History Recap / HowIMetYourMotherS9E16HowYourMotherMetMe

* AbsenteeActor: Out of the original cast, only Creator/JoshRadnor and Creator/NeilPatrickHarris appear with "actual" scenes. [[note]] Creator/AlysonHannigan and Creator/JasonSegel appear in archive footage from The Mother's perspective; Creator/CobieSmulders appears (with the rest of the cast) in the ending montage, during "La Vie en Rose," since Robin hadn't met The Mother yet. [[/note]]

* CerebusRetcon: In the 100th episode "[[Recap/HowIMetYourMotherS5E12GirlsVersusSuits Girls vs. Suits]]" many of the mother's quirks are played for laughs, especially things like painting pictures of robots playing sports and singing with her food while making breakfast. Both of those take on greater significance in this episode when we learn her 1st love Max's last present to her was a ukulele "so your breakfast doesn't need to perform a capella" and her robot painting was an activity she threw herself into to try and deal with losing him. Louis's lack of appreciation of singing English muffins was also a sign that they would not work long term.

* CharacterFilibuster: The Mother tends to give long winded answers to questions like "How did you get here (Econ305) (from the subway)". Also she told ''the entire story of why Kelly and Cindy are not living with her anymore'' to Darren when she was supposed to just interview him for the roommate ad. The soliloquies are used to fill in the events in her life.

In this heartwarming 200th episode, Future Ted recounts how he and The Mother barely crossed paths in some essential moments in each others' lives.

* ArcWelding: This episode ties together the past nine seasons to show how they contributed to the Mother getting to meet Ted. The same night Marshall and Lily got engaged and Ted met Robin, the Mother's first love died; Her first night out afterwards was St Patrick's Day in 2008, where she ran into Mitch, A.K.A the Naked Man, who was her teacher at Orchestra Camp and attempted the Naked Man on her that night, when she became the first one in three to reject it after leaving with him to retrieve a Cello; Darren weaseled his way into her band by responding to her ad for a new room mate after Cindy moved out; she met Louis, her first boyfriend after Max's death following a gig and passed Ted (in the green dress) on her way out of [=McLarens=], which Louis had last been in when Barney and Ted ran it as "Puzzles" for a night.

* BrickJoke: (internal version) Ted mentioned earlier the when he told the Mother the "shellfish joke", she laughed with only 20 percent pity. Here, we see she already heard Ted say it, and she was the only one in the class who laughed at it.

* CharacterFilibuster: The Mother tends to give long winded answers to questions like "How did you get here (Econ305) (from the subway)". Also she told ''the entire story of why Kelly and Cindy are not living with her anymore'' to Darren when she was supposed to just interview him for the roomate ad. The soliloquis are used to fill in the events in her life.

** Kelly is this to both Marshall and Barney. Both are The Mother's best friend (although Barney is self proclaimed as this) who try to get Ted to enjoy life and move on from the grieving. Like Barney, Kelly has no problem with sleeping around, and ironically she once fell for one of Barney's lies ([[CallBack "My Penis grants wishes"]]).
** Darren is, instead, an EvilCounterpart to Barney. While Barney uses ellaborated lies to bed random women, Darren {{troll}}s with friendships by using his charming personality just ForTheEvulz. Barney only resorts to this if ItsPersonal.

* TwoGirlsToATeam: Inverted. The Mother's acquaintances only has two males, Louis and Darren.

* BeardOfEvil: Darren, the mother's [[TokenEvilTeammate only evil acquaintance]], sports a goatee similar to Early 2000s!Ted.

* LoveAtFirstNote: Ted hears Tracy's rendition of "La Vie En Rose" through a wall at the end of the episode and is obviously deeply moved by it, even if he doesn't know who's singing. Future!Ted then reveals that he's heard her perform this song countless times, but that first one will always be his favorite.

* CelebrityParadox: Lou Ferrigno, the father of Louis' actor [[TheDanza Lou Ferrigno, Jr.]], was mentioned by name in Season 2.

* ContinuityNod[=/=]ContinuityPorn: Numerous elements from past seasons have appeared here and there.

* KilledOffscreen: Someone just phoned the mother that her first boyfriend died.

