Season 7, Episode 12: Symphony of Illumination

By Jordan

And we’re back…no wait, not until January. According to Carter Bays on Twitter, “Get ready East Coast! New #HIMYM starts in 652 hours 29 minutes!”

Okay so that means…first Monday in January? Did I get that right? Oh well. We are officially half-way through season 7. What a season, full of highs and lows. And moving the story along. B&T were not kidding. The S is hitting the fan. Victoria may have been right about the three of them.

Let’s dive in!

What was Good

Robin’s story was quite moving. This girl has been through a lot. There is a reason that she never wants kids and can’t quite commit; her Dad. Daddy issues are often made fun of in society today (and especially on this show, remember Girls vs. Suits) but, eh, maybe we should have a little compassion. And, might I add, Cobie knocked this one out of the park. Emmy voters, pay attention please.
Ted, we have old Ted back. A Ted who is not only a romantic in the love sense, but in the life and friendship sense. He knows Robin, he gets Robin. Everyone should have a friend like Ted.
Mr E. Wonderful. I can relate. As we get older, when we stop fighting the aging process (we’re over 30, just accept it and move on!) we start enjoying the new role that we are in. And at the same time, one of the joys is being there for the young lads the way that adult role models were there for us at that age. Seeing the joy in Marshall’s face was quite touching. While it lasted.
Loved the way it opened with Robin narrating, and then the twist in the end. I was 50/50 on whether that would be the case. It worked poetically in that this is one part of her heart talking, but is ultimately taken over by the other half as well as her brain. In life, we cannot have everything. People who think otherwise often end up getting divorced.
Insane Duane. Struck down by forgetting to pull out (sorry ladies). I love how they cast the girl; classy, but sexy. Pearls, but ready to get down. Perfect.
I am loving the red-headed foreign OB/GYN.
And Future Ted coming back as the narrator in the end, sweet touch. Really sweet touch.

What was Bad

Barney. I know he’s Barney. And I know he would have this coming. But again, Robin really burned him. And he’s all ready to have a kid with her? I needed more than what we got. In, “Tick, Tick, Tick,” Barney went into the poker game of life, and went all in, and lost it all. It is not enough for me to take what we know about Barney and have it implied that he’s gone back into his former self. I don’t buy it. His happiness to have a child should be connected to his feelings for Robin. Here, his paternal longing (short-lived as it was) really isn’t connected to anything.
The kid, Scott. He’s a sociopath. I’m sorry, but you lock a complete stranger who was kind to you up on a roof ALL NIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER? Maybe I’m getting old; it was only recently that I started to be annoyed by all human beings under the age of 18. Make that 23 actually (I live near UCLA). I know Marshall is who he is, but I’m not buying that he’ll spend all night on the roof, possibly freezing to death, and being okay with the kid in the morning (until Scott violated the sock, that is). I hated that he would take the innocent brotherly horseplay joy of his childhood (yeah, I know, they burned the basement) and connected it to this little Kardashian-in Training bastard. I wanted to see Lilly figure it out and give the little punk his comeuppance.
A complaint about the last episode, leaving us on a cliffhanger like that. First of all, way to mess with us, B&T. Why not instead have her say, “Barney, I’m late,” CUT. Then we spend two weeks wondering if she’s pregnant or not? Just my humble opinion here. But talk about the mother of all fake outs. And not in a good way.

Favorite Moments

The Lebron joke. 125 over 6. No ring yet. Love it.
“Are you sure you’re not just getting fat?” BAM.
“Looks like nobody told your boobs” BAM. Barney, dude, learn to shut up.
We B Babies. All teens thinking about having sex should be forced to hang out there for a day and watch all the depressed people who forgot to use birth control.
The happy dance Barney and Robin did when they found out that they are not pregnant.
Anytime Ted brings back the Mosby Boys in some way, I get giddy. I can relate.
“I’ve spent years training my boys to swim the other way.”
I love that “I can’t have a baby” when Robin said it at the bar means one thing now, but later…great foreshadowing.
I will continue to love B&T for their disdain of Vegans and Hippies (Clint, looking at you)
“Kids…STOP”. Ah, the joys of being a parent. For now, I only have to put up with my cat yelling at me for my tuna and chicken (I’m on a diet).
Vaginal Numbing Spray. How did our fore-mothers get by without it? Hee hee.
“Looks like someone’s earned the right to put the Viking’s Helmet on Baby Jesus.” I feel your pain, Marshall, I’m an Eagles fan. We suck almost as much as you guys do.
Robin on the couch, scotch and cigar, “Sucks to be YOU, braces!” Heh. Good stuff.
“You have to punch me in the face!” God I love Lilly.
Marshall giving Robin Olympic advice through the phone with Lilly. Again, yet another wonderful true character moment.

Random Thoughts and Questions (new section)

Someone walk me though why Barney would be giddy to be a father. This is the guy who invented, “Not a Father’s Day.” If it is because they connected it to his love for Robin, that was not explained enough for my tastes. And I don’t buy it if you’re gonna tell me that it was connected to last week’s episode. This is ROBIN we are talking about.
I’m very curious to know why Robin can’t have kids. No real good reason, just curious.
I was curious about the sandwich until I realized THE KID IS GETTING HIGH. I now see that I was confused at first because this is the first time the narrator didn’t “point it out.” Well played, writers, well played.
Is there anything more sad than sitting on a park bench in the middle of winter, drinking egg nog, alone (see below). This girl has hit rock bottom, at least, I hope she has, I don’t want anything to get worse for her.
Really Ted? To cheer Robin up, you play, “Highway to Hell”? I know it was connected to what Barney said in the bar, but, still. Why not something a little more upbeat, like highway to heaven? A little Bing Crosby?
I keep hearing the same high-pitched, “HEE HEE HEE” in the canned laughter. It’s really starting to annoy me.
Poor Kevin. Oh, poor Kevin.
Yes, rocks glasses should be used for those of us who don’t drink or aren’t drinking that night. I wish more bars would do this.
You know what sucks about all that comfort food on set? It’s all fake. Torture for the actors, who are dieting anyway.
Notice how Duane has four kids? What do you make of that? Duane indeed misses his bro days, but he did have four kids with this lady. Who seems simply lovely.
Rebecca, if you’ve read this far…AMEN AND GOOD FOR YOU! Everyone, go back and read what Rebecca said in the previous post about women who can’t have children. Good show, girl.

Closing Thoughts

In spite of my complaints, I still liked this episode very much, and I will always love these characters. A very character-driven episode, even if I still found that Barney’s journey with Robin is not being explained enough for my tastes. I hope they take it further later on.

Tonight’s episode was truly a game changer for Robin. Indeed, it is one thing to not want something, but something else entirely to learn you can never have it. The human mind is certainly complicated, but Robin’s is a Inception-like labyrinth of mixed emotions, abandonment fear and uncertainty. I am still mad at her for what she has done to Kevin and to Barney, but I still care for her and want her to be happy. I am glad to know that in the future, everything will be okay for her, and I am sad to see her in so much pain in the present.

So, we’re at half-time. Let’s recap:

LAME:

They are pregnant and enjoying that ride, and find out they are having a boy. They win the “Our elders love us” lottery and get a house in the ‘burbs. Yup, we’re in Act Three, the Gang is starting to split up.

BARNEY:

Dude has been through hell. He tried things with Nora but screwed her over when he realized that he still had feelings for Robin, who promptly broke his heart and gave him a pregnancy scare for his troubles. But the tides are still turning for the Barnicle. Looking forward to that wedding.

ROBIN:

This season indeed has been about her. She is finally beginning to confront her “Daddy Issues” and feelings of abandonment. She still longs for Barney but has no idea what to do about it. Finally admitted she is so messed up. But we are rooting for her, nonetheless. Everything is going to be okay.

TED:

The show’s supposed main character, he hasn’t had much to do this season, besides get final closure with Victoria and the Slutty Pumpkin. I hope the second half gives him more to do.

I’ll be posting here every week even though there are no new episodes. Of course, I’ll also be doing my podcast, the “Sensitive Nice Guy” show. Tune in and enjoy! Cheers!

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In Season 7, Show Analysis, Show News | Tuesday, December 6th, 2011 09:03 pm GMT -4 | By Jordan

« Coming up…The Next Episode… - Season 7, Episode 13: Tailgate »

97 Comments to “Season 7, Episode 12: Symphony of Illumination”

Wei-Wei | Tuesday, December 6th, 2011 09:16 pm GMT -4

****SPOILER ALERT***** (but you’ve read this post, so..)

I felt like I should’ve anticipated the Robin narrating twist but it still made me really sad to see her sitting on the bench alone in the snow. I’ve had moments like that in my life and I just related to her confusion and sadness so much. On the other hand, Ted was INCREDIBLY sweet at the end. (I know you complained about Highway to Hell, but it is pretty iconic.) I think the way Robin just clung onto him at the end was a little more than how a friend might hug a friend. Complications between the three (Barney Robin and Ted) are definitely surfacing… and I don’t have a good feeling about them.

