TV Recap: HIMYM - The Leap

Okay. There’s no skirting around it this time. Is it possible that the genius behind How I Met Your Mother has finally set up a specific meeting place? And is there any more proof needed than Uncle Barney and Aunt Robin are together? Keep reading if you don’t believe me…

It’s Ted’s thirty-first birthday and he has one chance to salvage an otherwise horrible year. Who could forget the ditch by Stella, the firing, need I go on? There is a light, though, in the shape of a giant cowboy hat rib restaurant. Ted works tirelessly to get the pitch just right. Too bad his friends don’t support his vision as much as he wishes. They keep babbling on about the professorship at Columbia. I mean, can we all say we don’t agree with them. It’s a professorship at Columbia! Whatever. Ted is a die hard for his dreams so he plans on working straight through his birthday.

Don’t get too mad at him. After all, the party is a surprise so Ted ignores Marshall’s gallant efforts to lure him to the roof and the party is turning into one remembered for it’s lack of impact as opposed to the opposite. To keep the party atmosphere up, Marshall declares he is going to jump off the roof of the building…and onto the roof of the building next door. See, a while ago, the guys noticed that the roof next door was perfect. It’s a beautiful outdoor patio with wood flooring and a hot tub. It’s much more appealing than, say, a kiddy pool on an asphalt rooftop. Marshall has been trying to jump ever since. It’s only about five feet but it’s still quite high and he just counts and counts over and over again, never working up enough nerve. But tonight’s the night. The party is dying and he has to save it.

Of course, not everyone has noticed the party’s lack of interest. Barney has decided he is going to make his move on Robin. He tells Ted everything and Ted is so pre-occupied with his cowboy thing that he gives his okay. To be honest, he looks really happy for Barney and I’m glad Ted’s completely moved on from Robin. I’m not sure how Robin feels, though. She hears Barney admit his feelings to Ted and she freaks out. It’s Barney, after all. She turns to Lily and Marshall for advice and they tell her to “Mosby” him. Remember when Ted and Robin first got together and he broke the love word too soon? Yup. That would be a Mosby. When Barney starts the conversation with Robin at the party, she speaks first and tells him she loves him. He backs down and apparently, his feelings disappear.

Marshall and Lily give the best advice. Too bad Lily doesn’t keep secrets just as well. She tells Barney what Robin pulled and his feelings come back. They start to reconnect when they get a phone call from the hospital. Ted’s in there. He got in a fight with the goat. Don’t remember the goat? Lily bought it off the man who was going to kill it. It kept distracting Ted by trying to eat a washcloth and eventually, it attacked him when he stole the damn thing. He remembers a fierce goat but really, it’s a goat so how bad could it be. Still, it has put him behind on his presentation. He runs out just in time to make it. His diversion didn’t even really help Barney and Robin, either. He told her he loved her and she said the same so he took it back and she took it back but then he liked her again and so she liked him and so on. It was confusing to watch, too. In the end, there was a kiss shortly followed by a “we’ll figure it out later.” What’s there to figure out? Just get to it already.

Ted doesn’t waste any time with his desires. They just don’t always want him back. He makes it to his presentation on time only to find out Sven has swooped in and created a giant dinosaur wearing cowboy hat for a restaurant. Damn you, Sven. Or really, if you’re Ted, thank you. While Ted is reveling in his despair, Lily snaps him out of it. I’m so glad she’s back. She tells him to relax and let life take him where it will. After all, she wanted to be a painter. Marshall wanted to be an environmental lawyer. Either way, they’re both happy with their lives so why shouldn’t Ted be, too. They all have to take a leap. And on that note, Marshall jumps off the building to the neighbor’s roof, only to be followed by each of his friends. Taking the leap turns out to be the best decision Ted’s ever made.

He takes the job at Columbia and the mother of his children is in that first class he teaches. What that means, I don’t know. Maybe she’s a student. Maybe she’s a professor, too. I guess we still have some time to find out but I swear, this better be more involved than the whole yellow umbrella thing. And I guess I can deal with the lack of closure on the Robin/Barney thing. The anticipation is most of the fun, anyway, right? Till next year.