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Ted gets a mysterious call from an elderly woman, informing him: "The window is open." Said window belongs to Maggie, an old crush from Ted's college days, but he has never been able to pursue her, because the woman takes serial monogamy way too literally. She's the classic girl--door for whom men fall head-over-heels. As soon as she breaks up with one guy, another is pitching woo, before Ted even knows she's back on the market. When Ted missed his last all-too-brief window of opportunity, he bribed Maggie's neighbor to call him as soon as the window was once again open -- hence the phone call. This time, Ted gets to Maggie in time, and jumps through every hoop imaginable to spend the evening with her, but in all his planning he forgets one important thing -- his own availability. Ted has a class scheduled that evening, so he tasks the gang with running interference for him, until he can get back to MacLaren's and Maggie.
The B-plot revolves around a box of keepsakes Marshall's mom sent him -- specifically a letter his 15-year-old self wrote to his 30-year-old self. Marshall has not lived up to one of his adolescent goals and is taking it hard. When he bolts from MacLaren's (and Maggie-sitting), Lily follows to make sure he doesn't quit his job at GNB. This leaves Robin on Maggie-minding duty, but she has a hard time accepting that mild-mannered Maggie is way more of a guy magnet than she. The only way she can think to keep Maggie man-free is to throw herself at Maggie's co-worker, who is currently throwing himself at Maggie. When Robin makes the poor man take her on a date, the only one left to watch Maggie is... Barney. Yeah.
Fortunately, Barney is actually wearing the C-plot -- a pair of Marshall's overalls from his teen years. Barney's goal is to hook up with a woman while wearing the dated denim duds. Unfortunately, Maggie thinks they're cute. When Ted learns the fox is guarding the chicken coop, he rushes back to the bar, to keep (another one of) his dream girl(s) from being bedded by Barney. While succeeding at that, he fails at his main mission. And he (and Barney, and Maggie's co-worker) end up cock-blocked by the girl--door's boy--door and childhood sweetheart, in what Saget!Ted describes as the "Second greatest love story." Aw.
This episode is not to be missed, and not just because of Jason Segel's turn as the awkward teenage Marshall who writes to his future self while listening to Snow's "Informer" (but man, don't miss that part). And the Segel-centric end tag could only be better if there were actual, working light sabers. I'll hit that, and all the details in the full Weecap, tomorrow. In the meantime, come on over to the forum and licky boom boom down.
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Want more? The full recap starts right below!Remember that little show about an unapologetically romantic guy named Ted and his best friends? You know the one. The show itself was also often unapologetically romantic (see the blue French horn; a memory that will never be tarnished (except that it was); and the two-minute date), even while it treasured its edge. It continued on and off like that for four seasons, and then during the first chunk of its fifth season, it took what may be the second most longed-for couple in the series and squeezed every drop of joy and fun out of them before presenting them to their salivating audience. Yeah, well, forget about those dark days, because How I Met Your Mother's romance is back, and is as swoon-worthy as ever. Lordy! Get me my smelling salts and my lace hand fan. I'm going in!
Marshall enters Ted's apartment lugging a heavy package. Robin goes all Brad Pitt in Se7en, and is only slightly more cringe-worthy than Dean Winchester when he did the same. Lost's Frank did it much better, if you ask me, and granted, you didn't. Anyhow, it's intentionally awkward, but satisfying once Robin looks at her two friends who refuse to indulge her with even a smirk, and says, "Yeah, I'm the jerk." I say satisfying, because she was the jerk, until she said that. At any rate, it seems Marshall's mother has been sending him his old stuff, which totally explains why he'd heft a box all the way from Dowisetrepla to Ted's place, right? Oh, sitcoms. In it, there's a bunch of childhood jetsam, like an old Mad Libs book. Marshall reads it: "Fart went to the fart to fart fartly." As they laugh over young Marshall's scatology, the phone rings. When Ted picks it up, we cut to an older lady (Barbara Perry, who played Buddy's wife, Pickles Sorrell, on The Dick Van Dyke Show) talking on her cell as she walks down the streets of New York, pushing her little shopping cart. It's not the store kind of cart that street people use. It's the actual old-lady kind that middle-class old ladies use. (Rich old ladies have staff do their shopping. Rich old ladies rule.) Look how cute Barbara Perry looks here. Her wool coat even sparkles as she deadpans into the phone: "The window is open." We cut back to...