I can’t believe we have to wait so long! I haaaaate cliffhangers like this Also, the title of this episode is vaguely Gaga-ish. I dunno why.
miki | Tuesday, December 6th, 2011 11:18 pm GMT -4

I was really dissapointed. How are they gonna get to Barneys wedding to the end of the season? Isnt that what its suppose to happen? Im 100% sure that Robyn and Barney are gonna end up together and kinda felt they were getting to it a this time. I would have been a really good spicer for the history, which at this point is becoming a little empty. I love this show and Im looking forward for better episodes, really.
Linka | Tuesday, December 6th, 2011 11:36 pm GMT -4

Well I was very happy about the twist ending, moments before which I had decided that this would be the last HIMYM episode I’d ever watch.
Still, I can’t believe they did this. I thought Robin would be the supreme example of someone making an informed and independent choice to not have children. Instead, are we to assume that otherwise she would have gone cuckoo when she hit 40 and had them anyway, and the only reason she doesn’t is because she can’t? Weak.

Also agreed about Marshall’s acceptance of Scott’s behavior being unbelievable. I hope they follow this up, with Scott getting in BIG trouble.
To that point, agreed about hating (almost) everyone under 18…/23. 25? Even though I’m 20 myself!

And agreed about Barney. WTH. “I’m gonna be a daddy!”? Nope, not buying it.
Pure Bubbles | Tuesday, December 6th, 2011 11:37 pm GMT -4

I think last night’s episode was quite intimate. You got to see the vulnerable side of Robin. A side the audience rarely (if ever) really sees. We have seen self conscious and confused Robin but never striped of the strength that she usually carries. That last scene she looks so tired. And that is why the episode was so fantastic. Because it’s impossible to believe that everyone likes the life they choose all the time. Lets face it, it is the life she chose. But now there is no Plan B. I think without the “plan B” she has the “Lady Balls” to go out and actually do what she always wanted to do. The elimination of Plan B was the push she needed to become the fantastic woman she is as Aunt Robin.

Now Barney is an interesting enigma. He’s in love with a girl but she turned him down. Yet he’s still wants to be her friend. Let’s go back to season 5. It was horrible but still telling about Barney’s view of the inner group. If you’d recall, Barney was very much in love with Robin at the time of their break up. He was able to go right back to being friends. Barney actually does have some very good points to his personality. It seems that he doesn’t really a) hold a grudge (with the exception of the exploding meatball sub) b) give up on a friendship. He still values Robin and he probably realizes that it would destroy the group dynamic if he made a big deal about something. Even though it looks like it might happen anyway.

Ted I want to marry you. You can still be friends with Robin. I like a guy who is loyal to his friends.

I am a bit disappointed in Lily along with a few other people. Anyone who has a bff knows when that person isn’t actually talking about “Pole Vaulting”
Pure Bubbles | Tuesday, December 6th, 2011 11:42 pm GMT -4

Crikey! I also wanted to add something about Barney. He is really good at thinking something will fill a void for something else. Robin didn’t accept him so he wants a baby. A baby will “love” you forever. They won’t stop needing you. Women are not predictable and may or may not be what you want. What Barney really needs is a dog.
FrankQB | Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 12:05 am GMT -4

The more I watch HIMYM this season the more it’s becoming obvious that the show breaks its three main male cast members down into three separate categories: Ted, the lonely-heart dreamer with high hopes for “the one” who has slowly learned that truly meaningful love just doesn’t happen like in the movies. Marshall, who got freakishly lucky and found true meaningful love and wants to be a father. And Barney who never wanted true meaningful love until he found it.

The show is a tribute to the inevitable end of youth and encroaching adult-hood responsibility.

I enjoyed how this episode flowed. It did feel intimate as someone else suggested.
Ed's Cheese | Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 12:50 am GMT -4

The way Future Ted talks about Robin at the end of this episode makes me wonder if she’ll still be alive in 2030. I’m sure I’m reading into it a little too much, but the final line (“She was never alone”) seems a bit ominous to me. I doubt there’s anything to that, but you never know.
marine | Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 02:31 am GMT -4

i just finished watching the episode and i was in tears…weeping!! there is no better show on TV. i was truly hoping, up until the end, that somehow the doctor was wrong and she did have kids…And, Jordan, I think Barney expected Robin would break up with Kevin and have a life with him and the baby. Remember at the bar he mentioned something like “if Kevin wasn’t in the picture”…Maybe he thought this would be what got them together?
meck | Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 02:32 am GMT -4

There have been 4 episodes of HIMYM that stuck with me after watching them, that left a kind of emotional imprint that lingered days afterward. They are: “Come On” (season 1), “Sandcastles in the Sand” (season 3), “Bad News” (season 6), and now “Symphony of Illumination.”These episodes are achievements in storytelling, mixing music, narration by future ted, and acting to create an emotional effect that damn near haunts you after the show has finished. Robin’s crying, the lights, Future Ted’s “but she was never alone.” Perfection.

To repeat my thoughts from last week, there is *something* between Robin and Ted still that will create problems soon (the back and forth in the kitchen that lasted one too many rounds past normal and Ted’s grand gesture reminiscent of the blue symphony).

I’m not sure what this all means for RoBarn and I think uncertainty is right where the writers want us. No one saw something this powerful coming and no matter what team you’re on, it’s hard to guess what’s next. I still want them together (yes Barney wants kids but as we’ve seen the past few episodes he isn’t really mature enough yet). But I also think, with Robin’s story in place, the writers finally have a credible reason for them to not end up together if they dont want them to (in my opinion at least).

One more thing: If you think about this whole series as a text and remember, several seasons ago, Future Ted saying Robin eventually “made her peace” with kids, that’s the type of thing that has so much more meaning now (and frankly makes more sense). It reaffirms my faith in the continuity of this show, and even if some seasons were just dreadful, I believe they’ve known where they’re going all along.
Marin | Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 05:39 am GMT -4

@ Jordan if you re watch the episode when Barney invented not fathers day he sang in Karaoke bar and was actually sad… At least I had a feeling already back then that Barney really wants to be Dad
yellowbrickroad | Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 08:01 am GMT -4

You know what I just realized? Every single character on this show has daddy issues.
Seriously, Barney’s dad left him, Lily’s dad is insane, Ted’s parents got divorced and Ted’s mom remarried Clint, Robin’s dad wanted her to be a boy, and Marshall (the only one who had a true connection with his father) his dad died.

I don’t know, just a random thought.

Also, I was rewatching episodes recently and I came across the episode where they said Barney can’t drive, but there were like 3 or 4 other episodes where he is shown driving. Slightly annoyed but still love this show!
sandyrivers | Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 08:22 am GMT -4

Barney learned to drive! lol

anyway I reckon this episode just confirmed HIMYM is still the awesomest sitcom on TV

simply amazing. I’m pretty sure Robin and Ted are gonna hook up though… and then Barney marries… Ted’s sister!
The Modern Gal | Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 11:20 am GMT -4

You forgot the epic Mannheim Steamroller jokes.

I loved, LOVED this episode. As a woman who doesn’t think she wants kids, I could relate, and I think Cobie nailed the emotions. HIMYM does the emotional side of growing up and getting older so, so well as they did when they handled Marshall’s dad’s death. It’s this kind of stuff that makes this show better than the average sitcom.

And the Highway to Hell — it’s weird and unexpected enough to be just right to cheer up Robin (and yes, the AC/DC reference earlier was key).
Chris | Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 11:20 am GMT -4

Per Barney – he also completely turned from trying to stop his brother to supporting his brother’s marriage when he heard there was going to be a baby. He’s always been a fan of the babies….just not marriage.

I still like, and miss, that old dynamic of the show, where Ted wanted to get married and Barney did not. It created dynamic tension and comedy – comedy that is sometimes lacking in current episodes.
Jordan | Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 01:13 pm GMT -4

“The show is a tribute to the inevitable end of youth and encroaching adult-hood responsibility.”

Nailed it, Frank.
Sab | Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 02:35 pm GMT -4

Barney’s blog is a must read this week. It literally lifted my spirits after Monday’s episode!
little | Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 02:58 pm GMT -4

Robin will never be alone may very well mean that Ted marries Robin and the kids either a) do not exist and Ted is talking to no one or b) have a different mother since Robin can’t have children.

And Lily not noticing Robin’s true brain- probably just her being pregnant and Lily. That is exactly how it came across. The writers were trying to make a point that Robin could not confide in any of her friends, each for different reasons.
little | Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 03:00 pm GMT -4

My previous comment should have said ‘Robin’s true feelings/issue,’ not ‘brain.’ No idea how I typed that.
Vic | Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 04:48 pm GMT -4

@ Sab: What’s the website for Barney’s blog???

