How I Met Your Mother (TV Series) The Time Travelers (2013) User Reviews

Massively underrated - an episode to actually think about!

[Chris0184 · 8/10 · 27 July 2013]

I can see why people find this episode different to usual. There isn't an amazing amount of comedy or the usual Barney-isms or general hilarity. But this episode examines one of the main characters feelings in some detail.

It's no secret that the series is about Ted finding the mother of his children. Throughout it has always been near misses with Ted - many reviews of other episodes point out that Stella, Zoe, Victoria or (repeatedly and clearly somewhat stupidly since in episode one we learn she isn't...) Robin is going to be the mother.

What this episode manages to do, and if you actually watch it and accept for a moment that the writers have turned a little serious for a change, and do extremely well is show a common issue affecting many people - that of having to watch your friends get married and have children whilst you are still waiting to meet the right person. What Ted wants most in life, his friends are achieving.

This episode presents his feelings of loneliness, envy, jealousy and despair in finding the one thing he wants in an intriguing and very different way.

The last few minutes including Teds end speech provide a mature and quite emotional view of how anyone should feel in a relationship!

Is this a standard episode of HIMYM - No.

But give it a chance, actually watch it, and think about what it is trying to say, and it's actually very, very well done.

9.1//Emotional And Funny in the same TIME

[jowsazevedo · 9/10 · 27 December 2019]

It has one of the emotional scenes in the series and it has too funny and awesome scenes.

Underrated episode

[actionfigurepodcastyt · 9/10 · 18 August 2022]

This is one of the better episodes of this season. A very comedic and lighthearted episode that makes you laugh and think, until the end when the whole mood shifts entirely. I have to give much praise to Josh Radnor and Bob Saget, towards the end the acting is on point. This is one of those episodes that hits you emotionally from every different angle.

Better late than never with a review but looking back it's important to be said

[faith294 · 10/10 · 1 March 2016]

This is one of the best episodes of HIMYM. I agree with one of the previous reviewers that there weren't many laugh out loud moments towards the end. But we still loved the characters and watching them grow so it was still great to watch. I watched this show back to back but I had already seen a few episodes, including the ending. So seeing this episode after knowing how the show is going to end is just amazing. Wanting extra time is all anyone wants after losing a loved one. This episode pulled on my heart strings like no other. Close second would be when Marshal lost his dad. I don't think it's necessary to be rolling on the floor laughing all the time for a comedy to be successful. This show dealt with real issues. Friends growing apart, seemingly perfect relationships ending, not being able to have kids, and wanting something so bad it hurts. Amazing show and even more amazing episode.

One of the best Episodes of HIMYM

[ad-photowp · 10/10 · 11 August 2018]

Great episode, the Marshall and Robin thing with the drinks was really funny. Carl Rodriguez was also funny. Dammit Marshall how could you forget his last name??

But my favorite part of the episode is the big reveal at the end. The first time i watched the show, i didn't think much of it. Now that i'm watching everything for the second time, i noticed that Ted was crying when he talks to the Mother not because he's NOW ready to meet her, but because he knows that she dies, and he'd give anything to have those extra 45 days with her. Dark but brilliant writing, and made me appreciate this season a lot more. Of course, the first time i watched the episode i didn't think any of this, i thought Ted was just sick of dating and wanted desperately to speed up the clock.

Summarizes the whole series perfectly!

[wand_stone_cloak · 27 March 2013]

