10 How I Met Your Mother Moments That Prove Barney Is REALLY Ted's Best Friend
9. Barney Lets Ted Push The Button To Destroy The Arcadian
The Arcadian Hotel saga deserves an article of its own but here is the quick version. Barney gets Ted a design job but the old hotel on the site has to be demolished before a new building can go up. There’s some controversy about the rundown hotel being a landmark that needs preservation and Ted somehow gets mixed up with a girl on the other side of that debate. In classic Ted fashion, he chooses the girl over his own best interests but Team Barney wins anyway.
Ted loses the girl and in a surprising about-turn, he is excited about pushing the button to blow up the hotel. But Barney wants to be the one to set off the dynamite and soon everyone (including Marshall who lobbied hard for the Arcadian’s preservation) wants to push the button. I should make some joke about boys and explosions at this point but it’s eluding me.
Marshall gets pushed aside pretty quickly and it comes down to Ted and Barney. Barney is the one who gets to make the ultimate decision anyway and we all assume he’ll push the button himself. He surprises us all by stepping aside and letting Ted do the deed because that is what true friends do.