How I Met Your Mother-“Vesuvius”

How I Met Your Mother-“Vesuvius” (S9E19)

By: Shayla

This week’s episode starts with a flash-forward to the year 2024, where Ted and “the mother” are together at the Farhampton Inn where “The Mother” says this that the snowstorm outside is getting bad. Ted counters, saying that this is nothing, and beings to launch into a story, which she quickly stops and tells him she has heard already. Several attempts later, and Ted realizes that she has heard all his stories already, and the same goes for her.

The waiter comes by to welcome them and reminds them not to break a lamp in their bedroom like Barney and Robin did when they stayed there. Robin is playing hockey in the room and literally breaks the lamp when she hits a puck into it. Startled, Lily offers to switch to an activity more suited for a wedding and suggests making a scrapbook, which Robin calls “cheesy”. Meanwhile, Ted catches Barney sneaking in to a hotel room and he tries to bribe the front desk clerk to tell him who was staying in that bedroom. Ted pays him off eventually and finds out that the room belongs to “Mrs. Susan Top”. Ted listens outside the bedroom door and can hear Barney say “I can’t wait to get inside of you”. Ted bursts into the room to stop Barney, only to see that he is in a room filled with suits…”suit up”. Barney is having trouble picking a suit for the wedding, having not narrowed down his choices at all.

Lily tries to convince Robin to cherish her wedding day, saying it only happens once, but Robin is disinterested. Instead, she noticed “The Wedding Bride 2” is on pay-per-view and exclaims “this is the best day of my life”. This confuses Lily, who vents to Marshall about it. Marshall reassures Lily that Robin will have her own freak-out at some point, before he hears about “The Wedding Bride 2” and bolts out of the room.

Returning to the flash-forward with Ted and “The mother” where Ted mentions his lingering pain over that movie and it being based on him.

Ted continues to try to help Barney chose a suit, but they veto several suits that Barney has worn while sleeping with other women. While Ted is helping Barney, the rest of the gang watch “The Wedding Bride 2” and discuss not knowing why Ted won’t let them watch the movie. In a hilarious turn of events, a character named Narshall is introduced who is a clear Marshall parallel.

Robin’s grandmother interrupts to show Robin a photo from her own wedding day which she gives to Robin. Robin ushers her grandmother out, wanting to return to the movie, which perplexes Lily. Robin tells her that she’s not going to turn into the wedding bride because it isn’t who she is, and Lily says she might just refuse to wear her bridesmaid dress. To which Robin spends that it would be alright and it who cares what people wear.

Of course, at this moment Barney is having a meltdown about choosing his own clothing for the wedding.

The story comes to a halt the “The Mother” tells Ted that she has heard this story before. She tells the next part where Lily shows up in a white wedding dress outside of Robin’s door. This leads Ted to say he’s a boring old man. “The Mother” tells him that she just worries about him and doesn’t want him to become a guy who lives in his stories (essentially the entire show premise). In a saddening piece of foreshadowing, she tells him “life only moves forward”. Ted asks her to tell him what happens next, and “The Mother” picks up the story from here. Lily apparently brought the dress because she wanted to re-do her own wedding photos, which as we can remember, turned out horribly (Marshall shaves his head, etc). Robin tells Lily that this shouldn’t be a problem, which of course Lily says that it should be.

Meanwhile, Ted and Barney are still discussing suits. Ted finally tells Barney to just wear the suit that he had specially made for the occasion. Barney tries it on and complains that it doesn’t feel right, but Ted says that is because it is new and has a life ahead of it. Barney agrees and says “this is the one”, in a simple analogy for his relationship with Robin. Then he tells Ted that now they have to choose a belt from a large rack of belts.

The gang meet up in Robin’s hotel room and Lily explains that this is important because it’s an important event for all of them, not just Robin and Barney. They realize it will be the last time they are all together for who knows how long, since Ted is moving. The scene changes back to Ted and “The Mother” where she says sometimes in those situations, it’s best to just enjoy one another’s company. In what seems like foreshadowing of something larger going on with them in 2024 as they enjoy one another’s company.

As the guys head out to get food, Lily, Robin, and Robin’s sister continue watching the movie. Robin goes to get more ice as Lily tells her sister “some people just don’t have that ‘holy crap this is my wedding moment’ “, just as Robin runs into her mother.

Ted finishes the story, saying “that’s the surprise ending,” to which “The Mother” responds “is it really? What mother would miss their own daughter’s wedding?” Which seems to have a big effect on Ted who begins to nearly cry. As this episode has hinted at throughout, and possibly throughout the entire show itself…”The Mother” may not be around that long after all. “The Mother” tries to make Ted smile again by asking about another story of his, one that she has likely heard before but he tells it anyway. As Ted continues to tell his stories, the camera pans away as Bob Dylan’s “If You See Her, Say Hello” plays.

Tune in next week, march 10th, for the next episode of How I Met Your Mother.

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