Reposting this since I was a week early.

Tonight, Robin Sparkles returns to How I Met Your Mother. No, this isn’t some guest-star role (a la Britney Spears’ appearance a couple of weeks back), but rather the literal flip side of a storyline from the CBS comedy’s second season.

As mentioned in my earlier (and hopefully persuasive) entreaty to watch HIMYM, Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders) was outed as Canadian one-hit wonder, Robin Sparkles. As a denim-clad teen in the ’90s, she’d rocked the provinces with her totally ’80s-styled “Let’s Go To The Mall.” Her present-day NYC pals uncovered the hilarious video evidence, which helped to explain Robin’s strange fear of shopping malls. As alter ego Sparkles, she was forced to tour malls in support of the single, subsisting on Orange Julius and Wetzel’s Pretzels.

On this evening’s HIMYM, we’re treated to the Robin Sparkles’ B-side ballad, “Sandcastles in the Sand.” Guest star James Van Der Beek (Dawson’s Creek) is on board for the fun, playing Robin’s pop-star crush. And though Neil Patrick Harris is less than jazzed about his show’s continuing stunt casting, I’ll bet (slap bet?) this softer side of Robin Sparkles is going to be legen—wait for it—dary.

Tune in at 8:30/7:30 Central on CBS. (Don’t forget the robot.)