Did you guys buy that Ted had continued to be in love with Robin for all those years before he told as her much in S7 E16?
I think it’s fair to say that one of the most memorable moments of the second half of the show is when Ted told Robin he loved her on the rooftop of The Apartment right after Robin told Ted that Kevin had dumped her. I think it’s fair to say that a lot of people, myself included, viewed this as an incredibly impulsive and inconsiderate move from Ted. But there’s one other thing that struck me about this moment during my current rewatch: it kinda came out of left field. Yes, Ted was doing really poorly at the time as it had been years since he had been left at the altar and the only even semi-successful relationship he had during that time had been with Zoey. With that context, it’s not necessarily surprising that he would make an impulsive move related to his love life. But what was surprising about that moment, at least to me, was that he was doing this with Robin.
Now, arguably the premise of the entire show, as revealed by the ending, is that it was always Robin. We can ofc debate the merits of that ending, but that’s not what this post is about. My big question for you guys is this: did you believe at the time that Ted had still been in love with Robin for all those years since they broke up?
I noticed during this rewatch that I had a harder time accepting what I think is the implicit premise that Ted never truly let go of his love for Robin at any point since season 2. In fact, one of the things that I’ve really appreciated during this rewatch is seeing the Ted and Robin dynamic completely shift. After Ted gets left at the altar, from the middle of S4 until the last third of S7, I feel like I was slowly watching Ted and Robin develop this really sweet brother and sister dynamic where they were truly friends in the same way that Ted was friends with Marshall or Robin was friends with Lily. They had their own love lives with lots of ups and downs, but seemed to always appreciate each other as a steadying, long-term force in their respective lives. I mean, they lived together for multiple years, just like Ted and Marshall. I feel like if Ted truly had never gotten over Robin, he would have tried to make a move on her earlier, or maybe he just never would have been able to develop that seemingly platonic relationship with her.
Maybe I find myself less convinced by the writing on this rewatch, or maybe I didn’t pick up on some signs that I was meant to pick up on. As I think about it more I suppose it’s possible that Ted really had managed to let go of Robin until S7 when his love life had just hit rock bottom and he entered into a more vulnerable place. Either way, it was tough to watch S7 E17 because it seems to mark the end of a long arc for Robin and Ted that I was really enjoying. That being said, Ted’s struggles to get over Robin make it that much more amazing when he finally meets Tracy, but ofc… the ending. Woof
Anyways, what do you guys think about all this?