S1E1 : It Begins

June 24th, 2013

Time to start at the very beginning.

Season 1: Episode 1: Pilot

2030: This is the established time that Ted is telling his kids about how he met their mother. I and my past series-watching company have speculated that the kids are probably about 14 or 15. Given that, Ted would have to have kids about 2015, and as a result, married maybe 2013 or so.
2005: This is where we're starting, and Ted's 27. Lily and Marshall are getting engaged.

Right off the bat, Barney and Ted both state that Ted shouldn't think even think about marriage until he's thirty, which would be 3 years away. However, it's pretty clear that Ted's the kind of romantic who would rather be married tomorrow, especially with his two best friends getting engaged. At the same time, Ted states he's not ready for marriage. This sets up a main conflict as being within Ted, between feeling the desire to find love, get married, and have kids, and feeling like he's too young to really settle down. It's pretty obvious that Barney will stand as an influence against settling down, which as far as the show's set-up is concerned, is the end-game.
And then we meet Robin. Her introduction is that classic, love-at-first-sight. Of course this is entertainingly ironic when future-Ted calls her "Aunt Robin," because of course, if she was the one he marries, this would have been the shortest series ever. In all honesty, it is kind of funny that Ted says "I love you," to Robin on the "first date." It sets up the first season to be very interesting knowing that Ted is clearly an emphatic romantic, and knowing now that Robin won't be his wife when 2005-Ted clearly doesn't.
By the end of the episode, Ted says he wants to be somebody's husband. For any musical-knowledgable people, Ted is pretty reminiscent of Bobby from Stephen Sondheim's Company. Bobby's whole shtick is that he constantly states that he wants to be married, but goes after nearly every female friend that he has, and is dating three women at the same time, because he isn't actually ready.
Taking the episode at its value, without looking at any other, it's pretty good for an intro to a series. It leaves the audience with tons of questions to be answered, but it's also pretty funny.

~spinedjellyfish