No, I don't think that's how it plays. Because all the stuff that's cycled through is the stuff that isn't Ted getting back with Robin. Sure you can read it that it doesn't work out again, but since the whole show leads to the kids' conclusion that Ted is in love with Robin (as ever) and Robin is in love with him, I'd…

Except it actually is the traditional ending because Ted's stays with the same woman he's been with through practically the entire series.

I don't really think it's logical and reasonable so much as the ultimate Nice Guy fantasy. Ted decides at first sight that Robin is the girl for him. At first she makes the mistake of thinking they want different things. She even mistakenly marries some other guy. But then she very quickly realizes that no, she…

Yeah, I think everybody gets how it was supposed to work and how they set it up in the pilot. That doesn't change how it ultimately came across after 9 years.

I think it was more like the last 10 minutes. Because I remember looking at the clock and saying, "Ten minutes…surely they don't have time to possibly do that thing people have suspected for years, like killing off the mother so Ted can say he was just in love with Robin all along." And then I was wrong.

OJ and Nicole were not married and I'm not even so sure it's a given that he and Nicole were sleeping together.

And pretty badass, especially in those awesome flashbacks!

Why would sleeping with OJ Simpson's ex-wife be so different than walking on the beach with his high school sweetheart?

Yeah, I couldn't help thinking when he was so angry about the many parents whose children are murdered who don't even get anywhere near the attention that his son was getting. He was angry that his son wasn't in the news as much as Nicole—many peoples' children don't get in the news at all, especially in areas in LA…

And his violence might have gotten even worse over the years as well.

Well, yes. But the mentality they're talking about isn't just people not liking or accepting people who aren't like them. This is talking about society being set up unequally.

Yes, I was going to say that he lacks her self-righteousness but I didn't mean self-righteousness in a bad way. She really does care about the justice here. Maybe she, like everyone else, has moments of ego, but nothing like Shapiro who's all about that. She really is angry on the part of the victims.

Great analysis! Lies was exactly what came to my mind too (though I missed a lot of the other things you mention here). The thing that really stood out to me that I wanted to add was that there seemed to be several instances of characters yelling at someone else for a thing they were doing. The most obvious being…

Yup. This is one of those things that totally comes down to personal taste. And I can enjoy someone explaining why they love BB the most as much as listening to someone like MM the most. Or any other show. If you're hitting people deeply, you've won, period.

Yes.

VAGUE SPOILERS AHEAD

I thought Ethan's story was there in part to show the opposite side of over-analyzing. He's never looked at what he was doing at all, so wound up in a career and an engagement chosen for him by other people who nudged him along with very little effort. I think more than once he defined himself as the absence of self.…

Everyone's done it, except the Virgin Mary." I know Bill doesn't like his mother much, but I like her just fine.

Nothing to add—just want you to hear me clapping. I wish I could take your class on Shakespeare!

Even when he is kissing ass he is easy to see through. Then again, Pete is all surface; he cares about the words of the priest, the dinner waiting for him, his status as a married man, but not once does he say anything about what his wife is like as a person. He's focusing on all of the wrong things in a marriage, and…