On tonight's episode of How I Met Your Mother, Ted's sister, Heather, makes a trip to New York to visit.  Ted only has one mission: make sure that Barney doesn't meet her so that he can keep them from sleeping together.  Each Christmas, when Ted's family sends out their usual holiday card, Barney sings Christmas songs about how he wants to get with his sister.  Any guy would be protective!  Unfortunately for Ted, Barney crashes their plans, after Lily spills the beans, and finally gets to meet Heather.  He's offended that Ted would intentionally keep Heather from him and doesn't trust him enough with his sister.  Feeling guilty, Ted agrees to include Barney in his plans while his sister is in town.

While Lily, Barney, Ted, and Heather head out for a fancy dinner, Marshall takes Robin to a place that reminds him of Minnesota, since she was feeling homesick for Canada.  At dinner, Heather says that she found an apartment in New York that she loves but needs him to cosign the lease.  Ted immediately says no, skeptical that his sister is really serious about being responsible, especially given her past.  Barney jumps in and says that he should be able to help her, since he works at Goliath National Bank and the two set up a meeting.  Lily promises to Ted to keep a close eye on them and make sure nothing happens.

At the bar, Robin is psyched when she sees her favorite arcade game, Fisherman's Quest.  Marshall already has the high score!  When Robin starts mentioning Canada, he quiets her down, telling her that nobody in the bar can know that she's not from Minnesota.  She covers nicely when a local asks her where she's from and the bar crowd seems to accept her. 

Ted jumps ahead a few days in his story, where Lily breaks down and admits that she knows that Barney and Heather slept together.  At the bar, Marshall is appalled when Robin starts telling people his childhood stories and is quite popular with everyone.  Robin becomes briefly offended when she realizes that everyone in the bar makes fun of Canadians for being afraid of the dark but jumps in on the jokes to fit in.

When Ted confronts Barney and Heather for sleeping together, she admits that they staged the whole thing to teach him a lesson about meddling in other people's business.  After Heather storms out, Barney admits that, even though he promised never to sleep with Heather and didn't touch her, he once kissed Ted's mother.  Gross.  When Marshall decides that he's had enough of Robin, he tells the entire bar that she's Canadian.  She tries to deny it but can't answer a simple question about Minnesota football history.  Robin delivers a speech about how much she loves and misses Canada, before walking out.

Heather heads to the apartment to pick up some things and head to a hotel but finds a briefcase that she couldn't afford as a present from Ted.  Inside, was her lease, that he cosigned for her so that he could get to know the new Heather.  Marshall finds Robin sulking on the front steps of her apartment and decides to cheer her up by bringing her to a bar full of Canadians.  Of course, Marshall didn't just bring her there out of the kindness of his heart - he wanted a little revenge.  He heads up to sing a little karaoke, a popular Canadian song.  Perhaps you'll recognize it: "Let's Go To The Mall". 


- Gina Scarpa, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image courtesy of CBS)