How I Met Your Mother: Coming Back (9x02)

Onto episode two! I know I said the last review would be short, but I actually mean it this time. Okay, we've got parallel stories going on, as always, but now most of the group is together at Farhampton.

Ted and Lily try to check into the hotel, and the man behind the desk is very surprised to hear that Ted is there alone. He continuously treats Ted with pity throughout the episode, telling him to hang in there, that things will get better. This annoys Ted to no end. However, Lily is in a similar boat: she gets a call from Marshall that he is delayed, and might not be able to make it back to New York. She decides that if she is going to make it through the weekend alone, she is going to need to keep the drinks flowing. She pays a bartender to always put a drink in her hand, which begins a funny recurring joke of the episode, wherein Lily finishes a drink, and another one is immediately put into her hand, at which point she says "thank you, Linus."

Barney's brother James is there, and Barney tells the story of the Stinson curse, and how all of the men of the family have been too horny for monogamy. But since James had broken the curse, Barney is free to marry Robin! It turns out there's a problem: James and Tom are getting divorced because James cheated on him.

This was actually one of the biggest concerns I had about this episode. Last time we saw James and his husband, I believe they had just adopted a kid. Now, I'm all cool with divorce being a part of a comedy - it's real life, people. But I just thought it was too bad that the issue of James' divorce was brushed aside so quickly. I hope the repercussions of this are handled a bit better in the future.

So, anyway, the plan was to keep the divorce a secret from Barney, but Lily, now thoroughly intoxicated ("thank you, Linus!") spills the beans. Robin is worried that Barney will freak out over the divorce, and she even thinks that he's asking the front desk where the nearest strip club is. Turns out, he was just asking for the keys to James' room, because he had set up a surprise in it for the couple. He has a poster, and an erotic cake of two men, and music playing... it's sort of disturbing, but it's exactly the sort of thing Barney would do for his brother. Robin is relieved to know that Barney's not freaking out. He really is prepared to marry her.

Okay, meanwhile Marshall and Daphne are both fighting for what might be the last seat on a flight to New York. When there are no more seats available, they both rush to rent a car. Marshall gets the last car, but then offers to share it with Daphne. He trusts her to leave with the car (a super huge gas guzzler that Marshall is horrified to be driving) in order to pick up a car seat for Marvin. Just when Marshall thinks he was a fool to trust her, she shows up again and the two leave together to road trip to New York.

Back at Farhampton, we see Ted and James talk about the divorce, and James admits that he thinks about marriage differently now that he knows what it can be like. Next, we have Ted sitting alone at a table. Then, The Mother is there. Flashing forward to one year later, Ted and The Mother are seen, clearly in love. It's a pretty nice shot, actually, with The Mother sitting in between the two versions of Ted. They have a really sappy conversation about how Ted had vowed to bring her to this spot exactly one year ago.

The Mother is confused, saying that they hadn't met yet, but Ted says that he knew she was right around the corner. (Wow. Cheesy.)

I liked this episode. I like the continuing craziness that is Marshall's attempts to get back home. One of the gems of the episode was a very brief phone conversation between Barney and Marshall. It was actually kind of sweet to see how panicked Barney was at the thought of Marshall missing the wedding. Their friendship is one that I tend to look over sometimes, but I think it's a good relationship.

Lily's drunkenness was pretty amusing, and I really liked the rude guy at the desk who kept trying to be sympathetic to poor Ted. Like I mentioned before, I would have loved just a bit more about James' divorce, but it was a pretty small flaw in a pretty good episode. We didn't get to see much of our new and exciting character, and the scene we had of The Mother and Ted was maybe a touch too cheesy. Still, I found this to be a pretty enjoyable one.

8/10