How I Met Your Mother's 200th Episode: Fans Discovered The Mother’s Heartbreaking Past and How She Met Ted

Find out what happened in the milestone episode of the CBS hit comedy.

By Leanne Aguilera Jan 28, 2014 2:52 AMTags
HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, Cristin MiliotiRon P. Jaffe/Fox

It finally happened.

Despite the fact that we have spent the majority of How I Met Your Mother's final season screaming at our TV screens—due to its severe lack of Mother-centric moments—the series' 200th episode blew us away and left us clutching a box of tissues.

That's right, we were full-on ugly girl sobbing and we have absolutely no shame in admitting that.

Tonight's milestone episode, entitled "How Your Mother Met Me," featured something that fans have been dreaming of for the past nine seasons: an entirely all-Mother episode, that filled us in on what Ted's  (Josh Radnor) mysterious future wife has been up to during all these years. Cristin Milioti gave fans an unbelievably touching performance in this enlightening half-hour, which explained the heartbreaking hardships that the Mother has had to overcome on her way to meeting The One.

While we've been fixating on the lives of Ted, Robin (Cobie Smulders), and the rest of MacLaren Pub's most popular gang, The Mother has been living a similarly crazy life, full of happenstance and twists of fate, for the past eight years. She even encountered many of the same people and classic running jokes, and now we're going to catch you up on all of her biggest moments…

On the night that Ted met Robin—aka the night that Lily (Alyson Hannigan) and Marshall (Jason Segel) got engaged—It also happened to be The Mother's 21st birthday. In a coincidental twist, she and her friends happened to gather at another MacLaren's Pub on the other side of town and she eagerly awaited the arrival of her boyfriend, Max, to help her celebrate.

Unfortunately, The Mother's birthday plans took a devastating turn when she discovered that Max had died (rough one, HIMYM). Fast forward two years, we learned that she was still not over her heartbreak, so her friends decided to drag her out of the house for a St. Patrick's Day party. 

All true HIMYM fans know that The Mother left her yellow umbrella at this party, but did you know that Mitch, who we all know as "The Naked Man," also tried his naked tactics on her? (FYI, she turned him down, hah!)

Ron P. Jaffe/Fox

Moving along in The Mother's timeline, we saw the moment where Ted began accidently lecturing her class on architecture, before his embarrassing and abrupt exit. She noticed Ted right away and her sweet smile when he realized his mistake was absolutely priceless. We even took a visit back to the day when Ted caught a glimpse of The Mother's foot when he was dating her roommate Cindy (Rachel Bilson) So. Many. Feels! (And how about that girl-on-girl kiss?! Interesting...)

After Max's passing, The Mother had great difficulty opening herself up again to another man—and then she met Lewis. The Mother liked Lewis, however their relationship was missing that special spark that could push her feelings from like into love. For this reason, when Lewis proposed to The Mother the weekend of Robin and Barney's (Neil Patrick Harris) wedding, she politely turned him down. 

We ended the episode with a truly tear-jerking moment in which The Mother sang a gorgeous rendition of "La Vie En Rose" on a ukulele. Ted ended up hearing her through the wall of the Farhampton Inn and was a part of a very emotional moment with the woman he would later marry, although neither of them knew it just yet. 

What did you think of How I Met Your Mother's 200th episode? Who has mascara running down their faces from crying too hard? Sound off in the comments below!

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