10 hours until the big wedding moment and Barney is nearly dead in a hangover, which leaves the group in a race against the clock to get him sobered up and ready for family pictures and the big day. Rightfully so, this episode was titled “Rally.”

The last we saw of the How I Met Your Mother group, Robin was floating away like Ted’s long lost and beloved balloon and Barney was partying with some college kids. Since then not much has happened at the Inn except Robin has realized the only way to sober Barney up in time for family photos was to figure out the final ingredient in the “famous” Stinson Hangover Fixer Elixer (a drink we see Barney make each of them during their worst hangover moments.) Marshall and Ted set out to find the essential components they already know about (Tantrum energy drink, Funyuns, grease) and Robin and Lily stay behind to wake him up enough to reveal the secret ingredient.

Marshall and Ted successfully gather Funyuns and the Tantrum energy drink (I will add, I found the “throw me the soda, “no need to throw a Tantrum bit, hilarious, I also just like puns,) but ran into trouble when trying to get a hold of grease; given the Inn does not cook with grease. Their only shot at a chance at greasy goodness was eating a tub of bacon, which in turn the kitchen would have to cook more—in grease. Of course, Ted looks to Marshall to complete the task, but then comes to a realization he was lied to by his mother about his food allergies (she told him he was allergic to bacon, Halloween candy and not saying “thank you.) Ted challenges himself to eat the tub of bacon and soon realizes the crispy goodness he has been missing out on. Quickly, more bacon was cooked and thus, provided them with a cup of grease.

Meanwhile back at the room with Lily, Robin and a Barney who has already been dropped down a flight of stairs, dragged back up a flight of stairs (while hitting his head on every step) and drowned in a bucket of ice, Barney is still not waking up. Robin and Lily decide to finally fulfill one of Barney’s dreams (and Lilly’s) to make out in front of him. This of course wakes him up long enough to reveal the secret ingredient which, was no secret at all being that the elixir was made up. Barney made up the elixir simply because he “loved” them.

It turns out, Barney made each of them the Secret Elixir as a gesture of love whenever they were hung over at an inconvenient time in their careers. The drink was a placebo in an effort to rally them out of their hangover and sober them up in time to get to work—simply because he loved them.

The group returns the love by lying to Barney when he finally wakes up about how they got through family wedding pictures by pulling off “weekend at Barneys” and suiting him up, putting sunglasses on him and posing him. They told him no one noticed anything weird and even Robin’s dad fell for it. The truth however, was the pictures had to be canceled and Robins dad kicked him in the “Barnacles.” They lied so he wouldn’t feel bad about missing such a big moment. (Aw!)

Throughout the episode each one of them made a vow to never get that drunk again followed by a flash-forward to the moment when they would break that vow. For Marshall it was the night he pulled off a surprise win over Brad for state Supreme Court judge that lead to an embarrassing encounter with the press. For Lily it was when Marvin went off to College, Robin drank too much while on a trip with Barney and accidently woke up in the wrong hotel room with a baby. And for Ted, who seems to me to be the only one who didn’t break his vow as the episode opened on New Year’s Eve 2021 with him and The Mother discussing his vow to never get super drunk again. But later we see she actually drank too much, but has Ted there to love and care for her and make her the secret elixir.

The end is very near! Who else is dreading the end? Alyson Hannigan is already crying!