Tonight was another swing and a miss for HIMYM.
Full spoilers ahead, as always.
Barney is trying to convince his mother to give up her feud with Robin (Robin won her favorite shirt in a poker game) since Robin will soon be her daughter-in-law, and just as Loretta is about to give in, Robin waltzes in wearing said shirt and begins lording it over her. The fight escalates when the two women begin arguing over who makes better scrambled eggs, Robin’s mom or Loretta, which begins a “scramble off” to determine a winner once and for all. Loretta’s eggs not only win over Barney and Lily, but also the rest of the hotel guests, and in the absence of her own mom, Robin decides to prove she can do a better job. Of course, she has no idea how to even open an egg and declares Loretta the winner, only to stalk off sadly when Loretta worries that her grandkids won’t enjoy a good breakfast. Barney breaks the news to his mom that Robin is unable to have children and finally convinces her that he loves Robin no matter what, and that she is more imporant to him than kids, a job or anything else in life. It’s at this time that Robin learns that the reason her mom hasn’t shown up yet is because she is too afraid to fly and will thus be missing the wedding. Loretta comes in, makes up with Robin and welcomes her as part of the Stinson family.
While all of this is taking place, Marshall and Daphne get stuck in the nasty storm we’ve been hearing about all season and decide to wait it out with Ted’s mom and Clint. Being the hippy that he is, Clint tries to counsel the two wayward travellers, even stowing away in their SUV in an attempt to get the two to finally bond and get over their differences. He accomplishes this, but not quite how he imagined, as Daphne and Marshall finally agree on belittling him, which leads to Clint’s somewhat funny breakdown and insistence that they need to stop so he can meditate and find his center again. Daphne blasts Marshall for being aftaid of standing up for himself and doing what makes him happy which leads to Marshall ditching Clint on the side of the road and continuing their journey to New York.
Unfortunately, HIMYM seems to be falling into a trap that I was worried about when I heard this whole last season would take place at Barney and Robin’s wedding. Namely that the writers would get stuck trying to invent things to happen that just act as padding, and it would seem I was right. Sure, the fight between Robin and Loretta was funny, and it was definitely one of the better parts of this episode, but so much stuff that is happening just seems forced and made no difference in what is happening with the overall story. Ted’s reuniting with Cassie because Lily says he just needs to find someone to take to the wedding was stupid and pointless. We know that he won’t end up with her, and the few moments spent visiting the lighthouse were completely wasted and only existed to take up time from the main plot of the episode. Cassie was needless last week, and her coming back was completely unnecessary.
And Daphne and Marshall? Daphne is my favorite new character this season, but even she couldn’t make those sections funny. The only good moment was when Marshall finally sacks up and takes control of their trip and insists on picking the music (I’ve been waiting for the return of “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” since the moment their road trip started). You have really strong and wonderful characters, USE THEM!
In fact, the best parts of the episode came from the supporting cast who play the employees at the hotel. Curtis the desk manager was funny as always in his attempt to keep Ted away from romantic places for fear Ted would kill himself, and Linus continues to make me laugh everytime he brings Lily a new drink. In fact, his one slip up when he shows up late and informs Lily that they’re running out of glasses because she keeps breaking them was probably one of the best gags of the night.
We did get a moment with the Mother, though, and while it didn’t live up to what I was hoping for (meeting more of Ted’s friends), it was good to see her, even if only for a moment. What has me really intrigued is that they keep using flash forwards to show big moments of their lives together (meeting back at the hotel, Ted’s proposing on the lighthouse), which really has me wondering if the series is going to finale with the two of them just meeting, and that’s it. I can’t say I would be totally opposed to this (the show isn’t called “How I Dated Your Mother”), but I’m not sure if that would give us all the closure we deserve after 9 seasons.
Either way, I’m hoping they’ll get over the “fluff” episodes we’ve gotten these last two weeks and push the story on. The season may not be too far in, but there are only so many episodes left until it all wraps. Make it worth our while, guys!
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