‘How I Met Your Father’ EPs Explain [SPOILER]’s Return — and Why They Weren’t Wearing a Ring

variety.com:

Emily Longeretta SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not watched “Timing Is Everything,” the March 15 finale of “How I Met Your Father.”The finale of “How I Met Your Father” didn’t reveal who the father is — but it did give fans a cameo from the original show they’ve been waiting for.

During the Season 1 finale, Sophie (Hilary Duff) and Jesse (Chris Lowell) finally get together, in a relationship so brief that, by the end of the episode, they’re already done.After Jesse tells Sophie that he ended things with Meredith (Leighton Meester), the pair spend the night together and he mutters “I love you” in his sleep.

When she playfully brings it up ahead of her gallery debut, he explains that it’s not a big deal because he turned down going on tour with Meredith for her — something that is a bit scary for her.

After she expresses that, he asks her to leave and she heads downstairs to a little bar called MacLaren’s. (Of course, this is the spot that the gang gathered in during nearly every episode of “How I Met Your Mother.”) When she arrives, not only does she order from Carl the Bartender (Joe Nieves), she is greeted by the one and only Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders), the perfect person to give her advice about a man moving too fast.