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Barney seeks Ted's blessing in his pursuit of Robin, and although we don't know it at first, Robin overhears their conversation. When Ted struggles with designing the Stetson-shaped restaurant, "Rib Town," his friends suggest he reconsider the teaching job Tony offered him. He scoffs and forges on with his plans. Marshall tries to drag Ted up to the roof for his surprise birthday party, but Ted keeps working. At least until he's interrupted by…THE GOAT! As Ted and The Goat face off with one another downstairs, Barney wants to confess his love for Robin at the rooftop party, but she stops him by TELLING HIM SHE LOVES HIM! And this, of course, immediately causes Barney to fall out of love with her. Fans who refrained from throwing their TVs out the window then learn that this was part of Robin's plan, a.k.a. The Mosby. On Marshall's advice, she purposefully scared Barney off. When Barney learns Robin was just Mosbying him, he falls back in love with her. While they wrestle with their feelings, Ted wrestles with...
The Goat! When The Goat keeps chewing on Robin's pink wash cloth, Ted decides it's time to claim his territory. The goat beats him, hooves down, and Ted winds up in the hospital, where Barney and Robin end up talking about their feelings -- in a very Barney-n-Robinesque way, that ends in a knee-weakening kiss and a decision to figure it all out later. After Ted is discharged, he learns the Rib Town clients have chosen the Sven Collective to design their building. Back at the apartment, the gang consoles Ted and Lily suggests that maybe he's not listening to what the universe is telling him. Maybe he's meant to take that teaching job after all. While she talks to him about taking a leap -- Marshall decides to fulfill an old dream of jumping from Ted's rooftop to the rooftop patio in the building over. Inspired by Marshall's success, everyone else jumps too, but it's Barney's leap and the look he and Robin share that still has me feeling warm all over an hour after the fact. Spurred on by not breaking his freaking neck, Ted takes another leap, too. He takes the teaching job and while we get a brief glimpse of the full lecture hall on Ted's first day, Saget!Ted informs us how important that was -- because the mother? She was in that room! It's going to be a long summer, but we're not through with HIMYM Season 4, yet. I'll be back tomorrow with the full weecap of this delightful and continuity-rich finale.
Discuss this episode in our forums, then see why vlogger Sean Crespo thinks HIMYM is just a modern-day Friends in No Prior Knowledge!
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Are you ready for the finale of season 4? Whether it was Stella; the real-life pregnancies of the two female leads; more stand-alone episodes; or the premise itself, this season seemed to polarize fans. And yet, the show has racked up good ratings this year and CBS announced today that they're moving it to the 8:00 pm lead-off spot season, so it must be doing something right. All I know is that I've been watching so long, I feel like Ted, Marshall, Lily, Robin and Barney are my friends, and I'm invested in their story. So without further ado, let's get to it.
Saget!Ted opens the show, explaining that every architect can point to one career-changing design. Sadly, for Ted, it was the Stetson-shaped Rib Town restaurant, introduced last week. At MacLaren's, Ted complains about it to his friends, but admits customers aren't knocking down his door. Robin reminds him of the teaching opportunity Tony presented him, but Ted sees that as a crappy, dead-end choice, then remembers himself, and apologizes to kindergarten teacher Lily. She's cool with denigrating her profession since she got peed on three times this week. Heh. Ted decides to take a three-day hiatus from hanging with his friends, so he can nail the Rib Town design, but he gets nowhere in that time. Finally, Barney comes to see Ted, asking, "What do you think of Robin?" When Ted doesn't have time to chat, Barney changes his approached and jumps into this long analogy about shopping for a double-breasted Canadian suit with Ted, and finding himself really liking a suit Ted already tried on. Ted gets it. He looks up with a big smile. "Buy the 'suit', Barney. You clearly care about 'it'. Tell 'the suit' how you feel." He pats Barney on the shoulder and gets back to work. Barney says, "Okay, but Ted, remember that was your answer because... the suit is Robin." Ted's face says Um, yeah, I already got that, but Barney continues as if it's a big surprise. For all of his work stress, Ted seems magnanimous and smiles again sweetly, saying, "I'm with you, buddy." Barney unnecessarily presses the point. "You are now, because I explained it to you," and moves in to hug Ted, who tries to shy away and we cut to the...
