The Lighthouse (How I Met Your Mother)

Last updated

"The Lighthouse"
How I Met Your Mother episode
Episode no.Season 9
Episode 8
Directed by Pamela Fryman
Written by Rachel Axler
Original air dateNovember 4, 2013 (2013-11-04)
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
 Previous
"No Questions Asked"
Next 
"Platonish"
How I Met Your Mother season 9
List of episodes

"The Lighthouse" is the eighth episode of the ninth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother , and the 192nd episode overall.

Contents

Plot

At 9 AM on Saturday, with 33 hours before the wedding, Barney is caught in the middle as Robin and Loretta continue to feud over the blouse Robin won in "The Poker Game". The three of them, joined by Lily, sit down to brunch together as Robin flaunts the blouse in Loretta's face and escalates the feud when she claims her mother makes better scrambled eggs than Loretta. Barney tries to avoid taking sides, but he and Lily and many of the inn's patrons praise Loretta's eggs. When Robin is unable to cook scrambled eggs herself, she concedes defeat. When Loretta questions how Robin will care for her children if she cannot cook, Robin admits that she cannot have children, something Barney reveals to his mother that Robin had confessed to him the previous fall. He tells Loretta that he is marrying Robin because she is more important to him than his desire to start a family one day. Lily tries to comfort Robin by suggesting that Robin's mother can show Loretta up when she arrives, only for Robin to reveal that her mother was too afraid to get on a plane and will not come to the wedding. Loretta, learning of this, makes peace with Robin and tells her to call her "Mom" from now on.

Marshall and Daphne stop overnight at Mrs. Mosby's house in Cleveland to wait out a storm. Clint, Ted's stepfather, notices the tension between them and tries to resolve it. They decline his offer and soon set off again, but they bicker even worse than before. Marshall states that maybe Clint was right, causing him to reveal himself as he had stowed away in hopes they would take his advice. He tries to help them but only makes matters worse and, after they both make fun of his efforts, he snaps and starts yelling. He demands they pull over so he can meditate and regain his calm. After Daphne tells Marshall that he will never get any respect until he starts taking charge, Marshall drives off without Clint and expresses that he is furious with how Daphne forced him to prematurely reveal his decision to become a judge to Lily. He takes charge of the music, forcing Daphne to listen to "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)"; when a horrified Daphne states she hates the song, Marshall replies, "Give it time."

Meanwhile, Lily has been furious since learning that Marshall has accepted a judgeship, constantly breaking glasses in fury whenever something court-related is mentioned. When Ted tries to go see a local lighthouse and the clerk will not help him since he is single and lonely, Lily's anger leads her to poorly advise Ted to settle for Cassie, whom he had spent the previous evening consoling, and take her to the lighthouse and fall in love with her. Ted reluctantly attempts to take her, even after she displays little compatibility with him. Making matters worse, she trips and sprains her ankle and Ted is forced to carry her to the top of the lighthouse, after which he throws up. Ted later realizes that settling would have been a mistake and he was glad he did not. A flash-forward reveals that Ted took the Mother there two years later and proposed, which she enthusiastically accepted.

Critical reception

The A.V. Club 's Donna Bowman graded the episode an A. [1]

Bill Kuchman of Popculturology praised the episode's ending, but said, "No matter how beautiful and touching it seemed, it appears that HIMYM has screwed up its timeline." Kuchman cited the Season 7 episode "Trilogy Time" and noted how that episode showed Ted already having a baby daughter in 2015. [2] However, it ultimately transpired that there was no timeline error as shown in the series finale "Last Forever".

Uproxx stated that "The Lighthouse was actually one of the better season 9 episodes" but had a quite short review. Alan Sepinwall, the reviewer stated that he wants "to be writing about “How I Met Your Mother,” but I need it to be “How I Met Your Mother” more consistently for that to happen". [3]

Max Nicholson of IGN gave the episode a 7.8/10 rating saying it "featured a couple of great character stories, although it still needs to pick up the pace." [4]

Related Research Articles

"The Over-Correction" is the tenth episode of the eighth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 170th episode overall.

"P.S. I Love You" is the 15th episode of the eighth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 175th episode overall.

"The Time Travelers" is the 20th episode of the eighth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 180th episode overall.

"Romeward Bound" is the 21st episode of the eighth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 181st episode overall.

Something New (<i>How I Met Your Mother</i>) 24th episode of the 8th season of How I Met Your Mother

"Something New" is the 24th and final episode of the eighth season of the American sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 184th episode overall. The episode aired on CBS on May 13, 2013. This was the episode that finally introduced the titular character of The Mother, played by Cristin Milioti.

The Locket (<i>How I Met Your Mother</i>) 1st episode of the 9th season of How I Met Your Mother

"The Locket" is the first episode of the ninth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 185th episode overall.

"Coming Back" is the second episode of the ninth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 186th episode overall.

"The Broken Code" is the fourth episode of the ninth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 188th episode overall.

"Last Time in New York" is the third episode of the ninth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 187th episode overall.

The Mother (<i>How I Met Your Mother</i>) Fictional character on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother

Tracy Mosby is the title character from the CBS television sitcom How I Met Your Mother. The show, narrated by Future Ted, tells the story of how Ted Mosby met his children's mother. Tracy McConnell appears in eight episodes, from "Lucky Penny" to "The Time Travelers", as an unseen character; she was first seen fully in season 8 finale "Something New" and was promoted to a main character in season 9. She is played by Cristin Milioti.

"Mom and Dad" is the tenth episode of the ninth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 194th episode overall.

"Platonish" is the ninth episode of the ninth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 193rd episode overall.

"Bedtime Stories" is the eleventh episode of the ninth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 195th episode overall.

"The Rehearsal Dinner" is the twelfth episode of the ninth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 196th episode overall.

"Unpause" is the fifteenth episode of the ninth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 199th episode overall. This is also the episode where Ted's future children's names are finally revealed; the daughter's name is Penny and the son is Luke.

"Rally" is the eighteenth episode of the ninth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 202nd episode overall.

"Sunrise" is the seventeenth episode of the ninth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 201st episode overall.

"Daisy" is the twentieth episode of the ninth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 204th episode overall. It was written by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, directed by Pamela Fryman, and aired on March 10, 2014.

"The Poker Game" is the fifth episode of the ninth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 189th episode overall.

References

  1. Donna Bowman (November 4, 2013). "The Lighthouse". The A.V. Club . The Onion. Archived from the original on November 5, 2013. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
  2. Bill Kuchman (November 4, 2013). "'How I Met Your Mother' 'The Lighthouse' Recap: A Huge Moment for Ted ... and a Timeline Error?". Popculturology. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
  3. SepinwallFacebookTwitter, Alan (November 4, 2013). "Review: 'How I Met Your Mother' – 'The Lighthouse'". UPROXX. Retrieved May 21, 2022.{{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  4. Max Nicholson (November 4, 2013). "How I Met Your Mother: "The Lighthouse" Review". IGN . Retrieved August 13, 2017.