Ted's: His eyes grow wide and he sits up straight. "What?" Back on the street, Barbara Perry is getting exasperated. "The window! Is open!" In the apartment, Ted turns to Marshall: "The window is open." Like us, Robin has no idea what this means, but Marshall sure does, and pushes Ted through his shock, and out the door. "RUN, TED. RUN!" Ted rushes down the front steps, which are all decked out for Christmas. Lily's approaching from the right, but there's a family standing between them, and they're blocking Ted's path. Ted yells, "Lily, the window is open!" Lily grabs the baby carriage from the mother and pushes it down the street, as she says, "Oh, make a hole, people." The family tears off after their baby as Lily cheers Ted on.
Ted runs through the night until, panting, he meets up with Maggie Wilkes [Joanna Garcia, who may be most noted for playing Cheyenne on Reba, but she's Freaks and Geeks' Vicky Appleby (with Segel) in my book; and Christy in American Pie 2 (with Hannigan)]. And it's clear from the way Ted stumbles over his words that whatever "the window" is, it belongs to Maggie. Ted does his best to play it like their meeting is accidental, and when Maggie reveals (confirms) that she has just broken up with her boyfriend, Ted does a crappy job of pretending he's sorry to hear that and then asks her to hang out that night.
MacLaren's: Ted confirms that he "got in the window." Marshall and Lily celebrate, and the gang gives Barney and Robin the backstory. Ted's been crazy about Maggie since college, but she's a classic girl--door, and men are always falling in love with her. She's only been single for three brief windows of opportunity since they graduated. We flash back nine years. Maggie's just broken up with her college boyfriend and moved to New York. Ted waits a decent month's interval before moving on her so he won't be the rebound guy. The problem is, Maggie is still with her rebound guy. Two years later, when she breaks up with Rebound Guy, an older, wiser Ted only waits a week before pursuing Maggie, but even that's too long. Maggie's already in a new relationship (which will last 3 years). When that falls apart, Ted waits a scant hour before knocking on Maggie's door. "The only thing she did between becoming single and the moment I got there was go downstairs and check her mail." In the flashback, Ted knocks. Maggie opens her door, and she's standing there all cuddly-like with the postman (who rang twice -- wait for it -- as fast). Determined not to let that happen again, Ted approaches the aforementioned Barbara Perry, a.k.a. Maggie's neighbor, Mrs. Douglas. He begs her to call him the second Maggie and mailman are kaput. And four years later, here we are. Maggie is on her way to MacLaren's now -- under the care of a female cab driver Ted sent over to ferry her there, thereby preventing her from meeting a new man before meeting up with Ted. Cue the jibe from Barney about her not meeting up with a man once she's with Ted, either.
After Barney makes an out-of-place declaration that this is going to be a good night, Marshall reaches down and takes a pair of overalls out of his box of mementos, which is conveniently placed on the floor to his booth at MacLaren's. It's so out of nowhere, I feel like there's a missing scene, but let's just go with it, okay? It's clear Marshall loves his overalls. He calls them "my jam." Robin needles him about being a virgin until he met Lily. Marshall and I find her comment unnecessary, but Lily allows that the overalls just might have been a dealbreaker. Laughing, Barney grabs the overalls from Marshall and says nobody could get laid wearing them. He then stops mid-chuckle and says (to himself, mind you), "Challenge accepted!" He's going to wear the overalls until he has sex with a woman. The gang rolls their eyes as he rushes off to change in the men's room. Robin says, "I actually dated that guy." Everyone makes regretful yeah, you did noises at her (and the writers) until Ted announces his Maggie game-plan. When she arrives, everyone should make nice with her for a moment and then take off. This is Ted's one shot at Maggie and he's determined not to screw it up. So, I guess we know Maggie's not the mother, huh?
