The HOUR of Power Recap OR So Long Stella!

Finally.

For the first time this season "How I Met Your Mother" finally feels like it has knocked off the rust from the summer hiatus, and I think we can now all agree: the show is officially BACK.

And I know I was leading the charge against Stella, but that's not even the main reason why I really, really liked last night's episode (I'm going to give it some time to marinate, but this might be a Top 5 All-Time Favorite Episode for me when it's all said and done).

It felt like the writers finally got back to the quality story telling that made the show great in the first place. There were unexpected and creatively crafted twists and turns, the comedy was top-notch (Ted's protein joke to Stella's sister and Marshall's Seattle Mariners joke were fantastic), and most importantly, the story was about something and carried some emotional weight.

You know what, I'm actually going to just disregard the first couple episodes of this season and count this episode as the season premiere (seriously, you're not losing anything if you just cut out those other eps).

That's how good this one was.

For the most part of the first three seasons, "HIMYM" has always had a very unique and creative ability to make the stories transcend traditional sitcom story telling and breathe like real life events (that's why we all struggled with the Stella story line - it never felt real).

That's what was made this episode.

They nailed the concept that we as self-centered humans tend to think of ourselves as the "lead" or central figure in life's stories, and that's not always the reality of a situation.

Ted thought Stella didn't want Robin at their wedding because he thought the story revolved around him. When we heard her dialogue again at the end of the ep (in the flashback sequence), the reality of Stella's own fears and emotional conflict hit me with a wave of season one goosebumps.

This story wasn't about Ted.

I don't think I even understand how amazing that kind of writing is (the ep was written by Chris Harris, another former "Late Show" staffer).

And that ending sequence was so powerful. It didn't just spoon-feed you the information (even though it was all obvious), it let you experience the situation with the characters. The cuts between Robin on the ferry boat to Ted finding the "Dear John" letter to having Marshall, Lilly, and Barney appear in the room with Ted and their individual reactions (for some reason, the group never seemed closer to me than in THAT moment) to Robin seeing Stella and her ex on the boat all made for griping television.

That's all you can ever ask for from a show.

OK, now what happens next? I've already seen a lot of the fansites and messages boards heating up with Ted and Robin rumors.

Really?

They might flirt with them getting back together but there's just no way.

Robin needs a place to stay now that she's back from Japan and we know she lives in Ted's apartment on his 31st birthday so that will be happening sooner or later. Sure, they might try to get us all going down the Ted and Robin path again, but I think as soon as we are going one way, that stupid yellow umbrella is going to sneak up out of nowhere (remember, it's currently in Ted's possession).

Plus, Ted was just engaged and was basically left at the altar. I can't even see him running into anything new any time soon.

How I love Single Ted!

One last note as we close the book on Stella: I give Ted credit. He was going to go through with it. He stood up to his friends and really felt like she was the one. He made a decision and stuck to it and now he's not the jerk in the end.

Ted's growing up, boys and girls. Sometimes it takes those kind of relationships to get you to the right relationship that you wouldn't have been ready for without those previous experiences.

So long Stella! Welcome back Ted.

Oh, and Sheldon couldn't get to work on "The Big Bang Theory" last night. Seriously, that's all that happened and we didn't laugh once.

Yawn.

- Josh Mahler