This season is tricky, because I really enjoy it, so I'm inclined to cover it in detail, but since this is an overview, I want to just hit the high points. But every episode kind of sets things up for upcoming episodes. Maybe some of those things aren't important for an overview, but they're fairly clever so I'd like to recognize them. Well, I'm also limited by my memory, so maybe I'll split the difference naturally.
So guest are arriving. Lily is checking into her room. Now, Marshall is a pseudoscience geek--Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, etc. So when the gang is watching some basic cable Discovery/History/etc show about a ghost that haunts Room 13 of the Farhampton Inn, Marshall books that room--much to Lily's annoyance. Oh, I forgot to mention, after getting kicked off the plane, Marshall gets his Mom's logon info and tries to delete the post but can't--much to Daphne's amusement--but at the last second, as Lily is going to check her phone on the train, Marvin slaps the keyboard and somehow deletes the post. Still, when Lily calls him, enraged, Marshall is worried that she's found out. Luckily she's only annoyed with Room 13, which turns out to be a crappy room but any time she complains about something the staff blame it on the ghost.
Meanwhile there's a romantic lighthouse that guests make side trips to. Ted, as an architecture nerd, wants to go see the lighthouse, but the desk clerk won't give him the brochure because he's there stag and the place is far too romantic.
Barney's brother shows up and Barney tells everyone how happy he is for his brother, because his successful marriage has broken the Stinson Curse. After Barney leaves, James tells the gang that he and his husband are getting a divorce.
Lily is stressed by the whole event so she makes a deal with the bartender, Linus, that any time he sees her without a drink in her hand, he puts a drink in her hand.
Ted finds himself mysteriously on Barney's bad side--even though he's technically the best man. He has also brought along a 30 year old bottle of Glen McKenna Scotch to drink at an opportune time. The bottle he has isn't the one he bought. That one got broken by Lily and Robin, having a sword fight in the apartment. They tried to cover it up by putting the label on a cheap bottle of Scotch and then adding household ingredients like ketchup and hand sanitizer to try and get the color right. So Lily shoplifted a new bottle from the Farhampton liquor store. When Ted brings the bottle out to drink, Barney tells him he knows about him and Robin, causing Ted to drop the bottle.
When Robin couldn't find her locket, she called Barney, but he was busy, so she called Ted, who helped her dig in the rain by the carousel at Central Park and Barney saw him consoling her. So for a brief time "The Karate Kid" villain actor Billy Zabka is Barney's best man although eventually they patch things up.
Meanwhile, as they drive through a blizzard, Marshall and Daphne stop off at Ted's childhood home for the night. They're about to hit the road when Ted's Mom offers to dig out a bunch of embarrassing stuff about Ted for Marshall--including the time when Ted's best friend was a balloon. They decide this is worth waiting for. When they get back on the road, they return to bickering when they find Clint, Ted's hippy stepdad, has stowed away in the car to do "therapy" on them. Daphne and Marshall ultimately unite in their hatred and ridicule of Clint, who has a "blood attack" and demands they pull over so he can get out and meditate. While they're sitting there, Daphne tells Marshall that he's a pussy and that's the reason the Daphne's of the world get to pick the radio music while the Marshall's of the world pay all the tolls. To this, Marshall puts the car in gear and leaves Clint at the rest stop. A delighted Daphne decides this calls for music but Marshall stops her and says "We listen to MY music," putting in his road trip song from the old Fiero, The Proclaimers "(I'm Gonna Be) 500 Miles."
During the first night at the inn, Barney tries to hook Ted up with a hot bridesmaid, but against Barney's advice, Ted picks a girl who is destined to ruin his whole weekend. Barney also entrusts Ted with an autographed photo of hockey great, Wayne Gretsky, which winds up covered in Ted's calligraphy ink. Ted and Lily eventually track down Billy Zabka as the culprit for the "Zabkatoge" but ultimately Ted lets Billy off the hook, takes the blame, and says Billy saved the day by going to sports memorabilia place to get place for a replacement.
Marshall and Daphne seem to be bonding on their roadtrip until Marshall comes out of a gas station to an unhappy Daphne. She's just had a fight with her daughter, who is angry that she's going to miss her model UN speech at school. In fact she is so angry that she used Marshall's phone to text Lily about the judgeship.
So Marshall has to call in a "no questions asked" to get Ted to delete the text. Ted decides to break into Lily's room through the window and Lily briefly mistakes him for the ghost. While Ted is looking for the phone, he hears a voice from the AC duct and thinks it's the ghost. But it turns out to be Barney, who Marshall has also called in a favor on (Barney got the idea of using the ducts from the villain in "Die Hard.")(Barney tends to consider the villains the heroes in movies--and vice versa). While they're talking, room service shows up with a lot of expensive food. Lily goes down to the front desk to dispute this and Robin climbs out from under the cart's tablecloth--you guessed it, Marshall also called her. As they argue, they realize Lily probably has her phone on her. Barney and Robin are almost set to rush off on their own, but realize as a soon to be married couple, they need to communicate and work together. So they develop an overly complex and silly plan--only to find out Ted solved the problem by calling in a "no questions asked" from Lily and demanding she smash her phone. He calls Marshall to tell him his solution and asks why he didn't think of it. Marshall says he's never felt the need to keep anything from Lily...so he asks Ted to put her on and tells her about the judgeship. Lily makes it pretty clear there will be a big fight when Marshall finally gets there.
