'How I Met Your Mother' could POTENTIALLY get another season!

Variety is reporting that (my personal favorite, besides Friends) the extremely-popular television series, How I Met Your Mother, is the subject of negotiation between CBS and 20th Century Fox for a ninth, and final, season.

For the longest time, HIMYM fans have been informed that the eighth season would most likely be the show's final season (and we can't really complain--an 8-year-run is fantastic, and a sign of a hit series that will go down in history), but now, we might get to stick around with Ted, Marshall, Lily, Robin, and Barney for two more years (including this next season). As usual, talks are in the very early stages, and so many more decisions have yet to be made before any confirmations are made.

To put it into perspective, Will & Grace had 8 seasons, Doctor Who will definitely surpass the 8 seasons mark, Desperate Housewives rounded out with 8, as did 24 and The Cosby Show, and The Office has completed its eighth season. Everybody Loves Raymond had 9 seasons.

'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?

Recap | How I Met Your Mother, 'Karma'

FEBRUARY 28, 2012 --
Last night's episode of How I Met Your Mother started out like one where the viewer may want to moan out loud, "the strip club again?"
We previously learned (in the episode entitled 'Drunk Train') that Quinn, a woman Barney met at a party, is actually a stripper at his favorite club. Barney and Ted begin to notice that she works there, and Barney starts to express his feelings for her, going against her rule of dating customers and confiding many secrets in her. Ted tries to convince Barney that Quinn, aka Karma, is using him to get more money, but Barney continuously shrugs him off. Meanwhile, Ted is starting to adapt to Robin being out of the apartment, and transforms her old room into many different leisurely locations. Robin ends up at Marshall and Lily's home on Long Island and takes notice of how compulsive and strange they act in their suburban home. Lily reveals to Robin that she and Marshall are, in no way, happy where they currently live, but that they only live in the suburbs out of the idea that the area is better for their baby (still in Lily's womb). Barney tells Karma that he knows what she has been up to and that he has been trying to improve himself as a man (presumably after occurrences with Robin and Nora), but that he succombed to her vixen qualities. He storms out of the club but bumps into Quinn at a coffee shop, wherein she buys him a coffee and they share a meeting at the cafe. Ted and Robin confront each other, and Robin informs Ted that Marshall and Lily are not happy in their lives, so Ted understands that it's time for him not only to move on from Robin, but to move on from his own home. He tells Marshall and Lily to meet him in the city, so the two oblige. Upon arriving at Ted's apartment, the couple find the home completely empty except for a note with Ted's handwriting. The note explains how Lily and Marshall's names were never removed from the lease, but that Ted had finally removed his. He also painted Robin's old room a baby blue color and built a crib for Lily and Marshall's baby. The apartment that viewers have known for seven years is know the home for Lily, Marshall, and the family they choose to build.

---------------------------------------

I was very disappointed at the beginning of this episode. I was just incredibly worried that it would become regular for Barney and Ted to attend the club since Quinn works there. As the episode progressed, I definitely opened up to the exclusivity of Barney and Quinn's "relationship", Ted's lonely behavior, and Marshall and Lily's psychotic life on Long Island. I believe that Quinn will be the woman that Barney marries at the end of the season, and that she might even quit her job as a stripper to help support Barney's change of heart. I think this was a very coming-of-age and "growing up" king of episode for all characters. Ted realized he must let go of Robin and all the 'ghosts' she had left in his apartment; Lily and Marshall realized that they were only oppressing themselves by staying in the suburbs; Barney realized that he must shed his life as a spinster and mature as a man; Robin realized she must let go of her own insecurities and become a dependent woman.

How I Met Your Mother | 'No Pressure'

Oh ma gadddddd. CONTINUITY! OKAY. Let's get started with this recap of the season 7 episode "No Pressure."
So we left off last week's episode with the revelation that Ted still loves Robin (yes!) and enter this episode with a couple of awkward "yay, we're together again" smooches between the pair. Meanwhile, on Staten Island, Marshall and Lily rush to MacLaren's to console Ted after Robin heads to Russia for a staff trip. Whilst there, Barney searches for an alleged adult film created by the married couple, but stumbles upon a box labeled "Long-Term Bets." Inside are little slips of paper containing bets placed by Marshall and Lily, most notable is Lily betting Marshall that Ted and Robin will never end up together. Ted finds out about Lily and tries to prove her wrong, but begins to suspect Robin is still in love with Barney. Barney explains how, on the night he broke up with Nora, Robin hadn't broken up with Kevin and denied a further relationship with him (Barney). Ted is then confident about his feelings for Robin and picks her up from the airport and treats her to a night out. When the pair returns to the apartment, Ted realizes that Robin is not interested in a relationship with him. Ted informs Robin that he needs a finite answer about her feelings for him and that their whole 'If you're still single when you're forty, we'll get married' deal is now invalid. He asks Robin whether or not she loves him, and after a brief moment of reluctance and tears, Robin says no. Marshall urges Ted to continue to persist his feelings for Robin, and informs Robin that, in order to maintain a healthy friendship with Ted, she must move out of Ted's apartment. At this point, we hear 'Shake It Out' by Florence + the Machine (brilliant placement in the show! I love the song) as Robin packs her things and returns her key to Ted. We leave this plot with a speech from Future Ted stating that when one window closes, another opens, and a final look at the streets of New York packed with women wielding yellow umbrellas. The final scene of the episode consists of Marshall and Lily sitting in bed, and Lily requesting Marshall pay for his loss of the bet. Marshall replies with, "Not yet."

I absolutely LOVED this episode, especially considering I ship Ted and Robin till the end. I am so pleased that the creators have decided to get back on track with the whole character-driven aspect of HIMYM. I'm entirely glad that Kevin is out of the way, yet I really want a definite answer to the whole "will they/won't they" thing with Ted and Robin. It will be interesting to see where Robin's romantic life ends up, but let's hope it doesn't return to Kevin.

This episode, as well as the previous one ("The Drunk Train"), will be discussed at length on the next episode of the podcast.