Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
Ted starts teaching architecture at Columbia as Barney and Robin try dating. Ted even gives Barney a course about Robin’s habits, but their differences wear them down and they break up. Robin grows close to Don, her new co-anchor; they become a couple and she moves in with him. Ted and Barney both profess their love for Robin, who realises she has moved past them.
Marshall and Lily settle into married life and debate whether they are ready for children. After Ted’s mother remarries, he leaves the reception and returns days later with a major purchase: a run-down house he calls his dream home. It needs extensive work. Robin turns down a Chicago anchor job to stay with Don, but he later takes that same position and leaves New York. She ends their relationship and moves back into Ted’s apartment.
Marshall and Lily agree to start trying for a child once they see Barney’s final doppelgänger. A supposed lookalike cab driver turns out to be Barney picking up women. He later stages a separate sighting by posing as an Estonian street performer, hoping to help the couple, but they see through it. Four months later, Lily believes a pretzel vendor is the double they have been waiting for. Marshall stops the others from contradicting her, recognizing that her sudden conviction means she is finally ready to begin trying.