How Barney and Robin Have Ruined HIMYM

[shipperx]

I wish Moonlighting had never been made. How many shows have been ruined by 'not wanting to be like Moonlighting'. Oooh! Sexual Tension. Kill it! Kill it!... Or stave it off until it's on life support and everyone has ceased to care. Or, go the Barney/Robin route which has really begun to ruin the show for me.

This isn't an anti-shipping rant. It wasn't the Barney/Robin ship that ruined things. It was the show's utter terror of developing the characters and the chicken-hearted way they ran for the hills so as 'not to be like Moonlighting.' They spent roughly two years +/- developing the Barney/Robin thing, having Barney fall for Robin, and then we got a hand full of half-hearted episodes with them together. Then we got an insultingly lame episode breaking them up because they couldn't be 'awesome' together... and now they've regressed them and pretend like the whole thing never happened! It has irritated the hell out of me since October. Actions should have consequences. If they were going to develop the storyline for two years, DO SOMETHING WITH IT, DAMN IT! I don't consider the four or five lame ass episodes that made no effort with the relationship as a 'consequence'. Nor do I consider the way that they completely ignore that it ever happened a 'consequence'. If they were going to break them up, break them up... and have consequences. Instead they couldn't even take the time to have characters react to it! They insta-regressed the characters as if it's possible to rewind the clock without damaging them. (Seriously, Barney's sexaholic antics aren't as amusing any more!) They have the characters behave exactly as they would have three or four years ago as if there is no lingering... anything. No lingering issues or affection. Sheesh! At least allow a few things to stick. Allow some sort of reaction every now and then. Instead, it's like the show hit rewind and what happened never happened... and honestly, it's grossing me out a little.

It's like watching OLTL not deal with Todd Manning. The more backflips they turn to try to NOT deal with his actions, the more obnoxious the character becomes because the audience isn't stupid. We know what we saw and we know it hasn't been adequately addressed... or addressed at all... or has had any remotely believable consequences.

We saw Barney/Robin happen. We saw the story that developed them, and now it's bizarrely absent in the characters. I'm not talking about breaking them up. Break them up. Fine. But don't force the characters and the audience to have amnesia. That's just annoying. So annoying, in fact, that it's making HIMYM annoying to me this season. It really feels like the writers are stuck three seasons ago and have absolutely no idea what to do but keep replaying the same old stuff. It's wearing out, folks. It's wearing out.

ETA: Ugh! See!

Comments

[eilowyn.livejournal.com]

I wonder if they're going to bypass Moonlighting and head into Ross and Rachel territory eventually, with an on again/off again thing. It sustains a long running show with an ongoing tension, and keeps from heading into the shiny, happy, bad Moonlighting territory.

Then again, Ross and Rachel got annoying as hell.

[deird1]

I think Niles and Daphne (from Frasier) did it much better. Seven seasons of Niles being in love with her, and people still weren't bored with it by the time they got together.

[(Anonymous)]

And before that, Sam & Diane in Cheers, managed some 5 seasons doing something similar without losing viewers' interest.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

It would have made more since to go the Monica and Chandler route. Hell, at this point I'd take Barney in any sort of relationship, even a rebound one. The dating by the HUNDREDS has just become disgusting and pathetic.