Monday, May 18, 2009

How I Met Your Mother. "The Leap": Carter Bays Q&A

Because of all the time demands on me during Upfront Week, I won't be able to do a proper review of the "How I Met Your Mother" fourth season finale, "The Leap," save to say that I really enjoyed it, and that my opinion on the various romantic storylines (specifically, about the ongoing necessity, or lack thereof, to focus on the search for the Mother) is unchanged from previous episode reviews.

But in lieu of a review, I've got a Q&A I did last week with "HIMYM" co-creator Carter Bays, where we talk about all the big developments in the finale:

Let's start with by far the most important question raised by the finale: how did you decide that this would be the joke involving the goat? And what were the other goat ideas?

We always knew it was going to be a fight. That was set up very early on in the fight episode, when Ted sort of makes a reference to Ted fighting the goat. The other ideas were the degrees to which we would take the idea of Ted fighting the goat. And that was off us having ideas and our production staff saying, "No way." There were going to be wires at one point, "Matrix"-style special effects, and we negotiated it down to a puppet goat.

After all this time, do you feel like this was a satisfying resolution to that gag?

I think so. Nothing's going to ever satisfy. It's hard to build something up for that long, but it was certainly fun to shoot and be funny. I think we got away with it in terms of realism versus the fantastical.

I love that Ted goes through the rest of the episode with the goat's hoof print on his forehead.

Maybe the rest of the series, who knows?

So where do Robin and Barney stand now?

That's a good question. This episode, I think, kicks the door down for the barney and Robin romance. We have some ideas. Our big challenge as writers is "What would that be like?" We have some ideas of that would be like. Obviously, it won't be as easy as they're just boyfriend/girlfriend now.

Barney knew going into the season that he had feelings for Robin; what do you feel he and she had to go through this year to get to this point?

Robin's journey was a little more internal. We didn't explore it as much as Barney's. We've seen her in a relationship, she made the journey with Ted, going from the single person to someone who can open up to another person. It was kind of about Barney's side. It was like leaving it a mystery where Robin stands. That's what made it exciting, not knowing what the answer would be. We still kind of don't know what the answer is. I like the ambiguity of, "On what level is she saying that she doesn't want to be in a relationship or she does?" I like that we decided to give ourselves season five to explore that.

And what had to happen to Barney to get him to this point?

It's sort of a slow build over the series. Seeing his best friend get engaged, and seeing Marshall and Lily's relationship blossom. Over the course of the series, this has been something that's been simmering for Barney.

Well, there was that nice moment at the end of "Right Place Right Time" where he rips up the list of his 200 conquests and looked hopefully towards Robin, like he was finally ready for her.

That was definitely what that moment was about. It was a nice way to see Barney giving up something immature and move towards maturity. Not too close to it, though,

So does this mean that we've seen the last of Barney trying to seduce other women?

I'm sure that won't be the case. I think you sort of established where Barney stands with this in the first episode of the season. It's the scorpion and the toad. There will always be a part of him that's a flirt. It'll be about him trying to reconcile the two parts of himself.

Was there anything that had to be done differently with this storyline as Cobie's pregnancy advanced?

It didn't feel like it. I'm sure subconsciously there were things we were keeping ourselves from doing. The last few episodes, we definitely tried to go easy on her. She was getting along. It's pretty tough to go into work every day when you're tucking a baby in your belly.

While I'm sure it was a hassle to have to write around the pregnancies, and then around Alyson's absence, one of the nice things was seeing so much emphasis on the Marshall/Barney friendship. Is that something we'll be seeing more of in the future?

We've always loved getting those two together. They're very funny, just goofballs together. It always feels like the Three Stooges when those two are together. I think one of the wonderful things about our show, and we're excited to have Aly back, is that every two-person combination we've done has its own energy and can be equally fun and entertaining. Like, Marshall and Robin, we realized this year that we hadn't done any good Jason and Cobie stories, and we did two of them back to back, they were great together.

In terms of the mother, we know now that the mom is in Ted's architecture class. That gives you a lot of leeway; how aggressively do you intend to pursue this next season?

It's funny. We're hoping to take a long time with this story. That will be addressed in the first episode of the season. The mother is in the classroom, there's definitely no trickery there, but it's not going to be as easy.

