Baby Talk and Shoes Dropping: What Happened During Tonight’s Emotional HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER?
December 5, 2011 by Kath Skerry
If you haven’t seen tonight’s episode of HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, it’s about that time to walk away from this blog post and come back post-viewing. Seriously, stop reading.
For those of you who did watch, please tell me you were as stressed out as I was for the entire duration of the episode. I hate to think that I was all alone in freaking out, just waiting for the other shoe to drop. And also please tell me that I wasn’t the only one left feeling really bummed out when that dangling shoe did in fact drop…and dropped hard.
So what’s all this talk of stress and dropping Manola Blahniks?
Well, see kids, it all began when Aunt Robin found out she was pregnant. While we all wondered if the baby Daddy would be Kevin or Barney, Aunt Robin knew all along that Kevin was never in the running for Father of the Year. But then again, neither was Barney, because as it turned out, Robin’s pregnancy was a false alarm. In fact, a very false alarm. While still celebrating her non-pregnancy, Robin was told that she would never be able to have children.
Sadly, despite always claiming she never wanted children, the idea that it would never be possible really affected Robin. She chose to keep the news to herself rather than share it with her friends fearing their varied over-reactions.
But if Robin was unable to have children, then who were the two teens she was referring to as her children in 2030? Any why was she referring to Barney as their father?
Could it be?
Sadly no. At the end of the day, it was just another twist by the cruel ensemble of scribes known as the HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER writers room.
Up until the final minutes of the episode, we were led to believe that Barney and Robin were the parents of the future raven-haired teen girl and her strawberry blonde brother. But then the aforementioned shoe did in fact drop, and it was revealed that Robin wasn’t actually speaking to those children because they weren’t real. Just figments of her imagination.
I should have known better. Wait, I DID know better. I’ve been watching this show from the beginning and I knew that the writers wouldn’t just hand us such a major plotline like this so easily. But despite waiting (not so) patiently the entire episode for the inevitable twist, it still felt like a kick in the gut when it was revealed that there was no baby, and those two teens we met weren’t the future children of Barney and Robin.
As for the future of Barney and Robin, well that could be a figment of my imagination, but I doubt it. I think there is still a lot of story left to be told. But in the meantime, we were left with a distraught Robin being comforted by Ted. He doesn’t know why he needed to comfort Robin in that moment, but Ted was there for her all the same.
A heavy episode for HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER fans, and a well acted one by Cobie Smulders. The final scene in which she broke down in Ted’s arms was quite powerful, and ultimately very sad.
So are you all as bummed out as me? Are the writers setting us up for another round of Robin and Ted? (I beg of them, NO!) What’s next for Robin and Kevin? And of course, Robin and Barney.
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My patience for this show is really wearing thin. I agree it was a very well acted episode and it was well written but as a long-time fan of the show, I’m getting tired of the direction it seems to be going with Robin. If they re-visit Robin and Ted, I really think that has to be the end of it for me (or at least until I hear they are done with that). I knew I should have been cautious about the beginning scene but I really thought no, the writers would not do that to us by making this a figment of someone’s imagination. Should have kept to my first instinct! I do cling to the hope that maybe somehow Robin and Barney do end up together and maybe end up having kids because at the end, Ted didn’t say that Robin was never a mother – just that she was never alone.
Well, in response to mg714, I really doubt they’ll revisit Robin and Ted. They’ve already done that several times. I interpreted their moments this season to just show a really close friendship and show that he would always be there for her, as a friend. And he didn’t say she was never a mother, but he did say she was never a pole vaulter, which I think was a metaphor. But I still want to hope because I want Robin and Barney to be together but I want Barney to have kids like he wants to.
The episode had me until we found out the kids were imaginary. I’m not sure why, but I wasn’t sold on that reveal.
Without Robin’s line “I’m glad you guys aren’t real”, I would believe 100% that (a) the doctor was wrong or that somehow she beats the odds (b) they were Barney’s kids and she’s aunt Robin or step mother (adopted kids?) and that the only time during the episode when “pole vaulter”was not a metaphor was during the voice over by FutureTed. But unless the writers are really toying with the viewers, I don’t see any of that happening. She won’t have kids. Of her own. But that doesn’t rule out adoption IMO, cause I think they were talking biology here mostly.
