REVIEW - How I Met Your Mother - S09E08 - 'The Lighthouse'

In this episode all of the little things the season has been setting up start to pay off. A time jump has occurred (they finally went to sleep!) and it is now Saturday morning (everything that has happened in the season so far occurred on Friday).

Ted wants to go to the lighthouse near Farhampton. This is considered a very romantic location by the nosy receptionist (last seen in episode two), who does not want Ted going alone. Lily, frustrated with Marshall’s recent revelation to her, tells Ted to stop trying to find the one and “settle” for Cassie (the woman he met in episode six). Ted reluctantly takes Cassie to the lighthouse, despite all of the warning signs telling him not to.

Although not much time was spent on this plot line, the little gem of a flash forward we are given at the end of the episode made it worthwhile. I won’t say exactly what happened, but I will tell you it featured the mother!

Marshall and Daphne stay the night in Ted’s childhood home with his mother and stepfather (Clint) because of bad weather. Clint decides Marshall and Daphne need some conflict resolution and stows himself away in the back of their car until an opportune moment presents itself. Clint quickly drives Daphne and Marshall up the wall with his guitar, singing, and attempts at conflict resolution. Marshall and Daphne do indeed have some issues between them, but will Clint’s presence help or hinder these issues?

Barney wants his mum (Loretta) and Robin to stop fighting, and Loretta agrees to put it behind them if Robin is willing to as well. Of course Robin is not willing and shows up to breakfast in Loretta’s favourite blouse (which Robin won from her in a poker game in episode five). This just leads to an escalating war between Loretta and Robin, with Barney once again caught in the middle. In the heat of one of their arguments, Robin reveals something personal about herself to Loretta. Loretta is understandably shocked, and questions Barney’s decision to marry Robin. Can Loretta handle this new bit of information, and how will it affect her relationship with Robin?

This seemed like a pretty average episode of How I Met Your Mother… until the last two minutes clearly placed it on the good side of average. It was nice to see ‘old’ characters and plot lines resurface (and in some cases, be resolved), so I guess this new format isn’t that bad, but we are still quite a while away from the wedding…

Review by Heather Bale.

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REVIEW - How I Met Your Mother - S09E07 - ‘No Questions Asked’

This week’s How I Met Your Mother sees Robin sporting a skin-tight purple bodysuit, Ted sneaking into Lily’s room in the dead of night, and Barney trapped in an air vent.

Lily has not checked the most recent text on her phone, and therefore still does not know about Marshall having accepted a job as a judge (which will prevent them from moving to Italy and Lily doing her dream job). In order to delay the inevitable, Marshall enlists the help of Ted, Barney and Robin. They of course all want to know why Lily can’t check her phone, but Marshall wants them to do this for him “no questions asked”. When they start to protest, he reminds them all of times he has helped them out of sticky situations, “no questions asked”.

What follows is a series of flashbacks involving different members of the gang in increasingly ridiculous situations interwoven with their present attempts to separate Lily from her phone. There is also a minor-subplot in this episode involving Barney and Robin learning to work together as opposed to independently, but this was resolved almost as quickly as it was mentioned.

This episode was fun and light-hearted (in preparation for the coming storm between Marshall and Lilly no doubt). I bet the writers had a ball coming up with these scenarios, knowing they would never have to provide explanations for them. In all honesty though, this episode just felt like padding. I know they can’t have plot-heavy episodes every week, but the majority of this season has been filler. They’ve got a clear end in sight, and some plot points to sprinkle in every few episodes (just like every other season), but I think the problem comes back to the confined structure of this season. They’ve got limits on what they can and can’t do (they can’t have drama every week, but have to be doing something different in the hotel every few hours…), and that’s really taking it’s toll on the quality of the show. We’re only seven episodes in but still 42.5 hours away from the wedding - they have to sleep some time!

Anyway, they’ve managed to drag out the Marshall-Lily drama for another week, so I guess we just have to keep watching to see how that all goes down!

Review by Heather Bale.

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REVIEW - How I Met Your Mother - S09E06 - ‘Knight Vision’

This week on How I Met Your Mother Barney and Robin have some minister issues, Ted keeps making poor decisions, and Marshall still can’t tell Lily about his potential new job.

When the minister for Barney and Robin’s wedding arrives, Lily thinks he looks a tad surly and takes it upon herself to cheer him up. When Lily tells the minister about how she met Marshall, he becomes quite angry because that’s how Barney and Robin told him they met. The minister does not like liars, and will refuse to marry Barney and Robin if they have been lying to him. Will Barney and Robin come clean? And will the minister come around if they do?