So, is it a situation where he's going to be dating a lot of his students, or will we be on alert the first time he does that?

I'm not sure. We haven't figured it out yet. We want to be careful, don't want to string it out.

At this point, is the reveal of the mother's identity something you're going to save for the end of the series? Or has the show evolved enough that you could introduce her, have her be Ted's girlfriend or wife, and just keep telling stories about all these characters?

I'm always hesitant to answer that question, because if I give my personal preference, it's kind of a spoiler. But it's definitely evolved beyond that. It's definitely a show about these five friends. I don't think we need to focus on the framing device. It's funny, when we did the yellow umbrella last week, it was like, "Wow, we forgot all about this," and we had written it. I kind of like our lazy, rollicking pace, making it a really windy story.

Do you ever feel like the title is a hindrance in some way, like you're beholden to that part of the story?

I don't think I've experienced that. Often, we'll pretty easily forget the name of the show that we're writing and just tell good stories. It's hard to know how people are watching it. I know there are some people who come to the show every week with the hope, "Tell me how he met the mother," but we've created a big universe for ourselves, but that's just one element, and there's a lot of other stuff to explore.

Are we done with the umbrella? Has it served its purpose?

It still very much has a role. It's kind of in now way served its purpose. The fact that he was holding the yellow umbrella meeting Stella was kind of a red herring. We did want to signal in that scene that this is part of the story, and that's why we put it in that scene, but it will be tangibly involved in him meeting the mother. When he said two years ago that "the story of your mom's yellow umbrella is the story of how I met your mother," he meant it, and so did we.

There was that scene in the episode where Ted acquired the umbrella where he bumps into some random woman at the club on St. Patrick's Day, and the camera lingers on it longer than you'd expect for something so minor. A lot of fans are convinced that's because the random woman was, in fact, the mother. Are the people who keep talking about that like the "Sopranos" fans who kept waiting for the Russian to come back, or are they onto something?

I can't say one way or the other, whether that's the mom or not. It was artistically significant just to show Ted bump into a girl. Maybe one of these girls in the club could be the mom.

Or maybe that was it: maybe that was the Russian from "The Sopranos" after a sex change.

Can Barney drive?

Yes. It's hard to go back to this, but that scene took place in the past. In the Fiero episode, what we were seeing was a flashback to before that. We established that he had a BMW at the end of season one. Barney can drive. He was just a late learner. I'm sure if you put that (in this interview), someone will find a way to prove me wrong. We had that discussion, but it felt like it fits. We had stuff in (last week's) episode that we had to cut out for time where Barney talks about how he didn't start driving until late. So he was learning new things about driving like you can talk your way out of the speeding tickets.

This is two season finales in a row where someone's wound up in the hospital and Barney had an epiphany about Robin. Coincidence?

It is a coincidence, though we highlighted it by casting the same orderly both years. That's another thing we were going to do a joke about but we couldn't get around to. There's something nice about bookending Barney looking at Robin that way for the first time and actually kissing her and telling her he loves her in a hospital room. Sort of the way that Ted and Stella's first scene this season was them sitting in a driving game and their last scene was in a car together.

Last week's episode established that Tony's movie, "The Wedding Bride," will be coming out in May 2010. Should we be expecting an episode about that?

We have some preliminary ideas for it. We have a whole story built around it.

Ted was originally modeled on you, and Marshall on Craig. How far have those characters evolved from that? Do you ever sit around and say, "I wouldn't do that" or "We wouldn't do that to each other"?

Ted certainly isn't me anymore. I haven't been engaged, or had a lot of the other experiences he's had. It's more the characters have become themselves .We definitely do try to ask ourselves, "Would this happen to us? Would this happen to someone we know?" for all the characters. We try to keep them personal and real, but there's more overlap now. I relate to Marshall as much as I do to Ted.

Well, the reason I ask is because the writing has been more overt this year about how Ted can act like a douche sometimes, and I was wondering if that was something you were comfortable with.

I think I'm way more of a douche than Ted. No, I allow for that part of the show to be fictional.

Alan Sepinwall may be reached at asepinwall@starledger.com

62 comments:

Alan Sepinwall said...

