in on his mother fooling around with Lily’s father.  Eww.

Ted tries to dupe Barney out of the apartment by claiming Hugh Hefner to be downstairs, but Robin only manages to get free long enough to find the actual playbook.  When Barney returns, Robin once again calls Ted for help, threatening to damage his long-lost red cowboy boots (with his own pocket knife, no less) if he refuses.  Barney doesn’t fall for Ted’s second dupe, so Ted himself retrieves Robin’s purse and hides in a different closet.  Robin decides to call Lily for help, only to find that Lily is trapped in yet another closet, frequenting Barney’s to peacefully pump breast milk.

Lily ducks in to Robin’s closet, scolding her for her inability to let Barney be happy with Patrice, and Robin briefly ducks out to leave the playbook out for Patrice to find.  When she finally does, Barney admits the truth about the book rather than lie as expected, causing Patrice to storm out.  The gang all sneak into the same closet while Barney argues with Patrice on the balcony, trapped once again when they return inside.  Barney assures Patrice that she makes him a better person, and willfully burns the playbook (in Ted’s stolen trashcan), while the gang watches from the closet.

After the gang ducks out, Lily returns home to find Marshall still disturbed, and Marshall fills his wife in on what their parents have been up to.  Discussing the matter at MacLaren’s, Barney presses that Marshall and Lily should be happy for their parents, who like he and Patrice, found someone they never expected to.  Robin still presses that something must be wrong with him, and asks the gang to stage one of their famous interventions, only to find herself confronted with one the following day.

Later, Marshall and Lily apologize for their parents, giving their blessing to date, but the elder assure the younger couple they’re strictly in it for the sex, or “family with benefits.”  Shudder.

For as much as the imminent season 9 decision still looms large over the season, we found ourselves laughing a little more than usual at "The Over-Correction."  Oh sure, plenty of groan-worthy sitcom tropes were in play, between the closet-hiding and Marshall and Lily's parents (of course) hooking up, but the rapid fire twists, turns and gags kept too strong a pace to care.  We're not entirely sold on Barney and Patrice's relationship either, but the story wisely shifts to focus more on Robin's feelings than a justification of Barney's.  The pieces are definitely in place for a strong close to 2012, hopefully with knowledge of whether the story wraps for good in May.

Did you find your happiness with “The Over-Correction,” or did it leave you hiding in a closet?  Do you think it made for a solid entry into the (potentially) final season? Join us next week for an all-new episode recap of ‘How I Met Your Mother’ mid-season finale “The Final Page” on CBS!

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