How I Met Your Mother: Every Season Ranked Worst To Best

Season four is the first time How I Met Your Mother hit a major bump, and it's all down to Ted's relationship with Stella. The issue there is that Ted, always a hopeless, endearing, flawed romantic, falls in love with Stella for no real reason, trying to force himself into a major relationship so he can skip to the end of his journey.

On top of that, Stella herself is pretty terrible, and is about as forgettable as any character to grace the show. Leaving Ted at the altar in the season's first half, the rest of the season tries everything in its power to forget about Stella and revert to type.

And, really, it does. Despite blips in the road from episodes like "Sorry Bro" and "The Front Porch," which add nothing to the plot and just make everyone involved seem incredibly unlikeable, the rest of season four features series high-points such as "Three Days of Snow" and "The Fight," both of which capture the emotion and relatable humour of the show in equal measure.

Without the Stella arc, it could have been one of the greats, but unfortunately it ends up dragged down by this ill-advised development.

Best Episodes: Murtaugh, Three Days of Snow, The Fight, Intervention