Robin asks Ted who's covering his class that evening. Ted yells, "Crap!" and thing we know, Maggie is there. It's clear she's as fond of Lily and Marshall as they are of her. She and Robin greet one another warmly and then Robin roams away to give the old friends their space. Ted tells Maggie he totally forgot he has to teach that night and asks her if she wants to come with "and check out a real, live architecture class." Maggie says, "Ooh... not even a little bit." [I get that Ted is a colossal bore, but still -- if she was even slightly interested in him, or as good a friend as she seems, wouldn't she be curious to watch him teach a class? ...No, I guess not. - Zach] She'll hang with Lily and Marshall until Ted gets back, so Ted pulls them aside and tells them if they still want him to find the perfect girl so they can all grow old together -- Maggie is that girl. They're not to let any man near her in his absence. No waiters. No busboys. "If she burst into flames, I want a fire woman putting her out." Marshall takes that too literally, and Ted calls him back to the plot. "Damn it, Marshall. Whatever you have to do, keep Maggie Wilkes single until I get back." He starts out of the bar, and then turns back and grabs hold of his friends. "I left my tab open. Don't abuse it." Once his back is again to them, Marshall and Lily high-five, and Marshall rushes to the booth as Lily heads to the bar. Commercial.
Marshall and Lily wait for Maggie outside MacLaren's ladies' room, as if they're (pre-Salahi) Secret Service and escort her back to the booth with fierce determination. Lily corners an innocent-if-interested man and growls at him to back off. When they're seated, the camera pans to the bar where we see Barney wearing the overalls... over his suit. Robin claims not to care about his challenge, but deems the suit cheating. Barney points out they're called over-alls. "They're not called 'over shirtless fat guys who used to come fix my mom's car and then hang out upstairs with her for a little while.'" NPH's voice breaks there and it's priceless. As he finishes his suit-defense, a sexy woman enters the bar. Barney eyes her appreciatively, giving her a nod and a, "Hey." Robin interrupts. "Oh, he's not saying hello. He's just telling you what he feeds his horsies." She laughs, and the babe wanders off for greener pastures. Not sorry. Once she's gone, Robin laughingly tells Barney she could sit there and make "you look like a farmer jokes all night." She then stops mid-chuckle and says (to herself, of course), "Challenge accepted!" Barney lets his head fall back as he looks heavenward for strength and we cut to...
Ted's Classroom: He runs in and, sounding not unlike an auctioneer, spews at his students: "There are six types of bridges: beam, cantilever, arch, suspension and..." he hastily flashes through his slides, "...two others. You got land on both sides. Water in the middle. See you all week." As he speeds toward the door, one of his students has to be That Guy and ruin it for EVERYBODY. "We get you for the whole hour." Ted must have left his healthy ego on the subway. "Oh, come on. I mean, who really wants to sit here and listen to me yap about bridges for an hour?" Oh my. He's got a whole class full of That Guys and Gals, because all of his students raise their hands. Ted, you've found the ones! I don't know where you can actually marry an entire mixed-sex classroom full of people, but these babies are your match made in heaven. Ted can't hear me, but the sight of their hands in the air moves him. "Really?" [He is so adorable right there. - Z] By the way Ted, that red sweater/tweed jacket combo? Pulling it off.
MacLaren's: Marshall and Lily invent a drinking game where they drink every time one of them thinks how awesome Ted is. Let's leave a perplexed but good-natured Maggie with them, while we check on Farmer Barney over at the bar. He's no longer wearing the suit jacket, but he's still got the shirt and tie on under his overalls. He approaches an attractive woman and asks if he can buy her a drink. Robin pops up behind him and drawls: "He's got a big brown jug, with three X's on it." Barney grimaces. "What have I done?" He moves off, leaving Robin laughing with the woman at the bar and we cut back to...
Classroom: Ted tells his students there is one important think to keep in mind when designing bridges. At the blackboard he writes: M A G G I E. We learn some of the students' names later on, but I'm just going to start using them now, for clarity's sake. Louis (Matthew Moy) says, "Maggie?" Ted says "No," and then decides to cover. "I mean... yes. When you're designing a bridge, always remember: Make Adjustments... Go Get It Energized." He nods as if they're buying it, then adds, "Good advice for life, too." Student Betty (Marieve Herington, who seems to have provided the voice for a Sarah Palin doll!) gets Ted talking about the real Maggie. He explains that he's been into her for a long time and that tonight might be his once chance to go out with her. Instead of telling him to go, everyone in class raises their hands. Again. Jamie asks if Maggie's a hottie. Ted says she's very attractive and makes a plea to end class now, but Betty's hand shoots up again. "Maggie may finally be available, but what about you, Professor Mosby? Are you ready for a serious relationship?" My husband asks if Betty might be the mother. I remind him how the Mother was in the wrong classroom, but honestly, I was thinking the same thing myself. I know maybe it's a less-than professional move for Ted, but in this post-Letterman/intern world, go for it, Ted. Anyhow, at first, Ted says he's totally ready, but instead of taking that opportunity to bolt from the classroom, he then reverses himself, dithers a bit, and then asks the students what they think, because Ted is King That Guy. His countrymen again raise their hands and we cut to...
