How I Met Your Mother – “Big Days” – review

I’ve been a fan of How I Met Your Mother since its first season six years ago.  I realize that starting a review on a scripted show at the start of the sixth season might be a little confusing for some of you, so if you’re new to the series here’s a quick summary of the show itself.  How I Met Your Mother (or HIMYM)  is told via flashbacks from the year 2030.  It’s about five friends in New York City with Ted Mosby as the central character and his story of how he met his wife as the central plot. The other main characters are: Lily and Marshall, the adorable married couple; Barney Stinson, the perpetually ”suited up” ladies man; and Robin Scherbotzsky, Ted’s commitment-phobic ex-girlfriend. For the last five years viewers have watched Ted go through different relationships all in hopes of finding the woman he’s going to marry, and for five years each relationship has ended.  As season five ended, Lily and Marshall decided to start trying to get pregnant, Barney struggled with feelings for Robin, Robin struggled with getting dumped, and Ted still had not met “the mother.” 

At the start of season six, the show picks up right where it left off. Marshall and Lily are preparing for a romantic night of baby-making, while Robin is busy consoling herself with a bag of greasy fries.  Meanwhile Barney is lamenting the end of summer (AKA the end of sundress season), while Ted works up the courage to hit on a girl at the bar where they all hang out.  Ted finds out that this unnamed girl is connected to a girl he dated last season, Cynthia, and he’s hoping it’s Cynthia’s roommate, because he remembered her roommate was seemingly the perfect woman for him, though he never met her.  Of course, once again, Ted’s hopes are dashed when he discovers that this girl is not the roommate, but rather Cynthia’s date. 

D’oh!  Like I said, I’ve been a fan of the show from the beginning, but I do have one major complaint: it’s not going anywhere!  If it weren’t for the progression of Marshall and Lily’s relationship from dating, to marriage, to home-ownership, to now parenthood, then no one would even know any time had passed since the first season.  Future Ted is telling his kids the story of how he met their mother, not the story of every girl he dated and all the stupid stuff he and his friends did that eventually led to how he met their mother!  Since we’ve been given so much detail into Ted’s dating history thus far, it’s only fair to assume that he will not only tell the story of how he met the mother, but also their courtship and marriage.  Sitcoms have a shelf-life, and at season 6, this one is starting to age.  I think it’s time to speed things up and introduce the mom character already so we can all move on to the next thing.  For now, though, I’ll keep watching because the writing is witty and fun and the episodic plot lines are enjoyable enough.   I just really hope this season is the season, already!