How I Met Your Mother "The Autumn Of Break-Ups" Review

The Robin/Ted coupling isn't going to be abandoned until the series finale when Ted meets the Mother. What does Ted need to get over exactly now? Victoria believes Ted won't let the idea of Robin as his wife go, whereas Ted insists Robin's family, and he won't break with family for a woman who won't let part of his family remain in his life when they're married. Victoria's memory of Robin is rather rotten. Ted ended things with her to be with Robin. Robin's presence is a threat to Victoria's sense of security with Ted. Ted's inability to see Victoria's concerns as legitimate concerns suggests a deep, quiet love for Robin he's not prepared to let go of, not yet, not even months after their relationship failed again.

The end of How I Met Your Mother could be sad, lonely and pathetic. Robin is the Ted's ideal girl. He can't shake her from his head, because she's there whenever a relationship falls apart. Maybe Ted needs Robin married to another man to truly move on; maybe it's her marriage with Barney that prepares him mentally to meet and love and marry another woman. Ted's meeting with his wife, whether on the train platform or the train or another platform, could be the tag to Ted's broken-hearted self after the wedding. He's with no friends; his lone companion is an umbrella shielding him from the driving rain.

How I Met Your Mother is pretty much a disaster right now. One redeeming storyline for the show is Ted and Robin, specifically how Ted moves on from Robin. Josh Radnor plays Ted's emotional Robin scenes in a way that's removed from friendship, like the thought of her is makes him reverential; that she's sacred. The progression from 'Something's holding us back' to Victoria's dagger to the heart in MacLaren's is sloppily written. Victoria's a clown in Act I. Ted recalls a night out with her, Marshall and Lily in which she acted passively-aggressively towards him due to what she gave up. The relationship is written as a joke until Act III when the emotion needs to be poured on and it needs to stick with the audience. Victoria's behavior is understood through her reservations about Robin's role in Ted's life, i.e. what she means to him. Still, the goodness of HIMYM detracts from the thrust of emotion in the third act. It seemed like Bays and Thomas brought her back just to get fans to hate her before Act III.

Robin's in a similar situation to Ted's. Nick prepared a romantic dinner for her; however, Barney is sad, she feels bad for him and invites him over, disrupting Nick's romantic plans. Barney comes first for her. Nick stands in a corner, coining terrible catchphrases for his terrible cable access program (though it was nominated for a fake HIMYM Emmy-type award). HIMYM needs to churn through plot to get to the wedding in May. I expected Barney and Robin to hook up after the wing-dog was dropped off to his owner. I suppose they won't hook up until after next week's "Splitsville." It's amazing their relationship will last the longest. It has zero depth, which is maybe the point. Robin marveled at Nick's abs in his first episode. A fluff romance makes sense after the intensity of the Ted run, which, of course, followed a significant relationship with Kevin. Robin assists Barney in hooking up with the owner of his wing-dog to which Barney meaningfully utters, "Best wingman ever" to a departed Robin. Hopefully the writers chose to let Robin decide to break up with Nick once it dawns on her that he's not a priority. Too many characters have break-ups happen to them. Robin needs to actively choose to be with Barney, and her friends.

Ted won't let Marshall and Lily tell Robin the reason for Victoria leaving him. Future Ted's dreaded line, "But we'll get to that" is heard after Ted swears his friends to secrecy. "But we'll get to that" is the line most representative of the series. Future Ted utters it about anything that seems good. Time goes by. Other crap happens. The payoff comes, i.e. Ted "gets to it." The 'it' inevitably disappoints. The It will disappoint until series end.

Other Thoughts:

-Marshall and Lily were written horribly tonight. Jason Segal gave great effort, though.

-The dog was adorable and so well-behaved.

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