HIMYM: The Purple Giraffe (S01E02)

The title of this episode might seem a bit strange, but it involved Ted talking about Robin and wanting to get married, but you can’t just get married, you have to play the game [dating]. Robin reports on a story about a kid who climbed into a claw machine to get a Purple Giraffe (AHA!), he wanted the toy so bad but he didn’t want to play the game, so he jumped straight to it. Ted later tells the kid that he couldn’t just play the game like everyone else, something Ted doesn’t want to do.

I too want to just move to the end, without playing the game, because the game is stupid. My last post pretty much went into that. But Ted throws three parties back to back to try to be casual enough for Robin to like him. He tries so hard to get to see her that he does a stupid thing like throw these parties.

At the end of the episode, he tells her it can be casual and he can turn off the switch, they kiss and he says he can’t turn off the switch. I too cannot turn this switch off, I’m not looking for casual. I talk about wanting casual, but it’s all a lie. I’m getting older and the game concept to me is retarded. I know I’ve tried hard to get the girl and never succeed. I too know the pains of the game. And I simply cannot stand it any longer.

In the end, she says they should be friends and Ted says at first, wait a few months and then hang out and then decides to just start now as she walks away. Ted is simply going to torture himself by doing this, he has the feelings while she doesn’t. I, too, have done the same thing, thinking it’ll go away or the other person will eventually come to the realization, but that’s not how life goes.

Keeping a girl around as a friend always seems like a good idea, but it never really truly is. Later in the series, Ted can’t just let her go and keeps trying. I love trying to turn someones feelings around, but we all know you can’t. It’s a fruitless fight and will get you on the express train to depression. So what needs to be done? That’s entirely up to you to decide, personally, I always kept the girl around as a friend, and eventually didn’t talk to them as much. I dunno now, I’m thinking that it’s a bad decision to continue talking when nothing is going to come out of it and it’s pointless to keep talking when everything you wanted comes crashing down.

As Ted has to make the decision, I will have to as well. As much as I am a hopeless romantic, I don’t think I can follow in his footsteps and fight the good fight.

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