After nine seasons, the final episode of How I Met Your Mother airs in the United States on Monday, March 31. Curiata.com is reliving the series this week by looking back at our favorites of the 208 episodes.
Resolution. We heard all about it in English class for years. As the How I Met Your Mother finale approaches, the show’s writers have made sure to get us to the point where we’re all (or mostly) squared away with those back-of-the-mind riddles, ongoing mysteries, and inside jokes that have kept us wondering, yearning, and shouting in frustration because we were, again and again, not given the answers or the action we had wanted.
Television series that are allowed to end on their own terms often aim to come full circle. Each usually has an episode (sometimes a few) that gives us, as viewers, that “AH HA!,” “YES!,” or “FINALLY!” moment. For example, and spoilers here: In The Office, that episode was “A.A.R.M.” We finally see the teapot letter from Jim to Pam after he slipped it away back in season 2, we get a wonderful (and tear-jerking) montage of Jim and Pam when he gives her the DVD, and Jim delivers one of those speeches that will live on for years to Dwight, who finally gets to be with Angela.
In HIMYM, the full circle episode was season 9, episode 15, “Unpause.” We’re finally given the answers to some of the burning questions raised throughout the series, all from the mouth of that king of liars himself, Barney Stinson. He drinks through all his levels of drunkenness, as we’ve seen throughout the series, bypassing “Jabba drunk” (loved the hat tip to Star Wars once again) and going to “truth serum” drunk.
Once Ted and Robin (and I) realized they could now find out the answers to the questions that had plagued them for years, it was go time. And I was giddy, on the edge of my seat for the whole ride. What happened with Ted’s mom? Barney struck out trying to go for second base. Will there be a ring bear at the wedding? Robin rephrasing the question the last time she asked it to finally get an answer was clever on the writers’ part. I also enjoyed how she was continually interrupted when trying to question him about it: Way to build the anticipation guys! (Like you haven’t done it enough this season…) We also found out that Robin’s loaded (sorry, her family is loaded), which was a nice little twist thrown in there. And Barney’s subsequent one-liners as Robin and Ted have their exchange were perfect.
And finally, what I’ve wanted to know since season 1: What does Barney do for a living? And I have to say, that reveal was more glorious than I could’ve imagined. He had been telling us all along: P.L.E.A.S.E. means “Provide Legal Exculpation And Sign Everything.” And he gets an obscene amount of money for setting himself up as a fall guy — to Ted and Robin’s horror. But we should all know by now that you can never assume anything with Barney. And when he reveals his ingenious plan for vengeance, Barney firmly cements his self-appointed title of “AWESOME.”
And I’ll bestow him with another one: ultimate bad-ass. We’ve known Barney to take on elaborate plans and patiently wait for everything to fall into place as if time were of no consequence, but this deception took the longest and had the biggest reward. When we see the flash-forward to two months after the wedding, Barney finally reveals to Greg that he’s been working with the Feds all along, and that, basically, Greg is S.O.L. There was no yelling or screaming, just the calm, cool, collected man who knows he’s won and that’s he’s a genius. Having your own personal theme song playing in the background doesn’t hurt either (another fantastic shout-out moment from season 4).
Now that we’re caught up with the running gags and the secondary mysteries have been solved (except for that damn pineapple), it’s time for Ted to finally meet The Mother. And if the series as a whole is any indication, the writers are going to deliver, and it’s going to be LEGEN- wait for it …
Best line:
Ted: Dude, you’re getting married tomorrow. How are you doing?
Barney: Good. I mean, I’m a little nervous, but I love Robin more than I’ve ever loved anyone, and I’m gonna do everything I can to make her happy. For a long time, deep down, I’ve felt sort of … broken? But I don’t feel that way anymore. Robin, along with the idea that vengeance will soon be mine, has made me 100 percent awesome.
Cutaway: Barney’s Vengeance
Mother Lore: At the Farhampton Inn in 2017, she goes into labor with Luke.