1. New Year’s Eve 2022…This episode starts with Ted and The Mother in the back seat of a limo, sharing some champagne. Sadly, Ranjit isn’t driving, even though this would’ve been a great addition to the scene. We find out that The Mother is a writer and has just released a book. She’s nervous that Ted is going to get too drunk, which brings us back to the morning of Barney and Robin’s wedding, when he made a vow to never get shit–faced again.
2. The Stinson hangover fixer elixir…Barney is still passed out 10 hours before the wedding and not even screaming, “your shoes and belt don’t match” will wake him up. He has peed himself and is going to be late for the photos. In seasons past, we learned that Barney is incapable of taking a bad picture, but he is so wasted this morning that he does. The gang realizes the only thing that could fix Barney is his magical green potion (with Tantrum soda and Funions, eww! How are Funions made liquid?) that only he knows the secret ingredient for.
3. I will never get that drunk again…After seeing Barney with the worst hangover ever, everyone vows never to get that drunk again. Marshall breaks the vow (and starts balding) when he thinks he is losing the race for State Supreme Court. He ends up winning and gives a drunken interview about saving Gotham City. Lily breaks her vow after dropping her son off at Wesleyan, but he later shows up to the same bar. Lily responds, in her classic you–son–of–a–bitch voice, “you son of a me!” Robin gets super drunk on a trip to Argentina, and there’s a little fake–out about Robin and Barney having a kid. Turns out, it’s not their baby.
4. Weekend at Barney’s…Barney misses the pictures, but, to put a smile on his face, the gang convinces him they did “Weekend at Barney’s” and held him up with sunglasses on to take the photos. In reality, Robin’s dad kicked him in the balls for missing it.
5. So much love…It turns out there is no secret ingredient. It was all lie that Barney told to make his friends rally after a hard night. Barney created an awesome placebo effect, which shows how much he cares despite all his douchey and selfish moments. The episode ends with Ted, The Mother and two cute kids climbing into bed to celebrate New Year’s Day. There’s a syrupy amount of warm, sweet, loving feelings. The episode didn’t make me laugh out loud, but at least it put a smile on my face.
Check out some of our other HIMYM Season 9 Recaps!
"Sunrise" Aired on 02.03.2014
"How Your Mother Met Me" Aired on 01.27.2014
"Unpause" Aired on 01.20.2014
