And so it begins. What might be the last season of How I Met Your Mother kicked off tonight with Farhampton, and boy did it start with a bang.
As can be expected from How I Met Your Mother, a ton of information was thrown at us, teasing the future of the MacLaren’s faithful. We shall get to all that in a moment, but first let us focus on what happened earliest on in the timeline of the triple-layered story.
We find Marshall and Lily as tired parents struggling to function through a short conversation, let alone the chaotic atmosphere that their friend’s issues provide. The show conveys their fatigue as everyone else speaking to them through water, which was one of the few parts of the show that fell short of the quality I expected from this season premiere.
Marshall and Lily essentially were not part of the episode this week, which was extremely disappointing considering their dynamic can be the most hilarious aspect of the show. Hopefully a baby being in their lives doesn’t permanently detract from their humor. Although funny at first, their constant inattention got old very fast, and it was clearly just a way to leak word to Quinn that Barney and Robin dated.
Oh yeah, Quinn doesn’t know Barney dated Robin. For a guy trying to finally settle down with the girl he thinks is the one, that’s a pretty big secret to keep tucked away. Then again, it is Barney, so he has a fool proof plan that involves cropping Robin out of every picture they were in together, in one instance replacing her with a tiger. The series of funny pictures is a gag that How I Met Your Mother has used countless times, and it usually provides one of the funnier moments of the show. Though not laugh-out-loud funny this week, Barney’s crop jobs were quite amusing.
It’s been a long summer waiting to see what would develop between Ted and Victoria, after learning she left her wedding so they could be together. This week, we join the pair driving away from her wedding, only to find out she neglected to leave a note. Ted insists that a note is common courtesy, providing his best line of the episode when he details his experience with Stella’s note, which includes a brick through her suburban window.
Ted’s efforts at leaving the note for Victoria are funny, but drag on a bit long. Also, I see what Ted was trying to accomplish by taking Victoria’s note but that really was not his place. Hopefully we will get some reaction from Victoria on that one in the next couple weeks.
Once Ted finally takes care of the note he stops to ask Klaus about Victoria. It’s obvious he’s already questioning whether Victoria is right for him, and they have only just gotten back together.
Thomas Lennon is brilliant as Klaus. His accent was great, and his conversation with Ted, though very touching, was also one of the funnier parts of the night. His bewilderment at Ted’s “inconsistent German” had me cracking up.
The one problem I had with Klaus was the believability of his story. He and Victoria had been together since a day-and-a-half after Ted cheated on Victoria. He traveled back to America with her, and proposed to her. For him to just be realizing that she isn’t his ultimate treasure, though not impossible, is a bit of a stretch.
Klaus basically serves as another way to convey Ted’s hopelessly romantic thoughts, again reminding Ted what he’s looking for. It’s obvious that Victoria cannot work out, just by the fact that Ted wanted to talk to Klaus. If that were not enough, Ted’s face as he realized the truth in Klaus’ words said more than any lines ever could. Great acting by Radnor, and it certainly won’t be long until Ted breaks things off with Victoria.
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