How I Met Your MotherLists about the sitcom about Ted Mosby, architect, and his pals Barney, Marshall, Lily, and Robin, as they lived, laughed, and loved in New York City, which aired on CBS from 2005 to 2014. It was—wait for it—legendary.
How I Met Your Mother wasn't just the story of how a single guy in New York City met the girl of his dreams, but the story of five maladjusted young adults figuring out the meaning of life, one step at a time. While that sounds funny on paper, there were plenty of sad moments and emotional scenes that stemmed from their misadventures, including heartbreak, trauma, jealousy, and even death. Ted was the center of the story but these emotional moments were equally shared between Marshall, Lily, Robin, and Barney.
If you didn't already plan to re-watch the series, here are some surprisingly emotional moments in How I Met Your Mother.
Marshall is objectively the nicest character on How I Met Your Mother, which makes it extra hard to watch him go through traumatic events. The season 6 episode "Bad News" delivered the shocker that Marshall's father, Marvin Erikson Sr., had passed away from a sudden heart attack. Although it seemed out of the blue at first, Marshall grieving his father's death was the right emotional beat that helped Marshall transform into a responsible and loving father - just like Marvin was to him.
While fans were waiting to find out the identity of The Mother, there was another juicy reveal waiting to be unearthed: The identity of Barney's biological father. In season 6, it was finally revealed that the man responsible for creating Barney was Jerome Whittaker, a boring family man (played by the amazing John Lithgow). Barney fantasized that his father would be "cool" just like he was, but when he found out that Jerome was just a typical dad, it angered him. Barney couldn't justify being abandoned by his father for no good reason, which only confused and saddened him even more.
The season 8 episode "The Time Travelers" wasn't your usual How I Met Your Mother episode. The majority of the episode took place at MacLaren's pub and focused on Barney trying to convince Ted to go see Robots vs. Wrestlers with him. It is revealed near the end that Ted was misremembering a story from five years ago and he's actually sitting all alone at MacLaren's with a single ticket to Robots vs. Wrestlers. He tells his kids that if he had the power to go back to that night, he wouldn't go to the show but to his future wife's apartment and beg to spend the extra 45 days with her before they met. At the time this was a cute gesture but after learning that Tracy dies halfway into their marriage, this is utterly heartbreaking and moving.
The reveal of Tracy's terminal illness felt like a cruel joke. After what seemed like a lifetime of Ted waiting for his soulmate, they finally met, fell in love, got married, had babies, the whole nine yards. But not long after they settle down to spend the rest of their lives together, Tracy is struck with an undisclosed terminal illness (probably cancer) and poor Ted is going to lose his life partner. Although Ted deserved a better ending, Tracy's illness was a reminder that life is full of surprises - some good, some very bad.
Lily and Marshall's breakup in the season 1 finale was one of the biggest shockers the show has ever delivered. Lily and Marshall are set up as the perfect couple from the first episode, getting engaged to each other from the get-go. But as the show quickly warned its viewers, life isn't all rainbows and fairy tales. There's nuance to every relationship, including the ones that seem perfect. Lily and Marshall were perfect for each other but they got together at a young age, without really experiencing all that life has to offer before getting married. Thankfully, though, Lily saw the light and came back to her one true love.
By season 7, Ted was somehow still clinging to the idea that he might end up with Robin (turns out he was right, but that's a different story). In the episode "No Pressure," Ted tries once again to rekindle his relationship with Robin but ultimately realizes that she's in love with Barney. Ted puts on a brave face to protect their friendship but it was clear Ted wasn't over Robin yet and it was killing him inside to share an apartment with her. So Marshall rolled up his sleeves and did what any best would do: He asked Robin to move out of the apartment because he knew Ted wouldn't be able to. Although Ted's love life was never really stable, he was more than lucky to have a best friend like Marshall.