Loved the episode. I love season 7 so far, with the exception of one or two episodes.
erwin | Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 04:49 pm GMT -4

this was one of my least favorite episodes of how i met your mother to date. as someone else commented, the twist at the end is all that kept me from the very tempting notion of abandoning my favorite television show of all time. as a holder of the (very unpopular) opinion that robin and barney should never end up together, i have found this season to be a tiresome and belabored attempt to rewrite the subtext of both robin and barney’s characters to make for the plausible drama that they might get back together. the glimmer of hope this episode gave me is the implication that fundamentally barney and robin cannot successfully go through life if they marry one another. as cute and hallmarky as the idea of “true love conquers all” is, how i met your mother does keep things realistic enough where if ted didn’t end up with robin, barney obviously should not either, as he wants the family and kids thing and robin whether she wants it or not cannot (and as ted alludes, will not) provide that. i hope, however, that they do not throw barney’s desire for a family out the window with some lame “he’s still immature barney” twist, that it seems a lot of fans are hoping for. his support of james’ family, along with lilly’s psychoanalysis in the heart moniter episode, point more firmly to barney’s real desire to eventually have a family, even if he is too immature for it now, and is only getting baby hungry at the moment because of his other love issues. either way this episode really catalyzed what ultimately has been bothering me about the show this entire season: if barney and robin do end up together it will be a cheap, unrealistic, dumbing down of the show, by making barney and robin significantly more shallow characters than they are, in pursuit of some disney ending that how i met your mother has so effectively kept itself from in the past. but if they do not end up together, the end of season six (the reinvention of barney stinson), and certainly what we have so far of season seven (the reinvention of robin scherbatsky) will feel like a fairly large waste of time. on the other hand, the writers usually throw very pleasant surprises at me, so best case scenario, barney and robin’s reinventions will lead to something better than simply their marriage or lack thereof. they have kept themselves from overdoing lame happily ever afters before, hopefully this will continue. the robin barney drama has just been so dominant lately, it feels like they might cop out.

in attempts to be slightly less negative: exceptional acting from cobie smulders, and ted at the end is indeed adorable.

really, i wish the show would get back to ted’s story, since barney and robin’s romance is very irritating to me. i’m suspecting as someone else wrote, that ted and robin may hook up one final time, though that seems a bit contradictory with other foreshadowing.
Matthew | Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 06:58 pm GMT -4

To be honest, I dont think the show has been Ted’s story since about season 4. At least not the story that was originally pitched.

@little: I did think that once but after all the references to kids and pictures of kids and statements about the kids, I do think Ted’s kids are real and that Ted and Robins time is almost over. I dont think this is going to come until Robin moves out (or Ted moves out) of the apartment.

Insane Duane: Has anyone mentioned him yet? He was a fellow suit man and Barney’s BEST friend before he met Ted and the gang. Then after a single night with a women he was sucked from the Barney world to … the married with Children World. Im truly not sure if he was just consigned to his fate (as he didnt look too happy) or that in the end it was what he wanted. In a way this was Barney’s look into a future that scared the crap outta him … maybe. I did like that glimpse of a possible future

Ive always been of the view that Robin was never going to have kids. This episode solidified this for me beyond a shadow of a doubt.

I enjoyed this episode, after the second view. It had some really nice moments.
JT | Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 09:31 pm GMT -4

“But she was never alone”.

I think this means Robin never gets married and never has kids, but she has great friends around her and becomes aunt Robin to Ted’s and LAME’s (and possibly Barney’s) kids.
FrankQB | Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 11:38 pm GMT -4

Thanks, Jordan. I think it’s said even better in this article I read today that Carter tweeted: http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011/12/06/143195693/how-i-met-your-mother-the-optimism-of-inevitability?sc=tw
Jenn- GCWOK Approved | Thursday, December 8th, 2011 01:10 am GMT -4

I can’t believe we’re congratulating Rebecca for her comment. Obviously she has not gone through a loss like that, because it IS heartbreaking to have that choice taken away from you. Anyone has the choice to adopt a child if they would like to. I have always planned on adopting, as well as having my own. But that didn’t make it any easier for me when I found out I could not have my own biological children, either. Any time a choice is taken from you, it is something to grieve, regardless of the positive things that may come out of it.
Jordan | Thursday, December 8th, 2011 01:38 am GMT -4

Jenn, you bring up a good point. I agree with you. I guess I was praising her for pointing out the joys of adopting, but you are correct. It must be heartbreaking.
Zombie | Thursday, December 8th, 2011 03:04 am GMT -4

I love how a sitcom can almost make me cry.
Valkyr | Thursday, December 8th, 2011 06:48 am GMT -4

I don’t get the people hating on the show. I mean being cynical is one thing and having the patience to actually sit down on a blog and type a 1000 word comment quite another altogether. This episode wasn’t really that funny to me, but I loved it simply because of the array of emotions shown in it. You had Barney still in love with Robin hoping that a kid would see him marry her and finally settle down. Robin not wanting kids, not yet confronting her feelings for Barney and then finally being devastated by news of her inability to have children. And finally, you have Ted who still loves Robin (not necessarily in love with her) and he showe us the stand-up guy that he is. I thought all emotions were very realistically conveyed and nailed what one goes through. The end especially with Ted was something that I can relate to, as I am in the exact same position with one of my friends who I was involved with for a while. As for the believability of the Lily-Marshall storyline, it is a sitcom for crying out loud, they have to bring in some humour.
little | Thursday, December 8th, 2011 11:54 am GMT -4

@Valkyr: “it is a sitcom for crying out loud, they have to bring in some humour”

thank you!
Solo4114 | Thursday, December 8th, 2011 02:05 pm GMT -4

Ok, didn’t see this one coming. I finally watched it last night, and I have to say I really enjoyed the episode. They seem to have genuinely found the balance between elements at this point in the season, after a disappointing stretch in early-middle part of the season. Good deal.

So, working from least- to most-important storyline/elements.

1.) Ted — loved that “Deductive Ted” returned. Even though he was wrong, I still get a kick out of it. Especially because he’s SO SURE he’s right. Also because I completely identify with that character trait… Anyway, I also really dug how loyal Ted is as a friend. And yeah, whoever said there’s still an element of interest on his part, I think you’re right. But maybe it’s just residual, rather than anything that could be fanned into flame. Basically, I don’t think you go ALL OUT like that for just your buddies. Would Ted do that for Marshall or Barney? Doubtful. Possible, but doubtful.

2.) Barney — I dug the whole “I want to be a dad!” thing. Both in terms of Barney’s growth, and in terms of Barney still wanting that for at least partially selfish (Barney-ish) reasons. To me, his behavior didn’t seem that out of character.

3.) Marshall and Lily — I love their gradual transition to suburbanites. It fits. Anyone who is about the age of the characters probably has a friends-couple that has gone this route. I know I do. The absurdity of the situation was also expertly balanced.

And lastly…

4.) Robin — wow. So, yeah, Robin is a MESS. But she’s an honest mess. Robin deals with many of the issues I’ve seen friends deal with. And I think her statement of “I didn’t want it, but I wanted to know it was at least an option…” is VERY true to life. She’s also done this before — with Ted. She didn’t want to get back together…..but she wanted to know it was an option. People do this. It’s a real phenomenon, and I love that the show explores it in a complex way. This is Robin doing it, and we love (well, I love) Robin. Although at the same time, how many folks here see that kind of behavior and want to yell “Oh GROW UP for chrissakes!!”

Robin has a LOT of growing up to do and, I think this season is basically her hitting the wall and being forced to do just that. The writers, however, are handling this in a very deft fashion. As much as I want to scream at Robin to make up her damn mind and wake up to reality…I also sympathize with her plight. Reality is crashing in on her and now she has to make choices — hard ones — that she’s never really been forced to look at. And that, my friends, is growing up. It’s recognizing that you can’t have your cake and eat it too, that you’re not gonna live forever and you have to make choices based on your future AND your present, and that this means you really REALLY need to figure out WHAT YOU WANT.

One of the benefits of youth is the illusion that you have all the time in the world to make up your mind. That means you can screw around and do whatever, and figure you’ll settle down and get serious later. ALL of the characters have, in one form or another, struggled with this throughout the years. All of them have harbored wishful-thinking fantasies about how life ought to work for them, and all of them have had to — to one degree or another — reconcile their fantasies with reality. Often painfully.

But what I think the show is also starting to show us is that the flipside of youthful self-bullshitting about how you have infinite choices, is that such “infinite choices” can be paralyzing and can hold you back. At a certain point, you gotta let go of the fantasy, pull the trigger, and face reality. All of our characters are doing that this season, and especially Robin.

