Future Ted (Bob Saget) describes the evening of his 31st birthday. Over the previous 3 days, Ted had been working hard to design the hat-shaped rib restaurant introduced in Right Place Right Time. As he pulls an all-nighter in an attempt to win his firm a contract, Marshall attempts to lure Ted to the roof for a surprise 31st birthday party (which Ted waves off because he thinks Marshall would never schedule two surprise parties in a row). Barney asks for Ted’s blessing to pursue Robin, using an obvious analogy involving a suit.

Disappointed at his inability to throw a good party, Marshall stands on the ledge of the roof, ready to jump from their apartment roof to the neighboring building’s roof (beautifully furnished with a hot tub), about seven feet away. A flashback shows Marshall’s attempts over the last year to get the courage to jump. Lily tries to dissuade him by claiming that she is pregnant, but when he agrees, noting her weight gain, she stops trying.

Downstairs, while Ted is hard at work, the goat scuttles through the apartment. Ted calls Lily, anxious and annoyed at the goat’s presence. After repeatedly taking a washcloth away from the animal, the goat mauls Ted, and he is sent to the hospital. Finally, when he shows up to his restaurant design meeting, his clients decide to go with Swedish avant-garde architectural superstars, the Svens, instead of him.

Meanwhile, Barney has decided to confess his feelings for Robin, but before he can say anything, she says that she loves him. He quickly reacts by saying they should just be friends, and picks up a random girl at the party. Lily then tells him that Robin overheard his suit analogy with Ted, and was worried about what to do. After discussing it with Lily and Marshall (who reveal they had known for months), Robin decides to “Mosby” Barney, telling him she loves him right away, just like Ted did in the pilot.

After Barney finds this out, he is disappointed, and later at the hospital (while Ted is recovering from his goat attack), he confronts Robin. She admits to “Mosbying” him, but then tries to do it again, until the two confesses their complicated feelings for each other, and kiss.

Finally, back in the apartment, Ted laments his situation, and Lily tells him to stop chasing something that isn’t working, and let the universe take over for a bit. When Lily tells him that maybe he should just take ‘the leap’ and do what the world seems to want him to do, Ted accepts the professor job at the University. Marshall takes the advice literally, and leaps from the roof to the other building, followed by the rest of the gang.

The episode ends Future Ted explaining that that year was the worst of his life (left at the altar, attacked by a goat, fired) But it was worth it, because it all lead somewhere, and the last shot is of Professor Mosby in front of his class, which Future Ted informs us is the class in which he would meet the titular mother.

“The Leap” is the 24th episode (and season finale) in season 4 of How I Met Your Mother TV series and aired on 18th May.

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