The End of the Aisle
| "The End of the Aisle" |
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"The End of the Aisle" is the twenty-second episode of the ninth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 206th episode overall.
Plot
With under an hour before the wedding, Barney and Robin suffer panic attacks. Robin considers escaping through the window, as Ted and Victoria had from Victoria's wedding a year earlier. After she brings up how she wishes that Barney had found her locket as a sign of his reliability, Ted secretly brings her locket, which he retrieved from the river, to Barney and instructs Barney to take credit for finding it. When Robin realizes the truth, she remembers Barney's dishonesty and begins considering that Ted is the right person for her after all. Ted refuses to run away with her, recognizing at last that he and Robin aren't the same people who loved each other once and that she and Barney are meant to be together. Unconvinced, Robin decides to run away on her own and crashes into the band's bass player - the moment that Future Ted describes to his kids as "how your Aunt Robin met your mother."
Meanwhile, Marshall and Lily manage to calm Barney down, but find that he is struggling to write his wedding vows. When Lily points out how selfish and easy his vows are to accomplish, Barney counters by remarking about how Lily and Marshall have broken all their marriage vows over the years. They are disappointed to realize that Barney is right. However, they spend a moment at the altar to update their vows and promise to keep updating them as they need to instead of making perfect vows. Barney witnesses the moment and goes to find Robin.
Robin apologizes for knocking over the Mother, who sees that Robin is trying to run away. Instead of persuading Robin not to flee because they do not know each other well, the Mother suggests that Robin take three deep breaths. The Mother slips away as Robin follows the Mother's suggestion and Barney appears. He promises to make only one vow to her: he will be honest with her from now on, and begins with revealing that Ted had found her locket.
At the wedding ceremony begins, Barney has one last panic attack, which Marshall ends with the final slap of the slap bet. The ceremony goes through without any trouble, even with the arrival of a bear as the ring bear, and concludes with Robin and Barney married before their family and friends.
Cultural references
Critical reception
Music
- Future Days - Pearl Jam
- Canon in D, composed by Johann Christoph Pachelbel