HIMYM Review: The Lighthouse

How I Met Your Mother 

"The Lighthouse" Review

After last weeks fairly mediocre outing with a feeble attempt to create a slapstick Halloween style episode of HIMYM, which ultimately did not work within season 9's new episode structure, I was not anticipating much. Fortunately last nights The Lighthouse ended up being more akin to the classic HIMYM style.

The main storyline brought up the "raging" warfare between Robin and Loretta. The initial conflict was downright silly with the two debating whether Loretta or Robin's mother could make the best scrambled eggs. 

In some sense it was good in that it brought some intrigue about Robin's mother finally making an appearance on the show. The additional flashbacks containing trickles of information about the mother was also a great touch.

But it wasn't until in the second half of the battle when Robin had to make scrambled eggs in her mothers place that the plot became a lot more interesting. Loretta's quip about Robin being unable to serve her kids breakfast due to her poor cooking skills brought back the harsh reality of Robin's inability to have children. It was really hard hitting to see the poor Robin completely crash at this remark. 

This plot proved to be even stronger with Barney's speech to his mother about his sheer adoration for his fiance, no matter what problems there may be. The flashback scene with Robin telling Barney her problem with his immediate sincere reaction was great. This solidified the notion that these two are in a strong relationship, no matter their constant cold feet in prior episodes.      

Although a shame that it looks like we will never see Robins mother it worked so much more in favour for the eventual heart to heart between Loretta and Robin.

As for dear old Ted, he was once again left with the emotionally unstable Cassie. Simply taking poor advice from Lily in an attempt to visit a nearby lighthouse without being scolded for being single, this plotline was very thin. We as the audience all know that he's never going to be with her, so it felt a bit of waste. 

The moment before the finale with Ted cynicism, complaining that there's only a certain amount of times you can do certain things with Lily's instant rejection of that notion was a great build up

With Lily herself, the anger towards Marshall was fairly funny, breaking her glass anytime an association was made with his judgeship, but I hope that it eventually amounts to something more substantial and grounded. This type of slapstick will get stale if it continues and the show works best when it moves towards a more serious route, just like Loretta and Robin's storyline. 

Yet again Marshall and Daphne's plot was completely uninteresting with the return of Ted's stepfather Clint trying to appease the conflict between the two travelers. It's not a good sign at all when you are literally looking at your watch, waiting for that particular segment to finish.
The only somewhat intriguing part was when Marshall cut loose and unleashed some aggression towards Daphne and played the  classic HIMYM tune "500 Miles". I am hoping that song plays for the rest of their trip.

 Overall The Lighthouse was a pleasant surprise. The Robin/Loretta plot was a little bit unnerving at first, but it flourished into something wonderful. It was also slightly disappointing to see such a small role for Ted for the majority of the episode but the final scene with Ted and the mother literally brought tears of joy to my eyes. It was fantastic! So glad to see Cristin Milioti again.

7.5/10