How I Met Your Mother, but one thing would have made the cameo even better. While How I Met Your Father had already sprinkled around many HIMYM references throughout season 1, including the Captain and Becky’s divorce storyline and the apartment where Sid and Jesse live, its season finale delivered Robin’s (Cobie Smulders) surprise appearance. Robin proved instrumental in convincing Sophie (Hilary Duff) to let go of her fears about her relationship with Jesse being too much too soon, and she was the best choice from the original group to do so, considering she went through something very similar with Ted in How I Met Your Mother.
However, Robin and Sophie’s interaction in How I Met Your Father season 1, episode 10 could have been made even better with time travel also making an appearance. After all, it is already established in canon and often used as a narrative device in How I Met Your Mother to let its main characters reflect on their hopes and dreams for their future selves or their current fears. Considering how Robin even suggested Sophie should have decided what to do about Jesse, not focusing on her present fears but on what 20-year-later Sophie would have regretted, the chance to reintroduce time travel also in How I Met Your Father was basically set up. Instead, How I Met Your Father avoided even just hinting at the possibility of time travel, making Robin’s cameo less powerful than it could have been had it also provided an example of time travel.
How I Met Your Father's Robin Cameo & Time Travel Link It More To HIMYM
How I Met Your Father season 1 avoided a reboot cameo problem by introducing enough references to How I Met Your Mother to let the sequel feel familiar without them overshadowing the new show. The way How I Met Your Father season 1, episode 10 referenced both the pineapple incident and the consequences of the Captain and Becky’s divorce impacting Sophie’s life proved how the HIMYM references had been scarce but effective. Even Ted and Marshall’s flat ing to Sid and Jesse was clever, as it was clearly recognizable but also updated in a way that wouldn’t just be a copy but its own How I Met Your Father version.
Having time travel make an appearance in the sequel would have strengthened the connection between the two shows. While it's important that they maintain their peculiarities, it's also important that they exist in the same universe. Time travel reminding viewers of their coexistence would have been yet another well-executed reference that didn’t overshadow the HIMYM sequel while making How I Met Your Father’s connection to HIMYM blatant.
How I Met Your Mother Already Proved Time Travel Existed
How I Met Your Mother famously hinted at time travel throughout its nine seasons, with it appearing as a narrative device multiple times. The first time it appeared in season 4, episode 4, time travel wasn’t technically involved as it was just Barney preying on women by using one of his Playbook moves involving him appearing as an older version of himself and then as he was at the time. Later, How I Met Your Mother season 8, episode 20 used a time-traveling narrative device where Ted’s subconscious imagined future versions of himself and Barney trying to convince him to go or not to Robots vs Wrestlers. However, it was How I Met Your Mother season 5, episode 10, “The Window,” that made time travel canon in the HIMYM universe, as viewers actually ended up seeing 60-year-old Marshall sending 30-year-old Marshall hot wings as proof time travel existed. That being the case, How I Met Your Father season 1, episode 10 really missed the perfect linking opportunity to How I Met Your Mother, not only because time travel was already confirmed by the original series but because it was also set up by Sophie and Robin’s interaction.