HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER Season Finale: The Leap

“Maybe i don’t want to be saved the trouble. Maybe I want the trouble. I haven’t wanted the trouble in a long time, but with you the trouble doesn’t seem so… troubling.”

I think Paula Abdul and MC Scat Kat said it best when they said, “I take two steps forward. I take two steps back. We come together when opposites attract”. There was certainly a bit of a MC Skat Kat and mouse game tonight when Barney and Robin finally spoke of their feelings for one another.  Both offered declarations of love coupled with some take backs – baby steps for the emotionally immature.

Ted wrestled a goat which resulted in finding a new career, and the mother of his children. Marshall jumped off a building. Lily tried really hard to hide her baby bump.

It was quite the season finale for HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER. (If you missed it, stop reading now & scroll to the bottom of the page to watch the finale, then come back up & read, ok)

Let’s start slow and work our way up to the good stuff, ok?

We’ve been here before, a few times throughout the HIMYM history – Ted’s legend…wait for it (ah you know the rest) 31st birthday. Marshall tries to lure Ted to the roof for yet another surprise party, but it’s a no go. Ted is determined not to be distracted from designing the cowboy hat restaurant. His career has been stalled and he really needs this gig to get Mobius Designs off the ground. Good thing there’s not a goat in the apartment to disturb him.

Meanwhile up on the roof, Marshall attempts to finally conquer his fear and jump from his building to the next to get to his neighbor’s hot tub. Huh? You’d risk your life to trespass on to your neighbor’s roof deck and use their hot tub?  I’m going to jump to the end and let you know that he made it. Actually they all made it – they all made the leap. But I was left questioning just what the were going to do after. Wouldn’t the neighbor’s be pissed? How were they going to make it back to Ted’s building? It’s not like they could jump up and back to his own roof.  But honestly, the roof jumping wasn’t the big part of the story so I’m going to spare us all and leave it alone.

Back downstairs, Ted’s annoyance with the goat led to a disturbing wrestling match in which the goat (representing Ted’s flailing career as an architect) beat down Ted until he was left with noting but a hoof print on his head. Isn’t it always the way? I must say, the ‘goat at the birthday’ story has been teased for so long that I thought the payoff was a little weak. I thought it would be the catalyst to something a little more than a fight with Ted.  And I guess it was, but not just in the way I thought it would.

After having his ass kicked by the goat, Ted had a little come to Jesus Barney meeting with himself and decided that maybe he was chasing the wrong dream.  In the end it was revealed that Ted opted to take the teaching position.  And good thing he did, because as it turns out, the mother of his children was in that class. (But hey, I wouldn’t pause the DVR to look for her…we are still a long way from the mother being revealed.  Plus, I already paused the DVR and couldn’t find anything revealing).

Has Barney also found the mother of his children? Who can be sure. But he does know that he loves Robin. And that’s something Robin knows now too. In the end it wasn’t Lily or Marshall that spilled the beans, but rather it was Barney himself that told Robin of his true feelings. Well, he didn’t actually tell Robin, more like she overheard him talking to Ted. She’s his suit.

A panicked Robin went to Lily and Marshall for advice.  She wasn’t quite there with Barney but she didn’t want to break his heart, especially since he just now found one. Mr. & Mrs. Erikson suggest that she “Mosby” Barney.  You know, confess her love emphatically right away in the hopes of scaring him off.

She did. It worked. Kind of.

In what was certainly an instantly classic moment of HIMYM, Barney and Robin confronted their feelings in the most confusing and round about way possible. They try to one-up each other with “the Mosby” which results in both of them admitting their feelings and finally kissing.  But as I mentioned earlier, their respective emotional issues didn’t quite allow the two to just fall into each others embrace and start dreaming of their lives together. No, that would be way too easy (thank god). Now Barney and Robin must figure out how to navigate through these feelings and figure out what it all means.  I’m cool with that, are you?

Kudos to the writers for not betraying the characters by having the revelation of their feelings be the be all and end all of this relationship.  The writers have carefully navigated Barney through this love landmine all season long.  They’ve allowed him the emotional growth to fall in love with Robin, but still let him be the womanizer that he’s always been – it’s what he knows. When Barney tore up the list of his previous 200 hundred lovers (no “lovers” isn’t exactly right, perhaps “conquests”?), it was a big moment for him.  Part of him wants to fall in love. He’s seen his two best friends happy and he wants that.  But reconciling the Barney he’s always been with his new feelings isn’t easy.  It’s baby steps.

As for Robin, she’s been here before. She dated one of her best friends and while it has seemingly worked out, she’s weary to go there again.  And for someone who is hesitant to commit at all, she sure isn’t going to go in feet first with NYC’s biggest womanizer. She’s too smart for that.

We’ve seen Barney fall in love this season. We are privileged to his emotional growth. We’ve seen the pining and know it’s real.  Robin hasn’t. She can’t trust that this isn’t a momentary thing for Barney and she’s being cautious.

As for me, well I just spent way too much time analyzing two characters on a sitcom. Welcome to my world.

Overall a pretty great finale. I continue to enjoy the journey. Personally I’m fine with not finding out anything more about Ted’s future wife. She’ll get here when she gets here.  For now, I’m ok with just hanging out with Ted and his friends.

See you back next season — cheers to no baby bumps!

Oh and if you missed last night’s episode, check out in full right here: