The rest of the gang is busily involved in a feud between Ted and Lily over who will help plan the wedding. Lily naturally thinks it will be her since she’s a girl, but come on Lily, there are few people better suited to plan a wedding than Ted Mosby. Sporadically throughout the episode we see the fight between Ted and Lily over whether the wedding should have a DJ or a band. Eventually we learn that Ted booked the band Lily wanted to have in order to force Robin and Barney to go with a DJ. At this point Ted tells why he wants to wants to avoid a band by saying that bands are unreliable and will cheat on you and have slept with half of New York, which is of course a perfectly normal way to phrase that.
Lily takes Ted to the roof and tries to get him to reveal how much it hurts him that Barney is the one marrying Robin. Narrator Ted tells us how seeing that text message was the hardest thing he’s ever been through, but present day Ted insists that he’s happy for them. Lily then reveals that some days she wishes she wasn’t a mom, and she thinks about packing up and leaving. Since Ted wanting Robin not to marry Barney isn’t as bad as that he’s able to concede the truth.
Ted and Lily haven’t gotten real like that in a very long time. The relationship of a guy and the girlfriend of his best friend is an interesting and very dynamic one, which Ted and Lily do quite well. But they haven’t gotten deep like this since season 1 when Lily told Ted she was going to do an interview for the art fellowship. That’s a level of their relationship that the show would be wise to visit more often.
At the end of the episode, we finally get what the show has been lacking this season: a hint at the future Mrs. Mosby. The episode flashes forward to a week before Barney and Robin’s wedding, and it turns out, as Ted predicted, the band had to cancel. It’s revealed that he’s talking to none other than the former roommate of his future wife, Cindy. When he asks her and her wife if they know anyone who is a DJ, they say that Cindy’s former roomate is the bassist in an awesome band. Bassist? Cindy’s former roomate? That’s right, the future Mrs. Ted Mosby.
So yes, Ted books the band, and had he not, he never would have met Mrs. Mosby. There is a brief shot of him watching her play bass, so it turns out that their first meeting isn’t on the train platform, but instead he sees her at the wedding.
It’s about time that they show something dealing with the mother. The question now is will we get the reveal at the end of this season when the wedding actually happens, or are they going to tease the reveal into season 9. Judging by the past history of the show, I’d say it’s safe to assume the latter, but either way we are getting very close to finally meeting the woman who Ted marries.
The main problem I have with this episode, other than the insistence on focusing on Robin and Barney’s relationship, is the constipated baby plot was their way to get Lily and Ted some alone time, but it didn’t really track. I’m not sure why Ted, Lily, and Marshall couldn’t all talk about his feelings for Robin together.
Overall, this episode followed the example of recent episodes and actually did something to propel the plot forward. While there was still too much emphasis on Robin and Barney, the balance between humor and revealing Ted’s future definitely makes it one of the season’s better episodes.
Other Random Notes
- It’s very true that friending a parent, although it’s becoming more and more common, is territory most people should avoid (no offense if you’re reading this mom.)
- Robin’s dad is a stone-cold Slytherin.
- Barney giving the rabbit a full back-story was a great touch.
- “Barney has cameras in our bathroom?!?” “Well don’t you think…”
- Getting drunk and pretending you’re in The Departed sounds like a great way to spend a night.
- I’m surprised Marshall didn’t get in on the wedding planning. No one in the show loves weddings more than he does.
Check back next week for my thoughts on the next episode in the eighth season of How I Met Your Mother.