Last week I was really harsh on How I Met Your Mother; the episode just wasn’t up to par with the rest of the season and it kind of left me bitter. After seeing this week’s episode, I think I may hate last week’s episode even more…but that’s not the point. The point is this week HIMYM came back with a really great episode and it all started with this:

Yes, that’s right people: for the first time in I think all 6 seasons, HIMYM surprised us all with new opening credits and I am sure I am not the only one in saying this but I hope we see them again!

Aside from the new opening credits, the rest of the episode was great as well. Barney’s Dad is back which meant we got another episode with John Lithgow and anything that man is in automatically makes the episode that much better but what was great about seeing him this time was how he began to bond with Barney and teach him that growing up is just a part of life. When Barney claims that “We’re not getting too old for anything!” Ted responds by saying “I feel like we collectively learn the exact opposite lesson at least once a year.” The rest of the episode moves along to prove to Barney that while he may be too old to continue partying the way he has been, he will never be too old to grow up.

After Barney’s dad tells him that once he finds that right girl, he’ll be ready to settle down, Barney lets out that he may have already met her. Now after letting it slip earlier in the episode that the reason Barney can’t let his Dad think Robin is single because he would say “‘deep down you know you were never happier than you were with her.’ Uh, no thanks!” I can’t help but hope that Barney means Robin, even though the last girl he was with was Nora. I know it’s my shipper heart wanting Barney and Robin to make it work, even if they did introduce Michael Trucco as Robin’s secret crush, but I mean, come-on they wouldn’t throw hints out like that if it wasn’t meant to mean something would they? This is a show that has built a large fan base in which they listen to almost every word that comes out of our characters mouths. So when Barney says that he may have already met the one after hinting at earlier that he was never more happier than when he was with Robin, than that has to be a clue, Right??? I think I need to stop thinking about this before I make my head hurt again.

Anyways, the episode also brought back the return of a happy Marshall who seems to finally be moving forward after his father’s death. He and Lily make a bet to see who can get the most numbers on their night out on the town. It was cute and sweet and I am pretty sure Marshall purposefully lost which made him even more charming. We also saw the return of Douchy Ted who sabatoged Robin’s chances of reconnecting with her secret crush after she told Ted that when they once had really great sex it was because she was imaging her secret crush instead of Ted (she even made him cover his face with his shirt!)

There were other good things the episode did as well: the magicians talk between Barney and his Dad, the elaborate “Who’s On First” parody/ gag about Manhattan Club names , the return of Ted’s red boots, and NO ZOEY, which I was very thankful for considering I am pretty sure she’s going to be around for the rest of the season…ugh. However, if there are more episodes like this one than I think I am going to be very satisfied with this season overall! Just no more stupid exploding meatball subs please.