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The Lighthouse
HIMYM episode 9x08 (192)
Ted and Mother at the Lighthouse (1)
First aired:
November 4, 2013
Director:
Pamela Fryman
Writer:
Rachel Axler
Barney's Blog

Images (9)

When Robin and Loretta's conflict escalates, Barney is caught in the middle. Meanwhile, Marshall and Daphne deal with a stowaway on their road trip, and Ted and Cassie try to enjoy a trip to a lighthouse.


Recap[]

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It's 9:00 AM on Saturday (33 hours before the wedding), and 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, Barney admits to his mother that Robin cannot have children, something Robin had confessed to him the previous fall. 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 makes peace with Robin and tells her to call her "Mom" from now on.

Marshall and Daphne stop overnight at Mrs. Mosby's house 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'll 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 picking the music, forcing Daphne to listen to I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles); when a horrified Daphne states she hates the song, Marshall tells her to give it time.

Meanwhile, Lily has been angry 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 won't help him since he is single and lonely, Lily's alcohol-fueled anger leads her to poorly advise Ted to settle for Cassie, whom he'd 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 didn't settle. A flash-forward reveals that Ted took the Mother there two years later and proposed, which she enthusiastically accepted.

Continuity[]

  • Barney says "in-lawyered."
  • Robin won Loretta's blouse in The Poker Game. Also Lily reminds Barney the sentence that she said in that episode: "Happy wife = Happy life."
  • Barney asks his mom "Just... O.K.?" and to perform a "Get-this-over-with-quickly-so-we-can-move-past-how-awkward-it-was-that-I-just-said-that five!".
  • Robin's mom has only been mentioned once since an offscreen appearance in Swarley.
  • The Lighthouse is first mentioned in the episode Coming Back when Curtis suggested that Lily and Marshall should visit its grounds and notes that it's "super romantic."
  • The desk clerk Curtis was introduced in Coming Back, and his attitude towards Ted is the same as in said episode. Linus giving Lily a drink every time he sees her without one was introduced in same episode.
  • Marshall's quirks while driving, such as Zitch dog and 500 Miles were first introduced in Arrivederci, Fiero​.
  • Robin learns that she is infertile in Symphony of Illumination. It was hinted that Barney knew about it in The Fortress, set in early 2013; this episode confirms that Barney learned about it in late 2012.
  • Ted says that he has vomited once in his adult life. He had claimed that he has been "vomit free since '93", but it was revealed in Game Night that Ted vomited once on Robin's doormat after the events of the Pilot.
  • Cassie slips on the toy car on the stairs in the Farhampton Inn that has been sitting in the same spot for several episodes (since The Poker Game).
  • When Robin and Barney are hugging, he asks if it's weird that they're hugging in the first place, she disagrees until it begins raining, where they both say "Yeah, now it's weird" which was a line previously used in The Broken Code when Barney and Ted were on the beach.
    • In the same scene we see Barney reacting very differently from how Robin expected. In Symphony of Illumination she claims that Barney would have tried to make her laugh at all costs; however, his behavior is very mature and sweet instead.
  • The underground bar Robin and Barney go to when Robin tells Barney about her infertility is the same bar that Ted went to with Carly Whittaker in Ring Up.

Future References (Contains Spoilers)[]

  • Lily introduces herself at breakfast with a drink (Thank you Linus!) claiming that it has booze in it. However, we find out in Daisy​ that she has been drinking non-alcoholic the whole weekend.
  • We find out in Unpause that Marshall took a few things from Ted's childhood home, which he shows to the gang.
  • Lily is mad about Marshall taking the judgeship. This will result in her beating up Marshpillow in Bass Player Wanted and their fight in Unpause.
  • Marshall will repeat the same words about standing up for yourself to The Mother in Bass Player Wanted.
  • Robin will call Loretta 'mom' in Mom and Dad.
  • Robin being depressed over her mother not showing up to her wedding will be the focal point of Platonish.
  • Robin's mother having a fear of planes is explored in Daisy.
  • The Mother's response to Ted proposing is repeated when Ted proposes again in Last Forever - Part Two.
  • The proposal takes place in 2015 (two years after Robin and Barney's wedding) and Penny is born the same year (in time to be present for the 2015 watching of the "Star Wars" trilogy, as shown in Trilogy Time​​). That means the trip to the lighthouse with the proposal had to be fairly early in the year and Penny had to be born in the late fall. (However, when the camera pans out at the end of the scene, it is clear that it is fall, as the grass is green and the leaves on the trees are beginning to turn colors.)
    • This matches the timeline The Mother gave out in Last Forever - Part One, when she says she is pregnant thus preventing her to fit in a wedding dress in September that year.

