We’ve got a week until things pick back up with the final season of How I Met Your Mother, so it’s a good time to revisit the only moment necessary to the series besides Ted meeting the Mother: Ted letting Robin go.
Season eight ended (magnificently) with Ted’s knowledge of the whereabouts of a locket of great significance to Robin. That left him with a two-fold decision: could he get to it in time for the wedding and would he actually give it to her. In the most recent episode, “Sunrise,” we learn that the locket has gone from person to person until it ended up in the possession of Jeanette, Ted’s final (and crazy) girlfriend.
Their confrontation on the bridge was a moment straight out of The Return of the King.
You know the moment: Frodo and Gollum in the heart of Mount Doom. Frodo’s journey is over- the ring is finally at the one place it can be destroyed. And just as he has his chance, Frodo can’t do it. It’s the crazy desperation of Gollum that finally does the deed: ring and finger and a whole body thrown down into the lava. And just like that, the Ring is gone and Frodo is as free as possible. And it’s the same with Ted and Robin thanks to Jeanette. Granted, the visual of Robin floating free was a bit weird, but it got the point across. Ted’s finally free for the better thing. He could’t do it himself, but that’s no surprise, really.
There has been a good amount of grumbling about the final season of HIMYM. It was risky, using the wedding of Barney and Robin as the thread for two dozen episodes. I think it was a good move, though. It’s both a sustained note and a whole movement for the show, for the characters that many of us have grown to love, which makes it a lot like life, I suppose.
Space Enough, and Time 