Since it's Ted's 31st birthday, Marshall tries to tempt him up to the roof for a birthday beer, but Ted's still working, and his presentation is the day. When he continues to push the issue, Ted asks if he's throwing him another surprise party. Marshall laughs (too hard) at this idea -- and continues to laugh until he's back on the roof, at his Ted-less surprise party for Ted. When Robin gives Marshall grief about throwing Ted a surprise party two years in a row, Marshall bitterly agrees with her, puts down his beer, and heads to the edge of the roof. Lily says, "Oh Marshall, no!" but not quite as urgently as I'd expect considering it looks like her husband is going to kill himself. Marshall screams at her. "LILY, I HAVE TO DO THIS!" He turns to look at her and their friends -- his voice tearful. "I can't put it off any longer."
In a voice-over, Saget!Ted explains the whole thing, because of course Marshall isn't suicidal. He's just fixated on the lovely rooftop patio at the building door. It even has a hot tub. We flash back a few years go. Barney, Marshall and Ted are on Ted's roof, filling up a kiddie-pool and gazing longingly at the landscaped, garden-paradise rooftop door. Marshall decides he could jump to the roof. He climbed to the ledge and psyched himself up, and... one hour later, he was still there. He repeated this scene occasionally over the few years (including, hysterically enough, in a Dracula costume at a rooftop Halloween party), but he never, ever jumped. We flash forward to the current night...
Up On a Roof: Lily tries to talk Marshall down, but he thinks the jump is just the thing to turn his lame party around, and says, "Lily, when Evel Knievel sat astride his star-spangled rocket on the rim of Snake River Canyon, do you think his wife said, 'Honey, get down from there'?" Lily raises her voice. "For the last time, I am not Linda Knievel. I will never be Linda Knievel." Marshall sneers. "You don't need to remind me." That's probably just as well, because Linda and Evel divorced after nearly 40 years of marriage. We cut to...
Ted's Apartment: THE GOAT runs through Ted's living room, but Ted is so absorbed in his work that he only sort of catches sight of it, then shakes his head as if he's seeing things. We cut back to...
Up On a Roof: Lily begs Marshall not to jump, but when he won't stop, she says, "You want a reason? I'll give you a reason. I'm... pregnant." Marshall gasps and puts his hand to his chest. "Oh my God. Oh my God." He gets down from the ledge. "Are you really? Lily! I -- I mean I noticed that you'd gained some weight lately, but I didn't think you were..." It's Lily's turn to gasp, and she whacks him hard, for good measure. "I was lying, you jerk!" Hee. I should mention this episode was filmed out of sequence -- that is, much earlier in the season, before Alyson Hannigan's belly got really big. In fact, she only has a little Happy 31st Birthday card or whatever in front of her mid-section, throughout the episode, as opposed to the racks of basketballs, guitars and whatnot it took to cover up evidence of Satyana Denisof's existence, later in the season. Similarly, Cobie Smulders wasn't even really showing at all. Watching the actresses' pregnancies progress throughout the season has become a bit of a pastime for me (and many), so this joke gag felt like a nice bit of fan service. At any rate, since Lily isn't pregnant at all, she's ticked that her husband said she's gained weight. "Oh, go ahead and jump. I hope you die." Marshall shrugs that off. "That's all the permission I need," and returns to his perch on the ledge. Ladies, I found marrying a man with several sisters to be a good life choice. Boys who grow up in a family of all boys? No offense. I'm just saying.
Meanwhile, Barney approaches Robin -- prepared to confess his feelings for her. We cut to...
Ted's Apartment: Ted hears a clattering noise in his kitchen and gets up to investigate. We cut back to...
Up On a Roof: Robin interrupts Barney and tells him she has to tell him something, first. Barney asks what it is. Robin takes a deep breath. "I think I'm in love with you." We cut (Hey show, no fair cutting right now; we've been waiting so long for this) to...
Ted's Apartment: Ted enters the kitchen and screams. The camera pans to THE GOAT standing in front of his stove. Commercial.
Up On a Roof: Marshall's still steeling himself to jump when Lily's cell phone rings. She sees that it's Ted calling and shushes everyone at the party, and answers, trying to sound all casual. We cut to...
Ted's Apartment: "It's here, Lily. It's looking at me." There's a quick cut to Lily in which she says, "What is?" and then we're back to Ted, who clenches his teeth. "The goat." Saget!Ted narrates the history of the goat which you can get here. Because I've got to cut back to...