Also, before anyone asks, the song at the end is "Prophets," by A.C. Newman.

Dan said...

Great finale to an up and down season.

Zack Smith said...

Great interview, and I applaud your question as to the occurences of Douche-Ted. Carter seems not to be a douche, but he writes one well.

Nicole said...

I don't know what this means but while the voice over narration said "what turned out to be the best job I ever had" the closed captioning said "a crappy dead end job which turned out to be the best job I ever had".

I enjoyed the Robin-Barney resolution and found that it was much more realistically done than any of the pairings on Friends, or in fact most sitcoms (the Office being the exception of course).

erin said...

Hmm...it was just okay to me. Really enjoyed the Barney/Robin interaction, because it seems so believable to their characters, and I still think they could get together and keep it interesting, but the rest of it...a little meh from me. The jumping the ledge issue with Marshall seemed a little silly (and not in the good way)--a little besides the point. The goat hoof was a nice touch. It just wasn't a laugh riot.

I think Bays seems a little loose with the mother situation...a little unplanned without an endgame, and I think part of my problem with the show is that it seems like they don't have a solid plan. Frankly I'm a little tired of it, and I think it's overshadowing the rest of the show. So I hope that they figure it out before they're hemmed in by the title of the show and it becomes tedious.

But nice callback to the hospital scene at the end of the last season. And the orderly!

Ann T. said...

I'm glad that they are taking the long road on "The Mother". The friendships are much more interesting than that story line.

Kevin said...

Wow, that goat payoff sure sucked.

Trotsky said...

Super song choice, too, Alan.
(All of Newman's Get Guilty is fantastic, much of it featuring Jersey's own Nicole Atkins on backing vocals.)

Zach said...

"The suit is Robin" really reminded me of "The hammer is my penis." I wonder if NPH noticed.

Karen said...

I'm surprised no one was mentioned this, but the biggest laugh i got from the episode was the "SVEN!" moment, complete with the rotating sign.

That, and Barney's spastic mussing of Robin's hair.

Linda said...

This story really worked on me. The way they're doing Ted's story, where it's this chaotic, often really frustrating, seemingly Sisyphean thing where he keeps screwing up but it's all eventually going to put him where he's supposed to be? I do kind of believe life is like that. Lily's speech at the end about sort of...letting your life design itself? That's totally what I believe.

I like it that it's not linear. I like it that he has to keep taking leaps and weathering various things. I will agree that the goat fight felt a little tacked on, but I liked the jump, even though it's fantastically corny.

Myles said...

I figure I'll point people in the direction of my review if, with Alan's understandably busy schedule keeping him from writing one, they still desire to have 2000 words to read about the episode. You can find it here. I know that I'm currently kind of going through withdrawal without being able to read detailed thoughts from Alan after finishing my own.

But for the most part, I thought the finale worked: no, it wasn't perfect, but they managed to make Ted funny without making him a complete douche (the goat, obviously was helpful - he ELBOWED IT. Like, "C'mon!" [/GOB]), they made the Barney/Robin moment feel really genuine while remaining very funny, and they actually made me feel bad about not missing Lily when she was gone, even if the show can clearly still work without her.

A solid finale, better than last year's without question.

CM said...

Eh. I loved most of this season, but didn't find much to be excited about with this episode. The Barney/Robin thing felt contrived to me -- it was a funny concept to have the two of them psyching each other/themselves out as they kept going back and forth about their feelings for each other, but in practice it felt more clever than real. I found the goat fight appalling -- I actually prefer the idea of the Matrix-style fight, which would have made it more clear that it was just Ted's imagination and he didn't actually beat up an animal. And I agree that the leaping thing, even excusing the hit-you-over-the-head metaphor, didn't seem like the emotional moment that I think it was meant to be.

I did like Robin "Mosbying" Barney and the callback to Sven.

Anonymous said...

I really loved it, especially that final scene with Ted being retrospective over his past year's bad moments. I kind of hope the new job will make him less douchey and let him be happy once again.

Has the show been renewed yet anyway? I doubt they'd cancel it, but I haven't heard officially yet. I guess we find out this week.