* FiveManBand: The mother and her friends have this dynamic.
** TheHero[=/=]TheLeader: The Mother
** TheLancer: Cindy
** TheBigGuy: Louis
** TheSmartGuy[=/=]TokenEvilTeammate: Darren
** TheChick: Kelly
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Again, the mother and her friends.
** The Mother = Leukine
** Cindy = Melancholic
** Louis = Phlegmatic
** Darren = Choleric
** Kelly = Sanguine

* CerebusRetcon: In the 100th episode "[[Recap/HowIMetYourMotherS5E12GirlsVersusSuits Girls vs. Suits]]" many of the mother's quirks are played for laughs, especially things like painting pictures of robots playing sports and singing with her food while making breakfast. Both of those take on greater significance in this episode when we learn her 1st love Max's last present to her was a ukulele "so your breakfast doesn't need to perform a capella" and her robot painting was an activity she through herself into to try and deal with losing him. Louis's lack of appreciation of singing English muffins was also a sign that they would not work long term.

* MilestoneCelebration: This is the 200th episode of the series.
* MsFanservice: The Mother's friend Kelly always wears revealing, figure-hugging, low-cut wardrobes.

* CerebusRetcon: In the 100th episode "[[Recap/HowIMetYourMotherS5E12GirlsVersusSuits Girls vs. Suits]]" many of the mothher's quirks are played for laughs, especially things like painting pictures of robots playing sports and singing with her food while making breakfast. Both of those take on greater significance in this episode when we learn her 1st love Max's last present to her was a ukelele "so your breakfast doesn't need to perform acapella" and her robot painting was an activity she through herself into to try and deal with losing him. Louis's lack of appreciation of singing English muffins was also a sign that they would not work long term.

** Kelly is this to both Marshall and Barney. Both are The Mother's best friend (although Barney is self proclaimed as this) who try to get Ted to enjoy life and move on from the grieving. Like Barney, Kelly has no problem with sleeping around, and ironically she once fell for one of Berney's lies ([[CallBack "My Penis grants wishes"]]).

** Cindy is also this to Lily. Close friends/roomates with The Mother/Ted who are prone to moments of envy. Both Lily and Cindy get to form a family before them.

* TragicKeepsake: The mother's ukelele is the last present her dead boyfriend gave her.

* CharacterFilibuster: The Mother tends to give long winded answers to questions like "How did you get here (Econ305) (from the subway)". The soliloquis are used to fill in the events in her life.

* MsFanservice: The Mother's friend Kelly always wears a revealing, figure-hugging, low-cut wardrobes.

* SeparatedByTheWall: Both Ted and the mother are unaware of the fact that they're rooms are next to each other.

* AbsenteeActor: Out of the original cast, only Creator/JoshRadnor and Creator/NeilPatrickHarris appear with "actual" scenes. [[note]] Creator/AlysonHannigan and Creator/JasonSegel appear in archive footage, from The Mother's perspective; Creator/CobieSmulders appears (with the rest of the cast) in the ending montage, during "La Vie en Rose," since Robin hadn't met The Mother yet. [[/note]]

* CerebusRetcon: In the 100th episode "[[Recap/HowIMetYourMotherS5E12GirlsVsSuits Girls vs. Suits]]" many of the mothher's quirks are played for laughs, especially things like painting pictures of robots playing sports and singing with her food while making breakfast. Both of those take on greater significance in this episode when we learn her 1st love Max's last present to her was a ukelele "so your breakfast doesn't need to perform acapella" and her robot painting was an activity she through herself into to try and deal with losing him. Louis's lack of appreciation of singing English muffins was also a sign that they would not work long term.

* TheUnreveal: TheReveal of the mother's name will not happen until the GrandFinale itself.

** Louis is this to Marshall: Big {{Nice Guy}}s who are there to support them. While Marshall is Ted's best friend who has been with him from the beginning, Louis met The Mother and spent two years supporting her in a relationship, despite her knowing it wasn't really love.

* AbsenteeActor: Only Creator/JoshRadnor and Creator/NeilPatrickHarris appears out of the original cast.
** Creator/Alyson Hannigan and Creator/Jason Segel appear in archive footage, from The Mother's perspective; Creator/CobieSmulders appears (with the rest of the cast) in the ending montage, during "La Vie en Rose," since Robin hadn't met The Mother yet.

* NoNameGiven: Despite this being her episode, the mother's name is still not revealed.
** Even Mitch, who hadn't seen her in years, went out of the way to ''not'' say her name.

* BlessedWithSuck: After Marshall harvests the anger of all the women who hate Barney, his hand glows with all the power. He claims that he'll never have cold pizza again; then realizes ''that's not a good thing''.