What I wish HIMYM would do
Husband and I are huge fans of the show How I Met Your Mother. Huge fans. We watch the episodes over and over, point out mistakes in the mother-time continuum, and recite dialogue along with the actors. We think we know who the mother is.
Given this, it shouldn’t surprise you that I have been predicting a Barney/Robin hookup since season one. All the signs were there, even above and beyond what Barney pointed out in “Zip, Zip, Zip.” However, I didn’t see the little hiccup with Robin wanting to pretend it never happened. I was happy to know that Barney is in love with her at the end of the last episode, though. Well, really, I already knew that he was in love with her, but I was happy to know that he now knew. Yes.
What I don’t know and cannot predict is what will happen. Will Barney go after Robin? Will he try to pretend like it doesn’t matter that he loves her? Will she be interested in receiving his affections? Will she fight him off like she did Ted for so long?
Interesting as these questions are, I still think it’s inevitable that the two of them will get together. And when they do, oh boy does the show have a perfect opportunity to show alternative relationship styles! Barney and Robin would make a perfect open relationship couple. Neither of them seems wired well for monogamy. To me, it is only natural that these two would get together but be open. If they don’t, I see absolutely no way that Barney will not cheat on Robin. He’s not a monogamous person, plain and simple. Also, I could see it as a huge growing experience for Barney.
Of course, I’m sure the network will never take the characters in this direction. They will remain monogamous, Barney will cheat, they will break up, they will get back together after a few episodes. But, really, people are different and the relationships they have are necessarily different as well. It would be so awesome if the writers took this perfect opportunity to look at loving relationships differently than how they are normally portrayed on network TV.
Random post script: Husband and I were talking about how Barney will get Robin. He said, “I bet he knocks her up.” I replied, “No. They’d both be all for getting an abortion and you can’t show that on network TV.”
-Wife
