The season five premiere of the Emmy-nominated show How I Met Your Mother delivered exactly what the fans wanted. The show has a bulletproof formula that’s simple yet brilliant. Each episode includes five friends with unique personalities, meaningful nonsense, heartfelt moments, relationship theories, clever one-liners and an unsolved mystery.
The show, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays, was made for art to imitate life with characters based on their own personalities and a plot that consists of “the stupid things they did in New York”.
Bob Saget narrates as the older version of the show’s main character, Ted Mosby, whose younger counterpart is played by Josh Radnor. Ted narrates to his son and daughter the series of events that led to meeting their mother. Although the mother’s identity is strongly hinted at throughout all four seasons, she has yet to be revealed.
The cast is made up of quirky characters that each possess idiosyncrasies we can all relate to. Ted Mosby, an architect, is the guy too scared to take risks and therefore never gets the girl. He instantly falls in love with his dream girl, Robin Scherbatsky (played by Cobie Smulders), who is a news reporter and ex-Canadian ex-pop star. Just when all signs pointed to Robin being the potential mother, they split, realizing they have different outlooks on the future. Despite the awkward tension and blurred lines between friends and lovers, the two remain a significant part of each other’s lives.
An example of the ideal couple is portrayed in Marshall and Lily (played by Alyson Hannigan and Jason Segel and better known as Marshmallow and Lily Pad). Ted knew they were destined to be married from the days they went to college together. The lovebirds nearly hit rock bottom throughout seasons two and three when Marshall loses his job and Lily leaves for California to become an artist. But like every incident in the show, fate has a way of messing with you.
This show would lack its luster without the fifth character, Barney Stinson (portrayed by Neil Patrick Harris). With an occupation less known and a resume of women more prominent, Barney is the character that shines by playing the ultimate ladies’ man (in spite of his real-life orientation). No one could ever pull off a line like “Suit up,” or “It’s going to be…wait for it…LEGENDARY!” quite like he does.
Season five opens right where the show left off with Ted Mosby, now architect-turned-professor, preparing for his first day of school. His biggest dilemma was not deciding between being the cool guy or stern authoritative figure, but how to spell Professor! He soon learns that teaching comes natural when you don’t have time to stress.
In an odd pairing, Robin and Barney confessed their love for each other last season, but can’t even manage to have “the talk” that defines their relationship. They resolve to be pretend “boyfriend and girlfriend”, leaving fans wondering just how truthful they are being to themselves.
Regardless of whether you are a HIMYM newbie or a season veteran, you become instantly addicted to the nonsense shenanigans and pick up on the plot without having seen previous episodes. The beauty of the show lies in its ability to make you feel every emotion from the weirdest scenarios (think pineapple incident or “Slapsgiving”). The best part is that each episode is designed to make viewers think about the events in their lives and just how legendary they’ll seem in the future.