How I Met Your Mother – 6.03 – Unfinished – Review

The episode is titled “Unfinished”, because it goes over a lot of the unfinished projects characters of the group face individually. The episode starts with Ted talking about a building that was unfinished, because a bus hit the head architect. They tie this in nicely at the end when a bus nearly hits Ted when he leaves his class to attend to his unfinished business.

At the bar Ted declines being Barney’s wingman for the episode, and Marshall basically begs Barney to be his wingman. First Barney declines Marshall’s help, because he says he’s a bad wingman, and flashes back to a time when Marshall was his wingman. It’s pretty humorous to see Marshall fail at something that Ted does time and time again. Later Barney enlists Marshall as being a wingman for a con he pulls on Ted.

When Robin admits to seeing Don on the TV, and says she is over him. Lily asks, “where’s the poop?” referencing how her dog used to make a face when he had pooped inside. I didn’t care much for that anecdote to be honest. It’s great that Lily can read Robin and know she’s lying, but I didn’t like that reference. It turns out that Robin isn’t really over Don, and she calls and leaves threatening messages on his machine. Lily makes Robin delete his number from her phone at that moment.

Later we find out that Robin calls and leaves a message for Don again, because she never deleted his number. She tells Lily that she probably has numbers on her phone that she can’t bare to delete because they remind her of “a version of yourself that you could be, even if it’s a version of yourself that you’ll never become.” I really like the sentiment in that statement and reality of it. Who doesn’t have numbers of ex-best friends, ex-boyfriends, and old jobs they never cared to delete? They’re just sitting on our phone as a reminder of what we once had, and how different life could be if we had never given up on that time. I don’t think it’s just that we refuse to give up, but also that we like to be reminded of who we used to be and who made us who we are.

We learn that Lily used to do karate and Marshall was in a funk band. Both are still hanging on to these idealistic versions of themselves. Lily even goes as far as returning to her karate class and attempting to get some closure about the class by dealing with a kid who she “fought” when she tried karate. Marshall deals with his unfinished business in a more personal way by singing along in the comfort of his own home.

Ted’s unfinished business is designing a building for Goliath National Bank. Barney had offered him the job again, but Ted turns it down at first. Then Barney spends the entire episode “putting the moves on” Ted. He treats him as he would a girl by first ignoring him, then giving backhanded compliments, and then bragging on himself in forms of complaints. Ted is still completely against the idea until Barney, with the help of Marshall, makes him believe someone else has been given the job (taking the offer off the table.) Ted is about to give in, when Marshall rushes in and admits he has been conned and no one else has been given the position. Ted walks out upset saying he doesn’t want to work with people who lie to him.

I really liked the entire idea of Barney putting the moves on Ted to get the “yes,” and even though Ted figures it out, Barney does get his “yes” as he always does. In the middle of his lecture, Ted realizes that designing a building in NYC is a dream of his and something he does not want to leave unfinished. He tells Barney he accepts the job, but that he wants Barney to take him to dinner first—something Barney never does with girls.

Robin isn’t quite over Don and she realizes it is just something that will be left unfinished in the same way Marshall’s funk band dream and Lily’s karate classes will never be finished. Some things in life are left unfinished and without complete closure.