MacLaren's: Marshall finds a letter tucked away inside a yearbook that was in his box o' crap. Fifteen-year-old Marshall wrote it to 30-year-old Marshall -- all full of goals, aspirations, and youthful ignorance of the ugly side of life: student loans, slanty floors and spousal credit card debt. We flash back to 1993. Wee Marshall's got braces on his teeth, a rattail in his hair, and is of course, wearing the overalls. I'm just gonna transcribe this, because it's so cute.
Dear Future Me,
First off, you'd better be driving either a kick-ass Camaro or the A-Team van. That's priority numero uno. And by now your rattail should hang down to your frickin' knees. You can still slam-dunk, obviously. And you've legally changed your name to "Vanilla Thunder." Your wife, let me break it down: blonde, six feet tall, has an awesome rack and caters to your every need. Since Wee Marshall is wearing an expression that... erm... is akin one, um... Frodo wears whenever he wants to put on the one ring, we'll leave him his privacy and cut to...
MacLaren's: Marshall looks at his tiny little wife. "Sorry, babe." Lily raises her glass as she smiles. "That's okay. You just described your mother." Marshall ewws, but Maggie insists he continue. So let's away to 1993 and letter land...
You're still rocking the stone-washed overalls, because this look is working. Oh, and most importantly, you'd better be saving the world. If you became some lame, corporate sellout? Just throw yourself off a cliff, because you suck. And I? Licky boom-boom down. Wee Marshall turns up the volume on his boom box, and Snow's "Informer" carries us back to the present and...
MacLaren's: While the women laugh at his letter, Marshall grows more and more dismayed that he's grown up to be a lame, corporate sellout, working for the most evil (fictional) bank in the history of the world. Maggie tries to talk him down. "Oh, come on, Vanilla Thunder. Everyone's got to grow up and get a real job." Lily agrees and points out that back in college, Maggie wanted to be a marine biologist by day and mentor inner-city kids by night. She asks Maggie what she really ended up doing. Maggie nods wordlessly for a moment, then answers: "Those things." Marshall can't take it; he's out of there. When Lily asks where he's going, he says he just has to take care of something at work. "It won't take long." Realizing he might be off to quit his job (which, in this economy, could wreck their future) Lily runs after him. She calls Ted and explains she had to leave Maggie in Robin's care. At Columbia, Ted's class watches his end of the conversation intently. "You left Maggie with Robin?!" And we cut to...
MacLaren's: Lily and Marshall are long gone. Robin is now on the phone with Ted, telling him she's got everything well in hand. Not lacking in self-confidence, she allows that while Maggie might be the sort of guy-magnet that you could use to hang your kid's picture on the fridge, "I'm one of those magnets that can pick up cars in a junkyard." She grabs two beers from the bartender and returns to the booth, only to find Maggie already sitting with a man who turns out to be her (obviously smitten) co-worker, who she introduces as Jim (New Hampshire boy Jamie Kaler, a. k.a. Mike Callahan, My Boys). Jim can't bear to take his eyes off Maggie, even when he's meeting Robin. We cut to...
Classroom: A picture of Maggie is up on the screen. Ted sits on the table at the front of the classroom and wonders what "being ready" even means. He tells the kids about being left at the altar and how that's left him scared. [I love how hands shoot up during this, and Ted calls on them in full teacher discussion mode, "Louis, then Betty." - Z] Louis says everyone's scared. Betty adds that being scared lets you know you're onto something important. Ted runs with that. If you're not scared, it's because you're not taking a chance, and then, "What the hell are you doing?" Jamie adds, "I think you're ready, Bro." We sideways slide to...
MacLaren's: Maggie and Jim enjoy one another's company a little too much for Robin, so she throws herself at Jim. It gets so bad that when he invites Maggie to a photography show, Les Chiens Érotiques (yeah, that means what you think it does) and if I-only-took-Latin-and-Spanish-American-me can translate that, surely Canadian-Robin can, and yet she accepts Jim's invitation as if it had been meant for her, rather than Maggie, all along.