Up On A Roof: Barney crows to Lily that he was going to confess his feelings to Robin, but then she said she loves him. Lily awwws at him, and asks how he responded. We flashback to Barney's reaction to Robin. "Eeee-yeah. Robin, you're great, I mean you're really awesome, but I mean -- we're friends. It's probably a bad idea." Oh, Barney hasn't said that a million times over, no. Robin laughs. "You're probably right... Have a good party." Barney says, "You too, kiddo," and musses her hair. Flashing forward to the present, Lily says, "WHAT?" She's been nursing Barney through his crush forever, now. He's lucky she doesn't throw him off the roof. Barney says that as soon as Robin said she loved him, Barney got over all his feelings. And he's thrilled about this.
Ted's Apartment: The goat chews one of Robin's pink washcloths. Ted admonishes the goat and returns to cloth to the bathroom (which ew, put it in the hamper now, Ted; better yet, throw it out). As soon as he sits down, the goat is merrily chewing the cloth again, right in Ted's living room.
Up On A Roof: Marshall continues to will himself to jump to the roof. Meanwhile, Barney's met a pretty blonde dancer "just off the bus from Iowa," and has scammed her into thinking he's the producer of the Rockettes. He's trying to use Lily as his impromptu wingman. Poor little Blondie is sweet as she tells Lily, "I feel like I'm in one of those classic show biz stories." Lily shakes her head. "Oh honey, you are." She then glares at Barney as she continues: "You really are." Barney laughs and asks "Tracy" to make him one of those "rum and beers" her dad loves so much.
Once Tracy is gone, Lily grumbles about how nobody thinks she can keep a secret. I thought that was only around holiday time, but er...we did just have Mother's Day and Memorial Day is fast approaching, so who cares? At any rate, she's pissed because she kept her mouth shut this time, but now Barney's ruining it with all his crap. She's going to have to pull a "Classic Lily" and "spill the beans." Barney says, "What beans? There's beans?" Lily sighs. "There's beans," and we flash back to...
Ted's Apartment; 3 Days Ago: Robin overhears Barney's Canadian double-breasted suit analogy and realizes that Barney's in love with her. Later at MacLaren's, she tells Marshall and Lily. Lily tries to act surprised, but Robin can see through her. "How long have you known?" When Lily says, "Eight months," Robin is impressed that she kept a secret that long. "Good for you." Marshall then makes too big of a deal out of Lily keeping the secret and Robin realizes there was some spousal privilege involved. "How long have you known?" Marshall quickly confesses. "Seven months, 29 days." Single people out there, listen up, a lot of us confide in our spouses. Generally, if someone tells me they're going to tell something but I can't tell anyone, I say right out, "Well, I'll probably tell Scott, so don't tell me if that's a problem." At any rate, Marshall and Lily's excitement is plain as they ask Robin what she's going to do. She leans across the table toward them and says, "I'm going to marry Barney, in a big church wedding, and we're going to move to some sleepy New Hampshire town and open a bed and breakfast." The 'shippers' heads explode.
Marshall and Lily coo and squee. Marshall says, "Really?" Robin says, "No. It's Barney. I mean... It's Barney. But it's Barney. I've got to tell him 'no'." Lily says, "Oh man, you're going to break his... whatever it is that pumps that black sludge through his veins." Robin feels badly because this is the first time Barney will be expressing his feelings to a girl, and she's going to reject him. Vain as ever, Robin adds, "And not just any girl, I mean..." she gestures to her splendiferous self. "It'll destroy him." Marshall says, "Okay, well first of all..." he gestures in Robin's direction. "Eh." Whoa. "Second of all, there is a maneuver you can try. It's high-risk, but it's also high-reward. For lack of a better term, I'm going to call it 'The Mosby'." Marshall reminds Robin of her first date with Ted and how she was all hot and bothered about him until he confessed his love for her. Robin says, "Oh. The Mosby! That's genius. And um..." she laughs. "Excuse me." She gestures at herself again. "Eh?!" Marshall admits that she's very pretty, "But you're freakishly tall," hello, pot "and you don't believe in ghosts."
Up On a Roof: Barney recaps what Lily just told him -- that when Robin said she's in love with him, she meant the opposite. At that, he falls right back in love with Robin.
Ted's Apartment: The goat has somehow locked itself in the bathroom and is happily chewing away on the pink washcloth. Ted forces his way in, takes the cloth away, and rants at the goat as he returns to the living room. The goat follows from the bathroom and charges Ted. Commercial.