Alan Sepinwall said...

Has the show been renewed yet anyway?

Not officially, but it's gonna be. It's one of the few shows in all of television to have the ratings actually go up this season, and it's one of CBS' youngest-skewing, most affluent shows. This is the first time since maybe the end of the first season where I haven't been worried about whether there'll be a renewal.

Nicole said...

@Zach - I was also thinking of the Dr Horriblesque vibe of "The suit is Robin" It is probably not a coincidence.

Anonymous said...

Even if he explained Barney's driving, they clearly messed up Stella's love history. Her first time was sophomore year with Billy Devito while also in love with Tony all through high school and got pregnant at 19 with Tony's child. Okay it's possible but clunky.

I love the show. NPH.

Unknown said...

I must concur that "the goat" cannot possibly live up to the promise of a goat. They eat your stuff (hey, at least they didn't eat the hat floorplans), they butt you, what else can you do with one? I did kinda enjoy the fight and think they did the best they could in trying to live up to it.

That said...yay for Ted switching jobs! YAY for finally saying where he meets the mother! Yay for the handling of Barney and Robin being two people likey-like each other and yet hate the idea of being in a relationship. I look forward to seeing how it goes next season! I'm glad I came home early from what I was supposed to be doing to catch it live.

ithor6 said...

So many good callbacks in this episode. The goat and Sven, of course. Marshall jumping from the ledge is a callback to "Three Days of Snow" in the montage of "ill-advised five word sentences that every man eventually says in his life" (just went back and watched it, they even had the pool in the background, these guys are good). My favorite, though, was when Marshall was on the ledge in the Dracula costume, the Slutty Pumpkin walked by!

People can talk about how Barney shouldn't be able to drive, but continuity like that really warms the nerdiest parts of my heart.

All in all, a solid finale, moved the story along while making me laugh. I especially enjoyed Lily's fake out pregnancy and the over the top goat fight.

Notch Johnson said...

I want to say, in relation to your interview with Carter Bays, ERROR!

Barney couldn't drive during "Arrivederci Fiero" in a flashback to the NYC Transit Strike. That was after he had the BMW in Season 1.

Although I guess the strike happened late 2005, maybe he banged Penelope twice in his car sometime afterward.

Michael said...

@Kevin - well at least they did resolve the goat situation, instead of Ted saying "no, I was wrong, that was really on my 32nd birthday!"

Michael said...

Oh, and Alan, wasn't the show already renewed for 2 more seasons so they can sell it into syndication?

Benjamin Standig said...

The best question was whether the title of the show is a hindrance. Carter gave you the PC answer, but the proof is in the pudding. The show has been much, much...much...much better since the primary focus stopped being "the mother". Heck, they barely ever show the kids anymore.

Finale was good, not great. Can't wait to see what they do with Robney, but they better not mess with the mighty Stinson.

Billiam said...

Hmm, I thought I was gonna be the first to comment on the "slutty pumpkin" but ithor6 beat me to it. I love blink-and-you-miss-them references like that.

Two thoughts about the last sentence of the episode:
This pretty much means that Victoria cannot be the mother.
And, so Ted dates one of his students? Possibly a few of his students, to give us some red herrings? It's not necessarily wrong (I assume he probably doesn't really "meet" her until after she is his student) but it still sounded creepy when Bob Saget said it.

Alex said...

Well, I enjoyed that very much. I'm glad that Barney and Robin got all of their feelings out in a honest way (after the prodding of course). I like that Ted isn't going to be miserable trying to make it as an architect anymore. I liked the use of the AC Newman to bookend the show. HIMYM uses music sparingly, but it's always very well chosen. And you're right, Alan- it's nice not to be worried about the show's renewal for once (Although "Chuck" filled that spot nicely for you this year!).

The one thing I didn't understand was how the goat got into Ted's apartment in the first place, unless Lily brought her over straight after work?

ithor6 said...

Just went back and watched "Slutty Pumpkin." Marshall was Cher that year. Of course now the nerdiest parts of my brain are thinking up ways to retcon that. I'm gonna go with she's the Slutty Pumpkin every year (I know people who are lazy like that) and Marshall was Dracula in a prior year before she met Ted.

