How I Met Your Mother - Recap: That's the Dream
Recap and review of How I Met Your Mother - Season 9 Episode 13 - Bass Player Wanted:
Well, it's been nine seasons in the making for How I Met Your Mother, but "Bass Player Wanted" finally gives us our first storyline featuring The Mother (Cristin Milioti) in a featured role. One might expect for it to be a more momentous occasion than it ultimately is, but what makes The Mother's storyline so effective is just how normal it is. It doesn't really draw attention to itself, nor is it any more over-the-top than your average HIMYM subplot, but it's still remarkably effective in roping The Mother into the narrative of the wedding weekend, while bringing her substantially closer to the moment in which she'll finally meet Ted (Josh Radnor), even if, by then, just about everyone else will have met her first.
"Bass Player Wanted" sees Marshall (Jason Segel) and Marvin being picked up by The Mother en route to the Farhampton Inn, after Marshall tries and fails to walk the remaining five miles himself. She's a part of the wedding band, but it's a far more complicated arrangement than she initially leads on: turns out she's been marginalized by the new lead singer, a devil named Darren (Andrew Rannells), whose love of the spotlight is matched only by his fondness for ruining friendships by infiltrating pre-existing friendships, learning a painful secret from one party, and nonchalantly revealing it to the other. As we see, Darren immediately sets to work destroying relationships when he tells Lily (Alyson Hannigan) that Robin (Cobie Smulders) is siding with Marshall in their argument. When that doesn't ruin their friendship, Darren pops back in and implies that Lily is making the whole wedding weekend about herself and her problems, and this does the trick in turning the two best friends against one another. But Darren isn't finished yet, as he goes on to detonate Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) and Ted's friendship by revealing that Ted is moving to Chicago. Barney feels betrayed that Ted is only giving him one day's notice, and concludes that he must not mean all that much to him.
Credit: CBS
The comedy blends well with the underlying examination of friendship. The telepathic link the two best friend pairings share is a great bit, as is Ted's frustration with Barney's overuse of the phrase "That's the dream." Barney believes that going to jail for one's bro is the dream, and this ends up being the crux of the solution to their fight, as Ted risks serious jail time by committing grand larceny, stealing a $600 bottle of scotch from the hotel's liquor cellar. Ted presents Barney with the bottle and explains why he has to leave, saying he needs a fresh start, and Barney slowly comes to the realization that it's because Ted still harbors feelings for Robin. It's a conflict that's been rehashed, ad nauseum, since long before this final season, but Radnor and Harris imbue it with a certain dramatic weight that keeps the issue from feeling played out. These are two men who wish things could be different, but must instead settle with things as they are. Ted hugging Barney and telling him how much he's going to miss him is far more touching than I was expecting.
Credit: CBS
As for the bride and her maid of honor, Robin confesses that she wasn't siding with Marshall out of spite, but because Marshall getting what he wanted means she'd get to keep her best friend. But she now realizes that Lily will be her best friend no matter where she is, and so Robin offers Lily a therapeutic boxing session with Marshpillow. It's kind of cute, but it takes on a different subtext once Marshall actually arrives at the Farhampton Inn and witnesses Lily knocking the stuffing out of a makeshift version of himself. When they lock eyes, it's as if they've forgotten why the were even mad. They agree to "pause" their issues and make amends for the night. It's not that they're ignoring their problems altogether, so much as calling for a temporary ceasefire, and that's a choice that felt honest and characteristic of who Marshall and Lily are, as neither wants to be mad at the other, but circumstances have created a seemingly irresolvable conflict between them.
Credit: CBS
For his part, Marshall has had a productive trip with The Mother, who reveals that Lily talked her into stealing Darren's van as revenge for muscling her out of her own band. Yet Marshall quickly recognizes just how meek The Mother is, as she doesn't like confrontation, and would rather just quit the band than fighting Darren for her position in the group she created. Milioti is absolutely fantastic, imbuing The Mother with all sorts of complementary/conflicting qualities. She wants to have her band back, but she's too timid to fight back and take it; she plays at being a rebel, but she really just likes to knit; she's shy but she's also outgoing and ambitious; she's sweet, but she has a little bit of an edge to her. It's a wonderful characterization, and I'm immediately on-board with her casting, far more so than I was even when she was first introduced -- and I've never not been a fan.
Credit: CBS
The writing even rises to match her, as her storyline stretches into the conclusion. When Darren accidentally bumps into Ted and causes yet another bottle of Glenn McKenna scotch to break, Ted punches him out. While asking Linus the Bartender for ice for his eye, he encounters The Mother and, fed up, formally quits the band. Overjoyed that her problem has been solved for her, The Mother buys a round to be sent to the Best Man for punching out Darren. Future Ted (Bob Saget) declares, "And that was the first drink your mother bought me." They still haven't met, but the wheels are in motion, and they're finding small points of connection that sort of set up how and why they'll hit it off later, as they'll certainly have a lot to discuss between their mutual love of the bass and Ted essentially saving The Mother from having to quit her band.
Credit: CBS
"Bass Player Wanted" is a terrific episode of How I Met Your Mother, more for narrative than for comedy. This isn't to say it isn't funny, but rather that this is more of a story-focused episode. To that end, it works well, between the focused writing and the carefully measured performances, particularly from Cristin Milioti, who really leaves an impression as The Mother. It's possibly the strongest half-hour of the season so far, from a strict story perspective, and that plot-oriented focus, complete with its own internal mythology, is what sets How I Met Your Mother apart from more fleeting comedies.