The whole ‘strict minister’ thing was very predictable and not very amusing. However watching the cast recreate some of the more memorable moments of the show with the characters swapped around was definitely the highlight of this episode and more than made up for the disappointing ‘strict minister’.

Barney persuades Ted to hook up with one of the guests at the wedding, pointing out three potential candidates. Barney warns Ted to choose correctly, saying Ted won’t get any sex all weekend if he chooses wrong. Just as Ted is about to go for the girl Barney has most highly recommended, he changes his mind when option number two, Cassy (guest star Anna Camp), walks in. As soon as this happens we know Ted has chosen wrong, and are forced to watch as disaster upon disaster fall upon this poor girl, greatly reducing Ted’s chances of sex with her each time something goes wrong.

Since the show is trying to pave the way for the mother and wean Ted off Robin, we knew straight away that nothing would happen between Ted and Cassy, but they seemed to really want to eliminate all possibilities of Ted finding happiness with her. We already know how the story ends, surely Ted can have some happiness until he meets the mother? If they keep going down this path, Ted’s meeting of/courting the mother may seem like the act of a desperate man (if it already doesn’t to some...). I’ve expressed concern over this before: they just need to stop throwing ‘potential’ love interests at Ted, and really squash his feelings for Robin once and for all (easier said than done, I know, but if they don’t start setting up the groundwork now...). Speaking of the mother, I really thought we would have seen more of her by now. They threw her in the early episodes (meeting Lily, and her future happiness with Ted), but that’s been it. By no means does she need to be in every episode, but surely we are due for another dose of the mother by now?

Daphne preps Marshall for telling Lily about the job offer he has received to be a judge (his dream job) which will prevent their going to Rome (and prevent Lily from doing her dream job). When Marshall lets slip to Daphne that he has already accepted the job without telling Lily, Daphne becomes enraged and reveals part of her own past to Marshall. Can Daphne keep quiet to Lily about what Marshall has done?

This week’s episode continues on in the same vein as those from previous weeks, good without being great. There’s enough in the episode to keep me mildly amused, but not enough to keep me on the edge of my seat/rolling around on the floor laughing. As I noted earlier the best part of this episode was watching the cast recreate some memorable moments with different characters, but the cliffhanger of this episode was certainly right up there as well. I won’t spoil it here, but it seems we could be in for a big fight...

Review by Heather Bale.

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REVIEW - How I Met Your Mother - S09E05 - ‘The Poker Game’

It’s Robin versus the Stinsons and Ted versus Marshall and Lilly in this week’s episode of How I Met Your Mother.

After finding out that Ted is getting Barney and Robin not one but three wedding gifts, Lily is outraged because she thinks Ted did not get her and Marshall a wedding present. Of course it’s not as straight-forward as all that, because Ted is certain that he gave Marshall and Lily a wedding present, and is annoyed that they never sent him a ‘thank you’ note for doing so. In order for this mystery to be solved, cue the entrance of recurring characters Stewart and Claudia...

Meanwhile James keeps making cracks about how awful marriage is, and Robin takes issue with this (understandably). Robin has words with James, who runs to mummy (Loretta). Loretta is not going to let Robin be nasty to her son, and tries to take Robin down in a poker game. Robin wins, leaving Barney in the uncomfortable position of ‘choosing’ who to side with, his future wife or his family. Being Barney he is not able to deal with such emotional turmoil, and can’t seem to make things right between anyone. Loretta takes it upon herself to solve the problem by declaring war on Robin.

How I Met Your Mother has certainly been setting up many issues to be dealt with in later episodes, so I am curious to see what will be the biggest of them all/whether they will perhaps snowball somehow. Anyway, next week’s episode looks interesting with Barney apparently stealing Marshall and Lily’s story of how they met and passing it off as his and Robin’s. This looks quite entertaining, but I am still hanging out to see the mother meeting more of Ted’s friends...

Review by Heather Bale.

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REVIEW - How I Met Your Mother - S09E04 - ‘The Broken Code’

This week’s How I Met Your Mother is all about friends... or a lack of friends... or how simply to be a good friend...

Barney replaces Ted as his best man with (guest star) William Zabka because he is angry that Ted held Robin’s hand two weeks previously. Ted tries his best to get reinstated, but this may not happen when he lets slip to Barney that he does still have feelings for Robin...

It was good to see Zabka again, but even better to see Ted become his nemesis. This could make for an amusing plot in a later episode, and I am looking forward to what the writers are cooking up.

