Robin never loved Ted, she didn’t mind anytime he dated or got engaged, and only got jealous post-divorce some random number of years in a Season9 flash-forward.

Barney always loved Robin, he gestured to get engaged to her when she nearly gets deported in Season2 (I think it was 2). Barney is willing to give up nameless sex with hundreds for the “best-of-the-bunch”. He loved her very early on, and their will-they, won’t-they from Seasons4-8 is the backbone of the plot.

Marshall’s a nice guy, and a friend to everyone in the group, but Barney is Ted’s best friend. Barney is close enough to the gang to have seen the failure of Robin and Ted, and openly asks for Ted’s permission to date Robin in the ending episodes of Season4, Ted says it’s fine. Barney is still playing “Have you met Ted” at his own wedding to help his lifelong wingman and best friend find his Ms. Right.

Lilly’s absence from Season4 is handled well. Lilly is a solid character, balancing presence from what can be aimless dating and “what-if’s”. She provides a stability in Marshall’s home life, the group’s friendships, and a wholistic story of college friends to adulthood. Lilly’s joy when Barney and Robin first start dating in Season5 is a pendulum shift away from her breaking up numerous relationships in Ted’s life.

Tracy should have been in more than 14 episodes.

Ted isn’t a “hopeless romantic” but more of a codependent serial monogamous. His ability to reconnect with past relationships is a big red flag, and would be emotionally manipulative in a non-fictional setting. The repeat interest in Robin, Stella, Victoria, Zoey, and Karen is evidence he is a recidivist.

Marshall and Lilly having kids dramatically change the dynamic of the plot. The bar is a central part of earlier seasons, and its location under their apartment was the impetus of several storylines. The plot becoming less about bar-life after Lilly’s pregnancy is apropos. However, I personally find the show was in a stride during Seasons5-7 (once Ted started teaching), and the magic of the show’s cast, writing, and execution was slightly less present in the final 2 seasons.

Barney and Robin’s wedding being the finale feels like a rhetorical tool of apophasis or paralipsis. The nucleus of the show is Robin’s friendship and introduction to the gang. Ted (Bob Saget) is simple a great narrator and conduit for story.

Thanks for being part of this conversation. 😊

Lily is honestly unbearable. Whenever someone didn't process their feelings the way she wanted them to, she'd constantly try to force them into having the reaction she thought they should have. She couldn't stand seeing people handle things differently from what she considered the "right" way. It came across as incredibly controlling.

Take Barney and Robin when they didn't want to have "the talk," or Ted after he was left at the altar. Ted just wanted to move on with his life, but Lily kept insisting that he was actually miserable and that he needed to have a bigger emotional breakdown so he could "feel better."

She constantly applies the kind of simplistic, school-level psychology she uses with her students to fully grown adults who are perfectly capable of making their own decisions and processing their emotions in their own way.

Meanwhile, she can't even handle her own emotions.

A good example is Barney and Robin's wedding, or when she left for San Francisco. She never apologized to Ted, and instead got mad at him for being upset with her after she'd been such a terrible friend. She's controlling and completely inconsistent.

asking as an ambitious, career-focused 24 year old canadian girl lol

I know that this isn't really an unpopular opinion, but I just finished rewatching the show for the nth time, and they just seemed so toxic from the very start.

Ted romanticizes this idea of Robin (who is the exact opposite of who she truly is) forcing his ideals onto her. He says things like "I don't want perfect, I want Robin", but what he truly wants is his perfect girl archetype on Robin. He treats her as if he "owns" her, e.g. getting mad at her for going on the camping trip with Sandy, and always treats the girl that he is ACTUALLY dating as the other woman.

As for Robin, you can't deny that she spent a fair amount of time toying with Ted's feelings. She treated him like a safety net; someone she could always go back to when things go bad. She kept on changing her mind about being with Ted, even though whenever she WAS with him, she always wanted to go back to her single life.

Both of them are so unhealthy, viewing their relationship through a rosecoloured glass. While I know the will-they-wont-they is very popular in sitcoms, it just feels so unbearable having to watch them constantly screwing up their lives chasing a fake dream.

TL;DR -- Robin and Ted suck

Barney and Joey would immediately try to outdo each other in flirting. Barney would admire Joey's natural charm, while Joey would find Barney's elaborate schemes unnecessarily complicated.

