In a New York pub, a group of friends usually meet for a beer and some peanuts. When they are together, nothing can stop the fun, unless Ted starts telling one of his architectural anecdotes.

Yes, I’m talking about them: Ted, Barney, Robin, Marshall, and Lily. The show we’ll cover in this article is How I met your mother.

The New York we love

Neil Patrick Harris, Alyson Hannigan, Jason Segel, Josh Radnor, Cobie Smulders, and Cristin Milioti in How I Met Your Mother (2005)

Neil Patrick Harris, Alyson Hannigan, Jason Segel, Josh Radnor, Cobie Smulders, and Cristin Milioti in How I Met Your Mother (2005)© IMDB

Aired for the first time in 2005, since the first episodes, the five friends have been able to show the Big Apple in a new light, spontaneous, familiar, and fun. If thanks to Friends we discovered the varied New York of the 90s, with How I met your mother we let ourselves be enveloped by the little things. The way Ted fell in love with its architectural significance; from how Marshall and Lily managed to build their little world within this chaotic city; from Barney’s appeal, who lifted the veil on the New York of possibilities; and how even a smiling Canadian like Robin managed to adapt and finally call it home.

New York and the turbulence of its ever-moving inhabitants was conveyed to us through the character of each of the protagonists, and we learned to see it. The city is closely connected to the extravagant situations in which we find the characters. Everything becomes probable when it is the warm filling of the Big Apple that envelops us.

Marshall & Lily

Alyson Hannigan and Jason Segel in How I Met Your Mother (2005)

Alyson Hannigan and Jason Segel in How I Met Your Mother (2005) © IMDB

One of the most beautiful couples ever is the inseparable duet Marshall Eriksen and Lily Aldrin. They were the strength of the whole TV series, the focal point of laughter, combined perfectly with Barney’s natural villainy.

Let’s unlock some memories together: the slaps that Barney was forced to suffer from Marshall; Lily and Marshall’s attempts to organize four-party nights with other couples; all their squabbles; the extravagant Halloween disguises; the gestures of comic daily love without romance and frills.

We loved them, they made us worry about their sudden separation, and we saw them mature as a couple, becoming a real family. Their audacity in dealing with life together won us over and their comic style made us appreciate all the hidden sides of a relationship.

Why Ted Mosby?

Josh Radnor in How I Met Your Mother (2005)

Josh Radnor in How I Met Your Mother (2005)© IMDB

A bespectacled and extravagant architect with a real passion for historic buildings: what could go wrong with an unfortunate protagonist like Theodore Evelin Mosby? Similar to all of us for ups and downs, and a life in which a series of negative aspects follow one another, to which he tries to react with optimism by putting himself to the test.

Desperate for the right woman, eager to find a worthy happy ending in marriage, he has several lightning strikes that often push him towards the altar, but in the end, they all turn out to be the wrong signs of destiny. In this pursuit of love, with Barney perched on his shoulder like the tempting devil, he finally comes to the fateful encounter. The yellow umbrella that protects from the rain the wonderful woman who will become his wife.

Yet Ted is the most capricious and inconsistent character in the entire sitcom. He is the one for whom you feel an indelible imprint of dislike. Perhaps precisely because it is closer to us, on the other side of the screen. His imperfect life reflects the reality of existence, and if we managed to laugh at his misfortunes, at the same time we deeply pitied him.

And in the end, the catastrophe

But it was in the finale of last season, in that slightly acidic side of the medal, that some felt betrayed by Ted. An ending that was not liked by many, which made the appearance of the mysterious mother of Penny and Luke, Ted’s children, superficial and disappointing.

Neil Patrick Harris, Alyson Hannigan, Jason Segel, Josh Radnor, and Cobie Smulders in How I Met Your Mother (2005)

Neil Patrick Harris, Alyson Hannigan, Jason Segel, Josh Radnor, and Cobie Smulders in How I Met Your Mother (2005) © IMDB

We got to know her best in the ninth season, yet she managed to remain a mystery. And just like in real life, the happy ending had to deal with the precariousness of life, and Ted … made us go through all this effort for nothing, eventually returning to the only woman he ever loved.

A happy conclusion, and at the same time not very happy, which was able to surprise the public just enough to destabilize most of the certainties that had been created with the passing of the seasons.

Will we be able to forgive Ted’s decisions? I’m not sure, but I can’t deny that he gave us a very special show.

Brothers forever

And, by placing our hands on the sacred Brothers Code, we declare How I met your mother a full member of the Old but Gold column. Nine fun seasons have kept us company, giving us melancholy and laughter. You cannot describe in a few words all that this show has been, how it has lightened long afternoons of boredom and apathetic evenings.

With his French blue horn, Ted tried to conquer us. The honest and kind soul of Marshall made room for us on the sofa. With her painterly touch, Lily tried to portray us. With his phobia for shopping malls, Robin got us a laugh. And with his Playbook, Barney tried to seduce us. But above all, with the ease of true friends, they made us feel part of their group.

Autore