Naturally, this resulted in another duel between Ted and Marshall (shown via flashback) -- but not before Marshall intricately dissected the many good deeds of Andre the Giant in The Princess Bride. (He did make some really good points.) As an added bonus, it was also fun to see Lily and Robin have a go with the swords too, as Lily misquoted Inigo Montoya's iconic "My name is..." line, and Robin knocked over Ted's Glen McKenna scotch. I thought it was especially clever how this played into Robin finding Ted's list and Lily taking the fall for Ted.
Speaking of which, I think it was Ted and Lily's bonding moment at the end that really stood out this week. I quite enjoyed Lily's life lecture to Ted about "saying goodbye to the bad things," accompanied by a montage of Ted's hardships and failed relationships. It was also nice how this tied in with Ted's hesitance to talk to Barney, which I think was a long time coming after their confrontation last season. For me, this Ted/Lily arc was probably the highlight of the episode.
Meanwhile, Barney and Robin's old people schtick was easily the weak link here, marking the couples' third consecutive storyline about their uncertainty in getting married. (Seriously, how many more of these pre-wedding mini freak-outs do they actually have lined up?) Not only was this story kind of repetitive, but it also just wasn't very funny. Between the onslaught of lame "backdoor" jokes and Barney/Robin using the name "Mandy Patinkin" as a "magical" old people call, this arc was pretty much wall-to-wall with flat jokes. That's not to mention the overall "old people as zombies" theme, which in itself was pretty unimaginative. In fact, the only redeeming part of this storyline was James, whose noble and majestic "sacrifice" made for a good laugh.
Marshall's road trip wasn't so much a dedicated arc as it was a brief update. Still, his and Daphne's journey through Wisconsin was another poor spot, as Marshall's Minnesota Vikings obsession got the better of him. This of course didn't really culminate in anything other than a few sorry prop comedy bits involving a literal bull's horn and a Greenbay Packers cheesehead.
Overall, "Last Time in New York" was largely a filler episode, particularly for Barney, Robin and Marshall. There was some good character growth for Ted and Lily, but other than that (and the swords, maybe) there wasn't really anything memorable about this episode. However, I was intrigued by this week's cliffhanger, with Barney revealing to Ted that he saw him and Robin at the carousel; that implies that Barney must have come to his senses and left laser tag to find Robin -- only to find her with Ted instead...