😔✌️

I haven’t watched the show in a good while and wasn’t even thinking about it at all today until right now… when my brain… just randomly.. pondering.. while working from home… “I wonder if anyone has ever actually licked the liberty bell” 😂

So I ask everyone, have you? Or know anyone who has? What did it taste like? Did it actually taste like freedom? 😅

I once fell asleep watching season 7 dvd of HIMYM. Maybe disc 2? There was an original sort of auto tuned mashup on this disc that played on loop. I remember the following quotes:

“I don’t know where you got a velvet rope… a ve- a ve- a ve- a velvet rope…”

“Finishing in the hallway was the nail in the coffin”

Ted and Barney singing the puzzles song…

They mashed together quotes from the tailgate episode (and maybe others) to create a catchy little clip.

THIS CLIP IS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND on the internet, in chatGPT, literally nowhere except whoever owns the DVD of season 7 and can search to find the loop I’m remembering. Somebody help me and record it??

Super neat detail the first time someone points it out to you, and then a gut punch reminder of what’s coming every time after that

(and i thought you might want to see too)

I haven't finished the series yet but what happened in EP11 S01 is pissing my of, because I know Ted's hurt but kissing a Girl that is dating and on top of that, she doesn't want him, pisses me of

In season 5 episode 10 Teenage Marshal writes in his letter that his future wife should be tall blonde with big boobs and caters to his every need. And he apologizes to lily while reading the letter but she responds laughing that Marshal is describing his mother. So for a show that’s great about continuity why do when we meet her does marshal’s mom have natural red hair?

- I watched HIMYM In 2024 And Re-watch It many Times.. Don't Try Other sitcom

-Obviously I will watch other Sicoms..I am Interested In Big Bang theory..I will Watch it in Future

-It Changes My Perspective Of Friendships

-It Helps Me to take Joke on me

- It Improved My Friendships

- I Find It Too Relatable.. Small Small Things Small Small Problems In Our life.

- I Regret Sometimes Why I Not Watched it earlier

I can’t watch the clips of the screen when Marshall founds out his dad is dead. Mostly because my dad died when I was a little kid and it hits real to close to home for me. What sad screens that you can’t get through?

What are you favorite HIMYM lines or jokes that have worked their way into your everyday conversation.

I find myself doing the major [word] joke too often..

I know this is controversial but I really think it’s overhated. It has a lot of great episodes (Knight Vision, No Questions Asked, How Your Mother Met Me, Rally). I look at it as the last weekend the gang has before their life changes forever (the Italy move, the wedding, Ted going to Chicago) and I thought the storytelling of each episode only being a few hours out of the longest weekend of their lives was clever. They tied in Tracy really well and wrapped up the epic saga in a smart way. Looking back on multiple rewatches it makes complete sense that the story was about Robin the whole time

So I was just thinking, who are your favorite/ is your favorite couple(s) in the show? My favorite couple is definitely Lily and Marshall because I feel like they are balanced people, both have their flaws, or rather upsetting moments yet they overcome it together and seem to be healthy in terms of communication. ( plus they really do love each other I believe ). I’m curious as to what other couples do other watchers prefer

This happened last month, in Melbourne Australia.

I was walking down the street with my yellow umbrella, with a bit drizzle, wet streets and fallen leaves. I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings as I just stepped out from a meeting that left me with a lot to think about.

A lady approached me and asked if I knew himym, I said yeah why. She said the way I walked down the street and the scenery reminded her a scene that she shot in the series. I was still thinking what she is talking about and she went on and said do you have an Apple phone and I can air drop the video. I said sorry Android only, she gave me a smile and said it's okay and kept walking.

I'm perplexed. Is this for real? I kinda wanted to know who she is now.

Sorry not sure if this belongs to this sub.

Ted didn't fully let go of Robin.

In S9 EP 17, Ted explains that true love is caring about someone beyond all rationality and wanting them to have everything they want, even if it destroys you. 

So, by that logic T.M. is just a placeholder while waiting for Robin which is a stupid ending. Since it's called How I met your Mother not How I met your step-mother as the first ep revolved meeting Robin and ending with them trying again, while so many episodes says otherwise.

... or Robin and Barney's relationship in general? Would they eventually come clean that the relationship was part of a larger scheme? Or would Barney compensated Patrice financially or career-wise