10 Serious Moments From Sitcoms
4. How I Met Your Mother - Season One Finale Come On
Before it seemingly abandoned the unique premise that set it apart from typical sitcoms (and became one itself), How I Met Your Mother seemed to be on the way to becoming quite a dramatic canned laughter comedy. Following Ted recount the story of how he met his soul mate, even if we all ended up liking Marshall and Barney a lot more than him along the way, gave us the end of the story meaning we were constantly guessing how the events in the show fit into the endgame. In season one Ted is infatuated with Robin and, despite numerous signs that he should just give up, does everything he can to try and win her heart, including the finales wonderful yet still hokey moment of Ted performing a rain dance to cancel Robins camping trip which actually works.
Its a classic rom-com moment crammed into a sitcom, rain and all (rain makes anything more dramatic) which is all well and good but the real impact of this episode comes from the Marshal-Lilly relationship. As Ted ends his season-long pining for Robin in triumph and thinks hes met the girl of his dreams, he takes a cab ride through NYC and arrives back at his apartment with a smile on his face and his best friend alone holding his ex-fiancées engagement ring. Its a tremendous gut-punch for a show whose very premise is founded on finding true love to end its first season with breaking up its most stable relationship (Lilly and Marshal). And all of it set to Bloc Partys bittersweet song, Modern Love.