How I Met Your Mother recap: How we almost met The Mother

I going to go with a somewhat unpopular opinion and say that I actually liked the season premier – possibility the last – of How I Met Your Mother. I thought that it had all the elements that made this show great in its prime and had its funny and heartfelt moments that have been missing over the last few seasons.

Okay, so let’s start off my talking about how this season started, which is how last season ended with the flash-forward to Barney and Robin’s wedding. They both get cold feet, but we all know that they make it down the aisle in the end to say their “I do’s”, so there isn’t anything really to worry about in regards to this. However what it did was provide the perfect opportunity for Ted to go into the story about how he ran away with Victoria on her wedding day. So back in the present day Victoria and Ted are ridding off into the sunset together when she mentions that she didn’t leave the very important “I’m not marring you” not to Klaus, which Ted becomes very adamant about because of his previous experience with this situation, oh and it’s also common courtesy. So this led to some funny scenes of Ted sneaking in and out of the wedding Hall, but in the end he finds Klaus also running away, which he has to question before he can finally be with Victoria. So the one last stop he makes is to Klaus at the train station asking why he would leave someone one as amazing as Victoria, to which he responds, with a German saying (which was also pretty funny) meaning “she’s not the one”. Just from the look on Ted’s face, you can already tell that he is already having second thoughts about Victoria, that she might not be the one for him either, which is also the beginning of the writers foreshadowing the inevitable end (again) to the Victoria – Ted relationship. I only hope that they don’ drag out this relationship for weeks and then put him in numerous other relationships before he finally meets the mother, because I think getting to the point where he meets her, should be the main focus of this season especially if it’s the last.

Now onto the other main story, Barney and Quinn’s engagement and her finding out that Robin and Barney used to be a couple, even though Barney destroyed all the evidence of their relationship, which was pretty heartless, even for Barney. Also, the subplot of Lily and Marshall sleep deprivation, was one of the funniest parts of the episode and went somewhat hand in hand.  Watching Lily and Marshall be confused and dazed for the entire episode was pretty funny, although the whole beginning bit where they kept on forgetting about the engagement got old after the third joke but forgetting that they told Quinn that Barney and Robin used to date was a funny scene. As expected Quinn gets angry at Barney for hiding this relationship and almost breaks off the engagement until she finds out that Robin is in a relationship, and who she is in a relationship with. With this new Robin love interest storyline, I was expecting a more concrete beginning to this story, rather then just her bringing it up, but since it will be short lived, I don’t have such a big issue with how it was written. So as Quinn runs off to let Robin’s boyfriend take body shots off her, we get a really sweet moment, when Robin admits that she was hurt that he destroyed everything from their relationship. But instead of a witty comeback he gave her a key to a storage locker, with a box that contain their entire relationship, showing that he actually does care and kept everything. Which was really bittersweet for me, because you can see how much they care for one another, but they have yet to realize how much they care and that they are meant to be with each other.

The last few moments of this episode was packed with emotions, sweet, joyful, sad and exciting. We got to see everything come full circle, and you can really understand where these characters are going throughout this season. Lily and Marshall are basking in the joy of being new parents, and baby Marvin is honestly so adorable. Barney has that look on his face, where you know that even through he has his sleeping fiancé on his shoulder, he is thinking about Robin. Robin is going back to the past and looking at all the memories from her relationship with Barney, which was so sad and touching to see her get so emotional over it and it is clear that there are still feelings there. However, it was the last and final scene that really made the entire episode special and memorable, because we got to see where and when Ted will meet the mother, at the train station. Seeing this woman get out of the car and then for the camera to pan up, was so exhilarating because I thought this was the moment the whole series as led up to, but unfortunately the yellow umbrella was covering her face so we don’t see who it is, yet. For one, this is probably the biggest reveal in terms of the whole mystery behind the mother, because all that’s left to know is who she is. Secondly, this ruins the idea that the mother is Barney’s half sister. These ending moments are what How I Met Your Mother do best, and this was no exception. After this episode I have to say that I’m excited for the rest of the season, and hope that it’s not the last.