Of Landmarks and Diabolical Plans

The breakup wasn’t as explosive as I thought it was going to be. But I’m getting ahead of myself here.

“How I Met Your Mother” only had one plot and one subplot this week, so I’ll go to the old style again.

We start at the landmark commission’s hearing for the Arcadia. Marshall speaks on behalf of the Arcadia. And that includes rhymes. The audience loves the rhymes and Marshall breaks out more. The committee eventually interrupts Marshall’s rhymes and calls Ted forward. They ask him if he thinks the Arcadia should be a landmark. Ted is conflicted and pauses. The committee says the suspense is killing them—and ask Marshall to finish the rhyme they had interrupted. He does and they then return to Ted.
Does he think the Arcadian should be a landmark?

Future!Ted says that if he had been asked that two days earlier, his answer would have been “Yes.” We go to two days earlier, when the gang (plus Zoey) is hanging at MacLaren’s, praising the Arcadian. Robin comes over, bearing a note from Barney. He’s sitting in a separate booth. Lily asks if it’s a real note or another scarily accurate drawing of her breasts. Robin says no, but that does remind her of the note in her pocket. Lily realizes it’s another drawing as Robin continues to read the note. Over in his booth, Barney acts out along with the note. He wrote that he had bribed the kitchen to take chicken wings off the menu. He had the last basket. If they agree to rejoin his side, he will share them. But the offer lasts for a short time, as Barney starts licking them and tossing them to the floor.

Even though Zoey had already left, the gang refuses to cave.

We go back to the hearing. The committee says that it’s not a difficult question. But to Ted, it is.
Now, we follow Barney. He pays a visit to good old Arthur. Who is going through the divorce from hell. His wife is taking the love of his life away—his dog, Tugboat. Barney asks what would happen if Ted told the landmark committee to grant landmark status to the Arcadia. Arthur replies that Ted would lose his job and then so would Barney. Because Barney vouched for him—they even flashback to Barney telling the GNB powers-that-be to fire him if Ted doesn’t work out. “Damn it!” Barney replied. “I was joking?” We flashback to Barney replying that he wasn’t even joking. He then asks Arthur how his marriage is going. Arthur replies that it is great and he placed all his assets in her name. He claims it was the best idea he ever had. “Damn it!” Barney and Arthur agree.

Ted and Marshall learn about the consequences for Barney. And they feel bad. Ted also worries about his relationship with Zoey. He asks Robin what she thinks. She sees three possible scenarios. 1) Ted says that the Arcadia shouldn’t be a landmark. Zoey dumps him on the spot. 2) Ted says that the Arcadia should be a landmark. He gets to keep Zoey. However, he loses Barney and his chance to build his own building. This would cause resentment to grow and he would end the relationship with Zoey. 3). Ted is about to answer the committee’s question. However, he is then killed by the ninja The Captain hired. Ted isn’t thrilled with any of those options.

That night, Ted has a dream. The architect of the Arcadia appears to him. He looks a lot like Barney. Ted thinks this is Barney dressing up and sneaking into his room…again. However, Dream!Barney convinces him that he is real and tells him to tear the Arcadia down. He tells Ted to seize his chance to create a building of his own. Once Ted wakes up, he is finally certain it wasn’t a prank. He knows what he has to do.

So, at the committee meeting, Ted replies that the Arcadia should not be landmark. Everyone gasps as he goes on to list the reasons why. Zoey isn’t defeated yet. She runs up and plays a tape. It is a callback to the episode Natural History, where Zoey taped Ted’s praise of the Arcadia. She didn’t destroy it. The committee is surprised and ask if that is Ted’s voice. He confirms it is. Everyone gasps again and Lily clutches her pearls.

The gang drowns their sorrows at MacLaren’s. Barney and Ted fear they will be out of jobs soon. They try to come up with a plan and turn to the best: Lily. After all, she did break up nearly every relationship Ted had been in. And she comes up with a plan. She tells everyone and they love it. They rush out to find Arthur. He’s walking his Tugboat replacement and isn’t happy. He keeps yelling at this dog for not being Tugboat and I feel bad for it. Marshall gives Arthur a hug and a pep talk. Arthur changes his feelings toward the dog. He also listens to the plan, which is cut due to legalities.

At the commission, the head talks. He says the committee took Ted’s words into consideration. Both his points about why the Arcadia should be torn down as well as the points as to why it should be preserved. Especially the lion heads. However, they note that sometime the night before, the lion heads went missing. So the committee has no choice but to decline the motion to declare the Arcadia a landmark.

Everyone leaves and Zoey confronts Ted outside. They end their relationship as Ted says that sometimes you have to tear down something old to make way for something new. So, does that mean we get to meet the mom soon?

Tag: Marshall and Barney are friends again! And the lion head is in Barney’s apartment.

And so Zoey and Ted are no more. I must say, I was expecting more explosions. But I understand that Jennifer Morrison is in the finale, so maybe we’ll see more fallout then. Until then…Who’s excited for the finale?