The day as finally arrived. No, it’s not the inevitable meeting with the mother, but rather the wedding of Barney and Robin.
I’m glad Ted decided to show some maturity and finally let go of the underlying feelings he had for Robin. With the locket in Barney’s possession, Ted symbolically gives up the past of Robin’s heart he may have been holding on to.
The episode itself had a few gags, one last silly Marshal pun sequence, and a number of call backs to various key events in the past 8 years. Overall, Ted anchors the episode with two monologues that not only define the episode, but the series as a whole.
To me, the heart of the episode has nothing to do with the wedding but rather how through all things, love is the best thing we can do as humanity, and the only way we can love each other is to be honest with each other in all things.
“Love doesn’t make sense. You can’t logic your way in to or out of if. Love is totally nonsensical, but we have to keep doing it or else we’re lost and love is dead and humanity should just pack it in. Love is the best thing we do.”
“It was a twisting turning road that led to the end of the aisle, and not everything along the way was perfect. To be honest, not everything to follow was perfect either, but what is?Here’s the secret kids. None of us can vow to be perfect. In the end. All we can do is promise we can love each other with all we got, because love’s the best thing we do.”
And while it would be easy to say that one could summarize the entire series with these two monologues, that would be doing the show a grave injustice. It’s the journey itself that provides the growth that we need and the things we have to learn to become the people that we are, and that allows our loved ones to love us just the way we are.
Ted has always been a man searching for love, and it’s taken 8 years for him to find it. And while it’s been a tough road, it’s his faith in love and humanity that allows him preserve even when things are at its bleakest. Without those hardships, what’s to say Ted, or any of us, can grow to where we need to be when we need to be?
With all of the miscellaneous side characters’ fates flushed out and all other storylines concluded, next week’s finale will hopefully be a rewarding if not bittersweet and focused conclusion to the longest single story ever.
Other Observations
- I would assume this is the end of the long running gags we’ve seen in the series.
- Marshal and Lily no-look high five as they make fun of Barney.
- Marshall’s puns. – Vow-za, Vow-erpoint presentation, We can show you vow-it’s done. Vow-dare.you. It’s in vow-untary
- “The man’s initials are BS!”
- “Duces are wild!”
- “It will be painful at first, but I can root for the Blackhawks.”
- The mother, as a kid, “was a bit of a detective.”
- We finally get to see Marshall and Lily’s vows from their official ceremony.
- “When I’m overwhelmed, I force myself to do one single thing when I have to make a decision. I close my eyes and take three deep breaths, because even three deep breaths can change everything.”
- Lily and Patrice were the bridesmaids.
- The final slap – Marshal slaps calm into Barney as he starts to freak out at the altar.
- “Kid’s I won’t lie, that was a long weekend”
The best Barneyism
- “Robin Scherbatsky…from this day forward, I’m always going to be honest with you…because I love you.”