Matt said...

In the episode "Slutty Pumpkin", the slutty pumpkin never shows so the so the flash back was to a time pre- 2005 before the timeline of the show started.

Solid episode overall. I'm going to have to re-watch to catch all the references to previous episodes.

BigTed said...

Okay, I enjoyed this episode, and I certainly like this show. But I was kind of bothered by Lily's speech about how great it is that all the characters have settled for lives that weren't what they originally wanted. I mean, it was obvious last week when Ted said that being a professor was for losers that that's exactly what he would end up doing... and we're supposed to think that's what he's meant to do, even though he got there by failing at being a "real" architect. But what it really points out is that the entire show has turned into too much of apologetic for loserdom. Which to me, means... okay, Ted has gone through so much romantic turmoil, supposedly to get to the love of his life. But how do we know the whole story of "how I met your mother" isn't just his way of convincing himself that the woman he ended up with actually is the love of his life, as opposed to all the other women he thought would be, but who didn't end up wanting him enough? What if the "mother" is just the woman who finally wanted Ted as much as he wanted her? Looking at it that way, it kind of detracts from the entire premise of the show.

Matt said...

Oops just realized you are correct because the Cher costume was already a flash back... My bad

Anonymous said...

Speaking of driving, I was just watching the Price is Right Episode yesterday, and now I want to know when we'll see Marshall and Lily tooling around in the dune buggy Barney won for them. They'd need it since the Fiero died.

Small Ted said...

But I was kind of bothered by Lily's speech about how great it is that all the characters have settled for lives that weren't what they originally wanted. I mean, it was obvious last week when Ted said that being a professor was for losers that that's exactly what he would end up doing... and we're supposed to think that's what he's meant to do, even though he got there by failing at being a "real" architect. But what it really points out is that the entire show has turned into too much of apologetic for loserdom.That's harsh. There is a big difference between loserdom and settling. (I wouldn't call any of them losers. As for Ted's opinion of teaching, he's a douchebag and I'm not sure it's ever stated that he's really talented. I mean he is the narrator.) Settling into a career (or worse, a job) is 99% of the work force. The show went for the "a career isn't the be all and end all of life" line and that's fine.

It's obviously important but when idealists like Ted get fixated on being world-renowned, "name in the history books" whatevers that's when most people would start branding them douchebags (the somewhat to very successful kind ala Mitt Romney. No offense to anyone. The Daily Show's words not mine.)

If Ted wanted to be Gehry or Pei then it was good for him to settle for the teaching job at least for a while. It's not like he can't switch back although I don't know one professor who'd give up tenure unless they designed some billion dollar idea like the Cisco founders.

I think this applies to all their greatest ambitions. World famous artists or violinists don't grow on trees, but most people have bills to pay.

It's the same thing with Ted's love life. Always wanting the perfect relationship and at the same time being frustrated it's not arrived.

Unknown said...

I preface this by admitting to being a blackhearted cynic.

But I was kind of bothered by Lily's speech about how great it is that all the characters have settled for lives that weren't what they originally wanted. I mean, it was obvious last week when Ted said that being a professor was for losers that that's exactly what he would end up doing... and we're supposed to think that's what he's meant to do, even though he got there by failing at being a "real" architect. But what it really points out is that the entire show has turned into too much of apologetic for loserdom.Well, I hate to say it, but that's what "real life" is about. It happens while you're making other plans. Real life money issues means you can't be a poor environmental lawyer (or an architect). Lack of talent means you'll never be a success at what you love doing. Or you get your heart broken and become a suit-wearing man-whore in retaliation. And Robin is doing what she wanted to do...at 4 a.m. when nobody's watching.

So I think it's entirely reasonable for the show to go there and point that out, because that's happened to what, 99% of the viewers? It's not as easy to "stick to the plan" as you thought it would be when you were high on pot at age 18.

