HIMYM: Klaus Comes and Quinn Leaves

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

There's a fine line on sitcoms between giving long-term viewers clues and having them show up again and forcing new viewers to have no idea why something matters. In the eighth season premiere, How I Met Your Mother went back to tackling the question that is its namesake. Now, we've gotten tidbits on who the mother will be here and there, and a true viewer is always looking for a yellow umbrella in the background, but I don't think enough was said for a newer audience to understand the importance of that final scene, where we see someone under a yellow umbrella as Ted sits at the train station in the rain. But, it wasn't a dealbreaker and it was still a pretty good episode, so let's keep going.

I kinda like how HIMYM deals with the passage of time. Not only does the series leap around (and it's all a giant flashback anyway), but in the second episode of the season, OldTed skips the summer because everything was so great that nothing really happened. Technically, it's kinda a cop-out to get away with not having to address three months of storylines, but it's not the first time this show has done that, and it almost makes sense... there have definitely been summers where I can only remember two or three things that I did, which wouldn't make for a very good story. Later in the episode, the writers really had me going... that was a really grave moment when Barney and Quinn came to the realization that they don't trust one another, and that getting married shouldn't be so complicated that they need a three-foot stack of papers to help them succeed. Deep. ...and, on a lighter note, who do you think breaks up next??

How I Met Your Mother "Farhampton" (S08E01): When Ted learns that Victoria didn't even leave Klaus a note (remember, she ran out on her wedding), he makes her write one but he has to deliver it. [um, okay....] He has to have Barney flirt with a bridesmaid over the phone so he can get by... only to lock the keys in the room behind him! [Ted = Tool, guys.]  So, he has to go back, but this time he bumps into Klaus, who is also running out on the wedding. [a) what are those odds? b)this marriage really WAS a terrible idea!] So, Ted grabs Victoria's note and leaves with it and the keys, then drops some water droplets on Klaus's note so it looks like Victoria cried and ran off after Klaus abandoned her. [I don't know that I would have gone that direction without the ex-bride's approval.] Ted goes to the train station to ask Klaus why he doesn't want to marry Victoria, and he says that she's wonderful but not his destiny. [in German terms, something that sounds like leben schlanger schitzel schatz, which seems to mean something about life and treasure when directly translated.]

Meanwhile, Barney and Quinn are freshly engaged, and she asks Lily and Robin to be her bridesmaids, not knowing that Robin used to date Barney. [seriously, how does she not know that yet?? and the zombie thing was funny but the fish in front of Robin were even better! and what's with the "have a great summer?" is it the last day of school??] Lily and Marshall accidentally blurt out Robin and Barney's history, so Quinn gives Barney 52 seconds to explain, and we learn that he got rid of everything related to Robin... but it's all in a storage unit! [bad sign.]

Side: Robin is dating Nick and texts him with an "emergency" so he can show off his abs to Quinn. [yeah I might break up with her for doing that.]

And, now, the part about the Barney/Robin wedding and Ted meeting the mother... before getting married, Robin freaks out, unsure that she can go through with the wedding to Barney. [cornflower blue tie - Office Space reference to an icon! and the mermaid dress on Robin is terrible but I loved the top of it!] After the wedding, Ted is at a train station and we see the "mother" get out of a taxi - we know from the yellow umbrella and guitar.

Photo: Monty Brinton/CBS

How I Met Your Mother "The Pre-Nup" (S08E02): Because the Summer of 2012 was the Summer of Love, everyone was happy and there were no good stories, so onward to October 2012, part of the Autumn of Breakups.

Barney's coworker demands he get a pre-nup, so Barney goes crazy writing one, requiring such things as weekly visitation to Quinn's lady parts. [gross!] Meanwhile, Robin and Nick are having issues because of things they'd want to change about one another. [um, winking at yourself is weird, girl. and hahahahaha at Baby Marshall being tossed around like a football!] Elsewhere, Victoria and Ted argue over Klaus still being at their place (Ted offered his guest room to Klaus after the man lost his job and got evicted). [should've set a deadline, Ted. you tool.] Anyway, so Quinn develops her own pre-nup, which states things like how she'd get custody of his suits in the event of divorce and that she'd shock him if he checked out her friends. In the end, things fall apart and they break up, and he has decided that he'll never trust someone enough to get married. This is immediately refuted in a flashforward of Robin and Barney planning their wedding. [I didn't like that instant contradiction.]