If I'm honest, I kept watching HIMYM out of mere loyalty. Lately, I had been noticing that it barely made me laugh and I had been feeling that the plot was very inconsistent. Or so I thought. I explain. As I continued to watch the show, I noticed that the series was drifting off Ted's plot line way too much and way too often. I felt that it sometimes focused more on Robin's and Barney's relationship, or Marshall and Lilly having the baby, or the deal with Lilly's father, etc. I even felt that the writers were just leaving Ted with the most ridiculous and irrelevant stories, making his advances towards meeting the mother very slow. This episode explains WHY. The whole point of this series is to show a man who holds on to his dream of finding perfect love even though life hits him once and again with disappointment and failed relationship attempts. He tries over and over again, and he gets let down by love each time, but he still clings to hope, for love is his biggest dream. And his friends make their lives, they go on, they suffer and are let down by love also, but through it all, after 8 years, they've managed to get their lives in order and become happy, and right there, alone, in the middle, is him (which is the reason why this series had a cast of 2 women and 3 men, instead of 3 and 3, like "Friends" which is something that had always bugged me; we needed to reach this point, the point when Ted woud feel completely lonely). Now, his hope is gone. This is pointed out in this episode by his subconscious through adorable and mega talented Jayma Mays. He doesn't even want to try anymore, he feels it's going to be same-old same-old. It's not a matter of laziness, it's just that he just doesn't want to go through it all again, through the disappointment of once again putting all his eggs in a basket which, ultimately, will turn out NOT to be the love of his life. Why do that for the umpteenth time? This rock bottom he's hit (for I'm sure he has), will become solid ground for him to set his feet on, which is necessary for him to finally recognize true love when he sees it. I mean by this that he is (FINALLY!) ready to meet the mother. The very first episode of the show started with something like this: "Kids, I'm going to tell you a story. The story of how I met your mother". If you ask me, it should have gone something like this "Kids, I'm gonna tell you the story on how I held on to the hope for love for 8 years, until I met your mother" which sounds mega cheesy, but which also, I think, is what the series are really about. I applaud the writers. This is the first time in about 2 seasons of HIMYM that I feel that they really know where they are going with the story and what they wanna communicate. Excellent episode. Excellent.

One of my favorites of any sitcom

[mlbroberts · 10/10 · 28 July 2021]

Extremely creative, to put together three versions of Ted and Barney, two of them from future points in time, and have them debate whether to go to Robots versus Wrestlers. Even better to have them sing "For The Longest Time" together in the end. Genius, in a sitcom no less.

And speaking of Time Travel, I watched an episode of Nanny and the Professor, made 35 years earlier than this, and I swear it's the same set as the exterior of Maclaren's when the Professor and his date go into a Chinese restaurant. Slightly altered but not completely.

These episodes are why I watch HIMYM

[semiman-424-20987 · 10/10 · 25 March 2013]

This season has been a bit of a slump over all. A few notable exceptions of course, but on average its been nothing to get excited about. This is not one of those episodes however! With the 3 versions of both Barney and Ted at the bar table, things went from mediocre to absolutely brilliant within about 5 minutes of the show beginning. The side story involving Robin and Marshal was good enough with a few laughs but had almost no Lilly, I could count on one hand the amount of lines she had in the entire episode. As one the best characters on the entire show, I was upset to see Lilly with limited screen time. Where the hell was she this episode!! With an emotional ending that surprised me, as I am usually not moved by HIMYM, this episode was near perfect. A few hiccups aside this is easily one of my favorite episodes of the show ever. Plus who can forget that rendition of Billy Jole's "The Longest Time" from the 3 Barney's and Ted's.

Look around Ted

[nuhahamada · 10/10 · 19 September 2020]

This is exactly the type of episodes that you won't get the point of unless you face what Ted faced in his life, lonliness is actually a great fear. No matter what you do in your life, there will always be this moment that you realize that you are being left out. Everyone is moving on but you. You stuck in this place and can't move, your life is not what you pictured it to be like, you won't always get where you wanted to be and that is scary and disappointing. I watch " The time travellers " each time I have to decide for something, where do I want to be? And how would I want to live my life! This is just touching and incridebly relatable.

The end that many of us wanted

[tomasmmc-77198 · 10/10 · 11 January 2019]