At this point, I’m unsure where the season will go exactly. I still strongly suspect Robin is Barney’s fiancee, but I suppose it’s possible that the writers will throw a curve ball. Certainly, I did NOT see it coming that Robin’s kids were fantasy-creations (possibly of a speculative Future Ted). At this point, I wonder if Robin actually has kids, although she might adopt, I suppose. Barney seems to genuinely want kids at this point (not simply as a lure to ensnare Robin), so I’d figure if they end up together, either they’d go that route, or Dr. Sonya would turn out to have messed the tests up.

Anyway, I like that our characters are growing up, but still staying true to who they are at their core, and I look forward to seeing more of what happens. I have, at this point, no real predictions other than a gut feeling that Robin and Barney end up together. Although I could see how that would end up not happening.

Actually, one random scenario for you folks. What if….

….Ted’s wife and mother of his children…is Barney’s fiancee on his wedding day, and the “bride” wants to see Ted because THEY had a fling. Turnabout being fair play, of sorts. (Barney slept with Robin, Ted sleeps with [Barney's fiancee].) I think that’d be pretty dark, but you never know.
Kate | Thursday, December 8th, 2011 04:16 pm GMT -4

I posted this in the last entry but wanted to post it again for discussion sake:

First off, overall I really liked the episode!..but I did not like how this episode shows Ted and Barney clearly did not discuss the night Robin choose Kevin. While I love that perceptive (but not really so) “detective” ted was back- assuming he knows exactly what is wrong, for him to be the person to say “maybe she cheated” and not even recognize why Barney was in their apartment is absurd to me. I was pointing at the screen and yelling- of course you know Ted!!! Bring up that night! Bring up that night!- and of course he did not.He would definately know something was up with RoBarn!!The writers definitely need to address this and soon because otherwise, why even show us Ted seeing Barney in Robin’s room
RachS | Thursday, December 8th, 2011 04:26 pm GMT -4

I have to agree with Jenn. Not being able to have kids IS UNFAIR. And if you’ve never been in that situation, then you have no right to say it isn’t. Being adopted myself, I am truly grateful that adoption is always an option. However, there IS a deep sense of loss when you struggle with the thought of never being able to bare a child. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. It leaves us in a good place for the half way point of this season. Can’t wait til January!!
Solo4114 | Thursday, December 8th, 2011 04:41 pm GMT -4

Just to be clear, my comment about Robin needing to grow up with respect to her choices and such is less about the kids issue, and more about the sort of overarching issue that she wants to know that her options are available to her across the board, without having to make a difficult choice. Life, however, often intrudes on that notion.

Whether it’d be Ted or Barney moving on and settling down with someone else, or some other issue, the bottom line is more that Robin seems to live much of her life in a state of “I want it all, except when I don’t, and when I don’t I still want to know that I have backup options.” And while it may be painful to discover, that’s just not how life works. What the show does well, though, is simultaneously show how that attitude can be unrealistic and naive (not to mention having consequences on those around you, in some cases), but still make us care about the character who’s doing it.

Another example of this is Robin cheating with Barney. She wants the security of a “safe” guy like Kevin, but she wants to have her fling, too. And then she wants to avoid the guilt and consequences by pretending it never happened. Robin refuses to take a risk (with Barney), avoids the consequences of telling Kevin, and basically tries to ALSO avoid the sense of guilt she feels as a result. If she at least said “I will bear this guilt and live with it, even if that means taking the secret of this night to my grave,” then I’d have a different view of her choice (IE: it could be about recognizing her mistake and sparing Kevin the pain of her honesty), but instead she’s entirely focused on her own issues.

Barney, on the other hand, shockingly decides what he wants, recognizes that this will have consequences as well as risk, and owns up to both in spite of how painful the consequences AND the downside of the risk will be.

As I said, it’s a global theme with Robin’s character and it’s one aspect of her personality I find maddening…..and yet I love the character no less for it. For the writers to be able to pull that off, to create characters — IN A SITCOM — that have both true-to-life foibles, and about whom the audience can still care in spite of those foibles……that’s a pretty amazing feat.
Newbie | Thursday, December 8th, 2011 07:25 pm GMT -4

FYI – adoption is not always an option either. Adoption costs lost of money, and many couples can’t afford adopting. I have a friend who just found out she and her husband cannot have children (they just got married, she is infertile), and they are struggling artists (she is an actress and he is a musician). She feels in a bind, and did not see this coming. I hope a door will open for these folks to become parents, but right now it looks grim.
Linka | Thursday, December 8th, 2011 11:14 pm GMT -4

Sorry to butt in with the honest truth, but if you can’t afford adoption you shouldn’t be having a biological child either. Children are a HUGE financial commitment. I understand that the adoption cost is on top of the cost of then raising any child, but c’mon.

@Solo Thanks for the clarification, thought you were just on the “yay babies” boat at first :/
I agree to an extent. I don’t think Robin is the only culprit though. For example, I think Ted’s a fool too. I used to love him, but I wish he’d stop going around being an “I love you slut”. What woman is going to take him seriously now? I wouldn’t. He’s lucky “the mother” does. As for Barney, it seems he’s gone from one extreme to the other,,,
Solo4114 | Friday, December 9th, 2011 10:41 am GMT -4

@Linka, well, for myself, I’m pretty gung-ho about having kids after I’m married. But I’ve also known plenty of people who are on the fence about it (as in, truly on the fence, not just “eh, if I met the right person maybe, but I don’t think about it much”), and I’ve known folks who definitely do NOT want kids. Frankly, my hat’s off to both types in many cases. Far too many people, I think, have kids because it’s what they think they “ought” to do, not because it’s something they KNOW they want to do. Other people go into it with unrealistic notions about it.

I have a good friend who is pretty ambiguous about it, partially because she recognizes the enormity of the decision, and isn’t ready to orient her life around a child yet. For her, news like Robin’s would likely still be devastating, even though she’s not really sure she actually wants kids. And I can see where even someone who adamantly does NOT want kids would be bothered by such news, simply because reproductive ability is often so tied to sexual identity in this culture. (IE: “You’re less of a woman/man if you can’t have kids”, which is bullshit, of course)

My take on Robin, though, is that while part of that may be going on, there’s also definitely an element of “I don’t want to grow up and make tough decisions — I want all upside, and no downside risk, and I want life to just work out perfectly.” And it’s very much part of her whole persona, not just about the kids thing.

As for the other characters… The thing I’m talking about — confronting reality, learning what you really want out of life, GROWING UP, basically, that’s a theme for all of the characters.

Marshall and Lily are a special case. They got so supremely lucky that I think sometimes they don’t really realize it. But their version of confronting reality is a bit more forced on them. To me, the biggest thing they’ve had to confront is accepting a particular type of existence (suburban existence) rather than clinging to the fantasy that you can raise a child in a NYC shoebox apartment/condo (even if it IS rent controlled!).

Robin, well, I’ve addressed her.

Ted? Ted’s been cocooning and avoiding risk (in the realm of romance) since after Stella. Why? Simple. He’s not willing to let go of his fantasy of how life works, and deal with reality. And he’s not willing to, having done so, take the risk ANYWAY and go for it. Basically, at this moment in time, I think Ted’s just terrified of being hurt. That’s why he dates dead-end women, that’s why he self-sabotages with the Google girl, that’s why he got involved with Zoey, it’s why he and Barney came up with “Bro-parents”, and so on and so forth. Ted started off as this wide-eyed, naive dude who believed in some storybook version of love and romance. He found love, sure, but then actually ended up getting hurt because, hey, that’s the risk that’s always involved. But after that…he’s been unwilling to take the risk again. Not for real, anyway. Not for the thing he ultimately wants — a family of his own.

