I'm a big fan of TV Line. I read it in-between SCRA cases or during coffee or lunch break at work. Sometimes, I read it while in class. Yes, I know I should feel guilty rather than write about it here.
Anyway, since I am about to bury myself in codals, cases, mindmaps, and countless reviewers in a few hours (yes, I shall review for finals week which, this year, is narrowed to three days: Friday, Saturday and Monday), I shall first reply to a TV Line query, and write extensively about How I Met Your Mother, whose episodes seem to get farther and farther apart (April 19, come on!).
TV Line asked:
6 | So what do we think: Will How I Met Your Mother's Quinn turn out to be Barney’s bride? And how great were the college clones?
Answer: No, and yes, the college clones were surprisingly amusing and funny.
When the writers of HIMYM have successfully convinced me that Robin and Barney are going to end up together, I became committed to the story line. Like Lily, I was rooting for the Barney and Robin in Season 4 and for the most part of Season 5. I hated it when they broke up in the Rough Patch; I hated it so much I stopped watching HIMYM. When Nora came in, she rocked the Robin and Barney boat I was in, and doubt started creeping in because, hey, I admit, they have chemistry...well, not like Robin and Barney's but they do have some. You can only imagine how happy I was when Barney broke up with Nora (should've done it on the boat!) to be with Robin and how mad and disappointed I was when Robin didn't do the same thing. Even when Don, Nora, Kevin, and now Quinn entered the picture, I chose to hold my ground and decided to not get off the Barney-Robin boat.
Why am I so convinced, you ask?
Do me a favor and go to your compilation of Season 5 of HIMYM, and watch The Rough Patch. Ok, if it's too painful for you to watch, then skip to the last part, around the 19:50 mark when Future Ted said:
It turns out that they really did need to just let things run their course.
When the writers successfully (and mind you, seriously) rock the Barney-Robin boat, I go back to these words Future Ted uttered to his kids, and conclude (yes, with a little interpretation) that no matter how hard it is going to get for Barney and Robin to realize they are made for each other, that they are capable of commitment and marriage, they are going to get there.
And now that the biggest obstacle to their relationship (or the possibility of a long term really serious one) is out of the way (I am talking about you, Ted), I am more convinced that Robin is Barney's bride.
Just to convince you that I am not making this whole thing up, or that I haven't thought this one through, here are a few factual reasons why I think they are going to be together:
1. When the gang flash forwards to Barney's alleged death bed in The Exploding Meatball Sub, Robin is standing closest to Barney. She is seen crying intensely, even more than Lily does. In this flash forward, Barney is seen wearing a wedding ring. So I ask you, if Robin is not his wife, then why wasn't Barney wife present beside his death bed during such important time? Was this a intentional omission or was it a production flaw? I vote omission.
2. When Robin and Barney broke up at the diner, Barney proposed to make the 40-year old Deal with Robin, and her answer was that she can't because she already has that deal with Ted. So now, 2 years later, and Ted has taken back his 40yo Deal, I am more than psyched. I just hope Barney finds about this soon.
3. They keep coming back to each other. When they slept together in Season 3, they promised to forget about it, Barney couldn't. He confessed to Ted. The gang including themselves, except Lily, tried to talk them(selves) out of it. But they decided to take the metaphorical leap in Season 4, and be together. In Season 5, when the relationship got messy (mainly because Barney ate [no double meaning here] everything he laid eyes on at Mac Laren's menu), they broke up. When Robin is about to move in with Don, Barney snaps and wants to get her back. But she chooses Don. And the possibility of losing one of his best friends freaked out Barney, so he backs off. In Season 6, it is Robin who feels the pang of regret when she sees Barney accept the challenge from Nora. In Season 7, despite having well-functioning relationships, they both give in to the desire to be with each other. Again. Now, with Barney officially stating he was hurt, felt mad by Robin's rejection and does not care that Robin is single again, I think it is Robin's turn to give in.
4. Related to #3, unlike Ted and Robin who have recently obtained closure to their relationship (or impossibility of), Barney and Robin have not. They continue to confuse each other (and us viewers included) about what they really want in life. When they finally figure what/who they want, it will be each other. How else could Ted, Robin and Barney resolve the problem Victoria correctly (and may I say, brilliantly) pointed out in Ducky Tie and still remain friends? Answer, Ted and Robin "wouldn't see each other for a long time" after that awkward moment in The Broath. Robin and Barney has two options, like Ted and Robin did. The difference is, they will decide to be together because if they didn't Robin can't stand to feel awkward around her 2 closest male friends, and will decide to leave the group. And for his part, Barney will realize he will need to be away from Robin to avoid the Robin Effect, as well.
5. They are each other's best friends. One thing HIMYM constantly teaches its viewers is that: life partners are best friends. That is why Marshall and Lily have worked as a couple, and Ted and his ex-girlfriends haven't. I could enumerate a lot of instances wherein they turned to each other when times got sketchy or they needed a friend to confide in but I will cite only the most recent one. In Rebound Girl, when Barney felt the need to take walk and think things through, he went straight to the bathroom window to talk to Robin, who has locked herself in the bathroom.
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