This episode gives you what you wanted at the end. We all know that "Last forever" was a bad end, very bad or horrible for a lot of persons, critics, fans. Some people liked, but this chapter shows you a different thing. You can watch The Time travelers, you can laugh, you can get confused, but the end is simply perfect. The events involving Robin, Marshall and Lily happened in April 2008, and the conversation between Ted, Barney and their future selves were in Ted's mind. In that moment, when Lily and Marshall were taking care of Marvin, when Robin and Barney were planning their wedding, choosing a caterer, Ted was alone, almost without hope of love, surely building his house for selling it, preparing the move to Chicago. But, he'd go to Robots vs Wrestlers alone that night? Old Ted tell us what he'd do first: He would go to the mother's home, Tracy's apartment, just to see her 45 days more, enjoying that time, with the woman he loves. But that speech is wonderful, is how the Old Ted in 2030 still declares his love to Tracy and says he will love her til the end of his days and beyond. "You'll see." So that means that in case Tracy dies (Last forever), Ted loves the mother of his children, still in 2030 and beyond. The Time Travelers does not fit with Last forever, because he doesn't love Robin anymore, he let her go in the chapter "Sunrise" and "The end of aisle". Somehow, this episode, gave us the end many of us wanted, Lily with Marshall, Robin and Barney, The mother/Tracy with Ted. Also, Ted-20 years future is married, but is just Ted's imagination, so if Barney is engaged with Robin in 2013, Ted in 2013, imagined to be married with the love of his life (The mother) in 2033. You can say Future Ted (2030), great Bob Saget, told what he told because he knew Tracy died. But like i said before, that's not okay with the speech. I think: Who would wait more days to meet the love of his/her life? Specially in Ted's case, in this series case. He can't wait anymore, he is giving up. Keep traveling time and P.D: Sorry for my english, i'm not perfect.

The Time Travelers (#8.20)

[ComedyFan2010 · 6/10 · 9 August 2015]

This episode didn't really work for me. I appreciate the originality of idea. But it was done in such a boring way. And that sad thing at the end was just making me roll my eyes. One thing I don't like too much about this show is that they always want to show that being single is some horrible waste of life and one can never be as happy as people in relationships. They took two characters who were perfectly happy by being single and turned them into the ones who can't imagine being single as well. And I am kind of looking over it because watching Robin and Barney is still funny. But that constant sobbing of Ted about how much being single sucks is annoying.

The only thing I liked about this episode was Marshall and Robin fighting over a drink.

Deeper meaning episode

[ItsEmaBitch · 10/10 · 26 September 2021]

I always watch this episode even though it makes me incredibly sad. Ted's monologue is heartbreaking, I always tear up and I watched it a million times. He has held on to that hope of meeting the love of his life that he got to this point of being all alone, now hopeless. And when you consider in that Tracy dies, it makes everything even tougher.

That song in the end is great, loved it!

Where did my favorite show go?

[plug-aux · 1/10 · 29 March 2013]

So I just started to watch this episode with great hopes, since time travel has always been a fun subject for me and a juicy excuse for great movies.... 20 minutes later I was like: "What did I just watched?".

Seriously, being very honest... what the hell did the writers do with this show? they just murdered a great product by losing all of their imagination/effort/wittiness.. It's like they're not even trying anymore

I used to be very into the well achieved ambiance and cleverness of the plot of the early seasons, then on the past 2 I noticed the irregularity on the quality of what they delivered... but kept watching because of the great mystery of who's the wife... now, having watched this last episode I'm sure they hit rock bottom. No substance whatsoever, weak stories, and confusing and poor exploited plot.

By the way, how can this even have 8 out of 10 stars? Is this rating fixed?

If only they could turn this around, but this seems very unlikely since the tendency of the quality of this show is clearly going down, down, down.

Why this episode works

[Keyaku1 · 9 July 2016]

Ever since Season 4, I've been just on and off with the series since it felt like it had a serious rewrite, or was thrown to different writers, where inconsistencies and an ever-growing amount of lame jokes roamed the land.

I only saw the very last episodes, so I knew who the mother was and that she'd die eventually. Still, thanks to paid and legal streaming providers, I went and watched where I left off in Season 4.

Finally getting to this episode, where Ted feels lonely. A few reviewers think this tries to show how being single is sad, makes you lonely and whatnot; that was never the point. A big theme of the show until here showed that being single was Awesome®.

This isn't about being single-therefore-sadly-lonely, it's about aging, going back and trying to assess what you'd do then. Ted felt like their friends were ready to go to the next level, something he's been trying to in the past 9 years and failed, sometimes miserably. He feels like his chance will slip away at any given moment, so he just thinks of multiple future possibilities to try and entertain himself, only to realize that it's all for naught.

