How I Met Your Mother S9 E1: “The Locket” Review
(Warning: Spoilers ahead!)
The first episode of the two-part premiere of How I Met Your Mother starts off 55 hours before Barney and Robin’s wedding. It’s an event most people have been looking forward to for some time. We start things off with Lily and Ted’s excellent adventure. The two are road tripping to the train station as Marshall attempts to fly. The title of this half of the episode is “The Locket”, which refers to Robin’s locket from last season. Ted thinks he knows where it might be. Lily ends up getting annoyed by Ted’s hilarious driving antics, so she ends up taking the train. This gives Ted an opportunity to decide whether or not he wants to try and find the locket for Robin. Lily however has the more interesting story, because she happens to be on the same train as THE MOTHER!
At first, the mother, played by beautiful actress Cristin Milioti, was somewhat annoying to me. She spits out lines so quickly that it comes off completely unnatural. As the episode goes on though, the mother sort of comes into her own as a combination of all the characters into one. This is only lightly hinted at, but she makes an instant connection with Lily due to her silliness and trusting nature. Not to mention when we find out the funny things she has in common with Ted, or should I say Lady Tedwina Slowsby.
While Lily and the mother become friends, Marshall seems to be making an enemy. He has a very Marshall type confrontation with a female passenger, played by the always welcome Sherri Shepherd. Their story line is pretty light and funny, albeit very sitcom friendly. Most of the things that happen at this point are fairly cliched so I don’t particularly hold that against them.
On the other side of things, Robin and Barney have a painfully unfunny and predictable storyline. On their way to the wedding, they come to the conclusion that they may somehow be related. This whole story just felt like a waste of time before they got to the Farhampton Inn. I don’t want to waste any time talking about this, it just did nothing for me since I knew it wasn’t going to lead anywhere.
The best part of the episode for me comes at the end. It turns out that Ted didn’t go to get the locket, yet, and instead got Robin a picture of the group from 8 years ago. It was a lovely nod to the audience who has been watching all these years, and who have seen Ted, Marshall, Barney, Lily and Robin grow and change. Most people are probably happy that the show is finally ending. The last few seasons were in a bit of a slump save for some choice episodes. With the end now clearly in view, I think this season could really bring How I Met Your Mother back to it’s glory days. If “The Locket” is any indication, things are heading in the right direction.
