Why the Ending Made Perfect Sense, Part Two: Ted and Robin

Many fans who disliked the ending said it was primarily because Ted and Robin ended up together in the end. According to them, this shouldn't have happened since the show spent so much effort showing how they didn't work as a couple. They were sick of the back and forth because apparently the relationship wasn't going anywhere.

As a die-hard Ted and Robin supporter, I saw things in a different light. Again, to accept the ending you will have to look at this with a different perspective. Knowing Ted and Robin was the endgame all along, you will have to see this as a Ted and Robin supporter.

Ted begins his story on the night he met Robin. Robin would be a prominent character in the story, and for most the series the object of his affections. For me, it wouldn't have made sense to end the story any other way based on these two factors alone.

Ted and Robin: a retrospective

Ted meets Robin when the first season started, and immediately falls in love with her, even causing him to blurt out that he loved her on their first date. He spends a good chunk of the first season chasing Robin, but she wouldn't give in until the end of the season. She knew she had different goals than Ted:

"I don't want to get married right now, maybe ever. And if we go out together, I'd feel like I'd either have to marry you or break your heart and I just couldn't do either of those things."

But even then she couldn't keep her feelings for him totally under control, as she kisses him twice before he meets Victoria. Once on the roof after she said the quote above, and then again on New Year's even though she had a boyfriend at the time.

She realizes she has feelings for Ted after she sees him with Victoria. While he was in a relationship with Victoria, Robin envied her. When Robin thought Victoria would dump Ted, she seized the opportunity to invite Ted over to her apartment to "make juice." Ted lies and tells Robin he broke up with Victoria. And in the most thinly veiled analogy of all time, Ted says:

"I had that other phone, and it was good, but I think, the whole time, a little part of me wanted this phone instead. This phone... feels right."

Then he cheats on Victoria with Robin. Future Ted called that incident "the stupidest thing I've ever done." Robin finds out, but she eventually forgives him. Ted blows off his date with the perfect match from Love Solutions ("Milk"), and when questioned by Marshall, he says:

"I don't want perfect. I want Robin."

Ted makes a grand romantic gesture with the blue string quartet, and flowers, and chocolates. But Robin has to go on her camping trip, and can't say "yes." What does Ted do? Simple, he makes it rain. Finally, Robin relents, and they start dating. They would date for most of Season 2. Robin learns how to be a girlfriend. They have fights, but are able to work out their issues.

But obviously Ted and Robin couldn't have worked in Season 2, otherwise he would have married her and the story would end there. Instead they had to show why they were incompatible at that point in time. Ted wanted to get married and have kids. Robin wanted to become a famous journalist and travel the world.

They have an amicable breakup after they realize their goals in life were different, but still love each other. This would become a recurring theme in the rest of the series.

Robin loves Ted too

A common complaint Ted and Robin detractors have is that Robin never reciprocated Ted's feelings after they broke up. This is far from the truth. Ted was the first guy she didn't want to take an exit right away. The first guy to whom she said "I love you." The first guy she even considered having kids with, or getting married to:

TED: I can't believe you never want to get married.
ROBIN: I never said "never."
...
ROBIN: Ted, you know that kids were never a part of my plan. But if I was going to have someone's babies, I'd have your babies.

The fact she still had feelings for him would become obvious when Ted marries Stella. Robin flat out tells that kind of stuff doesn't just disappear without a trace ("Shelter Island"):

"Watching you marry another woman isn't exactly something I was looking forward to. I don't know, I just thought if I ever changed my mind about marriage and kids, it was nice to know that you were there [...]

Don't get married. Look, you're rushing into this. It's like you're trying to skip ahead to the end of the book. Ted, you're the most romantic guy I know. You stole a blue French horn for me. You tried to make it rain. [...] But after all that, this is how your great romantic quest comes to an end? [...] That's not the amazing ending that you deserve. That's not Ted Mosby."

The implication is obvious: Robin thinks she is the amazing ending Ted deserved. And if it wasn't obvious in Season 4, they hammered that point home in Season 8, when Robin asks Lily why Ted wasn't marrying her instead of Stella. It was also when she revealed she planned to use the Locket as her something old when she married Ted ("Something Old").

After Stella doesn't work out, we would see Ted and Robin become friends with benefits. Later on, after it's revealed Lily fed the questions that led to their breakup, they have talk about their relationship, and Robin agrees to Ted's "proposal":

ROBIN: We should make a pact. If the years go by, and we both turn 40, and we're still single, we...
TED: Robin Scherbatsky, will you be my backup wife?
ROBIN: A girl always dreams of hearing those words. Yes! Yes! A million times, yes!

