There was a lot of talk throughout the beginning of this season of HIMYM about whether or not it would wrap this year or be extended to 2014. We now know that the series won’t finale until next year, but if tonight’s episode is any indication of what’s to come, then we would have been better off ending now.
Full spoilers abound!
Marshall and Lily are packing to move to Italy and are stuck with way too much stuff to bring with them. They enlist Ted to help them out since he is known for his ability to travel light (after spending two weeks touring Spain on nothing more than a fanny pack), but as they begin to divide their belongings into “Italy” and “Bermuda Triangle” piles, it becomes obvious that Ted is packing nonsensical items they won’t really need. Ted is sent on a mission to get fanny packs so Lily and Marshall can actually get to packing what they will need, but he realizes it’s a ruse and returns to find they had sent a bean bag chair with sentimental value to the Bermuda Triangle. Ted realizes that he’s just trying to hold on to the past, and that he of all people needs to let go and get on with life.
Meanwhile, Robin’s dad is in town for the wedding and wants to spend some quality time with Barney, B-Dawg, so the two of them go laser tagging and get into an argument over who will be point man and back up, which leads to the two of them heading up 2 teams of pre-teens against each other in an effort to prove who the alpha male is.
Throughout all of this, Robin is digging around Central Park looking for a locket she buried years ago in the hopes that if she ever got married, she would come back and use it as her ‘something old’ at her wedding. Frustrated at not finding it, she calls Barney to come help, but he blows her off. Robin calls Ted who actually comes to her aid, and she confesses to him that the whole point of finding the locket was to prove that marrying Barney is the right thing to do. She eventually finds the box the locket was in, but open it to see that the locket is no longer inside. Ted tries to convince her that the universe has better things to do than convince people of they should get married, and that she is making the right decision. The episode ends with Robin grabbing Ted’s hand, and the two of them looking longingly into each other’s eyes.
Look, there were some very funny moments in this episode, especially the parts about Lily’s past shoplifting and her and Marshall’s role playing as King Kong and his damsel in distress, but the shtick between Robin and Ted is getting old, and the last few moments completely ruined all that came before.
We know that Ted meets the mother at Barney and Robin’s wedding, so we know those two will get married, and we know that there are no more relationships for Ted until this takes place, which makes the final shot here not only useless, but completely annoying and proof of lazy writing. Whether or not there are any feelings left between Robin and Ted (and for the love of GOD, why should there be?), this was unnecessary. Even my partner who is willing to overlook a lot of stuff I can’t thought it was stupid.
Based on the traditional wedding rhyme the name of the episode comes from, I assume there are 3 left, and the writers have a lot of work to do to get me back on board. While I’m invested enough in the story and characters to finish this season and next year’s, I’ll be bitterly disappointed if they can’t end it the way this story deserves. HIMYM has consistently been one of the best shows on tv for most of its 8 year run, and it’s also one of my all time favorites. How sad would it be if it ended with a whimper instead of the bang it deserves.