Honestly — and I’m stunned to write this — Barney seems to me to be the most well-adjusted character on the show at the moment. He’s confronted his demons, he’s reconciled (mostly) his fears, and he acts from a position of maturity. He takes his lumps, he’s willing to take risks, and he lives with the consequences…..mostly. He’s still a wacky, outrageous guy at times, but he’s not just banging bimbo after bimbo anymore. This may change, of course, in subsequent episodes, but up to this point in the season, Barney strikes me as the character (Lily and Marshall notwithstanding) who most has his shit together.
Vicky Mendosa | Friday, December 9th, 2011 05:34 pm GMT -4

@solo – your random scenario is an interesting thought but Future Ted says he meets the mom on that wedding day so I doubt he had a fling with Barney’s fiance or if he did, she does not end up being the mom.

as secretly excited as i was that the beginning insinuated that robin and barney live happily ever after with two kids, i did feel somewhat betrayed by the writers given robin’s character and what she’s always said about kids and her goals in life. so although the ending was sad, i’m glad the writers stayed true to robin’s character.

i still think the people that think the mom will be barney’s yet to be seen half-sister might just be on to something. he’s reconciled with his dad and so his family will be at the wedding and when he had dinner at their house, they mentioned they had a daughter in college (they don’t specify whether it’s undergrad or grad school) so it could be the girl that was in the Econ class ted accidentally tried teaching.

also, jumping back a season, i remember reading things by B&T that said that zoe’s character was going to be an arc for the show and for ted’s love life… whatever happened to that? she seems to have made no lasting impact whatsoever.

also when will we find out why ted was wearing a dress in that one episode or whatever happened to that guy that robin liked in the first part of the season and Future Ted said they’d get back to that later? i hope B&T wrap up the whole ted seeing barney cleaning up the rose petals soon and it’ll be a huge cop out if we’re supposed to just assume he was high that night and just doesn’t remember what he saw… i beg you HIMYM, tie up some of these lose ends and don’t just forget about them!
Vicky Mendosa | Friday, December 9th, 2011 05:35 pm GMT -4

loose*
Solo4114 | Friday, December 9th, 2011 05:56 pm GMT -4

Hmm. Good point, Vicky, re: Ted meeting her at the wedding. Guess it’s probably not Barney’s fiancee then.

On the whole “Robin and Barney live happily together and have kids,” I still think that could be a real thing — they just wouldn’t be her biological kids. I think that could cut either way, really. It is, however, a lot LESS “certain” than it was earlier in the season.

Who knows. Maybe Robin ends up alone and….satisfied, if not also wistful about the guys she lost (Ted and Barney). But really, I think Robin and Barney belong together. None of that precludes Robin ultimately pursuing her dreams AND having kids later (adopted, though), if she wants. And hell, it could be that Barney is delighted to have kids…or not. As long as he gets to be with Robin. I guess we’ll see…
dolf | Saturday, December 10th, 2011 12:04 am GMT -4

Opposing “Highway to Hell” with Highway to Heaven? Dude, how can you not make a plug for “Stairway to Heaven” here?

On Barney: it’s been said before, but bears repeating. He seems irresponsible, many time he is, but when push comes to shove, who’s always keeping the back of the others, if not Barney? We saw early in the show, already in season 1, that Barney has some deep cuts and heavy baggage. But hey, how is the guy that is really alive and able, inventive and full of surprises, and pull off one stunt weirder then the next, if not Barney. Good old Barney really is a high power guy. Having taken quite some heavy damage he, as I see it, simply decided to chuck the shit over board and go on an all out rampage and live to the fullest. He might work for an evil corporation, and he might do a lot of bad things and hurt a lot of people, but it is out of a joyful devil may care attitude. Irresponsible he may be, and evil deeds he may do, but I can’t think of one single occurrence where he’s done it out of a truly evil intent. He’s greatest sin is simply that he wants to bang beaver by the numbers. And that’s it.
However, I do feel Barney has been allowed to pendulum swing too much, he starts getting a reformed alcoholic type of aura, and that does not fit him. Yeah, let him grow up and confront the real issues of life, but by golly, don’t give him a sugar coating competing with the Greenland glaciers.

On the main theme of the episode: this was by far the most heart wrenching episode to date. No, I didn’t cry, c’mon, I’m a dude. But I did get a weird burning sensation lodging behind my eyeballs. I sort of empathize with Robin from both hers and Ted’s perspective. I recognize myself in Ted to an uncomfortably high degree. I very much was on the same search as Ted, difference being I didn’t arrive. At the same time I was very much as Robin, family never was high on my list, simply because it was conditional upon finding the gal, and as I never found the gal (or rather, to be truthful, the gal never found me), the family bit never really became an item for me. However, as I now have passed the half century mark and still am single, well, it was quite a while ago that I realized the train had pulled out of the station and I had lost my ticket. While there’s no, at least as know, biological barriers to a family for me, well, the clock ticks on anyway. And I do fully get Robins pain, even though she did loose something that she had really never desired.

Both Barney and Robin has been sent reeling and it hurts to see them down for the count like that. I hope we’ll see some happiness in the coming episodes, after all, it’s not a tragedy, but a comedy. (Should be noted though that the original meaning of “comedy” is not “funny”, but “happy ending”)
erwin, | Saturday, December 10th, 2011 03:07 pm GMT -4

@vicky

since watching the blitzgiving episode i have had a sneaking suspicion that hannah van smoot, zoe’s step daughter might be the mother. though honestly it would be pretty weird and trashy of ted to have a serious relationship with the former step mother of his future wife, but regardless i think it it zoe’s former step daughter who will at least come to be the arc in some way or another. i’m definitely excited to see.

@dolf

definitely agree with the pendulum swing comment about barney. he can obviously grow up and mature without being the automatic life together family man from happytown.
jason shew | Sunday, December 11th, 2011 02:11 am GMT -4

i figured out a situation in where robin and ted are together but is still “Aunt Robin” to Teds kids, he met their mother, had them and decided that Robin is really the one for him and divorce the mother but share custody (which is why the kids still call him Dad) and the kids grew up with Robin with Ted telling them to call her Aunt Robin.

the last scene is where i thought that Ted should be with Robin. they are good together and have history, plus if the writers only spend a season or just an episode on the kid’s mother it wont be as good of an ending as him and robin being together since there wont be any chemistry between the mother and the viewers.
Newbie | Sunday, December 11th, 2011 11:45 am GMT -4

@ Linka’s statement 2 days ago -

I think that’s a limited statement there, about only being parents if you have enough money to adopt. Adoption takes a boatload of money, and these two people would make wonderful loving parents. They will find the resources, just as they have up until this adult life, to make it work for their children. Think of all the parents in this country and in other parts of the world who have lived in poverty and provided for their children, all the immigrants to this country who lived below poverty and have produced generations of successful children…

My problem is with the enormous cost of adoption. The cost shouldn’t prevent two committed people from having a child…. but this is getting way off topic!

Love the show, believe Robin and Barney should be together, and Ted and Victoria.
dolf | Sunday, December 11th, 2011 02:58 pm GMT -4

@jason
No, Robin and Ted is really history. I started watching the show during season 2 (actually reruns, but whatever…) and from the beginning as under the misapprehension that Robin actually was the mother. It was a serious letdown for me when they broke up, and i was hoping for them to get back together for a long time. And then the reruns of season 1 started, with the pilot episode. And that hope got punctured but good. Still did hope though. But, as the story has progressed and the personalities actually been built up more and more and we’ve gotten to view more of their underlying personalities and their past baggage it’s become quite clear that Ted and Robin would not fit together.
The two halves of a couple do not need to share similar interests and have the same likes etc. The “I like Star Wars, and so should my better half” mentality is utter and complete crap. I love Clockwork Orange and The Seventh Seal, so what if my (hypothetical) wife’s obsessed with Sandra Bullock movies? A good couple is matched up on a deeper level, they might be very different on the surface, but ought to be fairly well matched in mood, intelligence and both have an experiential track the other somehow can relate too.
LAME does fit together, they do have a common happy sweet naiveté that gives their relationship a good grow-ground.
Robarn has been developing more and more as a couple to be. They both have a outsider mentality and have deep cuts. They can both appreciate the craziness of the other as well as empathize with the other’s deeper issues and I think they would actually be able to support each other and, when allowed to develop and grow, their relationship probably would turn out in the long run to be the one that is the most profound and mature of the 3 couples.
Ted, well, I guess we all have given up on Victoria. Unfortunately. From what we’ve seen of them, they do really both have the warm romantic heart that really could blossom into the proverbial happy family with 2 kids and a house. And Victoria was, if I understand it right, originally meant to be the wife if the show had not gotten extended beyond the first season. I’m not stuck on Victoria, I guess that is a lost cause, but I do not envy B&T, their task of finding an actor that matches Victoria, or trumps her is a daunting one indeed. Most girls in romantic comedies are advertisement model beautiful. Victoria though, not in any way denying that she’s really gorgeously beautiful, has that scarce extra dimension of the neighbor girl sweetness you so rarely see on the screen. What makes Victoria go straight into the heart and stick there is not her beauty and f*ckability, but her cuddly prettiness. For this reason only I do hope B&T pull off a real good switcheroo and Victoria somehow turns out to be the wife anyway. I simply think that is an easier task more likely to be pulled off successfully than to find a replacement that is on par.
eva | Sunday, December 11th, 2011 03:52 pm GMT -4

i also wanted to know why she can’t have children. it seems weird to me that nothing can be done. i think 90% of infertile women have kids in the end… but its not easy. i went through a lot of treatments myself, and in the end it happened.
xTashx | Sunday, December 11th, 2011 04:17 pm GMT -4

And to add on to Eva’s point…

what kind of pregnancy test did she go in for that they were able to determine if she was ever going to be able to get pregnant? I thought those kinds of tests were much more invasive…at least that’s what Charlotte York said on Sex and the City lol
Shrimpfriedrice | Sunday, December 11th, 2011 05:22 pm GMT -4

Hey guys dont know if this has been discussed. . .I was rewatching season 6 the “legendaddy” ep. . .there jerome says his daughter is in college! Erego ted meets her at barney and robins wedding and marries her. . .therefore the explanation for UNCLE and AUNT barney and robin. . .anyway just an observation. Thanks for the awesome website!
Solo4114 | Sunday, December 11th, 2011 05:45 pm GMT -4

@xTashx,

No idea about the “tests” they’d run. Also the notion of “We ran some extra tests,” strikes me as a fantastic way to get nailed by an insurance company. But that’s sort of an “insiders” view of the health care industry, I guess.

