How I Met Your Mother

You know what life isn’t?

Television.

Perhaps I should have planned for this article somewhat later, after I had time to digest the passing of a wonderful nine-year series. But in my first reflections, both nostalgic and happy and melancholic and puzzled, I can argue to the best of my ability one thing for certain: season nine, implicitly, prepared us for the series finale.

Because season nine prepared us for the moment. And to live in the moment. And not to follow Ted and his tragic-hero mantra of what-if’s.
Because if Ted had spent the season asking, what-if? If the wedding hadn’t happened, and if we as an audience hadn’t been forced to sit and examine the nitty-gritty details of one moment, one weekend, in time, we too would have constantly thought about the future. If How I Met Your Mother tried to show its viewers anything, it was to live in the present, and not to spend it thinking about the future.

In doing so, you can better tackle the future objectively and unabashedly when it comes. When it is time.

Barney showed us successes can still be finite and successful.

Robin taught us not to budge from the truth.

Lily told us to be here—here—for the big moments.

Marshall demonstrated the power of patience.

And Ted, the power of the present.

Really, all those lessons combined into the LAST moment, the last ten minutes for anyone who counted, when Ted finished his story, said goodbye, and picked up the phone. All those lessons culminated into the story’s finale. Ted’s success happened to be finite, but he went for it anyway. He stayed for the big moments, and kept creating bigger ones. He was patient, he was now, and, in the end, he got what he wanted next.

Yes, I could critique parts of the episode, its ending, or the series’ ending.
But how poignant is the message of our disquiet? Shouldn’t the unsettling teach us something as well?

Because life isn’t television; life isn’t perfect. How I Met Your Mother knew this from the start and gave us a finale to reflect only the real.

"It's...kind of insane how much happened a day in a half."

We finally discover who was in the car with Lily.

Or, rather, whose car it was at all. When Lily called none other than the Captain for help—and Ted was so close, too—she wasn’t calling for an emergency smoke break. No, she wasn’t even calling for someone to talk to.

She was calling to confirm whether or not she would have another child she refused to make a consolation prize.

For all those that thought Marshall getting his way seemed a little unfair, congrats: he, Lily, Marvin—and Daisy (two flower names, all)—will spend one year in Italy as a forever-family. Grazie.

Just in time to witness the spilt secret, Robin’s mother braved a plane flight to make it to her daughter’s wedding. Last episode already told us she would supply Robin’s bridal breakdown; it just failed to mention it would come in the form of confirming her worst Freudian fears. Lily now plays two roles: secret-keeper extraordinaire and the one to tell her best friend that, no, of course you’re not marrying your father, stop listening to your mother! Goodness. Someone needs to learn their manners.

We catch up with the Captain one last time, presumably, before the grand finale. He met his match, proposed to her too, and hired the Von Trapps to tend to his house. What’s more, we discover he would be hopeless at a game of Clue. Colonel Mustard, with the candlestick, on a boat.

CBS did not fail to make clear that there were just three more episodes total: two new, then the finale. Three short weeks before our lives are over for good. Or, so we said when F.R.I.E.N.D.S ended. And Breaking Bad. And, at the end of the day, it makes us wonder what new friend will find their way onto our networks next?

Marshall vs The Machine

Marshall finally returns to the wedding party in the most amazing way possible! Darren the Devil tries breaking up friendships right and left—arguably intentionally—and destroying wedding bands. And one more person gets to meet The Mother.

So, who was most responsible for Ted and The Mother meeting? Marshall? Lily? Barney and Robin? Will the whole cast end up playing a key role?

Determined to walk from his five-mile bus stop, The Mother picks up Marshall and Marvin for the last, final, leg of their long journey. They both inspire one another to stand up to their problems and face confrontation.

(For the record, Marvin’s first word was “mommy.”)

Today in paradise, Ted, Barney, Robin, and Lily bemoan their missing Scotch (and Marshall) and Lily’s Italy dilemma. Then, along comes a spider. A mysterious invitee arrives hell-bent on destroying friendships via the Disney method, luring you in and conniving your problems.  The devil of which I speak is named Darren: lead singer of the wedding band. Yes, the Mother’s wedding band.

I have to say, this episode made my wintertime cold just a bit more bearable. Yes, Darren almost wrecked Lily and Robin’s friendship—and ousted Ted’s move to Chicago to Barney—yet all he accomplished happened to be making their friendships (and broships) stronger, more resolved. I mean, these are the friends they would go to jail for. That’s the dream. Lily even paused her anger toward Marshall; if there’s any theme for this season, it happens to be to trust in your marriages.

We didn’t get a sneak peek this premiere, but it doesn’t take a Darren to remind us our beloved series is swiftly coming to a close. Now, everyone is in place for the finale. The question is: what will it entail? And how can we ever say goodbye?

TV's Best Dressed

A fan directed me to an interesting website this morning (um…make that late yesterday night. Technically, both,) where the owner tracks down exact, or close to, replicas of the outfits from stylish sitcom characters!

Now, we already have some of your favorites, like Shelly, down pat, but what about those stars that veer from the screen-T to something more refined? Someone, say, like Robin Scherbatsky, Lily, or Penny, Bernadette, and others from How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory?

Go sit in the corner, Rachel Green. Our new millennium starlets are giving us an upgrade.

Robin, newscaster that she is, can afford more refined, expensive brands, than say your fresh-into-the-coffee-shop social anxiety afflicted. Her houndstooth beige number, as seen in the latest episode, comes right from Nordstrom rack, though you can find the same top on Amazon and Zappos-dot-com.

Right our from Lily’s art consultant fashionista phase, the website found her pretentious black scouting cape.  Of course she snagged it from none other than Saks Fifth Avenue, but there might be some online options besides floating around. Her 15-years-young blue tweed jacket?  Purely J. Crew.

Penny from The Big Bang Theory would settle for no less than something sweet…and a little spicy. She splurged on her smoking sweetheart dress from Guess, though we’re betting she found it bargain with her server’s wages. Or maybe we underestimate her; it wouldn’t be the first time she purchased clothes comparable to her rent payment.

Bernadette, our much more careful dresser, found her dress + cardigan staple through online and small boutique browsing. We appreciate the frugalness, Bernie, and the dress with the sweater always screams, you, but of all the characters we profiled you probably make the most bank! Take a few tips from Robin Scherbatsky---or maybe take Howard out shopping one day.