Right Place Right Time

I have to say that for two episodes in a row now the creators have succeeded in making us forget Lily is absent (due to Alyson Hannigan's pregnancy) by providing a great Ted-centered story reminiscent of the early days of the series, with the rest of the now diminished gang being reduced to the supporting characters they once used to be. After Ted was reminded of how it feels to be in love again in the last episode, this time he gets one small but significant step closer to meeting "the Mother". How? By standing in the right spot at the right time. The concept is similar to the season 3 finale "Miracles", with flashbacks and nonlinear storytelling, but the realization is even more elaborate. The flashbacks that explain how he got there are more detailed, each one contains one entire sub-plot dedicated to one of the supporting characters. And we only find out what happened to Ted in said right spot at the very end. What a cliffhanger! And no, I'm not going to spoil it.

The sub-plots are noteworthy as well. For the Robin part, they worked Cobie Smulders' pregnancy in as a meta-joke, which is always funny. They did the same in "The Possimpible", when they presented Alyson Hannigan's pregnancy belly as the result of Lily's hot dog eating contest. During Marshall's sub-plot, the fish list stand-up comedy is revisited, and we get an intervention.

But the award for 'best supporting actor' goes once again to Neil Patrick Harris. We've heard a few different stories by now about how Barney became the womanizing sociopath he is. There's Shannon cheating on him with a jackass in a suit, Rhonda giving him (a bit too much) confidence when she sleeps with him, and recently we have met his mother, who used to enjoy her live in a similar way which must have influenced a young Barney more than he realized. Now we learn that he had already sworn to sleep with 200 girls as a kid to come back at a middle school bully. I guess it makes sense that it took not one, but all of these events to shape Barney the way he is now. In this episode, Barney finally fulfills his oath, which raises the question what's next for him. And the final scene contains a hint at the answer.

I like how this episode manages to move the overall plot forward for both Ted and Barney while involving so many classic HIMYM elements: Nonlinear storytelling, flashbacks, old Ted addressing the kids (we actually haven't seen them on-screen for a while), Robin embarrassing herself live on air, the yellow umbrella, interventions, the fish list. Continuity-wise, there are two little minus points though: Ted not wearing his red boots while pitching the idea of a restaurant shaped like a cowboy hat was a missed opportunity. And in "The Bracket", Barney claimed he wouldn't keep a list of the women he's slept with (a scrapbook, it is!) - yet his sub-plot in this episode is all about such a list. Well, maybe he kept track of the total via the scrapbook and created the list on short notice to prepare for the 200th. That would also explain why the list was flawed...

I like how Marshall has all those charts especially the venn diagram

After a return to form it's back down hill for "How I Met Your Mother"

Plot In A Paragraph: Ted was on the verge of scoring his first big client and went to a meeting dressed like a cowboy, saying he was born to design a restaurant in the shape of a cowboy hat. Robin told him to go for a walk and get a bagel. He went to see what the universe had waiting for him. He grabbed a yellow umbrella an headed out the door. Meanwhile a flash back showed Barney had showed Ted a photo of Petra Petrova, "Bro's Life" magazine's girl of the year. Barney had a date with her. He said Petra would be the 200th girl he had sex with. Barney reveals his quest was based on a kid in middle school named Matthew Panning, who claimed he'd had sex with 100 girls. Barney said one day he'll have hooked up with 200.

Not even the brilliant Neil Patrick Harris (whose subplot I did enjoy) can raise this episode any higher than the average score I'm giving it.

A let down.

Very funny and well executed but in terms of the story of the show, the ending is not as importnant as the show made it feel. They really wanted us to think he was gonna meet the mother, but knowing that he isn't really makes this episode useless and forgettable. The episode to episode writing in this show has always been its strongest asset, but the over-arching story has its high highs and low lows.