(SPOILERS AHEAD, so proceed with caution, you Mother lovers!)
Season Nine, Episode Ten: “Mom and Dad”
Written by: Carter Bays & Craig Thomas; Directed by: Pamela Fryman
Tonight’s episode takes a page from The Parent Trap as Barney tries to get his parents back together. Meanwhile, it seems like we may have some resolution for various plot threads — or threats — that were made earlier this season. And the writers have even included another musical number!
Quick Breakdown
Saturday 3 p.m., 27 hours before the wedding.
James’ father arrives and saves the weekend by agreeing to be the minister for the wedding. Looks like that plot twist wrapped itself up with a pretty little bow on it. Seeing James’ dad makes Barney wistful for his own father. Oh, look, there he is! Jerry (John Lithgow) is checking in with his wife — he even bumps into Loretta for the first time in decades. Robin is excited to see them fight, but they greet each other civilly and move on. Barney thinks they’re in love.
Beforehand, Barney had entrusted a signed photo of Wayne Gretsky to Best Man Ted to keep before he could give it to Robin as a wedding present (apparently waiting until halfway through the weekend to hide it from Robin). Ted leaves it on his desk while taking a shower, and when he comes out, his calligraphy ink is spilled all over the photo. He goes to Lily and tells her that Detective Mosby is on the case. Only three other people overheard Barney giving him the photo, and one of them is Billy Zabka, who had previously challenged him for the Best Man position. Ted starts there.
On the road, Daphne has joined Marshall in singing “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles).” Their bond is briefly lived before she turns on Marshall. He tries to understand why she’s suddenly so angry, assuming he did something wrong (like leaving the oranges on the roof or calling the police to give her a speeding ticket). But she’s only mad because she told her daughter she would be late to her speech, and her daughter told her not to bother showing up.
Barney, being Barney, devises an elaborate rekindling moment for Jerry and Loretta in the elevator (with Jerry’s wife disposed of via Ranjeet driving her away in his limo). They yell at Barney that they’ll never get back together. James saves them, but only because he has his own scheme to get Loretta with his father instead. The two face off and — wait for it — sing!
In the song, Barney imagines life at home with his mother and father reunited. James interrupts, imagining his own mom and dad together again. The two soon devolve into a childish fight until Robin breaks it up. Barney and James agree to give up on their Parent Trap scheming and go to toast some McKenna outside. But when they arrive outdoors, they see Loretta making out with James’ father. Barney drops the replacement bottle in the same fashion as Ted earlier this season.
After some mildly intelligent detective work (Ted’s no Sherlock) and some wild interrogations, Ted realizes that it had to be Zabka who sabotaged the photo. It was Zabka-tage! Lily, who had been using ink remover to uncover the photo, realizes the same thing when she sees it is a Zabka headshot. She tackles Zabka as he walks down the hall (making that Lily’s second tackle of the weekend, Future Ted is quick to remind us).
Ted asks why Zabka would do such a dastardly thing. He tells his sob story about how everyone boos him because he was the villain. And, finally, Barney asks him to be Best Man (albeit briefly and half-heartedly), and he finally feels like someone cares about him. Ted feels bad for him, of course, and lies to Barney, saying he spilled ink over the photo and that it was Zabka who hunted down a replacement. Barney mocks Ted and moves on.
Marshall feels bad for Daphne and rushes to get them to her daughter’s speech. They arrive just in time for her to stand on stage and see her mother in the audience. Both are heartened by this moment, but Marshall has to get back on the road — he has a wedding to get to.
Rating
B-
The writers continue to prove that they have a plan for the season, incorporating jokes from earlier episodes. I gotta say, this long wedding weekend gimmick isn’t as annoying as I thought it would be. This’ll be a great season to marathon later. Unfortunately, tonight’s episode crammed too much into each story to let any funny gags or jokes fully resonate. But now we have some resolution for those various plot developments, even though they came about abruptly.
Now for some random thoughts and my favorite moments of the night…
“Detective Mosby’s the worst.” – Lily when Ted announces that he is investigating the ink spill. She reminds him of his failure to find an answer to the Pineapple Incident
“You can’t even detect sarcasm!” – Lily continuing to dress down Ted
The musical number was a great addition and a perfect Sweeps Month stunt
The recurring gag with Ranjeet holding Jerry’s wife hostage in the limo was pretty amusing
“I’m going to kill my — wait for it — self.” –Jerry’s wife’s “suicide note” (obviously written by Barney)
In the tag ending (a recurring phenomena this season), Jerry finds his wife in Ranjeet’s limo, jumping on the windshield, causing his wife to scream.
