Let’s start this off simple and un-How I Met Your Mother Specific, What’s your favorite movie from the Star Wars Trilogy? It was always Empire for me but more on that and a review of Trilogy time shortly.
"Trilogy Time" was joke, flash back and "imaginary" flashback heavy and was extremely funny. I’ve never known why that is but if you take something simple from the past that we are all familiar with then it becomes instant comedy material. Even funnier when it didn’t actually happen that way. the impressive thing to me is how close to timeline details things were. I am not just talking about real life time line but story time line. The episode seemed largely filler but I felt that there was a lot there necessary to get to the end of the episode which was a big clue if nothing else to give a good reference to the Mother timeline again.
Star Wars. I’m excited that HIMYM, decided to reference an entire episode to Star Wars. The love of the movies & trilogy have always been a great running gag on HIMYM and it was delivered well tonight. Not only do we get a title and references to watching but continual Start Wars homages suddly thrown throughout the episode. One thing to mention specifically, and if you are Star Wars fan the you will get this… Are Ted, Marshalls & Barney really "true" fans if they are watching the atrocities that George Lucas created when changing the original Trilogies? I say yes, and here is why… we get the big pokes at that whole situation in the Episode. Not only to we get Barney’s "And remember, Han shot first" shot at the end but in one of MArshall’s imaginary flash forwards we get the horried "NOOOOOOOOOOOO" as a shout to the moment in Jedi that we all realized that Lucas has gone off the insane… or that he hates the people fans made him famous. I digress, you are here to talk about HIMYM…not Star Wars… though feel free.
Lily & Robin. While they aren’t there a lot the do show up to fill the necessary holes and make the flashes work. It’s not a bad thing, quite often less is more. I loved some many of the moments that they were in too. Robin was in the flashes even before we knew who Robin was, which while might be notable confusing for some fans we both incredibly funny and true to the fact that Robin was, in many ways, Ted’s dream girl. Sure maybe she wasn’t truly the bass playing, free spirit but the personalities and chemistry were there. Also, to imagine Lily, married, pregnant and living in the apartment with bunk beds was a great touch.
Barney & Quinn. I get where this is going. We know that the wedding is coming up at the end of the Season and the bride will be revealed. This leaves us with only a few options in my humble opinion*. Either, Barney does decide to marry Quinn and then he & Robin have a heart to hear, begging him to question if Quinn is still the "right tie" ( ref: s07e01 The Best Man) OR perhaps Nora sneaks back in the picture to tell Barney she has changed her mind. I say Nora because of how "un"neatly it ended. Plus it’s been really quite on even the mentions of Nora, which could be more of a diversion tactic than you think. Finally, it’s way too late in the season to toss in another girl after spending so much time in the last few episodes (see The Broath and Karma) developing how Barney and Quinn feel. I know a lot of will ask why couldn’t Robin be the bride and he is questioning about her vs. Quinn. Honestly, I think that Robin as the bride there is too far out of the question, I mean we have 4 episode left in the season and two of those are the season finale…but I’m wrong often, just as my wife.
*I really find it sad that more people don’t know what imho means
Ted, Marshall & Barney. There was so much possible and actual history mixed into these scenes that it was hard to keep up on one viewing…plus, I was laughing for a great deal of that and between that and the been I had trouble typing it all down. Some details I need to go back and check are as follows:
- Marshall & Ted’s move in dates to the apartment.
- Marshall managed a Structure?…I would assume while in law school?
- Ted telling Marshall that Lily would come back for him (I’m assuming early after the breakup before he decided to make him be a man again)
- Have we ever seen Ted with a guitar in the appt?
Enough from me, what did you think of tonight?
Moments of Awesomeness
- Flash Forward 2000 from 2003 Flashback. Mustache Marshall and Ted with long hair. Plus the bunk beds… and President Gore. Nice, but did these guys get anything right?
- Imaginary 2003 Ted remind me of Richmond from the IT crowd (dont’ know what the IT Crowd is, go find out NOW!)
- Flash forward 2006 from flashback 2003. Sir Moustache Marshall, president Dean…
- Accuracy point for the HIMYM production team since every version of the Trilogy matches the year… this is unfortunate in more recent years though and so I’m beginning to doubt their TRUE devotion to Star Wars
- Storm Trooper Robin!
- Marshall uses the force? That’s what I thought. True Story.
Legendary Lines:
Robin: Aside from not being able to far in the apartment, how’s living with Quinn
Barney: Great
Marshall: Agreedo
Barney: I’m KFC baby. You don’t mess with the colonel’s recipe
Barney: … And they never saw her again
Ted: Something is seriously wrong with me.
Robin: Hey Ted, things are going great and now I’m married to the douchey guy in the trucker hat! And I got back boobs!