Gah. Some other stuff happens. The minister finds out Robin and Barney are horrible people and refuses to marry them--or let them use the church. But then he has a heart attack and dies. So they have the church, but no minister. At that time James' Dad shows up (Barney and James ultimately found out who their Dads were from their Mom)--who is an ordained minister. Barney's Dad also shows up and it turns out he and Loretta are on speaking terms--which causes Barney to hatch a scheme to get them back together. Meanwhile James has hatched a scheme to get *his* dad and their mom back together. Meanwhile Ted has *also* broken into the Farhampton liquor store to steal *another* bottle of Glen year old Glen McKenna which, after ending his fight with James over whose Dad gets to get back together with their Mom (btw Barney's Dad is happily married and has a family), the walk in on James' Dad and their Mom, making out, causing Barney to drop the expensive bottle of scotch.
More other stuff happens. Robin finds out her Mom's fear of flying made her miss her flight and she won't be at the wedding. This gives Robin angst and hiccups (when Lily attempts to stop her crying by scaring her) and so we get a story of how Barney met Ted's future wife. While accepting a series of challenges from Robin and Lily. As he wins challenge after challenge after challenge (pick up a girl while talking like a dolphin, pick up a girl wearing a trash bag and not using the letter "e", etc) the girls give up and tell Barney he's won. Barney says he doesn't want to win, he wants to play. So they send him for diapers and takeout--but since Barney says this sounds suspiciously more like an errand, they include picking up a girl. Meanwhile Ted and Marshall are at a Harlem Globetrotters game, rooting for the Generals. Marshall is trying to convince Ted to go after Robin, but Ted says it's a lost cause because Robin has made a decision and she never changes her mind. Meanwhile at the drugstore, Barney hits on The Mother. She shoots him down. But surmises the reason he feels the need to pick up random girls is because he's hurting over something good he had and screwed up. Barney says he's playing the game and The Mother asks him if he wants to play the game or if he wants to win. Barney replies that he wants to win. The Mother tells him this will be his most important Play ever and that it will take all his skill, effort and time.
After the game (the Globetrotters squeaked it out a nailbiter by, like 113 points), Ted sees Robin eating olives. Ted remembers that Robin hates olives and confronts her about this. Robin says "I guess I changed my mind." This makes Ted realize he still has a shot with Robin. And after all, he has plenty of time. Then we cut to Barney, opening to a blank page in The Play Book and writing in "The Robin"...
Robin and Barney's Mom become enemies, but when Loretta finds out her Mom won't be at the wedding, she insists Robin call her "Mom" and fences are mended.
Ted comes to Lily with his romantic problems and Lily tells him to just shut up, suck it up, and take the girl he's stuck with for the weekend up to the lighthouse, fall in love with her and live happily ever after. That doesn't work out, but at the end of the episode we get a "One Year Later..." card and we see Ted and The Mother at the lighthouse. The Mother totally gets it--and even says the exact words Ted said to the earlier girl. She then says she can't imagine how the day could be more perfect. To this Ted replies "I'm going to try," gets on his knee and pulls out a ring. Before he can say "will you marry me?" she says "YES! YES!"
Another flashback: When planning the wedding, Robin suggests that it be in Canada. After like, an hour of ridicule, they agree that it will be in New York. But Barney is known for his pranks and has become convinced that to get back at him, Robin will surprise him by having a Lazer Tag Rehearsal Dinner. (This episode starts with Barney handcuffed to a pipe at the security office of the Farhampton Lazer Tag facility with an enraged Robin nearby.) Everyone tries to dissuade him of this belief, but his mind is made up. So as things happen--like the ice machine at the hotel being broke--he sees it as steps in Robin's (nonexistent) plan. Meanwhile, Robin is getting more and more worried that Barney is going to screw up the rehearsal dinner. Sure enough, she gets a call that he's been arrested and has to go there to deal with the situation. While this is happening, Ted lets Lily in on a little secret... Back at the security office, Barney magically slips out of his handcuffs and produces a set of ice skates for Robin as it starts to snow in the office. The walls fall away to reveal that the building is actually an ice rink and Barney has organized a Canada themed rehearsal dinner for Robin.
OK. We're back in real time. Marshall has dropped Daphne off at her daughter's school. Daphne argues that this is pointless and he should just go to the wedding but Marshall makes her go in, repeating Daphne's words "kids don't care about logic, they care about who shows up." Daphne's daughter sees her in the audience and is thrilled. All is well. Marshall sneaks out to catch the next bus to Farhampton.
