How I Met Your Mother: 10 Episodes Proving It's Past Its Best

3. Platon-ish

We've met the mother, we've made it to the wedding, we're well into season 9 and we miss MacLaren's. Desperately. The show just doesn't feel like How I Met Your Mother anymore, but this second all flashback episode after "The Time Travelers" was much needed. It was a little less flashback (this time about 95%) and while the laugh track was slightly awkward it was still one of the most enjoyable episodes this season. When Robin finds out her mother won't be at her wedding, the gang sans Marshall tries to cheer her up by telling her the "diapers and samosas" story. This story happened not long after Robin and Nick's breakup, where Lily and Robin started choosing challenges for Barney rather than him coming up with his own. Among the challenges are to pick up a girl while talking like a dolphin, not using the letter E, pretending to be Ryan Gosling and picking up diapers at the pharmacy and samosas at the bodega. On his diaper trip, the girl he attempts to pick up is none other than his best bro's future bride, who coaches him into going after Robin and winning the game rather than make play after play. The closing shot of Barney's flashback is of him beginning to pen the infamous season-long play that got Robin to say yes under mistletoe, The Robin. Challenge completed. The episode also answers the question as to why Ted is all of a sudden up and moving to Chicago, being offered another job by Hammond Druthers, his boss from the early seasons played at the time by a post-Hal, pre-Walter White Bryan Cranston. While at a Harlem Globetrotters game €“ and hilariously being the only two in the stadium routing for the Generals €“ Marshall also finally gets out of Ted that he still has feelings for Robin, and still tries to push that loathsome bet onto Ted. "I need that $5," he says. Platonish was arguably the best episode so far this season, and it took place largely at MacLaren's and Marshall and Lily's apartment. If that says nothing about the consistency in quality this season, then nothing else does.