Gallery[]

For a listing of all images on the wiki tagged as being from this episode, see Category:The Lighthouse images.

Memorable Quotes[]

Ted: Will you..
The Mother: Yes!
Ted: You didn't even let me..
The Mother: Yes!
Ted: Marry me?
The Mother: Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! YES!
Ted proposes to The Mother on the top of the lighthouse.

Robin: Okay, scrambled eggs. Here we go. Where is the egg opener? Never mind, I'll pre-scramble them. Okay fine, Loretta. You know what? You win. I don't know how to cook egg.
Robin's turn in the "scramble-off" against Loretta.

Barney: Mom, I'm not marrying some future possibility of starting a family. I'm marrying a girl. Who means more to me than kids. Or my career. Or even the Lambor-cuzzi, patent pending. So please, be nice to her.
Barney telling his mom how much he cares about Robin.

Loretta: If you don't even know how to make scrambled eggs, I just worry what kind of breakfast you're gonna be serving my grandchildren.
Robin: Well, lucky you because that is one thing you won't ever have to worry about.
Barney: Mom, Robin can't have kids.
Barney reveals to his mom about Robin's infertility.

Notes and Trivia[]

Goofs and Errors[]

  • Ted says this was the second time in his adult life he has vomited, probably referring to the first happened at the end of the Pilot (but only mentioned in Game Night as "the re-return"). However, in Jenkins​​​​​, Ted mentions he vomited all over himself playing the Robin Scherbatsky drinking game. Also in Ring Up, Ted says the gray hairs in his eyebrows were from the dried egg cream he had projectile vomited and then roller skated into. In The Yips​​​​​, Rhonda mentions Ted puking at the smoothie bar line of the gym, so there were four other times he puked in his adult life.
    • The Mother says to Ted, "When you vomit, I vomit. You know that." This implies that there have been even more times Ted has vomited since meeting the Mother.
  • Future Ted says that the only thing the gang knows about Robin's mother was that she's afraid of flying, she got stung by a jellyfish, and she makes the best scrambled eggs. But, in Perfect Week Robin mentioned that her mother was going through some pretty major league health stuff, and in Say Cheese​​​​​, Robin mentions that her mother plays cards with a woman named Bunny every Easter.

Allusions and Outside References[]

  • Barney references famous rock songs inspired by Loretta's scrambled eggs such as ZZ Top’s "She’s Got Legs", Led Zeppelin’s "Ramble On", "The Joker" by The Steve Miller Band, and Pink Floyd’s concept album; "The Dark Side of the Moon." The remarks about lining up songs references how many fans claim "Dark Side of the Moon" lines up with "The Wizard of Oz".
  • Clint mentions refusing to coach the Cleveland Browns. 
  • Marshall mentions that the last time Ted saw boobs was in the screen test scene (Irene Cara as "Coco") in the 1980 movie "Fame!" 
  • Lily's "eggasm" is similar to Alyson Hannigan's fake orgasms in the London stage version of "When Harry Met Sally." 
  • Whilst Daphne and Marshall were on their way to Cleveland, there is a sign that says "Cleveland - Birthplace of Ted Mosby". Ted quickly admits that sign might not have been there.

Music[]

Other Notes[]

Guests[]

Podcast[]

Featuring Rachel Axler.

Reception[]

  • The episode was viewed by 8.67 million people.[1]
  • Donna Boeman of The A.V. Club gave the episode an A.[2]
  • Max Nicholson of IGN gave the episode a 7.8 out of 10.[3]
  • Angel Cohn of Television Without Pity gave the episode a C-.[4]
  • The St. Petersburg Comic Review gave this episode 8 out of 10. "...Loretta and Robin square off at the omelette station..."

References[]

External Links[]


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