The Master Of The Possipimpible
The Master Of The Possipimpible has been noted as one of the episodes which subtly build up the extent of Barney’s feelings for Robin, adding a psychological depth and heart to the womanizer.
When it is suggested that Robin marry an American citizen in order to prevent getting deported, Barney, in a move apparently unnoticed, immediately gets down on one knee. However, the word “possimpible”, which means the blurred area between the possible and the impossible, is an exact embodiment of Barney and Robin’s relationship.
Barney and Robin were both deeply flawed individuals, with complexes and damage. Barney’s commitment phobia and womanizing coupled with Robin’s hesitation to open up emotionally and gun-toting behaviour make this relationship sound like it could never work. It seems impossible and illogical that they could ever be happy together, but when you put them together, the possimpible happens.
That Day’s Just No Good
Barney, it seems, lives like life is a stage, and he must constantly play the lead actor. With his magic tricks, grand speeches, hoodwinks, bamboozling, and theories, his personality often seems elaborately cultivated. Robin is extremely reticent about displaying her emotions, often not even admitting them to herself.
Yet, when the real Barney slips out through the mask, when he isn’t even trying, and Robin shows through her actions how much Barney’s happiness means to her, that the most romantic and genuine moments of the show are created.
Case in point : When Barney buys ten years worth of stamps, milk, and cleans Ted and Robin’s apartment to prevent them from fighting slash hooking up, when he makes her video resume, and when Robin assaults a random girl to prevent Barney’s date with Nora from getting ruined, even though she has feelings for him. If love means putting the other person’s happiness before your own, despite their emotional stuntedness, Barney and Robin sure get it right.
Chemistry and Timing
Robin’s statement that a couple only needs chemistry and timing is at the heart of the show. Marshall and Lily had both–love at first sight, Ted always has good timing–meeting girls – Victoria, Stella, Zoey when they’re ready for a relationship, but it always ends up that the chemistry wasn’t quite right, whereas Barney and Robin have chemistry that is off the charts.
Their dance at Punchy’s wedding, their heated moment in the cab, their banter, all go on to show that no matter how problematic their relationship may be, the chemistry is inescapable. In an odd, skewed way they were perfect for each other in a way Ted and Robin weren’t.
Ted told Robin that she didn’t make him feel needed. But instead of making her feel inadequate, Barney told her that that is one of her best qualities : “No one can say who’s your daddy to Robin Scherbatsky. You’re your own daddy.”
I Don’t Have To Wait For It Any More
The proposal. Although they are the most unconventional, least romantic couple on the show, when Barney and Robin get romantic, they get romantic. The elaborately planned proposal, and also this hopelessly romantic speech, “I love everything about her, and I’m not a guy who says that lightly. I’m a guy who has faked love his entire life. I thought love was just something idiots thought they felt, but this woman has a hold on my heart that I could not break if I wanted to. And there have been times that I wanted to. It has been overwhelming and humbling and and even painful at times. But I could not stop loving her any more than I could stop breathing. I am hopelessly, irretrievably in love with her. More than she knows.”
Needless to say, Swarkles is our OTP for life.
