I haven't spent a lot of time talking about How I Met Your Mother recently, because to be honest it hasn't been very good in recent seasons. The show peaked in Season 4, and since then it has been very inconsistent, with only a handful of episodes that have held up to my high standards of what this show can be. To be frank, I feel like the writers drew the show out just to keep it going, when they should have aimed to end it a couple of seasons ago. All that said, I want to talk about these two episodes, because they were really good and a return to form and why I loved the show to begin with.
For starters, let's quickly go over what worked about the first episode of the two parter. You had the wacky plot with Lily and Marshall meeting up with Creepy Daryl, while Barney dealt with being jinxed. The jinx provided a fairly standard laugh at Barney the clown's expense, while the gang also introduced a new phrase of the episode in "The Pit Guy." It was standard HIMYM fare, complete with great guest stars in the form of Seth Green and Peter Gallagher. Then the episode ended with the seemingly horrible reveal that Barney was apparently planning on proposing to Patrice, which was a nice gut punch for the first half and a great set up for the second part.
Why did I like Barney's proposal so much?
I had hated the whole Barney/Patrice pairing, so as soon as I guess that it was actually all a setup to get Robin, I was excited. The writers have jumped the shark with Barney before, but thinking he would actually be serious with Patrice was pushing it for me, so having that retconned was good for my peace of mind.
I also think Barney turning his proposal into a Play was a perfect way for Barney to make a grand romantic gesture, and still have the proposal be a signature Barney move, instead of leaving us feeling like Barney was just a weak imitation of Ted. And best of all it had Barney being an evil genius which a big part of why I loved the original "The Playbook" so much.
Robin's refusal at first initially bothered me, but on rewatch I realized that Robin's reaction was a perfect simile of their entire relationship. She initially sees his manipulative antics and is turned off, but then turns the page and sees his vulnerable side. At the end of the day, Barney still had to hope she said yes, and it was that vulnerable side that only those closes to Barney have ever really gotten to see which is what she loves about him.
Finally, I think the final images of this episode and the way the love triangle is addressed and put to an end really touched on the feelings that have been dwelling underneath the last several seasons. Ted is going to meet the Mother after Robin's wedding. There's a reason this show started with Ted meeting Robin. It's their love story, and it was great to see Marshall once again address that even now after all this time, Ted like many How I Met Your Mother fans is still holding on to that vain hope that he will end up with Robin. He won't, and it's him accepting that, and yes it has taken 8 years of repeated rejection and contemplation for him to reach that acceptance, that allows him to finally move on.
But it's also a little heartbreaking, because even though I have solidly been rooting for Barney and Robin all along, I still want Ted to be happy, and he's not even able to on the day of his greatest accomplishment. Because...
"It's just a building."
The heartbreaking line sums up Ted's pain in his life. Even after all these years, all he has is his work. His friends have all found what he so desperately wants, and that's much more than a building.
And so that's why I loved this episode, because even though we all knew Robin would end up with Barney, this story has never really been about the ending. It has always been about the journey, and the journey was beautiful.
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