How I Met Your Mother: The Lighthouse (9x08)

Three plots. One amazing, one pretty good, and one so-so with a good ending. The end, goodbye.

...

Okay, fine, I'll actually review the thing. Let's go plot by plot!

The amazing plot: Barney and Robin's story. I haven't been able to say that a lot lately, so I was really happy to see a good plot with the two of them. Basically, the feud between Robin and Barney's mom Loretta has gotten worse, as the two of them fight over Loretta's supposedly amazing scrambled eggs. Robin says her mother can make better scrambled eggs. Ted, Lily and Barney are all very excited to have another piece of information about Robin's mom, since over the years they've heard so little about her. Things with Loretta culminate when Robin reveals she doesn't know how to scramble eggs, and Loretta says she worries about what Robin will make for her kids someday. Robin storms off, upset, and Barney tells his mom that Robin can't have kids. Robin then reveals to Lily that her mom isn't coming to the wedding, since she's too afraid to get on the plane to fly over. Loretta shows up and hugs Robin, telling her to call her mom. Tearfully, Robin hugs back.

This plot line was actually very touching, surprisingly. The lack of a maternal presence in Robin's life has been really clear over the seasons, and to see her tearfully accept Loretta as a mother figure was really sweet. Also, Barney's speech to his mom about his love for Robin was heartwarming. There were also really funny jokes in this part of the episode, such as the list of things the friends know about Robin's mom, Robin trying to make the eggs, and Robin wearing Loretta's fancy blouse and purposefully spilling things on it.

Another funny thread was Lily's anger about Marshall becoming a judge. Any time anyone said anything vaguely related to judges, such as the word "trial," she would freak out and break her glass, only to have it replenished instantly by Linus. Particularly humorous was when Robin said gravel, and Lily said - "did you say gravel or gavel?" Robin responds "gravel, why would I say gavel?" and then Lily gets mad about hearing the word. I was grinning through all of Lily's moments.

So, then we'll go to the plot that was pretty good, which centered around Marshall and Daphne's continued journey. They have been fighting since Daphne revealed that she worked for an oil company. Bad weather forces them to stop somewhere for the night, and they conveniently stop at Ted's childhood home. The scenes with Mrs. Mosby and Clint were pretty funny, if maybe a touch overdone. When Daphne and Marshall get back on the road, they learn that Clint has stowed away, hoping to help them repair their relationship. He plays the guitar, tries to give them advice, and generally annoys the two of them so much that they eventually start agreeing with each other. When Clint insists that Marshall pull over the car so that he can meditate, Marshall drives away, ruthlessly leaving him behind.

This plot had a lot of funny jokes, but it sort of made me question what they're trying to do with this Daphne character. She's been funny so far, yeah, but does she have a point beyond that? Before I thought it was about getting Marshall to confront problems in his relationship with Lily, but now that they've introduced her as a part of the corporate machine that Marshall so despises, is she just there to be a conflict for him? I guess we'll see.

Then there's the third plot, which was so-so for the most part. And this is the plot of our protagonist. Come on, Ted, you're supposed to be the most interesting character! It's your story, for goodness' sake! Anyways, Ted wants to go see a lighthouse, but the receptionist won't let him go alone because it's a romantic spot and he's afraid Ted might commit suicide since he's obviously so lonely. So, on Lily's drunken advice, Ted decides to settle for Cassie, the girl he spent most of the previous evening with, comforting through her bad times. Ted, tired of waiting for "the one," takes Cassie to the lighthouse. It goes horribly, and he and Cassie have nothing in common. But... we then flash forward to Ted and the Mother, on top of the same lighthouse. Ted proposes to the Mother, who ecstatically says yes.

So... the stuff with Cassie was half baked and boring. The idea was that she was just a bad match for Ted in every way, but it was a bit too simplistic and there really weren't any funny jokes to come out of this. However, the ending with the Mother was adorable. The two of them have great chemistry and even though it was cheesy as hell, I was still so happy to see Ted propose to her. So here's a question - where the hell is the Mother already? I want more of her story! We're eight episodes in, guys. I'm starting to get worried.

Regardless, this was a pretty strong one. Marshall and Daphne's plot may have been a touch unfocused, but it also got good laughs. Robin and Loretta's story was genuinely touching, and Ted proposing to the Mother was an amazing scene, even if the rest of his plot was lacking.

8.5/10