'How I Met Your Mother' Season 9, Episode 15: 'Unpause' Recap

We've been waiting a long time for this season of "How I Met Your Mother" to deliver something—anything—and this week the show's writers finally came through. "Unpause" was filled with call-backs to previous seasons, big long-awaited reveals, heart-tugging seriousness, and, at last, some more of The Mother.

Dispensing with the flashbacks and ludicrous plots, "Unpause" stays rooted mostly in the present, as the gang settles in together in Farhampton. Copious drinking postpones the brewing confrontation between Marshall and Lily over the Judgship/Italy conflict, and it gets Barney's tongue working in an unprecedentedly honest manner.

Late in the evening, Ted and Robin notice that Barney has become "truth serum drunk," meaning that he's so intoxicated that he can't tell a lie. His friends take advantage of his state to satisfy their curiosity, and we get lots of cute revelations about Barney's past. The only surprises of consequence, though, are the true nature of Barney's job—turns out his standard answer when anyone asks ("Please!") is not an evasion after all—and that he really, really loves Robin.

Meanwhile, Marshall and Lily finally address their future—and, thanks to some cruel dredging up of resentments, their past—and the confrontation is not pretty. It ends with Lily storming out of the hotel and hopping in a car with a mystery rescuer (the smart bet is that it's The Mother).

On top of all that, we learn some very important tidbits. We learn that Ted and his wife will spend a lot of time at the Farhampton Inn in the future. We also learn the names of their two children. And, in an epilogue that's much funnier than last week's appearance by Boyz II Men, we learn whether Barney and Robin's wedding will host a "ring bearer" or a "ring bear."