'How I Met Your Mother' Season 9, Episode 10 Recap: 'Mom And Dad"

Spoiler Alert: Do not read on if you have not yet seen Season 9, Episode 10 of CBS' "How I Met Your Mother," titled "Mom and Dad." "Mom and Dad" made very little sense, even by final season "HIMYM" standards. But, since I decided to "just go with it" after complaining for the majority of these recaps, I'm going try to find the good this week. Barney concocts a scheme to get his mother, Loretta (Frances Conroy), back together with his father, Jerry (John Lithgow, not Bob Barker). Forget Jerry's marriage, logic, etc. Barney's looking for a childhood fairytale. But Barney's brother, James (Wayne Brady), isn't having it. James devised a plan to reunite his own father (Ben Vereen) with Loretta. In the spirit of giving "HIMYM" the benefit of the doubt, I'll just gloss right over the um, interesting black-and-white song and dance. Though I should mention there were two redeeming qualities to this sketch: Wayne Brady's singing voice (More Wayne Brady! More Wayne Brady!) and Frances Conroy's 1950s get-up. Turns out Loretta's has been boinking James' dad all along, even before the wedding. Barney doesn't get his own happy family with his own happy parents, but James does, and like Robin says, he's the one who really needs it right now. Let's move right along to Ted and Lily's antics that they just happened to get themselves into this week (yuk yuk). Someone destroyed an autographed Wayne Gretzky photo with Ted's calligraphy ink (GASP!). Detective Mosby to the rescue. Turns out '80s villain Billy Zabka is the culprit because he wants to be Barney's best man again. I'm all about '80s pop culture references, but is anyone else totally confused at the very elongated storyline involving Zabka? When did this become a constant "thing" in the "HIMYM" universe? I thought he was a one trick pony at the bachelor party, but that was before I learned we'd be with him all wedding weekend (all season). We did get an excellent mention of the pineapple incident and a "Homeland"-inspired yarn-map. If we end the series without solving this one mystery, I will have considered the whole show a wash. Back in an oil-guzzling SUV, Marshall and Daphne get into their own sentimental arguments, which ends in Daphne making it to her daughter's Model UN conference. Drill baby drill, indeed! Is this the end of Daphne's time on "HIMYM"? One can only hope Marshall will be reunited with the gang permanently. Stray thoughts: +1 for the clipart-inspired "zabka-tage" imagery. What's going on with the locket? Where's Robin's plotline? So far, she's been mostly used as a backboard this season. Ditto for Lily. Double ditto for Marshall. "How I Met Your Mother" airs Mondays at 8 p.m. EST on CBS. What did you think of "Mom and Dad"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!