Fast-forward to 2030, future Ted (the real one) holds onto what he felt at the time in this part of his gigantic story and takes refuge in it, trying to meet his wife 45 days early and wanting to spend time with her. Not because he feels lonely back then as young Ted, rather showing what the future Ted is going through.

His wife is dead. All he wanted is go back and spend an additional 45 days with her just to squeeze out more moments that they never got to share. So he imagines that scenario.

This is why Ted's speech hit me. Many times in our lives we regret of not doing a great deal of things in a certain way; some are negligible and are easily forgotten, but others linger. It's those lingering thoughts that haunt us into trying and retrying past choices in our minds, thinking of what might've changed.

This isn't anything deep, it's merely superficially human. And it was enough. It served its purpose: the whole premise of the show is to make exaggerations of events that happen in our daily lives, not to give us food for thought.

It was because of that premise that I kept watching this show, and after many Seasons of me thinking that I'd drop it any day once again, the show proved me wrong; if only for this one episode.

Important Message!

[derekobrien1978-712-549551 · 10/10 · 26 January 2019]

Be sure to fully read the message Robin leaves for Marshal in ladies bathroom.

Fun And Sad

[slightlymad22 · 8/10 · 20 February 2015]

Despite not being as good as the last episode, the ending to this episode features one of the most touching moments in "How I Met Your Mother" history.

Plot In A Paragraph: Barney tries to convince Ted (who has an early lecture the next day) to go to Robots V's Wrestlers. Meanwhile Marshall and Robin argue over who invented a drink in Maclarens.

20 years, 20 hours and 20 minutes versions of the characters are all fun. And we now know Ted meets the mother in 45 days. The ending where Barney tells Ted he us all alone, and the resulting realisation is very sad and touching, not as touching as Marshall's Dad dying, or the look on Barney's face when he realised Robin hadn't dumped Kevin. But it's up there.

A slight and I mean slight annoyance, was in a previous episode Old Ted said they all went to see Robots V's Wrestlers every year!!

Awesome

[bevo-13678 · 10/10 · 15 June 2020]

Such a great episode. I like the bit where he drops a meatball on his shirt

Pointless

[evalverdes · 1/10 · 3 April 2013]

OK, so we all know the show is loosing it. But... why do they make completely pointless episodes???? This one is just terrible. The only thing it adds to the story is the fact that his future wife is seeing a guy. How can anyone spend an entire episode taking the "big picture" nowhere? It's just a stupid contest about a drink and a stupid discussion with future and not so future Ted and Barney about... nothing interesting. We have had bad episodes. But this is a new low for HIMYM! The episode deserves this long text ONLY because the review has a minimum length. Otherwise, skip this episode and save 20 minutes of your life to do anything else. Mine are gone. It's really sad. It's getting painful to see what is happening to a once great show.

Really good episode, definitely the best of the season!!!

[georginho1996 · 26 March 2013]

This episode was brilliant!!! First of all, to be honest, when i saw all the future thing i thought that the episode was going to be so boring, because i'm not into sci-fi stuff at all. But after the first few minutes passed, i must say i made so tight a bond with this episode that it will probably be the only one of HIMYM i'll remember in 20 years from now... The scenario was very well-written in my opinion and this episode is so important because we finally getting some intriguing info about the mother's identity and the time of the wedding (in 45 days i guess,but i'm not sure). Moreover, the combination of drama and comedy worked really well in this one that i could sit in front of my desk and watch this episode for another 10 times in a row. For those who are feeling lonely and see their friends moving on with their lives except for them this episode is totally gonna touch them deep inside their hearts!!!

Absolute trash

[mikeveeder75 · 1/10 · 7 April 2022]

The writers decided to Simp out on this phoned in episode. One of the absolute worst in the series history. Save yourself the frustration of Ted's Peyote fueled nightmare.

