In its 8-year existence, each episode of How I Met Your Mother follows a similar format: one main plot and one or two (rarely three) subplots. Season 6 followed this format to the letter, as shown here and here. Predictably, "Something New" followed this format.
I. Main Plot:
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| Ted, not being careful, despite Lily's warning. |
When Victoria came back in Season 7 I wished she was the Mother because she knows Ted and the group really well. She knew them well enough to figure what Ted has been trying to figure in the past 6 years: the reason why he's not ready to meet The One, Robin. I will always look back to that moment in "Ducky Tie", when Victoria tells Ted that whatever this thing he, Barney and Robin are doing doesn't or will not work, as one of the greatest turning points in the history of the show. And I feel that this moment, when Lily tells Ted to be careful, will be really important come season 9 when Ted decides to finally let go of Robin.
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| The locket is Robin's something old. For Ted, it symbolizes something new. |
How I Met Your Mother writers, Bay and Thomas, have previewed that season 9 will be the longest wedding in TV history--focusing on the last 56 hours before the wedding, the wedding itself, and the last minutes (or an hour tops) after the wedding. Considering I've spent six years religiously following the show (except for my short-lived self-imposed How I Met Your Mother break in season 5 after Robin and Barney broke up), I will willingly endure a season just to find out how Ted met the Mother.
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| The countdown to the wedding begins |
II. Subplot No. 1: Marshall and Marvin travels to Minnesota to spend time with Judy before they leave for Rome. While he was there, he receives a call informing him that he is going to be a judge. And he needs to be physically present in New York. Therefore, it's going to be Rome vs. New York; Lily's dreams vs. Marshall's dreams. Although we did not see the conclusion to this plot, this is a good preview of what season 9 will be about for Marshall and Lily. These two have gone through a lot in the past eight seasons we've known them but this challenge (Lily's dreams vs. Marshall's dreams) will be their toughest so far. We know that these two will work this out eventually (because hello, they're awesome!) but figuring out how they will do so is worth seeing.
Also, props to Jason Segel for his great comedic timing in the scene where he's trying to convince the New York judiciary guy if there's a way he can be in Rome with his wife and still be a judge in New York. Good thing Segel will be back for season 9.
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| Where will the Eriksens be |
III. Subplot No. 2: Barney and Robin bond over their efforts to break-up an obnoxious couple by using a very familiar trick, Ring in the Champagne Glass.
Aside from it being a homage to season 1, the Ring in the Champagne Glass subtly ushers us to the show's reaching full circle. We started with how I met your aunt Robin (Ted's first The One) and will end with (finally!) the one, The Mother. Barney and Robin's latest outing as a couple gave us a glimpse of their mindset coming into the wedding. Everything seem flawless (except for their wedding dance, which Barney is striving hard to perfect) and they both seem ready to take the leap.
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| Barney and Robin being awesome |
However, as we know from previous flash forwards from season 6 and season 7, the last few minutes before the wedding is when they will break. And they will both, rightly and ironically, turn to Ted for his final assurance that they are both doing the right thing by being with each other. I think part of the reason why both Barney and Robin will experience last minute wedding jitters is that they're worried about Ted. I think part of them knows that he's not okay with all this and he's barely making it through, and they need an assurance that it's okay for them to want to be happy with each other, even at his expense.
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| Being happy means being selfish. Fact. |
IV. Special Sub-subplot: Also, the Mother nonchalantly makes her first appearance while buying a ticket to Farhampton with her trusty yellow umbrella in hand.
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| At least she's a brunette. |
If only for this moment alone, I would not have believed that she's the Mother because it was too much of a give-away and fans of this show know that with How I Met Your Mother things are not always what they seem. But when I did research (aka visited the show's Facebook page and checked out TV Line), I found out that she is really the Mother.
This big reveal of Cristin Millioti as the Mother is not well received. I think this not the actress' fault. It's because in the past 8 seasons not only have we seen what Ted (and the gang) went through but we all had enough time to conjure our own images or ideas of who the Mother is or what qualities she should have. After losing his first great love to his best friend, Ted ultimately deserves someone as awesome as Robin, if not more. And, our expectations of who the Mother is so great that no actress (no matter how great she is) can ever measure up. Thankfully, great writing by Bays and Thomas can.
It is with this mindset that I urge my fellow fans of How I Met Your Mother to welcome season 9 as a great opportunity to get to know the Mother. I may not be biggest fan of the show's decision to extend up to season 9 (I believe the 7th should have been the last) but I trust Bays and Thomas enough to know that they will not mess this up and will not let us down. So, fellow fans, let us think of season 9 as our friend Ted's lengthy yet surely funny and heartwarming way of introducing his future wife to us, his best friends.
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