Recap / How I Met Your Mother S9 E23: "Last Forever, Part 1"

September 2005: Ted arrives at MacLaren's, and tells the gang that a date set up by Robin failed. Barney chides Robin for trying to come between bros. Robin, who had just moved to NYC from Canada two months previous, arrived to a dead end job at the unheard-of MetroNews 1, and at that time had no friends. Marshall says that he, Lily, Ted and Barney are now all her friends. Lily and Ted confirm "she's in", and they toast, then Robin buys the next round. While Lily cheers a possible injection of estrogen in the group, complaining that they only talk about "scotch and sports", Robin orders a round of scotch and asks the bartender to put a hockey game (specifically, Vancouver v. Boston) on the TV. Lily tries to forge a deal that Robin will be her best friend, and none of the guys will try to have sex with her unless they're willing to marry her. While Ted is intrigued, Barney says, "too rich for my blood".

Back to the present, and Barney and Robin are dancing at their wedding reception. Ted waxes poetic about being excited for his new opportunity in Chicago, but his eyes continue to fall upon The Mother, who is performing. Barney addresses her, recalling how she told him to go after Robin. When he asks about the guy she was dating, she shakes her head. This leads to an epiphany, and Barney hurriedly asks Ted to join him for a game of "Have You Met Ted" with The Mother. Ted refuses, as he has to leave. Outside the reception, the friends have their goodbye for Ted, and he hugs them all (except Lily, who he gives the "ET goodbye"). Barney wonders who he's going to high-five anymore; Ted says he can high-five Marshall. Ted offers "a high-five to echo throughout eternity", which Barney calls a "high-infinity". They share lines from Ghostbusters (1984) before doing high-fiving so hard they both hurt their hands. They go back into the reception for a while to ice their hands, both saying it was worth it.

Later, at the bus stop, Ted is telling his story to the one passenger also waiting for the late train. She asks about The Mother (whom she calls "the lady with the bass guitar"), and he says she was beautiful. She tells Ted to go back and meet her, but he responds that now is not the time for destiny. As it happens, Ted's train is so late, that The Mother has arrived at the train station, waiting in the rain under the yellow umbrella. The lady insists Ted go talk to her. Ted initially refuses, saying in 24 hours, his life will be totally different.

24 hours later: Marshall tells Lily that it's strange at MacLaren's without Ted. He then sees Ted sitting at their usual booth. He decided not to move to Chicago after all because he met a girl. Although initially miffed, they change their tune when they find out the girl he's interested in is the bass player from the wedding. Ted then calls her in violation of the three-day rule, and she accepts another date for dinner the next night. While Marshall is concerned it's the same thing as always with Ted, Lily sees something different about this one.

Back at the train station, the lady Ted is talking to wants to sing at his future wedding, but Ted says that in his thirties, he's keeping any future wedding simple.

2015: Ted is talking with Barney and Robin about having an enormous wedding in France with The Mother, ending with a hot air balloon flight. He's wanting to spend all of his money. Barney and Robin are certain to come. Barney is getting stressed, because Robin's blossoming career has her away from New York quite often. The Mother rushes in, and says they can't get married that September, because she just found out they're going to have a baby. Ted is ecstatic. Barney jokes to Robin that The Mother is "getting a boob job".

May 2016: All the friends are at Ted and The Mother's new house, with their daughter, Penny, asleep in the baby room. It's revealed Ted's ren faire jousting lance (yeah, Ted's) hangs in the bedroom. Marshall is trying to make the best of having to go back to his previous legal job. Barney and Robin try to convince the others that things are great, but flash to an argument between them. Robin had taken Barney on assignment. He was mad that she had to work, and the hotel he got didn't have Wi-Fi so he could work on his blog. Robin confesses that they're never happy, and the marriage isn't working. She offers Barney an "exit ramp". They get drunk and have mad sex. Back at the house, Robin admits that she and Barney got a divorce.

Ted is upset about them divorcing without telling him, as it reminded him of his parents. Barney and Robin swear that their divorce was amicable, and nobody has to choose sides in the situation. Although Lily is worried that means they won't hang out anymore, Barney says they already barely hang out anymore since Ted's in the suburbs. Barney reveals he knows Lily's about to have her and Marshall's third child because she hasn't been drinking anything alcoholic all night. Everyone celebrates, and Lily says that "big moments" like that are exactly why they shouldn't fall out of each other's lives. They promise they will always be together for the "big moments".