20 minutes from now

[doranna92 · 26 March 2013]

As the show goes, I seriously do not know what's going on in the writers head, but they are obviously running out of ideas. I haven't had this kind of disappointment since the middle of the 6th series, but this episode was a disaster. The main line is this x time from now. I'm from the future, 22 minutes from now, and I highly recommend myself not to watch this episode because it will ruin my day. There is no fun in it. Boring. I miss the usual HIMYM jokes, we have just this anemic part of Robin and Marshall, but nothing else. I never wanted to say this, but this episode was the last step on a long road, from now I am really only watching the show to get to know who the hell this mother can be. Sorry guys, you had something great and you wanted more but did'n have the imagination or the courage to do it: now you suffer because you're losing hundreds or maybe thousands of viewers.

Uncomfortable and confusing

[alibea-34845 · 3/10 · 15 December 2021]

This episode just made me dizzy and confused it was very uncomfortable to watch, unfortunately. I think there was some deeper meaning behind it but It's really uncanny valley for me.

What a depressing episode...

[drkcat · 7 April 2013]

I've been resisting to the idea that the show has become something totally different but now I'm losing hope. I've been a fan since long time ago and I don't remember how many times I've seen all the episodes on Netflix once and again... but this season, seems like the writers are betraying everything they wrote before.

This is all leading to the inevitable dead end of the American dream, now that they had their fun and that Ted is finally accepting the fact that he's all alone he's suffering because of his loneliness?? Seriously this was one depressing episode I'm not against marriage, but what the hell are they doing with Barney and Robin?? That ship already sailed, and yeah I didn't like it then and I think it's such a waste now... Barney and Robin are awesome just they way they are, and they don't need to get married not to each other and not to anyone else to have a happy life after wards... but hey if you insist in that so much, why force it even more and make them marry to each other? that's absurd.

And what does all this have to do with Ted? well... it's all the same, We already knew Marshall and Lily were meant to be with each other, that was obvious and the time Lily went away was a nice touch of reality, relationships are never perfect, and we all know Ted is going to get married someday, and have two kids... that's the whole plot of the show... You don't have to marry everybody, that's not real life...

What I hate the most about this season is that the writers seem to be in a rush, and the only way they found to justify this rush, is Ted's loneliness... actually this is looking so sad, that it seems that Ted is not going to really fall in love with this woman, it feels like if he's ready to take whatever life throws out to him... I was ready to accept a story like Stella's or Zoey's, those were real life stories, and hey we know he had to learn a little on the way...

I simply don't understand why sell the idea of happiness coming from Marriage exclusively, in summary:

They ruined Lily and Marshall, not because of Marvin, because of a stereotype about married couples with children.

They Murdered Barney!! He has become someone he is not!!

They took the sparkles out of Robin, Yes she's still funny, but not even the half of what she used to be.

And about Ted? they've made him just a very lonely guy, with no friends, who has always been looking for true love, and now he's desperate to meet this legendary woman...

At least the last episodes reminded me of the Ted on the first season, but this Ted I saw tonight, as funny as the time travelers were... this Ted is pathetic, no man should feel like that never in his life, because finding love is not something you need to be happy... Finding love is the topping on the dessert, you can be happy living whatever life you want to live, and your happiness should never depend on anyone, and I thought the writers thought the same way... I had hope on the show... but now I realize I was wrong...

I just hope it changes it's direction... really!

So sad.

[k-i-r-s-t-y · 2/10 · 23 June 2013]

I really don't understand what has happened to this programme. I have watched all precious seasons numerous times and can always find things to laugh at. I love all the characters, well maybe not Ted, and have loved following the story lines. This whole season has just been dreadful! Can anyone shed any light on why this is so bad????? The writing seems so very different, the characters have changed drastically, the stories are really bad. So sad, was a good thing, now not so much. I keep watching with the hope that there will be one nice episode with some of the old humour in it. Fingers crossed. Why do they make us write so much in a review? I've pretty much said all I want to about the programme, I really only wanted to say it was bad but had to parp on more in order to fulfil all the required lines. Hey no, life is one huge disappointment all round.

Waste of time

[jontolentinofife · 1/10 · 26 May 2021]

There's no point. Just a waste of time. It goes on and on blabling about nothing and in the end tries to give some meaning to it.

It has nothing to do with the good quality of the rest of the season.