'How I Met Your Mother' Recap | 'The Magician's Code'

Yeah. So. Um.

Okay.

Can I even write a cohesive post about the season finale of HIMYM?

Let's try.

Major spoilers, everyone. MAJOR SPOILERS. ("Major spoilers" -- salute)

So basically a quick summary for context and blah. Blah-biddy blah. So Lily's going into labor, but Marshall's stuck trying to find a way home from Atlantic City. Robin and Ted tell Lily a whole array of stories, a couple for each member of the gang. Meanwhile, Barney and Marshall eventually hail a...bus...and end up persuading the seniors on the charter bus to convince the driver that they were ALL having heart attacks and they had to be dropped off at the hospital that Lily was having her baby at. Robin attempts to birth the baby, but faints. Lily's OBGYN, Doctor Sonya, takes control and delivers the baby just as Marshall arrives. The couple decide to name the baby Marvin Waitforit Eriksen (the Waitforit thing comes from Barney's attempt to help Marshall escape Atlantic City--I don't feel like summing up that plot point). In the second part, Robin convinces Ted to get ahold of Victoria (yeah, I know), and Lily and Marshall stress about becoming parents, and blah. Barney returns to Quinn and they make up, and decide to fly out to Hawaii to celebrate their rekindling. Whilst passing through security, the couple is pulled aside. A strange box is found inside Barney's suitcase, and we learn all about how it contains a magic trick that he can only reveal to other magicians. Ted meets up with Victoria, who has run away from her wedding to be with Ted again. Ted agrees to run away with her, but then tells her that he wouldn't feel right taking another man's woman since that is what Tony did with Stella. He tells Victoria that he's going to take her back to her church. Lily and Marshall continue to attempt to bring Marvin into the world in a positive way, but ultimately fail, but it was a funny attempt. As Ted and Victoria are driving, Ted passes Victoria's church and she comments on it, but Ted finally settles on running away with her, slipping his fingers into hers. Back at airport security, Quinn is asked for her job, to which she replies, "Unemployed." Barney tells her that she is just trying to avoid embarrassment, but Quinn tells him that she quit her job for him. Barney succumbs and presents his magic trick, which is an explosion, followed by a plant that grew a beautiful rose. Inside the rose?
An engagement ring.
Yep.
BUT THEN. Okay, so rewind, at the beginning of the episode, Future Ted says that Barney's wedding went bad (or something of that regard). So anyway. That was just...a tidbit. Quinn and Barney inform the gang of their engagement. Then we flashforward to the wedding, and Ted is called into the bride's room, and he finds none other than...

Robin Scherbatsky standing in front of a full body mirror, gowned in a wedding dress, and breathing heavily, tears in her eyes.

SO HERE ARE MY THEORIES:

• Part of me believes that Robin is Quinn's maid-of-honor, and that Ted walked in at the wrong time. I mean, we HAVE learned throughout the series that timing is everything, haven't we? So perhaps Robin was upset about her own relationship troubles, or dealing with letting Barney go. 
• Perhaps Robin and Barney--if they do marry--will realize their decision was very impulsive and they won't go through with it, and Barney may return to Quinn. 
• I think Ted and Victoria will actually go on for a while, but will be frowned upon by Lily and Marshall, but encouraged by Robin and Barney. But I think that Victoria's presence will cause Robin to drift away, and if Robin REALLY is the bride (what will happen between Barney and Quinn?!), Barney may drift away, as well.
• Seriously, though, if Robin is the bride, what is going to cause the problem(s) between Barney and Quinn? After all Quinn's done for Barney, and vice-versa, why would they NOT get married? It's JUST SO FRUSTRATING.
• If Robin is the bride, perhaps it was a scam the whole time between Barney and Quinn. Perhaps something happened that night--maybe the first night they met, maybe the night Quinn...served Barney at her work, maybe the night they tricked the rest of the gang that Quinn was a controlling, neurotic dominatrix? Maybe the whole entire time it was just a scam, but that wouldn't explain for the reasons we see Barney and Quinn share emotional moments AWAY from the rest of the gang. But then again, the story is told from Ted's point of view, and he has (on record) gotten information wrong, so maybe he just came up with some story to support reasons why Quinn moved out, etc. Maybe Quinn moved out because she didn't want to live with Barney since they weren't in a real relationship, but Ted played it up as because she was being patronized by Barney. I JUST DON'T KNOW.

I'm pretty sure I had a whole bunch of other theories, but I forgot them. Which pisses me off.

SO WHAT DID YOU THINK OF TONIGHT'S EPISODE? Was the ending a teaser? Is Barney really going to marry Robin, or will he stick with Quinn?