I personally am a bit sad that/if she won’t be a mother. I know many viewers like that there’s a strong, independent, career-oriented (etc) character on TV, who will stay that way. And in many ways she is, and will be all that. But (with no harm intended) I don’t really see her as all that strong and independent career-woman. I know the voice over about her future career and world travel suggest she doesn’t settle down anytime soon, but… who knows. Plus her doubting about “not even having the option and possibly wanting something and knowing you can’t have it” was more than just temporary reaction to the news. It felt more to me. And why dream of two kids, not just one? Unlless they were thinking to keep it in tone with the shows other “kids, have I told you about”scenes…
And this all comes from a female, who has known ever since age 16 that she does not want kids. Yes, I knew in high school already. Ever. And who, even after everyone around her are having kids, and who is doing the aunt part, and all, still has no mother-feelings at all. Someone, who is not 20 anymore, and therefore won’t likely change her mind. (and also from someone, who has a very good reason to justify her choice to the people who don’t understand not ever wanting to experience the miracle. people accept “the risk of beating genetics/medical issues is not worth it” sometimes better)
As to the end scene. I am serious if I say this: if they even hint at Robin/Ted “try again”, I will be extremely disappointed. Though the end scene did seem to me more like two friends, a friends supporting another friend. And if they will do the “Ted has got to let Robin, “his safety net” go, and see her move on, and he has got to realize that “this doesn’t work” thing, then it’s all good. Cause only after he leaves his past to the past, will his future (wife) arrive.
But… how very cruel of the writers/producers/etc to really hint in the interviews that Robin really is pregnant (no fans I talked to ever seriously believed it was more than a scare) and to make it such a sad, sad, sad story (in order for Cobie Smulders to shine as an actress). Plus come on… Barney and Robin at the toy store… and at the doctors… how cute was that? I’m sorry, but I want them both to be parents one day.
I know that after these events it’s hard to believe that Robin could be the bride, but to me it kind of feels that this is even more proof that Barney will marry her. Even though it seems impossible. I mean… he wants a family, and kids. He thinks she’s the one. She doesn’t want any of that, and she was not willing to brake up with her bf possibly even if they were having a kid. Barney’s so gonna go and look for someone else to try and start a family, but since Robin is said to play an important role in Ted meeting the mother, and he meets her at Barney’s wedding… plus all the other clues… make it really hard to believe that it’s the new girl (even if new is always better) In the end guess Barney chooses the first (rule), Robin, because the first one is the best one.
In conclusion: I knew this was gonna be a slap in the face, and I was prepared, but still… it feel so cruel, and I am emotionally drained. And honestly… I really am not certain if I’ll enjoy the rest of the ride, because they’ve now teased B/R (who most likely will be endgame) almost as much as they have teased T/R (who, since the very first episode we knew will never be endgame), and I have a problem with tv shows re-visiting old romances again and again, and not make it work until the end (last few seasons). I call it the “Ross/Rachel” game, and it sucks the goodness out from a story. For me. Often. And I don’t like it when my favorite shows/couples play this game.
I apologize for the length and the tone of the comment, but I have many emotions, and I am not very happy atm.
Ugh! Why must this show tear at my heart strings. If you saw my tweet you know I thought that the first minute was probably setting me up for sadness. I’m really liking the show like I was in the beginning.i’m excited to see everyone’s stories. And can I just say that Robin and Barney have to be together!
Please no Ted/Robin again.
Interesting.
I truly think that Barney and Robin still end up together, thus the “your dad Barney” stuff.
Someone mentioned to me that Ted is actually a moron for doing that to comfort Robin in light of what Victoria told Ted earlier this season. It’s a good point…
I’m tired of Robin and Barney. I really am. They have practically dominated Season 7 with a romance that has been force-fed to satisfy the Barney/Robin shippers. Everything about their love story has been forced. Once they became a couple back in Season 5, the producers managed to screw that up before breaking them with one of the most contrived reasons I have come across in television history. And after Robin introduces Barney to Nora in late Season 6, the producers decide to portray poor Nora as a one-dimensional paragon of perfection. Hell, Ted’s past girlfriends had been portrayed with more complexity than Nora. It seems as if the producers were determined to manipulate the viewers into disliking her and cheering for a Barney/Robin hookup.
And how do they decide to get rid of Nora? By having Barney cheat on her with Robin, before dumping her. What the fuck? Then we have Barney crying in his milk, because Robin decided to stay with Kevin. Wait. It gets worse. Robin tells Barney that she suspects that she might be pregnant. But after learning that she’s not pregnant, Robin learns that she can’t have kids. Why in the hell didn’t the show’s creators simply use Robin’s dislike of motherhood to explain why she never had kids? Why use this plotline straight out of a Ross Hunter production? Do they honestly believe that the only way for Robin to remain sympathetic was for her to be physically denied the chance to get pregnant, instead of simply disliking the idea of being a mother? How sexist!
We all know that HIMYM isn’t exclusively about Ted. Six seasons have proven that to all of us. But Ted, Marshall and Lily have been treated as supporting characters in compare to the Barney/Robin love fest of Season Seven. They’ve been given silly “B” plots in most of the season’s episodes, while viewers (at least those who are not Barney/Robin shippers) have been forced to swallow this barely digestible love story. The balance between all five characters have been off ever since the producers had decided to engage in the Barney/Robin ship fest of 2011.
Is it really two much to ask for the producers to get over their Barney/Robin obsession and return the balance for all five characters? For God’s sake! When the first two seasons led toward Lily and Marshall’s wedding, they didn’t overshadow the other characters the way Barney and Robin are now doing.