Meanwhile Lily confronts Robin about not having any female friends, and encourages her to try and make one before Lily goes to Rome. Of course this is easier said than done, as Robin seems to hate every woman she sees.

This was an average episode of How I Met Your Mother. It was good to see ‘Marshpillow 2.0’ interacting with everyone (instead of just Daphne), but I feel the show will benefit from his arrival in the flesh. I am not naive enough to think he will be here soon, it will be several more episodes at least, unless they time jump forward a few hours. Regardless, I will continue watching to see how everything pans out.

Review by Heather Bale.

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REVIEW - How I Met Your Mother - S09E03 - ‘Last Time in New York’

This week’s episode of How I Met Your Mother, ‘Last Time in New York’, was only alright. It continued in the same vein as the previous two episodes, with Marshall and Daphne making their way to New York, Barney and Robin freaking out about their wedding, and Lily trying to cheer up Ted. Despite the liberal use of flashbacks in this episode, the new format seems to be growing stale.

Lily discovers Ted’s list of things he would like to do in New York before moving to Chicago, and we got to see some new flashbacks, as well as some from previous episodes. While it’s nice to be nostalgic every so often, the show seems to be trying to cash-in on its glory days, reminding long-time viewers how good it was (remember when Marshall ran Lily through with a broad sword?) to distract them from how lackluster it has become. Usually I like flashbacks in shows (and How I Met Your Mother is certainly the master of the flashback), but in this case I would consider the argument that flashbacks are just sloppy writing. The show is clearly trying to keep itself fresh (and fill time) under the strain of the new format they have gone with for this season, and I understand they have to use flashbacks in order to do this, but my question is what else have they got up their sleeves? Cue nice plot bomb at the end of the episode...

Anyway, apart from this little gem of information at the end, the rest of the episode wasn’t that interesting. Marshall and Daphne are continuing to bicker as they make their way to New York, and Barney and Robin fear the imminent arrival of their elderly relatives/their post-marriage sex-life. Here’s hoping Barney’s little revelation will make the next episode (I’d say episodes, but I’m not that optimistic) more interesting.

Review by Heather Bale.

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REVIEW - How I Met Your Mother - S09E01 & S09E02

In the hour-long season nine premiere of How I Met Your Mother, we are introduced to the new format of the show for the final season: it is going to take place across the weekend of Barney and Robin’s wedding (a time period of about three days). We get to watch as each character deals with some issues on their own, as well as how they all respectively meet ‘the mother’.

Marshall and baby Marvin, who have been in Minnesota spending time with Marshall’s mother before their big move to Italy (which may not happen now, since Marshall has been offered his dream job as a judge), are trying to get to New York in time for the wedding. All of this is complicated by the presence of Daphne (special guest star Sherri Shepherd), a brewing storm, and the fact that Marshall’s mother may spill the beans to Lily about Marshall’s job offer before he gets to New York to talk with her. Although the spars between Marshall and Daphne are humorous now, as well as the idea that it’s not going to be easy for Marshall to get to New York, I really hope they don’t drag it out too long. I understand it will take a few episodes, I just hope it doesn’t take most of the season - I want to see Marshall interact with the other characters, not just his new acquaintance.

Lily is missing her husband and son after their week apart, and turns to a stranger (Ted’s future wife) for comfort. Although I wish Ted would hurry up and meet her, I am glad the mother is getting screen-time and we are getting to know her a bit better. I think they may be trying a little too hard to make her out to be the perfect woman for Ted, and a perfect fit for the group, but hey, after what they have put Ted through for the past few years I guess he deserves the perfect woman.

Meanwhile, Robin and Barney have to overcome some hiccups in the hours leading up to their big day, such as finding out they may share a mutual relative, and the news of James’s (Barney’s brother’s) divorce. It seems the writers really want to push the idea that Barney and Robin are ‘meant to be’.

These aren’t the only things that may cause friction for Barney and Robin, as it seems Ted still has feelings for Robin (surprise, surprise) and may do something stupid in order to prove his love (again). Given the fact that Ted is supposed to be meeting his future wife in the next few days, I hope the writers are quick to resolve this whole ‘Ted loves Robin’ issue so his attraction to his future wife seems genuine and not just a rebound thing.

All in all, I am hesitant about how the final season will progress. I know How I Met Your Mother loves using flashbacks and flash-forwards, so hopefully we will see plenty of these in order to prevent the new format from growing stale, and to learn more about Ted, his future wife, and their relationship together.

Review by Heather Bale.

