7) The Time Travelers
The format of How I Met Your Mother allows for quite a bit of time-play. The fact the entire story comes from Ted’s memory leads to confusion in his head and the occasional case of purposeful deception. For the most part, that technique worked quite well throughout the show, but there wasn’t an episode where it was better than “The Time Travelers,” in season 8. Picking up at a very tumultuous time in the lives of everyone, the episode delved into how life was for Ted at that point, a point where everyone seemed to be going through major life changes while he remained relatively stagnant.
This episode was also the one that really spawned the theory of the Mother’s death. I’m sure that ending had been brought up before, but it certainly wasn’t wide-spread until Ted gave the speech to his kids about how he wished he had those few extra days with the Mother. I’ll admit, at the time I thought people were reading to far into things, but it turns out that speech absolutely meant what many thought it did.
While most of season 8 is rather terrible, “The Time Travelers” is a quality episode and truly memorable for a number of reasons. Even after multiple viewings, it’s still able to evoke nostalgic feelings and strong empathy for Ted’s sadness. Plus, you can’t beat Josh Radnor and Neil Patrick Harris singing “For The Longest Time.”
