The main theme of the “How I Met Your Mother” episode called “Natural History” was a continuation of the storyline with Zoey, the girl who had protested Ted’s GNB project. As this episode began, it turned out she had written an article in the newspaper about that very GNB project that Ted was working on. Later she would reappear at a party where all of the main characters were in attendance. More than 90% of the episode then took place at that party (a fundraiser).
The gang all got to go to a GNB sponsored event at the Natural History Museum. Where Lily found out that Marshall had been offered a five-year contract to stay working for the bank. Lily had been hoping that Marshall was going to eventually leave the bank and work at his goal of saving the world. It ended up driving a wedge between them, as Lily was very upset that Marshall had been leading her on about still becoming an environmental lawyer for the past two and a half years. They had a brief fight about it, but made up towards the end of the episode, and in the final scene, we learn that Marshall will eventually leave the bank.
Kyle MacLachlan (“Desperate Housewives”) guest starred as the man (The Captain) hosting the event, and he was the one who ended up extending a challenge that Barney not touch anything at the museum while they were all attending. Soon it became a game between Barney and Robin to see who could touch the most items for the longest. Through an odd twist, it was revealed that Barney had vandalized the museum as a child, but was remanded to the custody of his father. In the office of the security guard, he found out the real name of his father. Robin was there when he found out, but he made her promise not to tell anyone what had happened.
Later it turned out that The Captain was actually married to Zoey though, and she was at the party too. Zoey wasn’t happy about her life though, even if she was living in the lap of luxury. When she broke down in front of Ted, they ended up really connecting. Later Ted would find out that it was all an act to get him to bad-mouth GNB on tape. There were two more scenes with her though, first where she overheard her husband saying he would get the tape for Ted and Ted saying no, and then her telling Ted she had deleted the tape in the end. This sets up a very interesting dynamic between the two characters that could further develop in the coming weeks.
The next episode of “How I Met Your Mother” will air at 8 pm ET on Monday, November 15 on CBS. In the episode, we are going to find out more about Robin’s past in Canada.
Sources:
HIMYM_Website
Nov. 8 episode of HIMYM
