CBS

Season Six has begun for How I Met Your Mother.  For a sitcom it’s got quite a lot of heart at its core and feels strangely alone on a night with Two And A Half Men and the new Lorre edition, Mike and Molly.  It feels more akin to the ABC comedies like Modern Family or Cougar Town.  In this season opener, we were promised some Mother revelations and while there will be people who just want to know the answer, we got enough information to move the story forward.  Oh and did you all catch the writing on the church sign? It’s all after the break.

After a season where the show took a breather from its focus on finding the mother, this season started immediately with a scene from a few years away.  We’re shown Marshall and Ted sitting outside a church (the church sign is shown in the intro, but we’ll come to that) and we’re led to believe by Future Ted that it’s Ted’s wedding day.  But it’s not. In a scene reminiscent of the pilot episode, it’s revealed that Ted is the best man at this wedding.  That’s leading everyone to speculate that it’s Barney & Robin’s wedding.  My guess is that’s half right.  I’d say it’s probably Barney’s wedding.  But, I wouldn’t be surprise if Ted was the “best man” at Robin’s wedding. Ted is the closest friend Robin has in the group and that would be the kind of twist this show likes to throw out there.  Either way, I don’t think we’ll see this scene again for a couple more years.  But, when the time comes it’s going to be legendary.

The three stories that weaved their way through the episode were quite solid.  I like that Lily and Marshall are trying to get pregnant and the reference to Cyrus (which was recently referenced by The Daily Show to announce their Rally to Restore Sanity) was really well done.  It was kind of a blast to see the familiar face of Bill Fagerbakke (FYI – he’s the voice of Patrick Star in SpongeBob SquarePants) come back to play Marshall’s dad Marvin.  I wouldn’t mind seeing him pop up in a few episodes here and there.  I think there’s so much depth in the Marshall and Lily pairing, but sometimes it just comes across as predictable.  There were great lines like Marshall defending his dad’s overzealous spying on Lily, “Pickles would have helped that sandwich!” I’m just hoping they concentrate on not making this characters exaggerations of real people instead of just funnier real people.

Barney is also in trouble of falling into that trap, but tonight we also had some amazing Barneyisms.  Robin causing his derection and the one that everyone will remember, his story of Sir Walter Dibs, inventor of Dibs who sailed on the SS Dibs.  I loved the little touches that showed how strong the bond of friendship is between them. Ted, so used to Barney’s stories that he calls Barney on his fake Dibs story mid-sentence.  Or the fact that both Marshall and Barney notice that Ted scratches his beer bottle label when he’s nervous.

Of course, the mother storyline of the episode revolved around Cindy’s (Rachel Bilson) roommate.  I think long-timer HIMYM-watchers weren’t expecting the girl sitting at the bar to be anything but a decoy, but it was great to see Ted longing to catch a glimpse of her ankles (to see if they matched the Cindy’s roommate) and stressing out over the possibilities this girl held (as he saw many similar interests lying around the apartment she shared with Cindy). What I don’t think anyone saw coming was that Cindy ended being a lesbian.  Great twist that led to a final scene at the church where we only see Marshall, Ted, and Lily.  It’s just too easy for Robin and Barney to be inside marrying each other.  So what did that church sign say?  I didn’t want to make this post too long, so check it out right here.

I’m  a sucker for the small reveals along the way, so I hope we get a few more glimpses into what lies ahead.  We already have a wealth of reflections, but it’s going to be a fun season watching some of this play out.

Spoonfuls (Thoughts in Smaller Portions):

1. Beer + Church = Solution
The moment between Marshall and Ted was the classic HIMYM mix of sweet and funny, but who didn’t either smile and nod or laugh at Ted complimenting Marshall for combining beer and church.

2. Cindy Gets Her Story.
It was nice to get to see Rachel Bilson’s character have her ending. This show gives us a unique perspective because it already knows what’s going to happen so we always see the happily ever after.

3. No more hiding bumps!
It’s nice to see that the leading women are back in full force.  It felt like one was always missing last season due to real-life pregnancies.

4. Marshall’s Wedding Hat
In a great nod to fans of the show, there’s a wedding picture of Marshall and Lily with Marshall’s wedding hat intact.  The details this show pays attention to are fabulous.

It feels great to have a favourite back on TV.  How did you like the first episode and who’s wedding did they show?