Classroom: Ted decides it's time to go take that chance. Jamie raises his hand. "One last piece of advice... Make Adjustments...." The rest of the class joins in: "Go Get It Energized!" Oh my word, how cute are they? Can we have more of them this season? Please? Anyhow, on his way out of the classroom, Ted's phone rings. It's Robin. Outside MacLaren's, we see her getting into a cab with Jim as she informs Ted about a change in Maggie-minding plans. We cut back to Ted. "YOU LEFT HER WITH BARNEY?!" And we cut to...
MacLaren's: Robin's long gone, and now Barney's talking on his phone to Ted, telling him to relax. They're bros. He's got his back. Ted scowls. "You're an animal." Barney continues: "Even though our bro-lationship has suffered its setbacks in this area, I assure you I will be the perfect gentleman." He lays a glass of wine down in front of Maggie and takes the seat opposite her, only to get his first real look at her. She thanks him, takes a sip of her wine and adds (without sarcasm): "By the way, I really like those overalls." Barney's face lights up. Over the phone, he tells Ted, "You have ten minutes to get down here or the window's closing." Ted's all, "Ten minutes?" Barney says, "Yeah! Because we're bros." Ted flies out the door and we fly to commercial.
Photography Exhibit: The sign on the wall reads Les Chiens Érotique (sic), Photographs by Grace Chon (an actual pet photographer, based in L.A.). Jim wants to go back to the bar and find Maggie, but Robin tries to talk him into staying, praising the erotic dog photography, particularly the photos of the Corgis doing it "people style." Oh my word. I can't believe I had to type that. I'm going to go look at Chon's very cute non people-style pet photos to clear my head. Be right back. Ah. That's better. Back to the story.
Jim's still focused on Maggie, so Robin grabs a glass of red off a waiter's tray and suggests they have some wine, first. When Jim doesn't follow her lead, she intentionally spills her wine all over her breasts. The waiter (Alec Medlock) stares in wide-eyed wonder, but Jim looks away. Awkward. I'm with the waiter, but not because of Robin's girls. Did you see that wine mostly bead up and roll off? What's that shirt made of? It's a miracle fabric! When Jim won't look at her, Robin lays it on thick. "Oh man. Look how filthy I am. I'm a filthy, filthy girl who would totally go to second base with a guy as a favor to a friend." The waiter scurries off. Jim refuses to look at her, so Robin leans in and starts pawing at herself. "Huh. You like that? Oooh. Oh. Dirty..." Jim interrupts. Thank goodness. I was afraid I was going to have to watch the rest of the episode from the hall. He's going to call Maggie and see what she's doing. Robin has a Marcia Marcia Marcia moment with Maggie's name and then tells Jim to give it a rest. "She's hanging out with Ted tonight." Jim's all, "Ted? What about David?" By now, Robin's dropped the act. She's trying to brush the wine off her clothing. "They broke up." Jim says, "Maggie's single?" Robin looks up. "That doesn't sound familiar." Too late. Jim's gone. It's too late for her blouse, too. I guess the fabric's not such a miracle after all. That stain is going to be a chienne to get out (but not the érotique kind). Luckily, the earnest, eager and oh-so young waiter returns, cloth in hand. "Can I help... wipe that off?" A beat. "Please?" Hee.
Streets of New York/best joke of the night: Ted, who is running as fast as he can, shouts out, "I hate Barney Stinson." An unseen woman hollers back, "Me, too!"
GNB; Interior: Lily's there, but except for her and the janitor, the place seems empty. She looks at Wee Marshall's letter again, and realizes where he is.
GNB; Exterior: Marshall's holding a ball, contemplating the basketball net. Lily finds him there and tells him she thought he came there to quit his job. "I forgot about the hoop." Marshall just wanted to do one thing in his letter so he wouldn't feel like such an old sell-out. As for his slam-dunk? "I barely grazed the bottom of the net, and now my legs hurt so bad I can't even fall down." Oh, poor baby.
MacLaren's: Barney, who is enjoying Maggie's company, walks to the bar to get another round, and it's there that Ted finds and confronts him. I want to pick him up by his tweedy lapels and plop him in the booth in front of Maggie. You're wasting valuable time, T-Mos. He won't listen. He's all, "How could you?" He's Barney, hello. Barney says, "Ted, I challenged myself to get laid wearing overalls, and if you stand in my way, then you're letting Barney win. And you don't want that. That smug son of a bitch will never let us hear the end of it." Heh. Just then, Jim races in and starts over toward Maggie but Ted and Barney stop him. , Robin runs in huffing and puffing. She approaches Jim. "Mister, you just missed out on the night of your life." Pant pant pant. "The night. Of your life." She walks off. The three men bicker about who has the most invested in Maggie (Jim, 5 years; Ted, 12 years; Barney, wearing overalls for an hour and a half thanks to a self-imposed sex challenge). Meanwhile, Maggie is turning into a mere object before our very eyes. She sits at the table, her back to the boys, and idly plays with her necklace, while her eyes look a million miles away.
