HIMYM: How will Victoria's message about Ted and Robin play out?

A	Ted will realize he has to move on from Robin

B	Robin will realize she can't be friends with Barney -- she has to be with him or not, and it changes the dynamic of the trio

C	Ted will try to get back together with Robin and give it another chance

How I Met Your Mother's most lauded episode so far this season, Ducky Tie, brought back a season 1 character, Ted's ex girlfriend Victoria. The two former lovers end up at Victoria's bakery, where Ted expresses regret for the way their relationship ended. Victoria reveals that she is in a relationship and expects her boyfriend to propose that night. Ted walks her to catch her bus and -- this is the part he doesn't share with his friends when relating the story -- before Victoria leave, she tells him, "There is a reason it didn’t work out between you and me. It’s Robin. She’s so much bigger in your world than you realize.”

The creators of HIMYM have created a conceit that demands careful attention to continuity and character arcs. This theme, that Ted, Robin and Barney are an unusual trio and that their friendship can't be sustained, has come up a few times. In season five's 21st episode, Twin Beds, Robin's boyfriend Don points out how weird it is that she spends every day with two ex boyfriends. Victoria's comment, and the ensuing shot of the three friends hanging out in their bar, is open to interpretation. Happily, the creators have some idea of where they're going with this.

“We chose our words carefully as we always do, and it’s all right there,” Carter Bays told EW. "Bays says just like the audience, it will take Ted some time to figure out the truth behind Victoria’s words. 'As we left it, the narrator is very much aware that Robin will become an issue for him, specifically for him and Barney, and that triangle will not work out. But Ted has not internalized this yet.' " The co-creator goes on to say that the Barney-Robin-Ted dynamic is not so clear-cut as a "love triangle." “The way we’ve been talking about it, there is this central triangle between Ted, Barney, and Robin that’s always been there…and it will start rising to the surface.”

As my loyal readers know, I'm a Robin-Barney shipper, so here's my theory. At the end of the premiere episode, Ted and Robin reinforce their promise to get together if they're both still single when they're 40. This serves to remind the viewers that Ted is still on Robin's hook, to quote episode 5.16. The two also live together, as one EW commenter points out, "He still has the emotional reliance on her that you would normally have in a relationship. They live together, so you can easily do all of that comfortable couple stuff – watching tv, cooking dinner, etc. – without having to have a relationship." Ted will always compare other girlfriend to her and wonder "what if?" I think once Barney and Robin get together for sure (and hopefully get married!), Ted will finally move on from Robin and find The Mother.

So we know something happens to change the dynamic between Ted, Robin and Barney. Does Victoria mean that Robin is too involved in Ted's life, or that Robin and Ted should get back together and try it again? Or, when Future Ted concedes at the end of Ducky Tie that the relationship between the three of them didn't work out, was he referring to Barney and Robin's relationship and Robin's difficulty with Barney dating Nora? How do you think Victoria's words will come to pass?

Eleanor Brown

HIMYM: How will Victoria's message about Ted and Robin play out?

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