You can tell a lot about a show by how well it revisits its initial premise.  It’s more than just flashbacks: it’s recall in order to remind us of how far characters have come.  How I Met Your Mother has twisted in upon itself a number of times in its eight-year run.  It’s introduction of and then maternal dismissal of Robin in the first episode brought in the series’ two dominant plots.  And now, as they season prepares for Robin’s wedding and Ted’s introduction to the Mother, I think it’s fitting to look at the last scene before the last season.  Having watched it again last week, I am reminded of it’s brilliance: how it sets a whole season up perfectly, how it gives each of the main players one last reflective moment, and then how it slowly but surely gives us a moment we’ve been waiting for.

I was no always sold on the idea of adding a ninth season.  Then I heard of plans to make the whole season “take place” over the course of one weekend.  I find myself ready, though, for the best that Carter and Bays can give us.  The ending is a foregone conclusion.  And while there might be some heartbreak along the way (Barney and Robin, really?), there should be a lot of great moments along the way, too.