GNB; Exterior: Lily does her Lily-level best to console Marshall about missing the dunk. "You've achieved more in your 30 years than that 15-year-old dweeb could ever dream of. You put yourself through Columbia law school. You had the sense to chop off that stupid rattail. And you married a smoking-hot chick, who looks nothing like your mother." Actually, it must be 31 years, Lil, but I suppose that's not helpful. Lily approaches the hoop. "I think that earns you an entire foot closer to dunking." She fiddles with a thingie and lowers the net. "There you go, Vanilla Thunder." Marshall narrows his eyes, gives himself some space, tells Lily to step back and blows a kiss to God. We watch as Marshall, in slow-mo dribbles toward the net. He grabs the ball in both hands, leaps, and gets NOTHING BUT NET! Um. From the bottom. The ball is still in his hands as he screams and falls to the ground. Lily looms over him. "Oh, baby. How about instead of dunking, we go up to your office, and you lie very still while I go bananas all over you?" The camera remains on Lily's face as Marshall groans, "Could we maybe instead just do it right here?" Lily smiles. "Sure, baby." You dirty kids. It's cold out.
MacLaren's: Jim, Ted and Barney all fight over who gets the first crack at the object. I think its name used to be Maggie. Jim mentions how small the object's window of opportunity is. Barney says, "Guys, let me assure you, if you let me in there, that window's gonna open up again in, like, ten minutes." Oh, too bad Marshall missed Barney dissing his own prowess like that. Robin approaches the guys as they notice the object is missing. When Ted says, "Wait, where's Maggie?" Robin says, "She gone." She sent her home because the guys were like vultures fighting over her, and she ought to be single for once. Jim sneers, "You jealous bitch." Barney starts to join in, but Ted stops them. Clearly, like me, he's wondering why Robin's face is dirty. I think she's being far too pedantic about the filthy girl thing, Ted. Oh wait, Ted still wants to talk about Maggie. To give him his due, he agrees with Robin. Maggie needs some time on her own. To take that due right back -- he's now out-Barneying Barney (and Jim). Ted backs up a little as he goes on about what the object probably needs, then throws an empty barstool in the other guys' path and books it out of the bar. Barney and Jim trip over the stool and each other, trying to catch up with him and the object's quickly closing window.
Manhattan Streets; Night: Ted runs past the object's door to fake out Barney and Jim, then doubles back and heads up the stairs. They're right behind him, though. Inside, Ted gets to the door first, while Barney and Jim tussle in front of Mrs. Douglas's place. Maggie comes to the door, just like a real person -- just like she did in all of Ted's flashbacks, and there's a guy behind her, just like there was in all of Ted's flashbacks. This one is Adam (Michael Spellman). He's the girl--door's boy door. Literally. They were childhood sweethearts who grew up to each other. Saget!Ted narrates: "And then, Maggie Wilkes told us the second greatest love story I've ever heard." We get a montage of wee-est Maggie and Adam having a little tea party, near a little sapling. He pats her bunny (which is wearing a matching outfit, and the whole thing makes me yearn for Pushing Daisies, as Invader Toph pointed out in the episode thread). they're playing catch; the sapling has a few years on it, now -- it's no longer supported by stakes. Soon, teenaged Maggie and a stone-washed overall-wearing Adam are sharing what must be their first kiss, so soft and sweet, underneath the shade of the now taller, fuller tree. And finally, a mover carrying a box passes them, as Adam places a necklace (the necklace) on Maggie's neck. He then picks up his oversized duffel bag and sadly walks away. Teen Maggie looks down at her necklace, and we fade out, back to...
