Did you all enjoy the finale tonight? Really? Me too. I desperately missed quotable moments, Barneyisms and the Bays and Thomas clever timeline thingy that they do, but I liked the episode even without all of those elements. I’m excited about the prospects for next season and happy that we may finally be seeing a Ted that will embrace life.
The title of How I Met Your Mother‘s season four finale is very apropos: “The Leap.” Think beyond Marshall and the gang finally jumping to the rooftop paradise next door, although that was a fun and celebratory event, a sort of culminating activity for the growth all of the characters had this season.
Barney takes the leap when he finally tells Robin how he feels about her, and Robin reciprocates. We’ve known that these two would be pretty well suited for each other for some time now, and next season could be hilarious, or a complete shark-jump with the budding Barney and Robin romance. Let’s stick to their quirks and leave the mushy-gushy stuff behind and we’ll do alright.
Ted, senior boring, living life by the plan, making life incredibly painful because he refuses to veer from the plan, finally takes the leap. He gives up his dream of being an architect, screws the plan and becomes a professor of architecture. Man, hello? Can you think of a more perfect job for Ted the Didactic? It opens up a whole new world of funny, with the gang having access to a college campus. Yeah, maybe we’ll finally get to meet the mother, but I’m really glad Ted fixed himself, dare I say found himself, before glomming onto a new relationship (albeit the one). The only disappointment I have is that we’ll not get a Sven / Ted rivalry next season, because that would be ripe with opportunity.
Heck, Ted even takes the leap and tries to get it on with a goat. OK, not really, but we did get the resolution to the goat storyline that’s been flirting with us all season. The situation itself wasn’t that funny, though it would be hard for anything to live up to the hype that the goat promised us. However, the actual scene with the wrestling match was hilarious, and got me the only quote of the night worth writing down: “Baaa means baaaa.” You just haven’t lived until you’ve seen someone bionic elbow a goat.
Let loose in the comments… you know you’ve got lots to say about the finale and the possibilities for season five of How I Met Your Mother.
Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on May 18, 2009 @ 21:22 EST5EDT
It was definitely a letdown, goat-wise. I was expecting something fantastic and we ended up with a quick anecdote about a goat.
While it was the launching point of a great character moment, it seemed more like something the writers remembered they had to include somewhere in the character arcs this season.
I can’t wait til next season, the Prof. Mosby and Barney and Robin relationship are going to be great. I hope they figure something out with Lily. While she is an essential part of Marshall’s character the weeks without her made me realize she is almost unnecessary. Not good for one of five main characters.
Yes, the goat really didn’t live up to expectation, but I wonder if we the audience built it up a little more than we should have.
I like the way everything else was resolved, though. I think that they should definitely explore a Lily pregnancy next season. Or do ANYTHING interesting with the character, and give @alydenisof something to work with next season.
Loved the SVEN callback.
I really enjoy the culmination of the barney-Robin story, the maybe yes, maybe not thing will definitly be a hilarious thing to look foward next season!!!
Hey Deb – 200th Post! :-D
What a total letdown from beginning to end. Unfortunately, I really did get comfortable in a Lily-less world, and I just was so irritated every time she appeared that the entire episode was just awful for me.
I didn’t feel one way or the other about the goat for the past year, but because they made it a thing, it should have been a lot better. Baaaa.
I did appreciate seeing Ted as a teacher. I think it’s a good direction for him, and will make a lot of people who don’t like him (not me), get a little more okay with his character.
One thing that I can’t make sense of is the building that Ted designed, and that he later tells his kids was his first design. We never heard in the present that it’d been built, and when he got fired, I would assume that they moved the project, and at least a partial redesign, to someone that they didn’t deign not a good part of their firm. Did I miss the closure on that one?
I missed Lily and was glad to see her back.
The goat was silly, but did anyone really expect more? Really?
No I didn’t. I’m just glad that the finale didn’t suck. It was just like Marshall’s reaction towards Robin… all this *gestures* *beat* meeeeh…
One thing I noticed….Robin’s belly was FLAT, decidedly flat, in the scenes with Barney when they finally make out. Was that part shot at the beginning of the season?
I don’t think it was just that one part of the episode; I noticed throughout the episode that Robin was not noticably pregnant, and Lily was far enough along that she was showing and her face was full, but clearly not nine months. I didn’t enjoy the episode and wasn’t so focused; and so I found myself wondering several times when they filmed it and why they chose to film it so far in advance.
*POST AUTHOR*
As soon as Cobie Smulders announced her pregnancy, I read not long after that that they filmed the finale early b/c the baby bumps would have interfered too much.
Come on, I thought Lily did great this episode.
“For the last time, I am not Linda Knievel!”
“I was lying you jerk! Go ahead and jump, I hope you die!”
And her great little thing at the end, with the speech and the “metaphorical leap, metaphorical leap!”
And the fantastic Mosbying.