HIMYM: The Countdown is On!

A lot happened, you guys. I'm not 100% sure I understood everything I saw, either. It's quite clear that this episode is actually set in April 2013, exactly 45 days from Barney's wedding, and the day Ted meets the woman who will be "the Mother," whose degree will be in economics. And, Ted lives on West 82nd Street while the Mother lives on West 115th. Aside from those facts, much of the episode is actually speculation, as the events seemed to be memories Ted had of a years-prior event. (how prior may be up in the air. In the original Robots Vs. Wrestlers episode, the gang mentions that they later made it a yearly event, and which year Ted is remembering is not clear.) It was quite the throwback to see the coat-check girl again, and although I really liked Robin's space-dyed grey dress, the stand-out moment for me was NOT when Ted went to the Mother's doorstep in a vision but when the three Teds and three Barneys sang a lovely, harmonized, "For the Longest Time." Of course, I'm a sucker for that song and Neil Patrick Harris's singing, but still. (I even made it into a ringtone! yay, technology!)

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How I Met Your Mother "The Time Travelers" (S08E20): At MacLaren's, Barney and Ted have tickets to Robots Vs. Wrestlers Legends - elderly wrestlers and old-time robots - but Ted doesn't want to go. Barney brings 20-years-from-now Ted and Barney to convince Ted, but then 20-hours-from-now Ted shows up to spoil the fun. [haha!] Present Ted (but really still years-ago Ted) then thinks he should go but not drink too much... but future-Barney thinks the drinking has to happen for the memories. [I like the idea that you should ask yourself "what would make the best memory 20 years from now?"] 20-minutes-from-now Barney arrives, and soon enough, a coat-check girl from seven years earlier shows up. [the time travel is pretty fancy, I gotta admit!] Ted goes over to talk to her, but future coat-check girls come to tell him that it's going to end in misery, 20 months down the road, so he lets the present girl leave the bar. 

While this is going on (and only Ted and Barney can see these time travelers, by the way), Marshall is upset that "his drink" at the bar is known as "The Robin Scherbatsky," rather than "The Minnesota Tidal Wave." [for posterity, the drink contains Coconut Rum, Peach Schnapps, Strawberry Creme Liqueur, Cranberry Juice, 5 T sugar, a whisper of vanilla vodka, and a handful of maraschino cherries.] Marshall wants to face Robin with a dance-off, but when Lily won't let him dance, he just writes Robin's number in the men's bathroom. She retaliates by writing a diatribe in the ladies' room purely to embarrass Marshal when it's so long that a woman enters while he's reading. [funny, but only in the context of this particular show and these particular characters, I thought.] He ends up being a creepster when he leaves the restroom, and he and Robin end up having a dance-off after all. [should've seen that coming!]