How I Met Your Mother’s return to the air wasn’t exactly a return to form. Last week’s episode had it’s moments, but it didn’t pack all the funny that over three months of downtime should have guaranteed. This lowered my already dismal expectations for this week’s Britney episode that would understandably include all of the pandering that generally comes with a stunt of this nature. I’m not upset with the decision. Mother is struggling, and if lowering their standards for one episode to grab a wider audience is what it takes to skirt a premature death, I can reconcile that.

Well, as it turns out, all of my nerves and over thinking were for naught. The Spearsy “Ten Sessions” was one of the best episodes of the season and saw Ted back as the giddy romantic we’ve barely gotten since the first season when he started courting Victoria, the cupcake girl. Mother never ceases to surprise me with their inventive ways to tell a story. Bouncing back and forth from the gang’s table at McLaren’s to Ted’s various visits to the dermatologist’s office was a nice method of keeping the focus on Ted. The supporting cast is the show’s greatest asset (as is often the case on TV), but it’s no reason to ignore the protagonist. Their departure from his journey towards matrimony is one reason why a lot of people became frustrated with the series. The third season is bringing him back into the loop.

So what about Britney? She was not bad, though her greatest success may have been her ability to not be completely awkward. The writers even gave her some pretty cherry lines. She botched one or two, and her hairline only completely distracted during one scene. Like the character she was playing, this girl is desperate in a way that’s almost endearing. She just wants a chance, and regardless of your feelings for her, it’s nice to see that she’s still more than a few bad days away from drowning in her own barf at the Hard Rock Hotel.

That’s not to say she was the highlight. Hell no. That came near the end when Ted treated the ever darling and hilarious Sarah Chalke to a two-minute date. I’m glad the Silverstone appearance fell through. Unless she was to arrive on set via a time machine from 1995, her charm would not have been in tact. The episode would not have been as tight. Chalke is a worthy sparring partner for Ted, and I hope the show took notice. The open-ended manner in which they left her storyline leads me to assume they did, but all this talk of Scrubs moving to ABC will put a speedy and to any potential return. Sad… I really wouldn’t mind if she ended up being your mother.

The episode earned high ratings, as did last week’s, so my naive heart feels that HIMYM will return for a fourth season. And for anyone who feels that it doesn’t deserve one, I offer the following clip as a rebuttal… just ignore that soundtrack.