But how do we know the whole story of "how I met your mother" isn't just his way of convincing himself that the woman he ended up with actually is the love of his life, as opposed to all the other women he thought would be, but who didn't end up wanting him enough? What if the "mother" is just the woman who finally wanted Ted as much as he wanted her?Again, that's a lot like real life too. Lots of people do that. And to some degree, if the other women didn't want him enough (or moved to Germany or didn't want kids), then no, they weren't the love of his life. Sometimes just being wanted back after a long time of not being wanted back is enough. I can see that working out for Ted and him not regretting it. Hey, he wanted a wife and kids and he got 'em and he seems happy enough about it to tell stories about it in 2030. Maybe that's how it came about, but maybe he doesn't regret that it worked out that way either.

Anonymous said...

Not officially, but it's gonna be.Then why haven't they just renewed it already?

Soumynona said...

To put it succintly: what a teenager calls settling his/her parents would call growing up. What seems like loserdom to idealists is reality for, well, realists (pragmatists?)

Anonymous said...

I was really hoping that Ted mistimed his leap at the end and plumetted to the ground below.

Theresa said...

My favorite moment (paraphrasing):

Lily: ...or Barney and his violin playing.
Barney: Hey!
Lily: Don't tell me things!

For some reason, that really cracked me up. Not an amazing episode, but a nice, satisfying one, like comfort food. I care a lot more about all of the other story lines than I do about the Mother being a student, but if they feel the need to include that, so be it.

Heather said...

The goat wasn't as funny as Saget-Ted promised it would be and I figured it to be so. The best part of it though was 'Murder Train'. I'm so glad they keep using that song, it's hillarious. Happy to see the return of Sven, even if Ted isn't. As for the Barney/Robin thing, the hospital ending seemed a bit goofy, but otherwise the relationship is very true to their characters. I don't think they'll be boyfriend/girlfriend, but I do want to see a future Barney. Ted has never mentioned what happens to Barney in the future.

Hey, and is it just me, or was "I think I can make it" one of the things Marshall regretted (one of them being shaving off his hair)?

Mike F said...

pretty lame season for the show, all things considered...still lots of funny stuff and worth watching, but its slipped for me...its no longer a show I can't wait to watch

Srpad said...

I don't know why, but, for me, the goat charging towards the camera was one of the funniest momments of this show. And this is a show with a ton of funny momments.

I also like "Don't tell me things" as someone else mentioned.

Anonymous said...

I'd like to add to the Ted "settling" debate.

The person who settles the most will be the woman who ends up being the mother and settles for Ted.

I love Robin and Barney but their back and forth about love/relationship was right out of a bad sitcom.

Michael said...

@Billiam wrote: "And, so Ted dates one of his students? Possibly a few of his students, to give us some red herrings? "

Didn't Future-Ted only say that "your mother was in that class"?

Who said the Mother is a student? She could be a TA, a guest lecturer, or even a cleaning lady.

Andrew said...

It's not necessarily wrong (I assume he probably doesn't really "meet" her until after she is his student) but it still sounded creepy when Bob Saget said it.
Doesn't anything sound creepier when Bob Saget says it?

S said...

Hey, and is it just me, or was "I think I can make it" one of the things Marshall regretted (one of them being shaving off his hair)? it was one of the five word sentences every guy says at some point in his life from 3 Days of Snow along with we should buy a bar/i'm gonna win her back/i can trust you guys

der Hundepo said...

That wasn't the slutty pumpkin in the flashback. In the original ep, the slutty pumpkin was a brunette (no bright orange wig) and wearing an actual rounded out pumpkin costume ("carved in strategic places") rather than a form-fitting leotard-thing. But, hey, she could still be the Mother for all we know.

Sarah said...

First of all, I was disappointed by the goat sequence. Other than the awesome song choice, and the hoof-print on his forehead for the rest of the episode, I didn't think it was all that funny. But like many have said before this post, it's hard to live up to that kind of a build-up.

Second of all, I also loved the line when Lilly said, "Don't tell me things," and wished that had gotten a bigger reaction.

Third of all, I LOVED the back and forth between Robin and Barney--I thought it was great, and would have even enjoyed it if it had gone on more (perhaps Lilly telling Barney that Robin had Mosbyed him as part of a larger plan. I'd like to see Lilly as the puppet master some time.)

Fourth of all, I loved the call backs to Sven, Ted telling Robin he loved her on their first date, and the slutty pumpkin!

