It’s as if the How I Met Your Mother writers are reading our thoughts and satisfying our needs week after week in yet another stellar episode. Just last week, I wrote about how we needed more Ted/Mother stories because a few flash-forwards aren’t enough, and that we should see them getting to know each other more. Well, that’s exactly what Gary Blauman delivered.
It was particularly amusing to start the episode with a flash-forward to “3 days after the wedding” as we walk downtown with Ted and our favorite Mother as they head over to a Scottish/Mexican fusion restaurant for their date. Clearly, just having met the Mother on the wedding has stopped Ted from moving to Chicago even though the episode doesn’t even mention it. Instead, it just focused on Ted telling the story of Gary Blauman (from season 1) and his impact on the rest of the gang.
So Ted tells his kids that all the friends and drinking buddies you have while growing up will somehow disappear from your life. It’s a heartwarming lesson followed by a fast-paced two-minute sequence showcasing many pervious HIMYM guests that we’ve loved and missed throughout the show, and where they were now. It’s hard not to think back to Ted and Stella’s brilliant date from earlier in the series while we look at all these people’s lives now, and it was entertaining as hell to find out that Carl is still a bartender at MacLaren’s or Ranjit owns a limo service now.
A wonderfully surprising callback was finding out that BlahBlah’s name is Carol (I love the look on her face when she says thank you!). Patrice has her own advice radio show (“Patrice! In The Morning!”), and was that Robin on the other end of that phone (awesome!)? Zoey still protests every now and then for some environmental cause, Scooter got married to Lily’s “stripper” doppelganger, Jeanette and Kevin fell in love, Blitz is still “the Blitz”, Sandy Rivers is still a pervert coming on to his Russian co-host, and Barney’s brother James got back together with his husband (James to his kids: Kids, did I ever tell you the story of how I met your father? It was at a party). Well done, show. Well done.
That scene definitely stole the entire episode’s thunder because it reminded us once and for all that the end is near. And if that wasn’t enough, we flash-forward again to Ted and the Mother’s date where they share their first kiss, and it was as passionate and uplifting as any first kiss can be. It still shocks me just how much I love these two together, considering how long we’ve seen them actually being together (and that they’re just fictional characters). And something about Ted’s final line is sad and nostalgic at the same time. Does he realize the end is near when she asks him what he’s doing and he says “Remembering this”? Or is this another hint in the “one of us is dying” saga the Internet has been buzzing about since forever?
Slaps & Bits
-Ted and the Mother hiding from her ex-boyfriend Louis behind the back of a van was awesome. And it was an amusing touch to remind us that Louis asked her to marry him just a few days earlier.
-Mother: I’m so sorry, Ted. I really like you, but I’m in the weirdest place on earth right now.
-Ted: You’re in a Scottish Mexican restaurant?
-Barney hates Gary Blauman because he took 4 of his fries once. And the last one was a—get this—curly fry!
-Those “supposedly intense” scenes leading up to whether each of our characters loved or hated Gary Blauman got boring real fast. Especially when they became as ridiculous as “I hate…to disagree with Barney.” You don’t ever disagree with Barney, Billy Zabka. Not you, not anyone else.
-Another amusing touch is Ted saying that eight years earlier, he probably would’ve made some speech about love before leaving the first date hanging like that. Brought back memories to the Pilot where Ted said “I think I’m in love with you” to Robin right after meeting her.
-Marshall’s remarks about Robin’s hair were hilarious!
-At first, I didn’t really understand that what Robin screamed before the credits was “Code Red!” I could’ve sworn I heard “Call Ted!”
-2 episodes left! Starting to feel sick in your stomach yet?
Conclusion
Another brilliant installment that was satisfying, utterly entertaining and nostalgic all at the same time.
Chris Rating
A