How I Met Your Mother: “Farhampton”

 Grade: C

Airdate: 9/24/12

I started the eighth season of How I Met Your Mother with a bit of caution. I sort of liked how season seven ended, but I was really just waiting to see how badly the show was going to mess everything up. It wasn’t as bad as I thought.

The episode has a Forrest Gump-like start with Ted (Josh Radnor) sitting on a bench at a train station in a tux after Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) and Robin (Cobie Smulders)’s wedding. I really hope why he ended up alone at a train station after that wedding is explained at a later date. The episode is told as a flashback within a flashback. Ted is flashing back to the wedding where he is flashing back to the story of how hard it was to climb in the window the church Barney and Robin are getting married in. That lands us back were last season ended.

Ted and Victoria (Ashley Williams) are driving away from her wedding when Ted asks he if she wrote a note to Klaus. She didn’t. Ted said she needs to because it helped him get over Stella leaving him at the altar. He then helps her write the note and they head back to the church. Ted sneaks into the window, runs into a bunch of not funny over-the-top German stereo-types, and leaves the note for Klaus. While leaving he runs into Klaus who decided to leave Victoria at the altar. He then has to sneak back in to get the notes, none of it was really funny.

The other story line is between Barney, Robin and Quinn (Becki Newton) who are at the apartment with Marshall (Jason Segel), Lily (Alyson Hannigan) and Baby Marvin. Barney has proposed to Quinn and she asked Robin and Lily to be her bridesmaids. Robin tells Barney it is weird because they dated. Quinn didn’t know that and is accidentally told by Marshall and Lily. Quinn asks Barney to tell her the story of how he dated Robin. Barney tells Quinn this by summing up the entire series in 60 seconds. At first it was kind of funny and then I thought about it. That was just a cheap way to tell the millions of people who didn’t like this show before it was popular everything that happened. Seriously, HIMYM if your fans haven’t taken the time to watch the earlier stuff don’t take time out to tell them.

But, I’m not really sure if the show itself has watched its earlier seasons in a while. The episode ended with Ted catching up to Klaus at the train station to ask him why he left Victoria. German stereo-types are only funny on this show if Heidi Klum is making them. Klaus uses a very long made-up German word to tell him that he left Victoria because she doesn’t given him the feeling of perfection and the only person he ever wanted. There is also a scene of Marshall and Lily with Marvin, Robin looking at old pictures of her and Barney, and Barney not looking at Quinn as they take a cab home while Klaus is explaining this.

We then flash back to Ted sitting on the bench after Barney and Robin’s wedding. We see s girl getting out of a cab with a guitar and a yellow umbrella covering her face. See now I’m just confused. The show remembers that the mother plays bass guitar, we were told that in season four, but forgets that she doesn’t have the yellow umbrella anymore. She left it at a St. Patrick’s Day party back in season three and Ted has it. HIMYM, if you going to bring back these little details at least bring back all of them.

Overall, the episode wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. I was pretty worried that Victoria had made a big comeback just to be written off after one episode again. She can stay around until Robin and Barney’s wedding for all I care, Ted and Victoria’s relationship is the only thing I am really excited about in this show anymore. I would be about figuring out who the mother is, but I feel like the show keeps forgetting all the details it already created.

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