How I Met Your Mother 'Bass Player Wanted' Review: The Mother and Marshall finally arrive in Farhampton

How I Met Your Mother aired its midseason finale, "Bass Player Wanted" on Monday night and offered some major developments on multiple fronts. Most importantly, it finally brought all the major players together under one roof after a dozen episodes.

Marshall was on his trek to the Farhampton Inn when The Mother drove past him in a van and asked if he needed a ride, "and that's how Marshall met your mother." The two talked about their respective problems: Marshall and his impending confrontation with Lily and The Mother's problems with Darren, the lead singer of her band.

The Mother's interaction with Marshall felt as natural as her previous mingling with Lily and Barney. If we accept the implausible possibility that she somehow met the four most important people in Ted's life before she met Ted, then the challenge becomes how to not make those interactions feel forced. The writers have done a good job with that thus far, and this episode was no exception. The two characters had plenty of common ground to discuss and each was able to offer some perspective to the other.

Darren, meanwhile, was wreaking havoc back at the inn as he drove wedges between the pairs of Lily and Robin and Barney and Ted. Robin and Lily argued about the judgeship vs. Italy problem, while Barney found out that Ted is moving to Chicago on Monday. The premise was clearly a bit silly, but it was nice to see these four characters air their grievances instead of just spinning their wheels like they did for much of this season. With so few episodes left in HIMYM's run, the show should be hitting breakneck speed.

So it was crucial for the show to FINALLY end this Marshall road trip subplot and get him back where he belongs with the rest of the group. He and Lily had a brief pause (nice callback, by the way) to celebrate their reunion, but the explosion is coming. Should this have happened about seven episodes ago? Probably, but let's just be happy Big Fudge is home.

The Barney/Ted fight worked well in that it explored some of Barney's deeper emotions, which is always a good thing (partly because it gives Neil Patrick Harris a chance to be awesome). The whole situation resolved a bit too neatly, though, after Ted made it obvious that he was moving because of Robin. The two bros talked through this earlier in the season, but what groom would be completely cool with the fact that his best friend is basically admitting that he still loves his fiancée? We've seen hints in the flashforwards that the wedding doesn't go all that smoothly, so this episode could just be one step toward a very public confrontation.

Ted also kinda sorta indirectly interacted with his future wife when he knocked out Darren after he broke the third bottle of Glen McKenna the group had "purchased" during the weekend. She bought Ted a drink but wasn't there when he received it (even though I'm sure plenty of us were hoping she'd be sitting at the bar). But it's a step in the right direction. We're getting closer, even though it may not happen until the last episode. But The Mother is at least in the same building as Ted, and they are each one step closer to each other.

Notes and Quotes:

-       Barney gave us the term "broble" to describe a noble act done by a bro. His different descriptions what qualifies for "that's the dream" were naturally absurd, but I think the best was a suit made of prosciutto so he could eat his way to nakedness. Disturbing? Yes. But come on, we'd all give that a shot if we could.

-       We got another Gazzola's reference on tonight's episode. In fact, this one was chock full of throwbacks, including Aldrin Justice, Marshpillow, "pause" and Marshall's lawyer band The Funk, The Whole Funk and Nothing But The Funk.

-       The Mother ordered the Kennedy Package and has now adopted the phrase "Thank you, Linus." She told Marshall that she's been spending time with Lily at the inn (why are we only seeing this now?!), so it makes sense that she would follow in her drunken footsteps.

-       Ted: "Actually, Marshall's my best..." Barney: "Don't even think about it!"

-       The tag at the end of the episode showed that Marshall is loading up the next slap!

-       What are your thoughts on this first half of HIMYM's final season? Let us know in the comments!