October 2016: Marshall comes home to their same apartment, and Lily is heavily pregnant. Lily finally says they need to move somewhere bigger, to Marshall's relief. He loves the apartment, but it's time to move. They have a Halloween party to send the old place off, with Marshall dressing as Captain Ahab and Lily as Moby-Dick. Robin shows up unexpected, but is welcome. She arrives just in time to see that Barney (dressed as David Lee Roth) has quickly fallen back into his womanizing ways. Ted still had his "hanging chad" costume, which has gone in and out of style several times by then.

Flashback to a time when Robin talked to Ted on the rooftop at a previous Halloween party. She asks how long he'll keep waiting for his "pumpkin" to show up. He says he knows it's unlikely, but it's not a bad place to sit and wait. Back in the story, The Mother comes up (dressed up as a "Gore/Lieberman" campaigner) and greets him happily as Robin looks on. Robin steps aside, and goes in the now-empty apartment, while Barney asks Marshall if he thinks he can do a mid-air split like Roth could. One more time, he says, "Challenge Accepted".

As Robin goes into the apartment, Barney screams as he hurts himself in the split. Inside, Lily catches Robin leaving. Robin is jaded about the "gang", especially the fact that the man she should've been with, Ted, is now madly in love with someone and has a family. Robin says that while they can still be friends, things will never be the way they once were.

To be continued in "Last Forever, Part 2"...

This episode provides examples of:

• Armor-Piercing Question: The old lady Ted's been talking to all season gets to nail him. Right in the butt. Of the heart.
  Old Lady: This girl with the bass guitar... is that her?
• Backported Development: The episode opens with a flashback from September 2005 to foreshadow what is happening in 2013. While they are wearing the exact same clothes from that day, it's noticeable that the actors look slightly older, Robin and Lily are wearing wigs, and Lily has a different speak pattern.
• Bittersweet Ending: Marshall's back to corporate law, Barney and Robin have divorced, Marshal and Lily move to a new place, Ted and The Mother are in the perfect place.
• Call-Back: In Halloween 2016, Robin notices that Ted is still wearing his hanging chad costume, with the difference that this time instead of The Slutty Pumpkin, now The Mother is there with a voter costume to match him, while she remembers Ted explaining to her why he never gives up.
• Character Check: Barney reverts to the womanizer from the earlier seasons after his divorce.
• Comically Missing the Point: When The Mother insinuates to Ted that she is pregnant by stating that she "won't be able to fit in her wedding dress", Barney thinks she's getting a boob job.
• Continuity Nod: The very first Flashback, from September 2005, takes from what happened after Robin tries to set up Ted with a girl at the bar and joining the gang.
• Damned by Faint Praise: Marshall's approach to the corporate law job he doesn't like doing is to only say positive things about it - which doesn't leave much positive to say.
• Foreshadowing: Barney and Robin don't work long term, and get divorced.
• The Fellowship Has Ended: By 2016, the gang stopped hanging out together on a daily basis, but still promise to get together for the big moments. Robin decides to part for good after seeing that Barney regressed to his old self and Ted has moved on with The Mother.
• Growing Up Sucks: Even after you've grown up, you still have growing up to do, and it's awful.
• Hypocritical Humor: Ted tells the older lady at the bus stop that any future wedding he has will be simple. Flash forward to 2015, and Ted and The Mother are planning an enormous castle wedding in France that ends with a hot air balloon ride.
• Love at First Sight: Ted sees The Mother playing bass, and he gets a smit.
• Running Gag: Played up for drama. "Things are fine. They are fine. Fine.", "One more time and I will believe you."
• Shower of Angst: Mentioned, but not shown. Following the gang's "emotionally devastating goodbye" to Ted, and The Reveal that he stayed in New York after all:
  Marshall: A certain delicate flower cried all night in the shower!
  Lily: And I was pretty bummed, too!
• Spotting the Thread: Barney spots Lily's pregnancy by the fact her boobs have gotten bigger and Marshall is sipping her alcohol.
• Stock Sitcom Grand Finale: Despite the part 1 in itself not being the final episode, it does feature two clichés associated with such finales:
  • Ted bids farewell to the gang. While it ends up being premature, the gang does eventually drift apart.
  • The episode ends with a shot of the apartment above the bar, completely empty (if not for Lily standing in the middle of the living room), as Marshall and Lily, its final occupants, are moving away.
    • Future!Ted had even mentioned before that someone else was living in the apartment when he was telling the story.
• Surprise Pregnancy: The Mother tells Ted they have to rush the wedding because she's worried she won't fit in the wedding dress.
• Unrequited Love Switcheroo: Years later, Robin realizes Ted is the one she should have ended up with. Ted, on the other hand, had moved on from her a long time ago.