What was like New Jersey (Mosbied or the Duck works too)
- The Star Wars Trilogy on blue ray… I still refuse to watch it with the new changes Luca made. It may be a quality decision but it’s a sticking point for this fan.
- I know most of the world loves fart jokes and thinks that they are funny. I am still not in that majority. True Story
The ReReturn
Barney finally get to have sex with storm trooper. And Quinn doesn’t think it’s weird. I love Robin but point on the Quinn board. Awesome
Lingering Questions:
- Barney’s statement "For the first time in my life?" (What about how he felt about Nora… even Robin at times…)? I’m not buying that statement to be completely true but definitely how he feels now…thoughts?
- 2015 and Ted with his 1 year old baby girl. Did the show give us an official time line? Further more…and it’s a question that needs to be asked, does the show need to end when Ted meets the mother or can it go on for a while after?
- Barney hid his left hand pretty well at the end but there is a slight moment that makes it look like no ring… Was Barney wearing a ring? Was Ted?
Fantastic, fantastic episode. The writers managed to take what seemed like a filler episode and turned it around at the halfway mark.
Absolutely brilliant episode!! worth the wait in my opinion.
Would maybe liked to have seen more of Lily and Robin in it though but considering the storyline that would have been hard to do 🙂
I think my heart may have melted a little bit the 2015 flash forward. Ted and his baby was just too cute :’)I’ve decided I actually really like Quinn and how much she’s changing Barney 🙂 I just hope that she’s like preparing Barney for his marriage to Robin 😉 hahaa 🙂 I joke of course 😀 As much as I really really really want Barney and Robin to get married… If he marries Quinn, then I guess it’ll be okay 😉
For me this episode really showed that HIMYM’s coming to an end which kinda makes me sad… but I can’t wait for the next couple of episodes 🙂
Awesome forshadowing, meh episode. HIMYM is definitely ending next season.
I actually didn’t really like it at all… not all that funny in my opinion. I guess the really far fetched fantasies that Ted and Marshall had for themselves wasn’t my brand of humor. Sure, the episode had its moments, but none of them were that great.
Also, did anyone notice that in the flash forward to 2015, Barney was sitting on his left hand when the shot was on him? Makes me wonder if that means Barney’s wedding might not work out or if it’s just a red herring to make us think that. The fact that we couldn’t see a ring on his hand wasn’t stressed at all, so I feel like it might be an important small detail that they hope we don’t pick up on.
So I’m guessing you believe it need to end once the mother is revealed? No interest to see it progress to even the Wedding? Just curious..
I do believe that it would end as soon as the mother’s reveal. Not even surprised if it’s the last scene of the series. The last few episodes made me think that.
But from the episodes Ted was with Stella and Victoria, I think the last episode will be their wedding.
Personally, I don’t mind either direction.
I felt the same way about the turn around Ryan.
First, regarding Star Wars. I love the movies but I am done giving George Lucas my money.
I loved the episode tonight. Ted this season has had moments where he mirros my own life and tonight was one of them. I could really identify with his not being optimistic for future.
The progression of Ted’s pretentiousness was also great.
Just rewatched on slow-mo. Ted was wearing a ring in 2015 (not a surprise) and Barney was doing everything he can to not show his left hand. Never saw a ring.
I was worried coming into tonight’s episode that this was going to be cheap and pointless and would ruin the great Star Wars gags we’ve had on the show over the years. Instead, this was measured, clever and largely fantastic. I think it was a perfect writing decision to not have them actually put on the movie until the final scene.
Looks like the show gave us a pretty strong timeline too for ending the series. Granted, there are ways out of anything on this show given how little we know about the reality of Future Ted’s future (ie. Is his wife even alive? Are they divorced? Is he re-married?). But, we should have mathematically known that one of the kids would have to be born in 2015 (assuming this baby is, in fact, his daughter to whom he’s telling the story). This information nonetheless opens up a huge amount of possibilities for the writers. For the first time, we COULD theoretically fill in the years between 2015 and 2030 with new episodes and keep the mother secret (think Niles’ wife on “Fraisier” who was never seen). I’m not saying they’ll do this, but there are new creative outlets for the writers now. This, while it didn’t really feel like it, was a bombshell piece of information to the mother story and I am ecstatic to be getting back to that story (and that the future is positive for Ted. It gives me hope.)
Ultimately, this likely does announce (save a sudden spending spree by CBS) that the show will end after Season 8.
Great episode, but I was a little put off by the “man across the street staring at Barney” gag. It made the cold open really confusing at first and ultimately cheapened it. I bet they lost a few viewers in that cold open. I think we could have had that same scene of Barney walking out to the curb, smiling and then the cut to the bar.
