© CBS
Title: “The Leap”
Written by: Craig Thomas and Carter Bays
Well here we are, the last of the season finales that I actually care about. Last week was pretty hectic with the finales of Fringe, Lost, 30 Rock, The Office and Parks & Recreation, all of which were fantastic finishes to great seasons. So how does How I Met Your Mother stack up to these shows? Frankly, pretty well.
I like this show. I might even go so far as to say I love this show sometimes, but there are elements to it which aggravate me, and they’re elements which are central to the premise of the show. Chief amongst these is Ted’s quest to find his perfect match. I know the show gets its name from his search, and that’s typically how they work any storyline involving Ted, but it’s not important to the show. In my opinion they could easily dispense with the whole “how I met your mother” element and make the show simply about the gang living in the here and now. The show wouldn’t suffer in the least from this and it would save me having to put up with the presence of Ted’s kids, the voiceover from Bob Saget, and the constant tease that maybe his kids’ mother would be revealed when we all know she won’t be until the end of the show. Honestly, what’s the point of repeating these constant teases about finding “the mother” when the central charm and enjoyment of this show comes from the interaction between the gang.
Anyway, enough of my rant about my pet peeves and onto the actual episode. The episode follows Ted struggling to come up with a proposal for his rib restaurant clients, Marshall throwing Ted a surprise birthday party on the roof, and Barney and Robin dealing with their feelings to each other. The title of the episode, “The Leap”, comes from the leap that all of the characters make in the episode, either physical or metaphorical. Marshall finally makes the leap across buildings to the perfect rooftop, Barney and Robin appear to have made the leap in their relationship despite their emotional barriers, and Ted makes the leap from dreaming and struggling to be an architect to taking the job as a professor. There’s a nice symmetry in this and it all played out well in the closing scene on the rooftop. It was touching without being sappy.
I can’t review this episode without mentioning the return of Lily to the fold. The show has plugged along pretty well without the presence of Alyson Hannigan, or so I thought, but her return adds another quality to the show that I didn’t even realise was missing. Alyson brings the cute and funny Lily to life and she provides Marshall with another person to bounce off and interact with that boosts the show when other elements fall a little flat. She also delivered a great speech to Ted about him being like the goat who wants the hand towel all the time when it’s forgotten why it even wants it. It’s this speech which gives Ted the impetus to stop trying to be an architect and take the job as a professor which allows him to follow his passion in a more fitting scenario. I’m very glad they were able to bring Alyson Hannigan back to finish out the season so the whole gang could be together again and they could take the leap into the unknown as a group.
Final Grade: A-