A couple of minor moments between them happen in Seasons 5 and 6: Ted reveals how much he still remembers from their relationship in "Robin 101," which Robin finds impressive. They almost hook up after Robin breaks up with Don ("Doppelgangers"). Ted helps her get recover from her breakup with Don ("Big Days").

In "Symphony of Illumination," Ted is the only one who tries to comfort her even though he doesn't know what is wrong, as Robin didn't reveal to anyone that she just found out she couldn't have kids.

No Pressure

The next big turning in their relationship would come in "No Pressure," when Robin would do the most hurtful thing she's done to Ted all series: she tells him she doesn't love him. Fans took that as a sign that Ted and Robin were done, but Marshall's famous "Not yet" foreshadowed that storyline was far from over.

I am offering a new interpretation to "No Pressure." Robin tells Ted she does not love him anymore. But in hindsight, I believe Robin was still in love with him and lied. She lied because she just found out she couldn't have kids, and she knew Ted wouldn't be happy without them. So she wanted him to let go of her so he could be truly happy.

Let's look at the facts here. Before she dropped this bomb on Ted, she kissed him twice. Not in "let's make out" way, but more "I still have real feelings for you" way. Then she still asks him about the deal to marry each other if they both turn forty. But most revealing of all was speech of hers to Ted ("The Broath"):

"The one person I want to talk to most barely looks me in the eye anymore, much less returns my calls. Ted, I know it took guts to tell me you love me. And I-I know how much it hurt that I didn't say it back, but... Damn it, th-this sucks for me, too. And I-I miss you."

The person she wants to talk to most isn't Lily or Barney. It's Ted.

Timing

TED: I've stopped believing. [...] What do I do about that, Scherbatsky?
ROBIN: You're Ted Mosby. You start believing again.
TED: In what, destiny?
ROBIN: Chemistry. If you have chemistry, you only need one other thing.
TED: What's that?
ROBIN: Timing. But timing's a bitch.

At the end of Season 7, Robin is revealed to be the bride in Barney's wedding, much to my dismay. And thus we get to Season 8.

Ted starts dating Victoria again, and Barney gets engaged to Robin after she inexplicably agrees to the most unromantic proposal of all time. Ted proposes to Victoria, but she is understandably concerned about Robin still being in Ted's life. She realizes Ted still has feelings for her, and when he refuses to distance himself from Robin, she breaks up with him. Tearfully, she says:

"I really hope you get her someday."

These words would turn out to be prophetic. Stella and Victoria were contingency mothers (ie: if the show ended earlier than expected, they would turn out to be the mother). They both seemed great for Ted at first. However, later they would be turned into far less likeable characters, which would explain why Ted wouldn't go back to any of his past relationships besides Robin.

Wedding Weekend

The weekend of Barney and Robin's wedding starts with a scene in the end of Season 8. Ted had just dropped an important meeting to help Robin search for the locket she buried in Central Park. Robin sees the missing locket as a sign from the Universe that she shouldn't be marrying Barney. Ted tries to calm her down, and tells her that maybe they don't need the universe to tell them what they really want. To which she responds by reaching for Ted's hand.

This set the tone for Season 9, with Robin expressing valid concerns about marrying Barney and Ted and Robin struggling with their feelings for each other. Ted realizes he can't be in New York anymore because the love of his life would be married to his best friend, and decides to try to start anew in Chicago.

In "Sunrise," we see Ted pour his heart out to Robin one last time, after she corners him into answering why he broke up with Victoria because she asked Ted to distance himself from Robin:

"I'm not gonna answer the question, because you know the answer. You want to talk about my top five? There's no top five, Robin! There's just a top one, and it's you! And the only reason I'm saying any of this is 'cause I know that it's not gonna change anything. You and Barney are getting married today. If I have to hold the shotgun myself, it's happening."

It's worth noting that while he still loves Robin, he has no intention of blowing up his best friend's wedding. He is willing to sacrifice his own happiness so Robin can be happy. Ted firmly believes Barney can make her happy. It's also revealed Ted goes to great lengths to retrieve the locket, including going through several exes and a diving into a lake.

At the end of the episode, he finally lets go of Robin. This is very important, because he needed to do that before he could meet the Mother. Otherwise, we would be left with the impression that he was still in love with Robin while he was with The Mother, cheapening their relationship.

In "Daisy," Robin's mother tries to calm her down, reassuring her that she will be fine if she has someone who will be there for her, someone dependable. From her reaction, it's clear that she knows that person is Ted. Her expression is not one of relief, that she is marrying the right guy. It's one of apprehension upon the realization that she might be marrying the wrong guy.