Finally: I was totally with Barney about doing it with a woman wearing a Stormtrooper costume. Not weird. And how great was it to see Ted and Robin being all flirty again? Loved it.
I’m with you on the storm trooper Frank.
For the record, Empire is the best made of the films. A New Hope and Jedi have some pretty great moments though and I’d have a hard time picking any one as my favourite, so I usually just say Empire. Do you think people will be getting together to watch the LoTR trilogy (or quintology/pentalogy after the release of the Hobbit) in the years to come?
There is a brief shot of Barney’s hand but it’s moving to fast to tell for sure. Thoughts?
Completely agree about Quinn prepping Barney for Robin, I LOVE Becki Newton and Quinn as a character but I think my heart will always belong to Barney/Robin 😉 Those moments in past seasons and mid this season where they were flirty/together were definitely some of my favourites, but I can understand that in a sense Robin broke Barney’s heart when she chose Kevin and that he needs to move on. Robin’s line tonight though “Isn’t that right honey? Oh right, I’m alone” was one of my favourites 🙂
My feelings exactly. Maybe it was a guys episode. Or at least a star wars fans.
Loved this episode, brilliantly funny and insightful about the characters. Enjoyed the flashbacks and flashforwards – something which had the potential to be very confusing, but it wasn’t at all, they made it work.
Really enjoyed seeing Ted & Robin together – though Ted’s flashforward to having convinced her to get married shows why it was never going to work, if even at that point his thoughts were on eventually marrying her despite what she said. Really enjoyed that she popped up as Rhiannon before they’d met her too, emphasises how important she is in Ted’s life. The structure of this episode also meant we could enjoy some Ted/Robin scenes and forget that at the end of the last episode Ted said “and we didn’t see each other for a long time” or something along those lines.
Also nice to see Barney & Robin – and I loved Robin in the Stormtrooper outfit! Lovely touch.
Quinn I’m liking more and more, to be honest. Interesting to see Barney declaring a commitment to her (although I do also wonder that he didn’t feel like this about Nora or Robin, he seemed to imply he did at the time) – I’m with you on the fart jokes, they’re just not funny. But otherwise, the mug smashing scene was cute.
I’m interested that you say Robin can’t be the bride because we only have 4 episodes left – because the wedding is “a little ways down the road” they’ve got plenty of time to get back together having revealed her as the bride. Infact, nothing needs to happen in relation to Barney/Robin in the next 4 episodes for it to be plausible. I don’t know if it will be her. I can’t decide who I think it’ll be. But I think she’s a possibility (and I still keep on coming back to the fact the bride asked to see Ted, who would be Robin’s best man…)
Finally, the baby! Awwww! I guess we all kind of knew there would have to be a baby by then, but confirming that does add a lot to the timeline of the Mother mystery. Josh looked so awkward holding her though, it was hilarious. I think she’s only a few months old. Timeline-wise I would think that puts us at being born early-2015, so Ted/Mother getting married at early-2014, so Barney’s wedding being end of S8 would make sense to fit in with that. Assuming they don’t just meet and she gets pregnant, of course – but I think that would be a disappointing way to do things for someone who’s been built up to be the love of Ted’s life.
Neil was working VERY hard to not show his left hand, wasn’t he?!
Also, Empire is definitely the best, I agree with you there. And I wish I had some friends to watch the Trilogy with every 3 years, it’s an awesome idea.
(Just to clarify, I have FRIENDS, just not ones who will watch it with me. They’re not cool enough to enjoy Star Wars.)
A “mistake” (?) I just remembered – Robin saying she has never got rid of anything for any guy ever. But she got rid of her dogs for Ted…
Cool review but that baby is definitely NOT 1 year old !
you don’t think Robin is the bride. ARE YOU CRAZY????????? Quinn is a red herring (remember people actually thought punchy was the groom). Nora? SERIOUSLY NORA? did you not see “Tick,Tick,Tick”??? who was in the soulmate montage? ROBIN
Call it going out on a limb. I think Robin is who people want the bride to be too much. If I had to put my money somewhere it would Quinn as the bride and Robin as the “right tie” … I just think Nora is the only other chick with a chance at being included. And while I get your point about Tick Tick Tick I think when she turned him down that shot her changes at being the bride for now. Again, I’ve been wrong before… Just call it a hunch.
And for the record, I never thought Punchy was the groom. Ted wedding would have been at the wrong place and the wrong time (no HIMYM reference intended)
I do this now with LOTR… but it take much longer because we always use the extended editions.
Barney doesn’t have a ring on! :O I super slow-moed it.
Do you see that, in the first episode of the season, Ted and Barneyare talking about three ties, 2 Barney cant decide… and the ducky tie. Well made Of the writers 😀
But i think it would fit if Quinn would be the ducky tie…. the others dont ft in beeing a ducky tie.
