How I Met Your Mother recap: Splitsville

I hope you were ready for a little romance, Mother fans. While the first half the episode seemed like lightweight one-off fun (SPOILER ALERT!) the second half was a huge step toward the inevitable for Barney and Robin.

“Robin and I are in love,” Barney declared to Nick, as I loudly gasped and the show cut to commercial break.

Let’s back up. Marshall was on a basketball team with Nick, Robin’s hot but increasingly dim boyfriend. He doesn’t think Gypsies or dolphins are real, but his six pack is very real, and so as long as they’re hooking up, Robin doesn’t mind. But now that they can’t (groin injury!), the gang told her that she had to end it. Barney sent her to Splitsville, a dessert restaurant that doubles as a prime place to end a relationship. But while Robin tried valiantly to let him down easy: “This isn’t working out” “You know what I’m trying to say, right?” Nick wasn’t getting the message. So Barney upped the ante by telling her that if she didn’t end it with him now — with speakerphone on — he would send out a “Robin and Patrice’s BFF Fun Day” email.

But before she could, Nick received a phone call letting him know his groin injury was pretty serious: Upside: He can resume hooking up with Robin. But just as Robin was about to –finally – get something hot from Nick (No, not cappuccino) Barney showed up at Splitsville with a huge announcement of his own: “She can’t go home with you, Nick. Robin and I are in love.” Dun dun dunnn.

“I’m a guy who’s faked love his entire life,” he continued with more sincerity than we’ve ever seen from Mr. Stinson on the show. “I thought love was something that idiots just thought they felt. …This woman has a hold on my heart that I couldn’t break if I wanted to….I could not stop loving her any more than I could stop breathing. I am hopelessly, irretrievably in love with her. More than she knows.” All together now: Awww.

Robin looked pretty shell-shocked, but she told Nick “You heard him,” and walked off with Barney. Is this really happening? my fangirl heart was asking. But alas, it was a little bit of a fake-out, at least according to Barney. “The Oscar for best fake romantic speech goes to Barney Stinson,” he declared to his “bro” Robin.

Yeah…not buying it, Barney. And Robin wasn’t either. In fact, they seemed pretty close to a big kiss right before Patrice — Ugh! Patrice! — called Robin, killing the moment. Turns out, Barney sent that BFF Fun Announcement after all. But I think now both Barney and Robin know the other one is open to giving things another try — even if they can’t quite say it for real to each other yet.

And that‘s what pulling a groin muscle in your heart is really like.

Discussion time: What did you all think of the end of Robin and Nick? Were you freaking out about Barney’s speech? When are these two crazy kids finally going to get together? Jealous of the T-Squares? What did you think of sweet Uncle Ted, who figured out a way to give Lily and Marshall some alone time (between Lily’s vocal fantasies and Marshall’s obsessive exercising, they clearly needed it!) And never fear, Sandra Gonzalez will be back next week to obsess and analyze with you.

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