Maggie's Door; Present: Adam says he just moved to town and had to look up Maggie. Her eyes are near tears as she says they have a lot of catching up do to. Ted's smile is bittersweet, but not displeased as he nods in understanding. Saget!Ted tells his kids that he lost the ultimate girl--door to the guy door. Once current-day Ted, Barney and Jim are back on the sidewalk, Ted turns to Jim. "Well, see you time." Jim shakes his head and walks off. Saget!Ted then tells us there was no time. "Maggie's window never opened again. We jump to a shot of an older Maggie and Jim. They're standing on the front steps of Maggie's childhood home. There's been some disagreement in the forums as to the meaning of this final scene. The man on the right front of the lawn resembles Bob Saget, and the woman on the lawn closer to the house has red hair (but so does Maggie) and so some people think this is Ted, Marshall, Lily, and the Mother playing with their kids on Maggie and Adam's lawn. I think though, that Maggie and Adam appear a little too old for that and suspect by the quiet looks of satisfaction on their faces that they're watching their own kids and grandkids play, but answer for yourself in the poll on the right hand side of this page.
Once the montage is over, we're back to Barney and Ted standing on the street. Barney suggests they go to the country and western bar we first saw in "Woooo" -- Giddy Ups. "The overalls have gotta work there. Wingman me?" Ted says, "I don't want to go to Giddy Ups." He gestures with his thumb toward Maggie's building. "I want that. I forgot what it feels like to chase the real thing, but I think I'm ready again." My husband says, "I think I'm ready to slap Ted, again." Shut up, husband. This is romantic. You were long married by the time you were Ted's age. You don't know his life. Ahem. Barney tries to distract us from our argument. "Yeah, let me tell you where I'm at. I want to have sex with a girl so I can take off these overalls." Ted walks away, as Barney begs him for help. "I've gotta take these things off." Just then, Barbara Perry's Mrs. Douglas hollers out her window, "Hey there. I just love your overalls." She's waving a fan coquettishly, which makes me think someone on the crew is aware of this vid. (I don't usually do this, but here's the URL for that link, for those of you who read the recap via Yahoo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp9nvZisoW8) Barney raises an eyebrow, swallows hard, shakes off a grimace, gives her a hesitating wassup sort of nod, and slowly makes his way toward the front door. By the time his foot hits the first step, he has freed his right shoulder from the overalls' hold. Head bowed, he marches resolutely through the door.
End tag: Marshall sits in the booth at MacLaren's, writing to his future self.
Dear 60-Year-Old Marshall,
By now you should be working somewhere that's making the world a better place, or at least trying to. No pressure, dude. I mean, sir. Also, if time travel is possible, maybe you could give me a little sign on Tuesday, December 8, at 8:29 P.M.
Current-day Marshall looks around, but his hope soon fades. Just then, Lily comes over with some munchies. "Someone sent back these chicken wings, because they were too hot. And I'm like, 'Too hot? Are you crazy?' So, free wings!" Across the bar, we see an old man sitting alone in a booth, by the front window. He looks oddly familiar. Marshall smiles appreciatively at his smoking hot wife and her platter full of wings and continues his letter...
Old-Man Marshall, as long as you're still married to Lily, you're doing just fine.
He and Lily dig into the wings as the old man watches them with some interest from across the room. Wendy-the-waitress approaches the old man and, close up, we see that it's Old-Man Marshall! She tells him his tab is on them and apologizes that the wings were too hot. Old-Man Marshall rasps: "Oh no, dear. It wasn't that they were too hot. It's just that I had wings earlier." He waits a beat and then looks off toward his younger self and pretty bride. "Much earlier." Wendy takes her leave and Old-Man Marshall stares 'til we fade to black.
I hope you grade the episode up at the top of the page. There seem to be a lot of diverging opinions on it and I'm wondering what the overall sentiment is. I just loved it, and not just for the romance -- for the heart, which is, to me, one of this show's best features. There were some overly broad moments (mostly from Robin and Barney, but their timing makes up for it), but they don't ping me when a story is this well told. I do wish Joanna Garcia had played a character that mattered as a person, rather than as an object. She's a winning actress. I'm sad she can't be the mother, but grateful that I know that window is closed, so I don't hold out hope.
For those of you yearning for the show's edge, week's "Last Cigarette Ever" is bound to be less sweet, since the gang struggles to quit smoking (and not counting Robin's sneaky puffs here and there - who knew they did?). Meanwhile, Robin clashes with a new co-worker. I think we know who that is. See you then. In the meantime, don't forget to grade the episode, and vote on the poll. Then come on over to the forums and licky boom boom down.
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