 This was confirmed in "End of the Aisle," when she realizes Ted is the only one who could have found her locket. She confesses:

"You're the one who always comes through for me, Ted. The one who's there for me. Maybe I'm making a mistake. Maybe I should be marrying you."

But Ted shoots her down and reassures her that she should marry Barney, showing that he truly let go of Robin at that point, and was ready to meet The Mother.

Love in the Time of Cholera

Love in the Time of Cholera is a book by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It tells the story of Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza, who fell in love with each other but were separated by circumstances. Fermina ends up marrying someone else. Years later, Fermina's husband dies, and Florentino reaffirms his love for her and they rekindle their romance.

This is first revealed to be Ted's favorite book in "Milk," and it would appear a couple of times later in the series. He is actually reading it at the train station right before he meets the Mother ("Farhampton"). Also, his speech to Jeanette is a fairly accurate description of how Florentino feels about love:

"That's more than crazy. I don't think there's a word for what that is! Actually, there is a word for that. It's "love." I'm in love with her, okay? If you're looking for the word that means caring about someone beyond all rationality and wanting them to have everything they want, no matter how much it destroys you, it's love! And when you love someone, you just, you... you don't stop, ever. Even when people roll their eyes or call you crazy. Even then. Especially then!"

This book would prove to be the biggest hint of all on how this story would end.

Full Circle

Phew. We are finally got to the finale. Ted meets the Mother, Tracy and instantly connects with her. She becomes the mother of his children.

When Robin goes to the apartment's Halloween party after her divorce, she sees her ex-husband hitting on other women, and it doesn't even bother her that much. But when she sees Ted, she remembers how he persevered while waiting for the Slutty Pumpkin. When Tracy shows up and Robin sees Tracy happy with Ted, her heart sinks. She has to leave immediately, and refers to Ted as the guy she should have married.

Robin realizes she made a huge mistake in choosing Barney over Ted, and she distances herself from the group, and focuses on her career. Unfortunately, much of what happens between then and 2030 is left to the imagination. Perhaps the 18 minutes that were cut from the finale will shed some light into this. Josh Radnor told us one of the scenes showed Ted having lunch with Robin, and was supposed to show she spent all those years yearning for him.

But from what we do know, it can be inferred that Robin started to see Lily more often (and presumably the gang, including Ted). In "Bad Crazy" we see Robin confessing to Lily what she really did with Marvin in a series of flash-forwards. The years were 2017, 2025, 2027, 2029, and 2030. Notice how it was eight years apart, and the time in between the confessions gets progressively smaller, until they are only a year apart.

We also see hints that she started to play a larger role in Ted and the kids' lives after Tracy dies. In "Little Boys," it's revealed Robin eventually made her peace with kids. We are then treated to crayon drawings made by kids of them spending time with Aunt Robin. The drawings get progressively better, indicating she has been around for some time. And also when the kids say they "love" Aunt Robin (to the point of encouraging their widowed father to pursue her), and that when she comes for dinner "you guys are so obvious." She has definitely been around them.

Not only have the kids approved of Aunt Robin, but so did Tracy. Unlike some of Ted's previous love interests (eg: Victoria), Tracy was fine with Robin being in his life. So much that she persuaded Robin to come to their wedding even though she originally didn't want to. She also wanted him to move on:

"You're the love of my life, Pooh Bear. I just worry about you. I don't want you to be the guy who lives in his stories. Life only moves forward."

She wouldn't have wanted him to be lonely and miserable for the rest of his life. She knew how that felt after she lost Max, and wouldn't want Ted to be stuck in his stories. Six years is a more than reasonable mourning period. Nobody had a problem with Tracy dating again six years after Max died. Ted had every right to try to find love again. And what better place to look than the one he had loved for many years?

Ted and Robin weren't compatible back in 2006, but it's different this time around. Ted now has the kids he always wanted. Robin became a famous reporter and traveled the world like she wanted. She was done with that (otherwise she wouldn't have dogs in New York), and she warmed up to the idea of kids and marriage. The timing was finally right: at last, Ted and Robin were ready for each other.

The Yellow Umbrella and the Blue French Horn, which represent Tracy and Robin respectively, mirror Ted's relationship with both of them. Ted found the Yellow Umbrella ("You find things"), but he had to fight for the Blue French Horn:

ROBIN: You stole a blue French horn for me.
TED: I would have stolen you a whole orchestra.

With Tracy, it was always raining. For Robin, Ted had to make it rain.

After all Ted had to fight for, all the pain and heartache he has endured, he deserved a second chance at happiness. And there's an unmistakable beauty in seeing this long journey and its conclusion.