'Band or DJ?'

Barney has to Deal with Robin's Dad and Ted Plans the Wedding to Hide His Hurt Feelings

Mr Scherbatsky rocking a hawaiian shirt... wow. Still a bad*ss though.

Yay, the show's back and guess who else is back as well? Robin's father, and Barney's got quite a challenge with the "stone cold Slytherin" (totally agreed with Ted on that description btw). Turns out Robin Snr. doesn't really approve of their planned marriage (and Barney's blond hair) and Barney is determined to prove himself worthy: he dyed his hair black and Mr Scherbatsky even urges him to shoot a bunny! A bunny! Luckily, as Barney does, he bonded with Fluffernutter instead. However, it took some hard words from Robin and some convincing from Barney to get close to an apology from Robin's father. No, it wasn't a very satisfactory apology, but we're talking about the scariest and hard-faced guy on the show who has never apoligised to Robin and it was good enough for her, and as we saw in a flash forward to the wedding's reception, Robin and her father do a bit of dancing.

 

Meanwhile, little Marvin Waitforit has reached that point of endless crying and an upset stomach: constipation. I feel this was only here to give Marshall and Lily something to do, but one of the biggest laughs came when Marshall ended up covered in... "confetti". They should bring Marvin to a party sometime - it would be a "blast". Anyway, I hope the parents get some better storylines soon.

 

As for Ted, he's heavy into planning the wedding. He insists that Robin should have a DJ instead of a band, but it turns out it was a metaphor (Ted=DJ and Barney=band). In a heartfelt moment, Ted described the feeling of when he learnt Barney and Robin were now engaged as all the times he has been hurt (cue montage of punching, kicking, the goat, etc.) times a million. It's heavy stuff, but Ted eventually accepts that Robin wants a band to the end. I actually kinda expected Ted to go a bit crazy anyway: I mean, given that he has tried a LOT harder than Barney to marry someone, the situation would do his head in.

 

Now I've saved the most interesting for last. The wedding does in fact happen on 25 May 2013, which means, thankfully, the Mother won't be revealed at the end of Season 9 but much sooner! I was fearing that if Season 9 happened the Mother Reveal will be delayed. By the looks of things now, this won't be the case.

AND we've been given serious flash forwards! In four months time, the wedding band that was originally booked cancel a week from the wedding and Ted happens to meet up with Cindy and her partner. Ted tells them what happened and Cindy tells him that her ex-roommate (the Mother) is in a wedding band and that they are free that weekend! And as Ted said, "Lucky doesn't even begin to describe it". AND in a flash foward to the wedding's reception, we see the band playing (from behind of course) and we partially see the Mother play bass and Ted is looking at her! Oh Ted, if only you knew... If Ted's advice of hiring a DJ had succeeded, he would never had met the Mother. I also think it hides a further messege if you take the metaphor into account: if Ted decided to continue chasing Robin as his final decision, he would never have met the Mother too.   

 

I quite enjoyed this episode. It was a welcomed comeback for Mr Scherbatsky and the popular theory that the Mother, being a bass player, will play at the wedding has been confirmed! I'll look forward to the next episode, 'Ring Up!'

 

And for those who are curious to see what the episode looked like, here's the promo.