Fifth, and I think I may be first here, but didn't you just LOVE Jason Siegel's dracula costume? Man that actor does a large amount of work with vampires . . .

Can't wait til next season!

Unknown said...

I've often thought Ted to be a bit of Ross with an emo twist. This new job as a professor really doesn't help this.

Anonymous said...

HIMYM renewed!

http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2009/05/exclusive-witho.html

Beth said...

Ted becoming a professor and dating a student, did remind me of Ross from Friends.

BigTed said...

Just to clarify what I said earlier: I don't think there's anything wrong with "settling" in life (yes, we all do it). And plenty of sitcoms have been based on far bigger losers than these guys (including some of the best, like "Cheers" and "Taxi"). My point is that the way this was handled makes me doubt the aspect of Ted's life in which he's supposedly a big winner: meeting and marrying a fantastic woman who's perfect for him. The fact that we've already seen him fail with three great women (okay, two great women and one dud), and now we've seen him get used to "settling" -- and, for that matter, the fact that we know he falls for women at the drop of a hat -- would make anyone suspect that the "mother" might not be his perfect match, but just a nice woman Ted decides is "the one" because he really wants her to be.

Anonymous said...

@BigTed: You're forgetting it's a tv sitcom. And if I'm honest, a sappy romantic one at that. Heavy odds on Ted finding the perfect girl for him. SOme girl who reads architecture magazines nude while drinking Chateau Lafit(?) and sampling caviar. That sound about right?

Sara said...

Loved the Barney/Robin interaction in the hospital. Perfect action/reaction by both of them.

Not so much the goat thing but I'm ok with that (wasn't that invested in that part being good).

Best non-NPH moment of the show for me was Marshall's sizing up of Robin and coming up with the "eh" result. Totally hilarious to me.

afoglia said...

They have left themselves a lot of room for how the mother will turn out. Ted says the mother is in the class, but that doesn't mean she's in that semester. They could drag this out till after "The Wedding Bride" comes out, if so they feel.

I was glad when it turned out Robin was Mosbying Barney. Because I didn't see why Robin would love Barney. There hasn't been any hint of that earlier this season. At least Bays acknowledged that in the interview.

qrter said...

How many times can this show hit the reset button.. I feel, like others, that the "mother"-part of the show has just become annoying.

When the finale's 'revelation' came I just thought "Oh, whatever, I don't care anymore".

Loren said...

So in retrospect, what was the great significance of Ted meeting Stella on the curb a few weeks back? That whole episode was built around how important that moment was to Ted meeting his wife, but how, exactly?

KVV said...

Loren,

Ted got the teaching job because Tony said his family had given a ton of money to Columbia, so if he never sees Stella and Tony, he never gets that job as a professor, thanks to Tony's guilt.

Canuck said...

Bays and Thomas are so clever that they often seem to keep us guessing a lot. When SagetTed said the mother "was in that classroom," he never actually said she was a student, did he? It could be a visitor? Or his boss sitting in on the lesson?

Satisfying finale and great expectations for next season...

melanie said...

"Robney"?? I'm going with Barnbin.

MizRacy said...

Just have to say that I'm a bit upset that my idea about the goat chasing Marshall/any of the other cast members, was the reason he "leapt from roof to roof"...but other than that...Great finale...I definitely enjoyed it and cannot wait for the DVDs.

Jen said...

They did one of those TV things that always bugs me by totally ignoring real-life consequences. Is the place next door unoccupied? If five people suddenly leapt onto your roof, wouldn't you confront them or call the cops? How are they going to get back to their place? That leap is uphill on the way back!

That aside, loved Barney/Robin and Marshall's "freakishly tall" assessment of Robin.

Anonymous said...

I want them to start the new season off with the entire gang on the roof of the next door neighbor, with no way back home.

And as far as those combination names go, "Swarkles" totally takes the cake.

Anonymous said...

What i wonder about...what happened to the slapping?! Would be time for it to reaccure...

Anonymous said...

I'm somewhat surprised no one has yet died in NYC attempting to duplicate the roof jump.

Aside from the problem of how to get off the (presumably locked at the patio door) roof, I was expecting the much more reasonable answer that Marshall would turn to the others and say "Are you crazy? If I miss the jump I die."