Up On a Roof: Marshall's still psyching himself up to jump when Lily asks him to instead just go get Ted and bring him to the party. Now Marshall can blame his failure to jump on Lily's interruption, so he does -- to the entire party. They all, "Awww," in disappointment, and the Marshall squeaks like a little kid as he comes back down from the ledge and whispers to Lily, "Thank God." He returns to...
Ted's Apartment: Ted is bruised, battered and lying on the floor, you know, like his heart usually his. When Marshall sees him, Ted can only say, "Hospital!" An ambulance whisks him away and we follow.
Hospital: Ted, who has a hoof-shaped contusion on his forehead, castigates Lily for letting a wild animal into the apartment. "I was savaged." Lily mocks Ted, saying that was the "Sweetest, cutest goat in the whole world." Saget!Ted narrates that he was pretty sleep-deprived by that point, "So this probably isn't what happened, but here's how I remember it..." and we flash back to...
Ted's Apartment: The Foreskins' "Murder Train (about the 1:40 mark)" plays as Ted and the goat throw down. I'm not your action recapper. Suffice it to say, there's wrestling and biting, hitting, kicking, stomping and elbowing on both their parts (okay, technically, the goat doesn't have elbows, but you get the picture.) We cut back to...
The Hospital: Bill (Jayden Lund), the same nurse who cared for Ted during last year's finale, enters Ted's room and says, "So you're the guy who tried to make it with a goat?" Ted protests and says it was more like the other way around, as his friends laugh. When he asks if he can leave now, Bill says, "Sure, you can go, but remember, buddy -- baaaaa means baaaaa ." He laughs at Ted on his way out the door. Ted bemoans the fact that he's going to be late for his presentation to the Rib-Town clients and says, "Thanks a lot, Mr. Goat." Lily corrects him -- the goat was a girl, named Missy. Everyone has another laugh at Ted's expense, which continues over at Barney's blog. Still in a huff, Ted picks up his clothes and shoes (he's wearing a johnny) and goes out into the hallway to...change his clothes? Oh, dear. That was dumb. Once Marshall and Lily follow him out, I realize the writers had to find some way to get Barney and Robin alone for the following (wonderful) scene. But still? Dumb.
Barney asks Robin if she's in love with him, and she agrees that she is, so he lets her know Lily spilled the beans about Robin Mosbying him. Robin admits she cares about him. "And, this kind of stuff -- the emotional stuff? It's not your thing. I thought I'd save you the trouble."
Barney says, "Maybe I don't want to be saved the trouble. Maybe I want the trouble. I haven't wanted the trouble in a long time. But with you, the trouble doesn't seem so... troubling." He sits on Ted's hospital bed. "I don't know. I thought -- I guess I thought you felt the same way."
Robin admits that she might, but she's not sure. "I'm not exactly the biggest confronter of feelings. I mean, clearly, there's something between us. Maybe my head was saying 'nip it in the bud' because my heart was saying something else." When he looks at her, she continues: "Look...I have feelings for you, Barney. Maybe I even love you."
Barney stands up. His voice deepens. "Whoa! This is going pretty fast, don't you think?" Robin is shocked by his abrupt change of tune, but Barney always was a sucker for the classics: "We have a really good friendship going. Why screw up a good thing?" He extends his hand to her. "Friends?" Robin takes it, shakes it and says, "Friends." He realizes she's Mosbying him again and gets her to admit it. But she then admits that's because she does have feelings for him, which makes Barney all skittish, again. As soon as they agree to be friends, Barney's pining for her again. Finally:
BARNEY: I love you.
ROBIN: Let's get married.
BARNEY: No, you're smothering me!
ROBIN: Okay, forget it.
They both scream in frustration, then fall into each other's embrace and kiss, like they forget where they are... until they remember where they are. Barney breaks their clinch. "You know what? We can sort this out later." Robin agrees that sounds good, and they hustle out of the room. Shaken. And stirred.
Saget!Ted carries us to current-day Ted's Rib Town presentation. He presents a (pretty lame, in my opinion) drawing of Rib Town. The clients hem and haw (yee haw hee haw) because they don't know how to break it to him, but they've gone in another direction. They unveil the model built for them by the firm they've chosen. It's a big, metallic, T-Rex (with the body of a cactus, right, Zach?) thingie, wearing a cowboy hat. The words "Rib Town" spin above the hat like a techno-halo. Ted grimaces. "Sven!" [Best. Callback/Re-Use of Existing Prop. Ever. - Z] We cut to...
