Episode 1.22 - COME ON!

Once again, Ted opens this episode with an ominous teaser. “Life was good. But everything was about to change.” He’s telling us the ending before we’ve even started. We know, from last episode, that he wants to pursue Robin again.

They’re at the bar, Ted says he wants to pursue Robin, Barney says “The Universe does not want you to be together” and Marshall gives the audience a wink wink and says “unless your dating life is the glue holding the universe together” … because it’s holding the show’s universe together.

Back at Robin’s newscast, we find out that Robin’s news team was planning to go camping and Sandy was hoping to have sex with her, but gee shucks, there’s a rainstorm coming to ruin it.

Back at the bar, Ted says he has one big, beautiful romantic Hail Mary move and no matter what she says, he’ll accept her answer. Ted harkens back to the stolen blue French horn and everyone admits it was awesome, but there’s no way to top that.

Smash cut to a blue string quartet in Robin’s apartment, surrounded by dozens and dozens of roses with Ted in a suit. One problem, Robin is locked out (I don’t know how this happens, but okay). She calls Lily to ask for the spare key and Lily suggests, “Just knock”. While Lily is on the phone with Robin, Marshall comes in and starts listening to messages and finds out that Lily has been accepted for the art fellowship in San Francisco. Lily hops off the phone real fast and you just KNOW they’re gonna fight.

Robin “just knocks” and ultra romantic Ted opens the door and Robin is clearly both blown away and extremely uncomfortable. He’s cute and awkward and bold, but she hesitates and then says “Yes, no, I don’t know” and he says “those ARE your three options”. She has to pee, so he pauses the string quartet and they bug him about getting pizza (BTW - paying professional musicians in pizza? DICK MOVE, TED.)

Ted and Robin then start kind of fighting about this. He’s being cute and confident, but it crosses a line pretty fast. She’s being logical and then announces that she’s going camping with her news team because the rainstorm isn’t coming through after all.

Another bomb: Sandy is leaving his position as anchor, so now Robin is clear to sleep with him (also a DICK MOVE, SANDY) and Robin will be promoted. She’s feeling triumphant and reckless, so she agrees to go out with Sandy.

She, very rightly, says it’s okay that she doesn’t have her life planned. But Ted also, very rightly, points out “we’re past just getting sushi together”. He says he needs an answer and she says it won’t be a yes. So then it’s a no. And they both tear up and say “it’s not meant to be”.

Back at the bar, they’re all supportive and tell him he can finally move on. He says “screw that, I’m gonna try again” (YET ANOTHER DICK MOVE, TED).

Lily and Marshall “unpause” - they paused their fight about the art fellowship. 1. This is a funny runner that gets used right up until the last couple episodes 2. It’s not a bad relationship tactic? To stop when things get heated so you never say something you can’t take back. 3. It’s a handy storytelling technique, because they can have their fight whenever the story needs them to have it. It can stretch for days, or happen in awkward fits and starts, whatever the timeline of the episode needs. Two thumbs up, genius writing.

Anyway, they’re fighting about the art fellowship. Lily says she was never gonna take it and we want to believe her. We do. But just like Marshall… we don’t believe her.

Barney tells Ted it will take “an act of God” to stop that camping trip and Ted says “Fine. I’ll conjure up an act of God.” Ted’s gonna make it rain. Barney dated a girl who studies Native American Culture, so Ted is gonna learn how to do a rain dance.

(Side note: Yes. This is racist. We’re not defending Barney or Ted or the decision for a white girl to teach whites dudes how to do rain dances so they can get laid. Or a white girl who thinks she can or should become an expert on Native American cultures. It is what it is, and it's a bad look on everyone.)

Barney and Ted go to get this woman to help teach Ted to do a rain dance. Barney is there to be gross.

Robin takes a dog to the vet because a dog ate a ton of chocolate. Her vet asks how the dog got ahold of so much chocolate and Robin tells the story of Ted and the orchestra and says “I know, who DOES that?” and the vet says, “Nobody” and Robin blows by it, but the vet says, “NO, honey. NOBODY does that.” and Robin realizes she might have been hasty in blowing off someone who would go to such lengths for her.

Lily and Marshall are still fighting. Marshall is hurt and wants to get married and the more he begs her to think about their future, the harder Lily pulls away. They flippantly say “maybe we shouldn’t get married” and pause the fight. They go out to dinner and Marshall starts crying because he can’t imagine losing Lily, so then she starts crying.

Ted is doing some kind of rain dance. Penelope admits she’s never seen a real rain dance and then lists a real big reason why a white girl should not be trying to become an expert on Native American cultures: she doesn’t even know any Native Americans to be able to attend their cultural festivals or talk to people who practice this faith.

So anyway, she has no idea Ted is doing it right or not.

Marshall and Lily unpause their fight and she confirms that she’s going to San Francisco. She asks for Marshall’s support, but he’s too scared. He can’t stand the idea of losing her. “What if three months becomes forever? If you can’t promise me that, then we should break up right now.” All she can say is, “I love you” and he refuses to pause, but she initiates sex and they pause.

Back on the roof, Ted is doing a ridiculous dance, Barney makes fun of him, and Ted says “It’s the thought that counts”. Ted admits that he LOVES Robin, it’s not about getting laid.

“I know this isn’t gonna work, but it HAS TO WORK” is a perfect line.

Then he yells “COME ON!” four times, giving us the episode title, and it starts POURING. The city is covered in the worst storm in a decade, Barney makes out with the PhD girl, Ted takes a cab to Robin’s apartment.

Ted calls up to her. She opens her window and he tells her “I made it rain” and tells her to come down. He says he is not going up there, she has got to come down. She hesitates, but sees the blue French horn on her mantle, grabs her umbrella, but Ted is at the door. They kiss and laugh.

The next morning, Ted goes home and sees Marshall sitting on the front steps, holding the engagement ring.

We always say the resolution needs to mirror the hook. This show does it exactly.

I went back and re-watched episode 1.1 again, just to compare and contrast. I came up with 27 plot points that are mirrored between the two episodes. 13 of them are repeated, the other 14 are mirrored. It honestly makes me wonder if the writers did the same thing when crafting this episode, if they went back and re-watched the pilot to make sure their hook really did mirror their ending.

Writing Prompt: The yellow umbrella, the blue French horn, HIMYM is full of legen-dary props, and these are often made memorable by making a basic item a unique color. Come up with your own poem or short story about something you see every day, but in a color you might not expect.

Listen to the episode here