My hunch is that, given that sitcom writers aren’t necessarily directly involved with either the medical science or the reimbursement schema of the health care industry…we probably shouldn’t hold them to TOO high a standard of realism.

At any rate, there’s always still the “out” of “Ooops! Dr. Sonya’s tests were wrong!” if the writers want to go that way. I could still see that (and the Robin/Barney pairing) going in either direction, to be honest. They’ve done a good job at maintaining the will they/won’t they dynamic for that couple, and I think that’s kind of helpful to the show….

….As long as it ultimately ties in to the story Ted’s telling. That has to be the polestar for the longer story-arcs, in my opinion.

Oh, and to touch on that issue, someone previously mentioned how Ted’s relationship with Zoey didn’t seem to be relevant, in spite of B&T saying that it’d be a meaningful event for Ted. To that, I offer two possible answers:

1.) It was meaningful because Zoey wasn’t just a one-off date. She was someone Ted got close to, was seriously involved with, and with whom it didn’t work out. In that sense, she’s “meaningful” merely because she was a girlfriend rather than just a “date.” What they haven’t done, though, is explicitly tie together what Ted’s relationship with Zoey taught him, because Future Ted hasn’t wrapped it up with a bow for us…yet. That could still happen, of course.

2.) Zoey was meaningful in three other, related ways. First, she was meaningful because Ted learned to walk away from BAD relationships (see the last episode of S6 for what I’m talking about). Second, she was meaningful because she taught Ted that physical attraction plus common interests do not necessarily make for a good couple, and she taught him this lesson in a way that Robin didn’t (namely that “fighting a lot” can mean “passion” but can also just mean “huge pain in the ass” or “dysfunctional relationship”). Lastly, Zoey further broke Ted down and helped him take off his “romance” blinders and be more realistic.

See, Ted ends up in crappy relationships because he’s often blinded by the romance of a situation. He willfully ignores BIG PROBLEMS because he so wants the situation to work. Towards that end, he focuses heavily on the “romance” of the relationship. So, for example, his passionate, beautiful girlfriend with a love for architecture is what he sees when he looks at Zoey, rather than a flighty, cause-du-jour-adopting, miserable harpy who’s so screwed up with her own problems that she picks fights with Ted constantly either as a means of reassuring herself that he “cares,” or because she’s a mean-spirited person, or because they each bring out the worst in each other. Or maybe a little of all three.

Personally, I think each relationship has gradually worked to break Ted down and force him to confront reality when it comes to relationships, rather than allow him to blithely skip through life assuming that “Fairy tale” romance really exists the way he THINKS it does.

Here’s the thing: “fairy tale” romance doesn’t exist. It’s bullshit. It’s a myth. That’s why they CALL it “fairy tale” romance. REAL romance, however, is every bit as powerful and meaningful, if not MORESO, than “fairy tale” romance, precisely because it has what “fairy tale” romance does not: real-life difficulties. Real romance matters and is meaningful precisely because it does not come easily, nor is it maintained easily. “Fairy tale” romance is bullshit because it eliminates all of that from the equation. Everything “just works” and everyone lives “happily ever after.”

I think the show has done an amazing job at conveying this, both through Ted’s search and through the depiction of Marshall and Lily’s marriage. Personally, I think it’s AWESOME that we get to watch their relationship, because we see a couple that, admittedly, got STUPIDLY lucky in finding each other, but still has to work at maintaining a relationship through some genuine difficulties. Lily’s reluctance re: the wedding, their own hesitancy to have kids, Lily’s shopping addiction, Marshall’s “selling out” and “going corporate,” the death of Marshall’s father, Lily’s messed up relationship with her dad, the pregnancy, etc. While they do often get depicted as the happy-go-lucky couple…I think that loses sight of the fact that they still deeply love each other IN SPITE of the crap they’ve had to deal with. To me, that makes the more of a “real” couple than a “fairy tale” couple, although it’s often easy to lose sight of the “real” shit they’ve had to deal with.

Anyway, Ted’s journey, to my way of looking at it, is more about him coming to terms with what it really means to be in an adult relationship (including the difficulties of “courtship” as an adult, instead of as an inexperienced kid like Lily and Marshall were), and why real romance is BETTER than the “fairy tale” romance he was looking for. He’s in a transition stage right now, where he’s basically let go of the fairy tale notion (hence his “losing hope” earlier this season), but where he has yet to reconcile his own fear about the genuine difficulty and risks involved with finding real romance.
Emma | Sunday, December 11th, 2011 09:28 pm GMT -4

I want Robin and Barney to be together. But I’m afraid it might not happen until, like, next season. Or the season after that (I’m not really sure how many they’ve signed up for?). Kind of like a Ross-Rachel type situation, where they got together at the very end of the show.

I have a theory, which might not do anything but prove that I spend way too much time over-thinking this show

Here goes.

My little “theory” (but let’s face it, anything could happen) is that they won’t get together before much later because of two things. 1) Timing. Robin is dating Kevin, and is apparently not going to break up with him. 2) The baby thing. Barney wants kids. He might be scared, but he likes kids, and I think he still he wants to be dad. Robin doesn’t want kids, and now she actually can’t have them. Also, I’m afraid if they got together now, nothing would really be different from the last time they were a couple.

Therefore, I think that Barney will marry someone else. However, as we’ve seen with the ties in the season premiere, he will be in doubt, because deep down he loves Robin. I think he’ll go through with the wedding and have a kid. Maybe his the mystery-wife is even pregnant before they get married? But it won’t work, and it will end in divorce. While all this is happening, Robin’s career will really take off, and she’ll probably break up with Kevin too. Don’t think he’s gonna last all that long.

Then, a long way down the road, when Barney’s a dad (and all together wiser and ready for the real thing), and Robin has achieved success and hopefully sorted out some of her own problems, they’ll end up together. And they’ll be ready to be together. And it will all happen in a very beautiful season finale.

Anyone thinks this could happen? Anyone thinks this is theory is completely out there? Curious to know
Honka Honka | Sunday, December 11th, 2011 10:49 pm GMT -4

I am really starting to believe that Robin and Barney both end up alone. Here’s why…

The writers have done such a great job with paying attention to detail and connecting all of the dots. They know where they want the story to go and how they want to get there. In the exploding meatball sub episode, during the flash forward we see Robin and Barney not wearing rings. Now you could say well they could still be together and not wear rings, but I don’t buy that. Barney has grown so much, and Robin has always struggled with her gender identity. If they get married Barney is proposing and Robin will want a ring and a wedding.

This new “love interest” of Barney’s will probably play a big role also…CAN’T WAIT!
Linka | Monday, December 12th, 2011 01:57 am GMT -4

@dolf
”
A good couple is matched up on a deeper level, they might be very different on the surface, but ought to be fairly well matched in mood, intelligence and both have an experiential track the other somehow can relate too.
”
Agreed 100%, especially the experiential point. Eg. Ted’s experience as a hopeful, tradtionalromantic completely opposes Robin’s cynicism etc.

@Newbie
That’s true, it IS very expensive. But then I’m someone who thinks we should have parenting licences and minimum finance requirements to have kids! Obviously it’s possible without, and plenty of people have done it and been wonderful parents anyway.The immigrant example is a great one, although you have to consider that the past few generations that lend those examples were ones borne of the historic circumstances; the World Wars etc. I just think parents should be able to provide above and beyond for their kids. Life’s tough enough as it is.

Also, why did they show Robin to have 2 “kids”. I should’ve known better and picked it as a narrative trick, but thinking it was real it made me really confused and annoyed. If she did one day concede to have a kid, I can only see her having one. Ditto Barney. Is that just me or does anyone else agree? In fact this point hasn’t come up on the show at all – whenever HIMYM talks about kids, it assumes 2 as the norm… :/
keko | Monday, December 12th, 2011 05:19 am GMT -4

dude love your wiki keep up the good work
dolf | Monday, December 12th, 2011 10:27 am GMT -4

@Linka
I think the traditional “2 kids” has its natural explanation in the fact that it is the minimum number required to not have to chose between a boy or a girl, but you can have both. The dream is not simply to have a husband, a house and a kid, but to have a husband, a house, a boy and a girl. (Or wife for that matter, but I always perceived the family dream to be more of the girlish variety).
Jordan | Monday, December 12th, 2011 01:40 pm GMT -4

I think the reason we didn’t hear the exact reason why Robin is infertile is to:
a) move the story along (hearing medical jargon would take away from the emotional power of the scene
b) it simply doesn’t matter.

