(SPOILERS AHEAD, so proceed with caution, you Mother lovers!)
Season Nine, Episode Two: “Coming Back”
Written by: Carter Bays & Craig Thomas, Directed by: Pamela Fryman
This episode is much better than the lackluster season premiere – good thing they aired them back to back. Shows like this always fare better when the core cast is together. Plus, a flash-forward at the end of the episode gives us one of the best moments of the series.
Quick Breakdown
Friday 12 p.m., 54 hours before the wedding.
Ted and Lily are checking into the Farhampton Inn, and the front desk clerk Curtis (guest star Roger Bart) makes fun of single and lonely Ted. This painfully unfunny gag goes on for the entire episode, and I won’t be surprised if it pops up again later (and you can be sure I’ll be audibly groaning when it does). Fortunately, the episode can only get better after this.
Marshall calls, telling Lily that he can’t get a flight to New York. She freaks out about being alone all weekend and pays the bartender Linus to keep her drunk. I guess we can look forward to Lily being a drunken mess all weekend.
Barney calls Marshall, telling him to be aggressive in getting to the wedding; but Marshall won’t have it – he’s such a nice Midwesterner at heart. The flight attendant tells him and Sherri Shepherd that an incoming storm on the East Coast (a storm that will no doubt encourage the Mother to use her yellow umbrella) has delayed all flights to New York indefinitely. So Marshall and Sherri Shepherd race to the car rental agency, hoping to snag one of the last cars available.
At the Inn, Barney is reveling in his brother James’ wedding anniversary. He claims that when James married Tom he broke “The Stinson Curse.” Back in Moscow, 1807, the Stinson brothers accidentally ran over an old gypsy woman. With her dying breaths, she cursed them with “an unquenchable thirst for booty” (They were deeply monogamous men before this). Now, with the Stinson brothers as married men, it seems the curse has been lifted.
Except, it hasn’t. When Barney leaves to talk to Marshall, James tells the others that he’s divorcing Tom. James’ curse wasn’t lifted, and he cheated on Tom, a lot. Robin begs him not to tell Barney, fearing it will throw off Barney’s will to get married. But drunk Lily spills the secret, and Barney rushes out of the room.
In competing lines, it seems that Sherri Shepherd will snag a car, leaving Marshall with nothing. But his line miraculously moves faster than hers, and he gets the last car at the agency. The 2006 Monstrosity Sport is environmentalist Marshall’s worst nightmare, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a car seat for baby Marvin. In the name of being nice, Sherri Shepherd offers to drive to get a car seat and come back to pick them up. Marshall naively agrees and gives her the keys and a $100 bill. Sherri Shepherd’s malicious grin makes us doubt she’ll be back any time soon.
Robin chases after Barney, imploring him not to run to the nearest, dirtiest strip club. Curtis’ bad jokes continue as he points out the nearby strip clubs. But Barney wasn’t looking for a strip club — he just wanted the key to James’ room. Being a good bro, Barney had pimped out his room for their anniversary, complete with an erotic cake replica of James and Tom. Robin is relieved (and turned on), falling even more in love with Barney. This storyline mirrors the conflict they had from the last episode, putting their relationship in danger only to end with them relieved and kissing. Hopefully Carter and Craig won’t endanger this couple in every episode this season.
Marshall continues to wait for Sherri Shepherd to return, and, just as he gives up hope, she appears. With the car seat in place, Marshall and Sherri Shepherd can begin their road trip to New York. (Is Sherri Shepherd now a series regular?) Marshall’s conflict in this episode also mirrors his from the previous episode. Both times he resigns himself to utter despair only to have the conflict immediately (and happily) resolved right after doing so.
As Ted continues to wait for his room to become available, we get a great flash-forward. One year later, Ted and the Mother return together to the Farhampton Inn. He promised himself in the present day to come back here with her, knowing he would meet her soon. This scene gives us our first glimpse of the two together, but it was so surprising that it felt almost anti-climactic. Luckily for us, the two have good chemistry together, and this scene certainly won’t be the last one like it this season. Carter and Craig are determined to make us fall in love with The Mother.
Rating
B+
The flash-forward makes up for all the bad jokes that Curtis spews. This episode felt overall more true to form, and I can breathe a sigh of relief that this season won’t be completely awful.
Now for some random thoughts and my favorite moments of the night…
Both Lily and Marshall hand out $100 bills in this episode. Who carries such large bills around like that?
“The Stinson Curse” segment was great, but why are we just hearing about it now?
“How about we nibble on my brother’s ding dong together.” –Barney (more incest jokes!)
Marshall’s road trip to the wedding with Sherri Shepherd will most likely be the most painful storyline of the season. How long until the entire gang is back together?
