How I Met Your Mother has always had great season finales, culminating in live-changing events for the main characters full of all kinds of emotions. This one is no exception in being generally brilliant and hitting all the right emotions, and yet it is different. This time, the season finale is not the place and time to tie all the loose ends together and resolve them. Which explains the lackluster nature of the last couple of episodes and their shortage of plot development. Usually they build up to the plot resolution in the season finale. But what season 8 ultimately culminates in is not plot resolution, but one massive build-up. To the 9th and final season that will take all it's time for the ultimate plot resolution, tying up the loose ends that define the entire series. And those have been laid out overwhelmingly well in the final minutes of "Something New".
Let's talk about the episode title for a moment. There's a connection to the last episode but also the final two episodes of season 2 - Something Borrowed / Something Blue / Something Old / Something New. Obviously, they're all wedding-themed. It was Marshall and Lily's wedding at the end of season 2, and now the build-up to Barney and Robin's wedding at the end of season 8. But the meaning of the respective episode title goes beyond that. Lily borrowed a hat to cover up Marshall's ruined hair at their wedding. "Something Blue" refers to the blue french horn, the symbol of Ted and Robin's relationship, the end of which has been revealed in the season 2 finale. And while the Marshall-Lily-wedding coincided with Ted and Robin ending their relationship, the Barney-Robin-wedding will ultimately close the door on them. "Something Old" recalls their history in the scene at the Central Park carousel, with Robin wearing a blue blazer (coincidence or symbolism?). And besides the obvious reference to the locket, the episode title could also be interpreted as a nod to those old feelings between Ted and Robin that seem to be resurging. And now for "Something New". This episode title is even more ambiguous, there's so much it could refer to. There is a new twist to the story of Robin's lost locket. New future plans for Ted. Big news for Marshall. And the closing seconds have something new in store for the viewers, something they've been looking forward to for eight years...