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REVIEW - How I Met Your Mother - S08E24

It finally happened, the thing we have all been waiting for for the past eight years, we met 'The Mother' (aka Ted's future wife, played by Cristin Milioti) in the season eight finale of How I Met Your Mother. ...Well, okay, Ted hasn't met her yet, but we have... well we saw her for a few seconds just before the episode ended, but still, she was there, 'The Mother' does exist! Unfortunately we had to sit through a rather underwhelming episode to get to this big reveal.

When Lily accidentally blurts out to Marshall's mother that they are moving to Italy, Marshall takes baby Marvin to see his mother in an attempt to appease her, leaving Lily free to do as she pleases. Ted has finally finished renovating the house he purchased and takes Lily to see it. When they get there, he reveals to Lily that he is selling the house and moving to Chicago. Ted says that since everyone is moving on (Lily and Marshall are moving to Rome, Barney and Robin are getting married), and that he hasn't found 'the one' in New York, he has decided to try his luck in Chicago. This is when Lily realises that not finding 'the one' isn't the real reason Ted is moving to Chicago: it is because he thinks Robin is 'the one' and can't stand the thought of her marrying his best friend. 

Ted tells Lily the story of how they went looking for Robin's 'something old' (a locket she buried in Central Park when she was a teenager), but couldn't find it, and Lily tells him she knows where it is. Ted decides that giving Robin the locket would be a great wedding present... Lily tells him to be careful.

It's really hard to feel sorry for Ted at this point since we know he is so very close to meeting the mother, that he probably won't move to Chicago and sell the house (since this house is the one his kids grow up in), so this storyline fell kind of flat. It was interesting that Ted ended up having Robin's locket all along (it would have felt false if they revealed Barney had it), so there no doubt will be more Ted/Robin/Barney drama when the series returns next season. I'm growing pretty tired of the whole Ted/Robin thing and cannot wait for it all to be over and for Ted to finally move on.

While Marshall is staying with his mother, she is doing everything in her power to convince Marshall to stay in America. Marshall assures Lily that nothing can stop him from going to Rome with her... that is until he gets a phone call offering him a job as a court judge. Marshall accepts, but does not tell Lily.

I was wondering if/how they were going to stop Lily and Marshall moving to Rome (at least for any extended period of time), so this came as a nice surprise and will no doubt cause some friction between Marshall and Lily next season.

Meanwhile, Barney and Robin have finished all of their wedding planning, and decide to take an evening to relax at their favourite restaurant. Of course things do not go to plan when another couple takes Barney and Robin's favourite table. Barney and Robin decide to get revenge against this couple by trying to split them up. They think their plan has succeeded, but the couple gets engaged instead.

This was a pretty lame storyline (not to mention mean), and hardly felt season finale-worth... especially when most of us were probably expecting to see Barney and Robin get married! I guess they're just going to keep milking this one for all it is worth. I suppose it was nice to see that Barney and Robin do work well as a team, and is the shows way of indicating they are *meant* to be...

Thankfully, this rather lacklustre episode was saved at the end when we saw the mother for the first time. I was really glad that they didn't wait until the very last episode of the very last season to reveal her, and now (hopefully) we will have all of next season to get to know her, as well as to watch her and Ted's courtship... Well, that's the hope, but as we all know by now, How I Met Your Mother just loves to drag things out...

Review by Heather Bale.

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REVIEW - How I Met Your Mother S8E11-13

In the last few episodes Barney has been dating the one person who annoyed Robin the most, Patrice. Robin is told by Ted that Barney plans to propose to Patrice and is devastated by the news but chooses to stay by Ted for his big night. Being the good guy that Ted is, he does not accept that Robin is allowing the man she loves to get away from her and drops her off at the World Wide News Building (where Barney is waiting). There she finds a trail of rose petals with the final page of the PlayBook and the truth is revealed: the whole thing was another one of Barney’s tricks. Then he proposed to her! Although, Lily and Marshall have not been crucial to the storyline they spent their first night away from Marvin at Ted’s celebration but find it’s hard to be leave their son. This was one of the best episodes of the whole series and finally moves the story forward.

Robin sends a text message to all her friends giving the good news that she is engaged to Barney. Ted, who is still at his celebration (for being the youngest architect to design a New York City skyline) is notably still very much alone. When are we going to meet the mother already?

With a wedding in view, Barney and Robin have to begin planning and Lily is already on it as she pulls out her wedding folder. Little did she know Ted also wants to help and has already chosen a date (May 25, 2013). However, Lily has other plans for Robin’s wedding she wants the band that she and Marshall had wanted to play at their wedding. Ted wants to hire a DJ and secure it, he books Lily’s band on the day of the wedding. As Ted gives this whole protest speech about bands at weddings, his real feelings about Robin’s engagement is revealed.

