I have to admit, I thought this episode was going to be a cheap side trip back in time simply to continue stretching out the wedding weekend. Currently, we still have 31 hours until the wedding, and we started off at 55. The way things are looking, this wedding could be stretched out for the whole season. Hopefully it doesn’t, but I feel compelled to point out the possibility. Even though “Platonish” didn’t get us any closer to the wedding itself, it got us incredibly close to the essence and love behind Barney and Robin’s relationship. This episode ended up being something of a season highlight, because it featured those fantastic, and genuinely earned moments of clarity and self discovery. It never got sappy, even though I found the ending incredibly heartfelt.
How I Met Your Mother S9 E8 “The Lighthouse” Review
Picking up from last week’s outing, we found out Robin’s mother won’t make it to the wedding after all. This sends Robin into a pretty low place and the gang, specifically Barney, tries to make her feel better. To do so, Barney recounts a story from six months earlier. Barney accepts a series of challenges from Lily and Robin that involve getting women’s numbers with strange handicaps. Including dolphin talk, and trash bag outfits. This series of challenges culminates with Barney being sent on a challenge disguised as an errand. While picking up samosas for Robin and diapers for Marvin, Barney ends up running into none other than The Mother.
Even though her advice feels a little bit forced at first, she soon begins to act as a voice for the audience, finally putting in words what we have all felt Barney should hear. We all know Barney is hurting, alone, and in desperate need of a change in his swinger lifestyle. The writers have gotten great at putting The Mother in for just the right amount of time, in just the right place, to make a lot of things connect. The advice that she gives Barney leads to one of my personal favorite endings in the show’s entire run. I won’t spoil it for you, but I thought it was an incredible throwback.
Whilst all this is happening, Ted and Marshall have a fantastic bro’s night at a basketball game, shouting puns at refs and discussing life. Ted gets unknown calls that turn out to be his old boss Hammond Druthers (Bryan Cranston). Ted has been struggling for a while now with what he wants to do in life, and who he wants to do it with, and this episode ends up being a fine one for Ted as well, who learns the importance of letting go.
As I stated earlier, this episode came off initially as a cheap ploy to keep us from getting closer to the wedding, but quickly evolved into something much greater and genuine. This could be the best episode of the season so far. At the very least, it was the most touching. Let’s hope we get more episodes like this before the ends of the series!