“B” is the most important here, IMHO. Future Ted is on the money here, that’s what matters. Agree?
Solo4114 | Monday, December 12th, 2011 01:47 pm GMT -4

Yeah, in general, I agree. The medical cause would (A) pin the show down (because they might want to reverse the decision later), and (B) isn’t really relevant if this ends up being final. She can’t have kids. who cares about the why? The only reason folks would care is to look for loopholes, really.

Either there are no loopholes and the writers won’t change this, or there is a loophole, and the writers don’t want it to be obvious.
dolf | Monday, December 12th, 2011 02:36 pm GMT -4

Last but not least, a) Ted is an architect. b) Is Robin the type of woman that would give Ted a thorough debrief about why she’s infertile?
And even if Ted would have been informed about the medical details, would that information have been correct? Robin is not a MD either. And even if Ted did get correct information, would he remember it 20 years later?
An aunt of mine was infertile (or rather her marriage was infertile), this I have known for at least 30 years, but I know zilch about the medical reasons for it.
It is easy to forget that Ted is just a guy telling a story, and the story is thus by it’s very nature is liable to be infested with all kinds of inaccuracies or outright falsehoods, both unintentional and intentional.
I saw something about that B&T regretted that they had painted themselves into a corner by letting Ted say that they never found out about where the pineapple came from. It would actually be the easiest thing in the world to handle, like this,
Ted: “Well, we have gotten to the point when we found out ’bout the pineapple …”
Kids: “Dad, you said you never found out?”
Ted: “Well, actually, we didn’t for a long time, but, sorry I forgot, we did eventually, this is what happened …”
or something along those lines. (From what I understand, B&T have a story about the pineapple, just don’t think they can tell it because they themselves closed the door on it, well, can someone give them a hint that Ted actually, according to their own statement, is an unreliable narrator. I’d like to hear that story!)
HK | Monday, December 12th, 2011 08:16 pm GMT -4

I’ve been trying to figure out the relevance of Zoey and I think it isn’t her, but the Captain. There’s a flash-forward with Marshal and a framed paper about him finding the Loch Ness Monster. What if the Captain helps him find Nessy?

It’s a silly theory, but in the world of HIMYM- anything’s game!
Linka | Tuesday, December 13th, 2011 12:38 am GMT -4

@dolf
That’s true, one of each is what most people want… but where you run into trouble is when you get two boys or two girls and keep trying, and trying… My cousin and his wife went that route. After 6 boys they finally gave up, but now, well, they have 6 kids. Eek. Even with the finances and conditions, that house is chaos. I’m all for one day being able to choose the gender, but that’s a whole other issue.

Refresh my memory, when did Ted say they never found out? They should go back to that, I’d like to know the story… or B&T should at least publish it seperately… ooh maybe on Barney’s blog or something.
dolf | Tuesday, December 13th, 2011 04:33 am GMT -4

@Linka
Of course, 2 kids is no guarantee for 1 of each kind, but it is the minimum needed for it to be possible at all.
The Pineapple Incident (season 1, episode 10) ends like this:

OLDER TED: I left Trudy a message.
But she never called me back.
That’s just how life works sometimes.
You turn off your brain for a night,
and all you’re left with the next day
is a bad hangover, a sprained ankle…
and a pineapple.
Oh, and we never found out
where that pineapple came from.
But it was delicious.
dolf | Tuesday, December 13th, 2011 04:42 am GMT -4

and by the way, Trudy never called back, but she did turn up in season 3, episode 3, The Third Wheel (lot’s of threes, so obviously intentionally symbolic you start wondering if B&T are freemasons)
PaKo89 | Tuesday, December 13th, 2011 12:37 pm GMT -4

@dolf
It would be hard for the pineapple to turn up as they ate it. lol

I would love to see that story but the reason you gave: “Well, actually, we didn’t for a long time, but, sorry I forgot, we did eventually, this is what happened …” would seem like lazy writing.

BTW JD where are you??
I would love to hear you’re opinion on these last four (crazy)episodes.
dolf | Tuesday, December 13th, 2011 12:57 pm GMT -4

Or another, maybe more believable, approach for B&T if they want to tell the pineapple story would be:
OLDER TED: Well, kids, you might remember I told you about the pineapple, we never found out where it came from.
I wasn’t entirely truthful with you on that …
KIDS INDIGNANTLY: Dad! …
OLDER TED: You see, I really didn’t want to tell about it, because the story properly told involves Uncle Barney, Aunt Lily and not one, but two Canadian Sex Acts. I’ll jump that part, it’s still a good story …
KIDS WEARILY: Sigh …
OLDER TED: It was in the winter …
(I really hope someone pitches this to B&T, I do want to get a closure on the pineapple).
dolf | Tuesday, December 13th, 2011 01:55 pm GMT -4

@PaKo89
Yeah, the “sorry, I forgot” is too lame and not believable, but it was just meant as a pointer to an approach which could be explored and built up to something more believable. See my second version (which I actually wrote independently of your last comment, it was not yet posted when I started writing mine) which could work as a seed, and I’m pretty sure B&T from such a premise could work out a believable explanation that does away with the seeming inconsistency.
Linka | Wednesday, December 14th, 2011 02:12 am GMT -4

And remember, Ted mentioned at some point that Trudy is married now! -Could link it with that?
Jenn- GCWOK Approved | Wednesday, December 14th, 2011 02:51 am GMT -4

@Jordan and RachS- Thank you
HannahVanSmoot | Thursday, December 15th, 2011 03:21 pm GMT -4

i think the mother will be Hannah Van Smoot, and that things with Zooey aren’t over because she will come between the mother and Ted.
Solo4114 | Thursday, December 15th, 2011 03:30 pm GMT -4

I don’t think so, actually. I think Zoey is done. The arc was about Ted figuring out that he can do better than some girl who backstabs him, who HE’S willing to backstab, and where the relationship is at least partially built on conflict as the source of “passion.” That last one is an especially important lesson to learn for a lot of folks.

I still don’t think the mother is anyone Ted or anyone else on the show has mentioned (well, except obviously the roommate and Ted referring to her directly as “your mother.”).
Honka Honka | Thursday, December 15th, 2011 08:57 pm GMT -4

Next Episode Preview:

http://barneyrobin.livejournal.com/716384.html
Kenneth | Saturday, December 17th, 2011 05:58 am GMT -4

@Linka

It wasn’t Ted that brought up Trudy being married, it was Lily and Marshall. It was during Season 5 Episode 15, Rabbit or Duck
Matthew | Tuesday, December 20th, 2011 08:20 am GMT -4

And in other news

http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/celebrity/american-pie-star-pregnant-20111219-1p259.html

Fortuitous timing or what!
Rebecca | Tuesday, December 20th, 2011 01:24 pm GMT -4

@Jordan – Thank you very much for mentioning my post. It’s one of the first times I’ve posted here because I actually had something to say. However, I just always assume that most people think I’m crazy for not equating infertility with the end of the world. So your kind words were a very nice surprise.

@Jenn- GCWOK Approved – As for me, I have a disorder that makes it difficult (albeit, not impossible) for me to have kids, but I never planned to anyway so it doesn’t mean anything to me. I can see your point about grieving over a lost opportunity, but I think it’s better to look at these things as “a glass half full”. We have been given a wonderful opportunity to give a home, family, and affection to a child that might otherwise not have that. Just think – for every child that you do not give birth to, there is another opportunity to help a child in need!

@RachS – You’re right, I guess I just don’t get it. I mean, I was born from artificial insemination, which is basically forcing the opposite of what I believe. My mom really wanted a child and she did something about it, and if she hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here. But I still think she should have adopted. I don’t think that my own unborn life was more important than that of a child already on this Earth that needed love. This is just something that I feel strongly about, and it’s hard for me to see it another way, even given my own situation.

@Newbie – Sure, I get that it’s different for financially struggling families. But on the other hand, I don’t think those families should be bringing kids into the world. I am an aspiring musician, too – right now, only my husband is working. We have decided to wait until we are financially comfortable and then adopt a child.

@Linka – I agree. I saw an interview with Katherine Heigl once where she talked about having to answer tons of difficult questions about lifestyle and opions and the like on the paperwork for her adoption, and she said something along the lines of “people who give birth should have to answer these questions, too”. I don’t think it’s fair that the same standard of living, etc. doesn’t apply to people who give birth and are not necessarily financially or mentally ready to support their children.