During this time, Robin discovers that Barney has not asked her father for permission to marry her and insists they meet so he can ask. Scary as imagined, her father says no and Barney tries everything until he gets a yes out of him.

Concern about her friend, Lily invites Ted on their roof to confront him about his feelings. "Robin shouldn't be with Barney. She should be with me," Ted said to Lily. Ted explains that all the pain he has suffered over the years (this is shown in a hilarious montage of scenes where Ted is punched, attacked etc) does not add up to what he felt the moment he found out about the engagement. Considering Ted always assumed they would end up together after Robin warmed to the idea of kids and settling down. Lily explained also that sometimes she found being a mother difficult and wished she could just pack her bags, and leave.

Later Ted runs into Cindy (Rachel Bilson) whom he use to date/roommate of his future wife and she tells him her ex-roomate is in a wedding band (one of best in the area). Fastforward to the future and you see Ted at the wedding watching the band on stage.

It was nice to see that even all the group has been through, they are friends who are loyal and even though the writers are dragging the show on. How I Met Your Mother has kept the comedy going and charm in the process. 

Review by Jessica Tisdell

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REVIEW - How I Met Your Mother S08E09

This week’s episode the “Lobster Crawl” shows more progress in the final story line. Probably the best news of the episode is Robin begins laughing like a love sick teenage girl once again and Lilly knows exactly what Robin is thinking when she looks at Barney. She wants him, mostly based on the fact that she can’t have him and so Robin desperately attempts to hook up with Barney one last time. Robin spends most of the episode trying to seduce Barney by using several techniques such as dressing up as Lara Croft (Tomb Raider), trying to make out with other women and playing a damsel in distress. None of them working out the way she pictures.

Barney on the other hand, is busy starting a business of selling bibs for men called a “BroBib,” that has stylish designs and a tie of course. Since his break up with Quinn, Barney has felt a little lost. He eventually becomes drawn to Patrice (the one person who drives Robin crazy) due to her nurturing side and her love heart shaped cookies.

As for Ted, he offers to babysit Marvin and selfishly takes him out, trying to give Marvin some of his “first” experiences in life. He also had the luck to be the first to witness Marvin crawl and this upsets Lilly. In the end, Marshall and Lilly come to the conclusion that Ted is using Marvin to fill a void (with his architectural work & the lack of a girlfriend).

It looks like the favourite couple Barney and Robin will be back together soon and for Ted’s sake let’s hope a new girlfriend is on the horizon. Then the storyline can move finally forward and hopefully answer the big the question: Who is the mother of Ted’s Kids?

Review by Jessica Tisdell

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REVIEW - How I Met Your Mother S8E08

So far we are stilling deciding who will be the mother of Ted Mosby’s children? But his endeavour for love takes a back seat as Season 8 has mainly focused on his friends Lilly, Marshall, Robin and Barney.

Lilly and Marshall are absolutely drained of energy from their new baby, while Robin and Barney both have new relationships that fail evidently. It seems the writers are doing as much as they can to drag the storyline out.

The hilarious TV show picks up from where it left off in episode 7 when Marshall recommends old collage buddy Brad (Joe Manganiello) to his boss. Only to uncover that his so called “buddy” was using him to steal their strategy for the upcoming legal case concerning Frog lake, one of the areas Marshall’s company are determined to protect.

Fast forward to the actual case in episode 8 called “Twelve Horny Women” as Marshall is up against the impossible, a jury of a bunch of women heavily attracted to Brad. There is no lengths that Brad won’t cross to win, including: bending over to show off his backside, and sharing video footage of him swimming and chilling by Frog Lake - just in case the ladies didn’t get a glimpse of him shirtless yet.

However, Marshall will not settle for a ‘no’ and also wants to appeal to the jury by playing with their emotions. He lacks the sex appeal, so that’s out of the picture. Instead, he brings in an adorable duckling that he claims is suffering dermatitis due to all the chemical spillage in the lake.

As a subplot the gang try to convince each other that they were badass as teenagers. Although, not sure how this was relevant to the main story.

An interesting part of the episode was when it showed the awkwardness between Barney and Robin after their kiss from last week’s episode. Barney claimed he has given up trying to gain Robin’s affections. Nethertheless, it’s obvious they will eventually end up together but right now they're still in denial.

It was not the most exciting episode of the season so far but it ends with a happy note as Marshall wins the court case.

Review by Jessica Tisdell

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