The newest season of How I Met Your Mother started last night, and I, for one, am a happy camper. While I don't promise recaps* of every new episode of HIMYM like I did last year, last night's episode deserves a couple comments because what I've been waiting for has finally happened... Barney and Robin are together! Well... kind of.
*Instead of full-on recaps, I'm planning on using these posts more to talk about how the show is written; after all, this is a writing blog.
Photo: cbs.com
One of the reasons this show is one of my favorites (if not my top favorite) is because of the characters. I even like Ted every once in awhile (him forgetting how to spell 'professor' as he's writing on the chalkboard of what turns out to be an econ class? Awesome).
Even more so, I like how the characters have developed over time. While they haven't always been completely consistent in character portrayal (Lily keeping Barney's love for Robin secret from practically everyone except Marshall), the characters seem to be evolving and growing naturally. After all, when the show was originally conceived, Robin was supposed to be the Mother. But while that fit Ted's character and his hopeless romantic tendencies, it didn't fit Robin's.
And then there's the fan favorite: Barney and his womanizing ways. Viewers - myself included - worried that if Barney started a relationship with Robin, his awesomeness and his Barneyisms and pretty much his entire character would fade away and be forgotten. After all we've seen of Barney, is he even capable of having a monogamous relationship?
A lot of viewers, too, don't like Robin when she's in a relationship, and I've seen on some message boards/blogs that people think that the writers have been changing who Robin is to fit in with Barney. To that I say: remember the Slutty Pumpkin episode of Season 1? When she didn't know how to be a girlfriend to her Hansel-costumed 'boyfriend'? While Robin did manage to have a relationship with Ted for a year, she is not the commitment type. Remember why her and Ted broke up? She doesn't want to get married, she doesn't want kids... just like Barney.
The season premiere of Season 5, Definitions, showcased just how the relationship Barney and Robin could start without forgetting who Barney and Robin is. They don't want to define what they are. They're having fun, Barney says, after the gang discovers that him and Robin have been sleeping together for the past three months. But then Brad takes Robin on a date, and Ted reminds Barney of his theory on how the rules for gremlins are also the rules for not turning her into your girlfriend:
1. Never get them wet (or let them shower in your apartment).
2. Keep them away from sunlight (or don't ever see them during the day).
3. Never feed them after midnight (meaning, never eat breakfast or brunch with them).
(See! You can have relationship-Barney and still have Barneyisms!)
Realizing that he's broken all of those rules with Robin, Barney wonders out loud if she really is his girlfriend... and then he punches Brad. But they. still. don't. have. 'the talk.'
Lily (in her characteristic controlling way) then locks them in Robin's bedroom until they talk and define who they are to each other. After Marshall tortures Barney and Robin with the smell of bacon and pancakes, they finally admit that they're both not good at relationships... and then they just decide to lie and say they're dating just so can get out of the room.
In the best 'aw' moment of the show, Ted asks Lily, "You realize they were lying right?" To which Lily says, "They don't realize they weren't lying," as Barney and Robin hold hands as they walk down the street to go to brunch.
I LOVE Barney and Robin together, if you couldn't already tell (in fact, if I hadn't already used the blog posting title, Barney + Robin = AWFSOME, I would have used it for this one). (And I know I haven't talked about Ted and his Indiana Jones hat, because, frankly, I don't care about his storyline as much.) While both Robin and Barney are independent people who don't want to be tied down, their characters have worked together from day one... but in line with who their characters are, it took them four seasons to realize - and act on - those feelings. As season five gets underway, I'm looking forward to seeing where the writers take this 'relationship,' because, trust me, they know that everyone likes Barney. His awesomeness isn't going to go away just because he's with Robin now.
What are your thoughts on the season premiere? Were you as excited as I was when Robin and Barney got together? Do you wish they'd give more hints about the 'mother'? Did you like the Indiana Jones references as much as I did? Share your thoughts below!
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