Ted's Apartment: Everyone seems to be wearing the same clothes they had on the night before (except Ted of course, and possibly Lily). I can't figure this out, since Ted had time to go home, change into a suit, get to his presentation, give his presentation, and come back home. To console Ted on losing out to Sven, Marshall swears he'll never again eat ribs. Then Barney laughs at him. Marshall raises his voice. "I am never. Eating Ribs. Again." A beat. "In front of Ted!" He pounds his fist into his palm, for emphasis. Once he's done, Ted bemoans the state of his career. Lily tells him architecture is killing him and he's like the goat with the washcloth. "You want it so bad, and every time the world tries to take it away from you, you keep grabbing it, but it's just a wash cloth. Why do you even want it?" That is the worst analogy. Ever. I'm not saying I disagree with her overarching point here -- that Ted should take the teaching job -- but a washcloth is just a washcloth. Something you've dreamed of and worked for and at -- for years isn't just a washcloth, even if it's no longer right for you.
Ted doesn't say any of that, though. He just says that being an architect was "the plan." Lily tells him to "screw the plan" and reminds him that she planned to be a painter, Marshall planned to be an environmental lawyer, and Robin planned to be a TV reporter. Robin reminds them she actually is one, and that her show airs at 4:00 AM. Lily says, "Is that still on? Good for you." Robin says, "Somebody, watch it. Please!" Lily then spills that Barney planned on being -- get this -- a violinist. Apparently that was just between the two of them, and Barney chides her for giving up the secret. Lily has come to terms with her busybody ways. "Don't tell me things." Back to the point she's making to Ted: sometimes, you have to listen to what the world is telling you to do, "And take the leap."
AC Newman's song "Prophets" plays, as Marshall stands. "You're right. You're absolutely right. I love you, Lily." He walks over to the window and as he crawls out of it to go up to the roof, Lily says, "Metaphorical leap! Metaphorical leap!"
Up On a Roof: As the gang tells him that it's not cool and tries to talk him out of it, Marshall jumps to the roof. Everyone congratulates him and he is jubilant. Lily tells him that she loves him and that he can do anything, so Marshall announces he's getting a motorcycle. He can do anything except that, apparently, because Lily shuts that idea right down. Marshall apologizes and tells the gang to come on over. And they do. One by one by one by one our friends make the leap. First Robin. , Barney -- but the look he gives Robin and the look she gives him in return before his leap -- those are really bigger leaps for the two of them. When Barney gets to the other side, they embrace. up is Lily. I worry about her the most, because she's so tiny. Marshall would be hard-pressed to miss the building door. Robin's "freakishly tall." Barney's a good height. But? Lily makes it, just fine. One by one by one by one. And finally, it's Ted's turn. Saget!Ted narrates, "That was the year I got left at the altar. It was the year I got knocked out by a crazy bartender. The year I got fired. The year I got beat up by a goat. A girl goat, at that. And damn it if it wasn't the best year of my life." Ted flies across the alleyway to the roof. As the gang hugs him, Saget!Ted says, "Because, if any one of those things hadn't happened, I never would have ended up at what turned out to be the best job I ever had." We cut to a...
College Lecture Hall: Ted has written "Professor Mosby" on the black board and he turns to face his students. He points to a sketch of the Empire State building and Saget!Ted says, "But more importantly, I wouldn't have met your mother, because, as you know, she was in that class." The camera zooms out to show us the room is full. "Of course, that story is only just beginning." Awwww.
Some people in the forums are all like gross, Ted hits on a student! Whereas, when we were watching together at home, my husband was like, "Sooooooo, Ted snags a student, huh?" I swear I'm not married to Barney. I'm also reserving judgment until I see how it plays out. The show doesn't typically leave Ted in sleaze town, so I trust them with this story. [Yeah, haven't you people heard of adults continuing education? Taking time off before college? Hell, maybe she's just auditing the damn thing for kicks. - Z] I can't make up my mind whether I want the series to end with the reveal of the mother, or if I want to get to know her for a while and then learn she's the mother. I'd mostly prefer the latter, but... I'm afraid I won't like her, and that that will somehow taint the show for me. But right now? I'm just sated. Barney and Robin's leap was handled, in my opinion, particularly well. Ted just seems like a college professor. The boy is talky-meat. I can't wait for season. I guess it's getting here as fast as it can. Take care, and I'll see you in the fall.
Discuss this episode in our forums, then see why vlogger Sean Crespo thinks HIMYM is just a modern-day Friends in No Prior Knowledge!
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