I’ve only seen one of the Extended editions – RotK. Are the rest worth the time? How much more can they really add?
I can’t tell if that’s a knuckle or a ring. But either way, kudos to the director for knowing we’d be looking for this sort of thing. They clearly made the choice for him to cover his left hand at all times.
How great was Jason Segel’s delivery on the line “Like what?” when Robin covered her dirty talk with “things they were going to do to cheer up Marshall”. His expression alone makes me crack up.
So, I read one of the comments which mentioned the three ‘ties’ Barney chooses from to marry, two of them being equally good ties and the other being the ducky tie. And it might actually make sense for Quinn to be the ducky tie. Remember the flash forward showing Barney looking shocked on the phone in the casino while wearing the ducky tie? That probably happens this season, and perhaps it is because Quinn breaks up with him. It’s a long shot, I know, but if so, then Quinn becomes the ducky tie in the classic and typical way that himym writers have always used in throwing us completely off guard.
Accurate and funny flashbacks to the past are the quintessence, no pun intended, of what makes himym the great show that it is. Although it didn’t seem like it didnt do much for the storyline, the episode actually did establish the fact that ted will be married by 2014 and that Barney is indeed quite ready for the wedding that would in all probability take place at the end of this season. On the note of star wars referrences, I would think that one of the harder ones to spot was Marshall’s use of the word “agreedo”.
Anyway, in short, this episode was nothing short of epic….wait for it…..dary! Wait, that’s not right.
Divorce for him and Quinn, marries Robin later?
I want the series to fastforward to the wedding when we meet the Mother. No use dragging it out. The whole point of the show is a mystery romantic comedy sitcom. So why prolong it?
I actually think maybe he will be getting married to Quinn, but on the day of the wedding something happens and he ends up not marrying her. Maybe he realizes he’s in love with Robin (hopefully) or maybe Quinn doesn’t show… They writers said Barney’s wedding was going to be “epic” but there’s going to be a lot of surprises.
Someone pointed out on another forum that the baby Ted is holding could very well be Marshall and Lily’s daughter. I don’t buy it, but it’s a possibility if the writer’s needed an out.
*writers
About Robin… In hindsight I probably shouldn’t have said she “couldn’t be the bride” … I really should have said I just don’t think she is. I think Robin is the conflict.
The only things that would lead me to believe it might be Robin is that Ted is told the bride wants to see him and Robin told Ted he would be her best man. So it is possible… I’m just going out on a limb like I said to Swarley above by saying I don’t think it’s her.
Well, Barney is clearly not supposed to show his hand, so maybe when they were shooting this scene Neil didn’t put a ring on, because it would be useless as we are not supposed to see it either. (hope it’s comprehensible)
Okay, i got maybe a guess on the mother thing maybe its ridiculous but i’m saying it anyway in case someone also thinks its plausible.. So IRRC, ted as of season 7 episode 20 has 6 official girlfriends: karen, natalie, victoria, robin, stella and zoey. Now I have been watching some re-runs of the show and recently, I discovered that during the love solutions episode wherein ellen pierce (the matchmaker) calculates the number of “fishes” in the sea full of lesbians and she comes up with the number 8. So here it goes, my guess (probably too late now) is that Ted will have girlfriend number 7 (without saying ‘I love you’ to her) before meeting the future mother.
Think about it, Ted doesnt meet the mother untill Barneys Wedding, Robin isnt going to marry Barney, she wouldnt do that to ted.
As far as I am concerned, the show has run its course. I stopped caring whether or not Ted finds a wife a couple of years ago. Each show, in and of itself, was funny and worth watching. For me, the wife and kids had become irrelevant. Season 7 has just not been much fun, especially the second half.
I can’t stand the Quinn character and will be disappointed if Barney turns out to be stupid enough to marry her.
The trilogy episode made me cringe each time a new three year prediction was made. There wasn’t much humor in any of it. I especially disliked Barney’s use of Whatzup over and over again; NPH is better than that. Somebody should kick the chairs out from under the writers and wake them up. Then, of course, there are fart jokes; the last haven of the witless and uninspired.
I only continue to watch HIMYM because I want to believe that perhaps at least its last season (I pray it is coming very soon) will bear testimony to its great beginnings. Unfortunately, hope is dwindling. Next thing you know, someone will be saying that Santa doesn’t really exist.
The Beggi ning Was EPIC
i really want to know whats the music in the very beginning of episode, trilgoy time is called. its when Barney goes outside to fart and is being watched by the man in the building across the street
Can someone please what is the name of the song/music/soundtrack that plays during the transitions, it is like a epic song and I NEED IT