Season nine, the final season, brings a final set of stories and draws us toward the long time conclusion of how exactly did Ted meet the mother.
In tonight’s pair of episodes “The Locket” and “Coming Back,” we find the gang where we left off last season. Ted and Lily start their drive to Farhampton while Barney and Robin ride the limo with Rajit. Meanwhile, Marshal has to leave from his mother’s home via plane, and all three journeys have their stumbling blocks.
Marshal’s banning from the flight and subsequent teaming up with Daphene (The View‘s Sherri Shepherd) to drive from Minessota to New York brings a breath of freshness to the cast mixup. It’s fairly clear a lot of the season will take place without the typical Marshal and Lily parings we’ve seen for the rest of the series, and having Daphene’s temper should be a good counter to Marshal’s overly expressed pleasantness.
Meanwhile, we have a semi throw away segment concerning the near fear that Barney and Robin were in fact related by blood. It resolves itself in short order (only related via a distant marriage-adoption), but the whole storyline felt like a waste of time. Though it does setup a few concepts for the rest of the season, namely who will ruin the wedding? Of course it’s heavily foreshadowed that it’s almost without a doubt going to be Ted’s fault that the wedding is a disaster, mostly because four days prior he went and presumably found Robin’s locket in LA.
The main concerns with the first part of the episode revolved around introducing us to the still unnamed mother. After Lily’s rage towards Ted’s usual douche-ness, she ends up on the mother’s same train sitting just behind her. After a small bit of insane and upset mumbling about being a lonely unicorn, she strikes up a conversation with the mother, venting out all of her frustrations about Ted.
Interestingly, Lily meets the mother and in turn tells her all about Ted’s insanity, which in reality draws her in closer. There are plenty of reveals that the mother shares many of the same characteristics as Ted (though of course lying as she agrees with all of Lily’s assertions), even identifying one of Ted’s hyper lame historical figures by Lily’s partial description.
It’s an insight into the mother, and gives us the viewer hope that yes, as different as we might be…there might actually be another person just like out out there.
The second episode tonight ends with a short “flash-forward” scene between Ted and the mother which should give us some insight into how the writers will integrate Ted’s romanticism into the story. In this scene, Ted we see a sweet conversation between Ted and the mother one year later, as they return to the very same inn the met. The chemistry among the couple is quite endearing, and it’s clear that casting Cristin Milioti was a fine selection to play the role.
Oddly though, the scene itself was somewhat reflective. I didn’t quite get the sense of love and happiness, but rather the tone of the episode and the actor’s performances had a tinge of sadness.
I suspect that the writers will use this strategy to introduce the relationship of Ted and the mother over the course of the season. We will actually get to see how Ted and the mother love each other, so that when they finally meet, we already know what fate has in store for them. This leads me to believe that the writers still have the idea of of ending the series with a final scene Ted meeting the mother, with perhaps the last minutes of the show being some kind of epilogue summing things up with his kids. Not only do we get what fans had long suspected…the final scene being “and that’s how I met your mother” while providing context to the viewer of who exactly the mother is and why Ted loves her.
It’s fifty five hours until the wedding, and there is quite a lot of story to fill in between now and then for How I Met Your Mother.
Other Observations
- The wedding will be at 8pm Sunday evening.
- It’s called…the glove compartment
- The Ring “bear”
- Som-bitches…the cookie treat
- Lady Ted-uinia Slowsby
- You have certainly peaked my incest…interest
- The photo Ted gives to Robin was from 8 years ago…and happens to be the one in the title sequence.
- The Kennedy Package – never seen without a drink in hand.
- Act like a new yorker…a pushy, obnoxious, knock the other guy down and take his hotdog resident.
- A person has a different perspective on weddings when he’s knows what’s down there at the end of the isle. It’s not all champagne and frosting. — Important advice for all engaged couples.
Barneyism
The Stinson Curse – In Moscow 1807, the Stinson brothers run over and kill a gypsy woman. As she dies, she places the “horny” curse on the men of the family, so they are forever driven by their desire for booty.
