Warning: Fullfrom the episode to follow.

Tonight, How I Met Your Mother commemorated its 200th (!!!) episode by chronicling the epic saga of the Mother and her many, many almost-run-ins with Ted and the gang over the last eight years. But unlike the beginning of Ted's story, September 2005 meant tragedy for the Mother, whose 21st birthday marked the night of her boyfriend Max's sudden death. Quickly fast-forwarding to St. Patrick's Day 2008 (in April?), the episode took a much lighter turn with humorous references to the yellow umbrella and the triumphant return of The Naked Man. Not only was the Mother a "one out of three" gal, but also the first "one out of three" gal. (Well played, HIMYM. Well played.)

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Also great was the return Rachel Bilson as Cindy, who helped fill in some of the gaps from Season 5 (and the 100th episode, as luck would have it). As we soon learned, it was during Ted's "econ" class that the Mother and Cindy decided to become roommates. ("What are the chances that we're both serial killers?") Fitting too was how Cindy realized that she, like Ted, had feelings for the Mother, thus explaining her lesbian partner at the end of last season. ("I might have some stuff to figure out.")

HIMYM's Cast and Creators Celebrate 200 Episodes

While this episode was indeed jam-packed with amusing callbacks, there was one thing that came off as kind of irritating, and that was the sheer number of similarities between Ted and the Mother. They'd sort of gotten away with a few things earlier this season -- the driving gloves, for example -- but the additions of the Mother's calligraphy set, coin collection and renaissance fair corset were a little overboard. That's not to mention the East Side MacLaren's and the "Puzzles" reference, both of which felt more like bizarro meta-jokes than serendipitous allusions. It seems strange that the writers continue to point out Ted and the Mother's identical hobbies when that usually makes for a boring relationship in the long run. (After all, who wants to date a carbon copy of themselves?)

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Having said that, I think the most effective similarity between these two wasn't their shared interests, but their complementary thematic arcs. One thing that really stuck out from this episode was the fact that both of their stories are really about the same thing -- that is, in their own ways, they're both trying to get over someone and move on. In Ted's case, it's about getting past his emotional ties with Robin, someone who's engaged to one of his best friends. In the Mother's case, it's about finding closure with Max.However, what remains to be seen is whether Ted and the Mother's meeting means they've finally found someone that proves they can love again, or that they've merely found someone to fill an empty void, even if they're not soul mates. If the latter, maybe that's why they're playing up the similar interests thing, to prove that compatibility doesn't necessarily mean true love? A bit of a stretch, maybe, but it's food for thought.

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The last few minutes of this episode were also a highlight, as we caught back up to the wedding weekend. The Louis of it all was an interesting dynamic to introduce here, specifically his failed proposal and the circumstances that led to the Mother checking into Farhampton Inn. I particularly enjoyed the return of Curtis, who knowingly told the Mother, "I think room number six is the room for you." This of course culminated in the Mother's touching rendition of "La Vie en Rose," which Ted overheard from one balcony over -- an obvious, but effective, payoff.A couple other things to note... First, while I'm sure no one was really expecting to see the Mother meet Ted this week, it was just a bit of letdown that they didn't, considering the title of the episode was "How the Mother Met Me." I almost can't help but feel that they should have saved that title for the finale (or whichever episode they actually meet in). And second... where the hell did Barney go?