Also, someone said that because Robin is biologically unable to have kids, it wouldn’t be fair to Barney if they ended up together. First of all, if you really love someone and you give it up because they can’t have children, you are just cheating yourself out of love. And WHY do people think that giving birth is the only way to have children? It kinds of makes me angry that people think that way.
dolf | Tuesday, December 20th, 2011 02:23 pm GMT -4

@Rebecca
I am fully with you on what you say. I personally think it is outright stupid to go through all this weird contorted mumbo jumbo to be a biological parent when there’s millions of children in the world that could be saved from a bleak existence, or even death.
But, I had a discussion with Jordan (if I recall right) about transsexuals after an earlier episode, where infertility was an important point, don’t know if you saw that. The idea that it would be unfair against Barney if they got together is really weird, but, I do think Robin would be morally obliged to put the cards on the table before entering into a marriage, or commensurate relationship, where children would be a reasonable expectation from the other party. Children is to a high degree an implied part of a marriage, and knowingly withholding being infertile when entering into a marriage is outright fraudulent. It might be a tough bullet to chew, but chewed it needs to be.
PaKo89 | Tuesday, December 20th, 2011 03:35 pm GMT -4

The promo pictures are out, you can see them on himym-source.com
And based on what i’ve read about this episode (synopsis and that it’s written by Bays & Thomas) I think it’s going to be a great one!
Honka Honka | Wednesday, December 21st, 2011 07:05 pm GMT -4

Is it January 2nd yet???
SophiaVanMatterhorn | Thursday, December 22nd, 2011 06:28 pm GMT -4

Rebecca! I havent read your original post, but judging from that post now I have to agree. Me and my partner are thinking about having kids but we want to adopt or take foster care of a child,too or maybe only that. we think so many children have to live without a genuine family why do we specifically put some more in this world. unfortunately adoption is out of the way because he is over 40. (w’re in germany) This sucks because i am just 25. I think its unfair, he could have kids on his own when he is over 70 but cannot adopt anymore. sucks :-/
bex | Friday, December 23rd, 2011 04:56 pm GMT -4

i hope wang guy and robins secret crush are the same person.
Earl | Friday, December 23rd, 2011 09:03 pm GMT -4

I hope that HIMYM will have a cross-over episode with 2 Broke Girls. Barney hitting on Caroline and getting shutdown by both Caroline and Max.
xTashx | Saturday, December 24th, 2011 06:21 pm GMT -4

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!
Mendelism | Saturday, December 24th, 2011 11:41 pm GMT -4

I was told two years ago that I probably wouldn’t have kids. I hadn’t ever planned on it, and sometimes I believe I was against my having kids. But it still is devastating for some people. It was for me. Yeah, I could adopt if I decided I wanted kids (which I’m sort of leaning towards at this point, but I’m still in college so I have a ways to go in that decision), but the devastation, for me, comes from the fact that there is something so fundamentally wrong with me. I became a bio major for my long-held interest in genetics and human evolution, and it was kind of like wow, I can’t even play a part in it. So for me it’s not about lamenting ‘ohh I can’t have kids what will I do with my lifeee’ and being stupid and not thinking of other ways to bring children into my life … It’s more about having been told there is something wrong with me.
Honka Honka | Wednesday, December 28th, 2011 06:46 pm GMT -4

Episode 14, the 150th episode of How I Met Your Mother, is titled “46 Minutes” and will be airing January 16th!
eduard | Thursday, December 29th, 2011 03:20 am GMT -4

Should have named the series When I met your mother. Becoming very dragged out. Maybe the writers should take some lessons from “The Golden Girls”, the queen of all sitcoms.
PaKo89 | Thursday, December 29th, 2011 05:49 am GMT -4

@Honka Honka
I hope this means that we’re getting a twice as long episode.
But probably not. What I dont like is that we’re getting a new episode after like 3 weeks. Then a break again.

@eduard
Like Robin said in Murtaugh, it’s about the journey not the end result.
Honka Honka | Thursday, December 29th, 2011 06:21 pm GMT -4

Promo for Episode 13!

http://barneyrobin.livejournal.com/722486.html#comments
Matthew | Monday, January 2nd, 2012 10:32 pm GMT -4

New Episode!

I liked this episode. It kinda reminded me of an earlier one I cant put my finger on, but it was enjoyable. . I was hoping Puzzles was gonna be an actual bar funded by Ted and Barney somewhere, not in the apartment (i avoided spoilers.)
Sarah | Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012 08:30 am GMT -4

@Matthew:
maybe it reminded you of the first one?
eeeek!!! that was the episode where lily got to second base with a 5 year-old!
I really liked this episode, although the Esther scene made me spit water on my keyboard

I really enjoyed this episode.
ERIKSEN!!!!
Season2 | Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012 08:39 am GMT -4

I hope someone reads this comment after all this while. There’s no section in this blog for season 2 so I’ll just ask it here. In the episode “Slap Bet”, Barney thinks that Robin hates malls because she did porn…wait for it…ography. But can someone please tell me what porn has to do with malls?
dolf | Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012 12:25 pm GMT -4

@Season2
Yeah, ha ha ha, spot on question. It’s such an obvious non-sequitur, it’s a wonder no-one noticed or come up with the question earlier. And for that matter, why would the others suspect that Robin’s dislike of malls have anything with marriage to do? (That she herself offers a marriage as explanation, has no bearing on the matter, as that is after the fact of the others forwarding the theory, if I recall right, is a while since I saw the episode)
The easy answer to the question of what porn has to do with malls? is probably no more, no less, than: Barney!
Jordan | Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012 03:36 pm GMT -4

Hey guys! Happy New Year! The recap will be up by tonight!
Honka Honka | Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012 03:39 pm GMT -4

Can’t wait!!!
SophiaVanMatterhorn | Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012 03:51 pm GMT -4

The gang goes through all possibilities why robin could hate malls. they come up with marriage as the most possible one. why porn? hell, no idea
Dandy Andy Pandy | Thursday, January 12th, 2012 06:30 pm GMT -4

To people asking why it was ACDC’s Highway To Hell in the light show, its because Robin mentioned that she hated Manheim Steamroller & when asked who she would prefer answered ACDC. Highway to Hell is one of their most popular songs.

Personally I don’t see how Barney could ever possibly forgive Robin for the events in Tick, Tick, Tick, let alone be excited about fathering her child!

Scott was an asshole, I wish they didn’t write him into the episode…I also hope they encounter him again and punish him.

With Barney’s wedding, let’s assume that it ISN’T Robin. Do we even know if the wedding goes through? We only know that it occurs, we don’t know that Barney actually gets married.

@little – “Robin will never be alone may very well mean that Ted marries Robin and the kids either a) do not exist and Ted is talking to no one or b) have a different mother since Robin can’t have children.” I can just see Ted doing this as he may become “love crazy”. Also B makes a lot of sense. A surrogate mother, or adoption.

Can anyone tell me the URL of Barney’s blog please?
Dandy Andy Pandy | Thursday, January 12th, 2012 06:41 pm GMT -4

With the whole Ted & RoBarn storylines, I read that they will be explained in February; episodes 7.15, 7.16, 7.17
Dandy Andy Pandy | Thursday, January 12th, 2012 06:42 pm GMT -4

Add these to your calendar: http://barneyrobin.livejournal.com/726499.html
Jamie | Sunday, January 22nd, 2012 01:35 pm GMT -4

Definitely one of the BEST, and most tumultuous episodes ever! Reading past comments, I know people thought “false-positive”, Etc,… but I think the twist of no kids ever was one no one saw coming. And I think it was one of the most important things to bring up to address the phenomena others mentioned of “not wanting them until you have the pregnancy scare thing”. Amazing. And yes, I think it will eventually come around to bringing Robin and Barney closer together, even if it didn’t do so much in this episode other than allow them to briefly contemplate the future.
Sparrow | Friday, February 3rd, 2012 04:57 pm GMT -4

I haven’t read everything – so forgive me if this has been mentioned before, but does anyone else think that Ted will marry Barney’s sister and Barney will marry Ted’s sister?

Ted’s sister is mentioned but we haven’t met her yet (have we?) And Barney has a half sister from his bio dad that is the correct age to have been Ted’s class when he was teaching ECON be mistake (right?).

Ted could meet Barney’s sister at his wedding.
Kenneth | Friday, February 3rd, 2012 05:43 pm GMT -4

@Sparrow

We have met Ted’s sister, back in Season 4 Episode “Little Minnesota”
Dandy Andy Pandy | Friday, February 3rd, 2012 05:50 pm GMT -4

And Ted marrying Barney’s half-sister is a very common theory online
Bruno | Friday, February 24th, 2012 12:42 pm GMT -4

Great posting! Salutations, I was captivated by what your bloghad to say about the information.

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