Analysis

"Nothing Good Happens After 2 A.M."

                In an episode of How I Met Your Mother, a hit sitcom that has been running for 9 seasons Ted, the storyteller and protagonist, was faced the option one night to be with his best friend who he's always had feelings for, or to remain truthful to his long distance girlfriend who lived in Germany. The decision was not an easy one for him, being that his girlfriend, Victoria, was supposed to call him earlier that day to talk about something "serious" in which he assumed was a breakup call.  On the other hand his best friend, Robin, asked him to come to her house at 2 in the morning. Both of these women meant something special to  him, but with Ted thinking that the door to Victoria was closing due to the long distance in their relationship he assumed it would be okay to see Robin when she called. If only he listened to his mother's advice, "Nothing good happens after 2 A.M."

                His best friends, upon hearing the news that he is on the way to see Robin, who happened to be at an extremely vulnerable spot, told him things like "Ted just go home, it's late" and "Remember what your mom said, at 2 A.M. you should just be in bed." Ted continued to ignore his friends warnings, and eventually made the decision to go for it with adrenaline and nervousness flowing through his body. While at Robin's, they decided to drink wine instead of making juice like they had "planned" and stayed up talking which is when Ted falsely confessed to Robin that Victoria had called earlier and dumped him because of the long distance relationship stresses. 

                Ted's friends interrupted  their conversation with a final call to warn him for the last time that if he wanted things to work with Robin he should do it the right way and leave her house for the night. Disappointed but knowing that his friends were right, he decided to leave. Before heading out the door, however, Robin and Ted embraced which spontaneously led into making out on the couch. Ted let his feelings get the better of him and he decided to break up with Victoria so he could have sex with Robin. He rushed into the bathroom only to be interrogated only to return  to the living finding Robin closing Ted's identical phone after Victoria had finally called for him. Realizing that Ted had lied to her, Robin made him leave and Ted had to call Victoria to end things once she found out that he had gone to Robin's house. Laying in bed at the end of the night, Ted wished he had listened to the advice that has been in front of him all night, "Nothing good happens after 2 A.M."

                Ted repeatedly explained the moral of the story to his children and the audience throughout the episode.  The way this episode was set up was to show a lesson through this painful experience that he should have listened to his mother and his friends. The phrase, "Nothing good happens after 2 am." has two purposes that haunted Ted from the beginning to the end. It was foreshadowing to that something bad would happen, and it was a lesson that he had learned that he was recalling by telling the story after it had occurred.  If he had listened and remained faithful to Victoria till the end, he would have been able to have a better chance with Robin instead of hurting both of them and himself with one stupid decision

                In the back of Ted's mind he knew that he was in the wrong, he knew that they were not going to make juice like Robin had proposed and he knew that he should call Victoria first. These thoughts were displayed by him projecting Victoria at different times throughout the story. The first time Victoria appeared was in the cab on the way to Robin's house. She playfully pondered his decision and he defended himself by saying things like "Yes, we're going to make juice! Juice is perfectly harmless, in fact, it's quite healthy." and "Nothing is going to happen, and I wouldn't be going over there if you had just called me like you were supposed to." Ted felt guilty that he was going over to Robin's house and these manifestations of Victoria portray his own self doubt on whether this is the wrong or right thing to do. Unfortunately, Ted's deeply rooted feelings for Robin are enough to ignore these fights with "Victoria."

                Sitting outside on Robin's apartment steps Ted encountered Victoria again. "Are you really doing this? You're going to go up there?"  Ted responded "Please, just get out of the way, " to which Victoria finally said "I'm not in the way." Ted again put the blame on her saying "Look if only you called..." but she had disappeared.  This scene is important because Ted needed to realize that nothing was in the way of his decision, and that he could blame Victoria for not calling all he wanted, but he was there because it was his own choosing, not anything that Victoria did or did not do. Her disappearing showed Ted how ridiculous his claim that it was her fault sounded, and that if he was making this decision without thinking of her at all. As he walked into her apartment building, Ted, talking to the audience and his children then said " I had more sense than to do that, but at 2 A.M. my good sense was asleep."

                While Ted was in Robin's house he was conflicted and awkward towards her, because he knew what he was doing was wrong and that he needed to do something about it. He talked it over with his friends and he finally decided to leave, in order to do things right with Robin and break things off with Victoria. All of that changed as soon as they were laying on her couch making out. He chose right then that he couldn't wait and that he would do anything to have Robin. Victoria talking with Ted in the bathroom made some final points to his story. Such as:  the break up over the phone would be at least a 20 minute phone call and besides that point, he had Robin's phone and left his identical one outside. Ted arguing with his imagination for the final time showed him that he had made a mistake and now it was too late to fix it.

                This episode took a simple phrase "Nothing good happens after 2 A.M." and applied it directly to Ted's relationship. He realized that immediately after leaving Robins house and laying down to sleep alone, angered by his mistake. He realized he had pursued Robin, even though he knew it was a mistake from the moment he said yes to her phone call. The visions of Victoria throughout the episode showed  the internal struggle between the right thing to do V.S. what Ted wanted. Ted wanted Robin and he lost both Robin, and a chance to make things right with Victoria by refusing to listen to the simple instructions, after 2 A.M., just go to bed.

Works Cited

                "Nothing Good Happens After 2 A.M." How I Met Your Mother.CBS. Netflix. Web. 10 Apr. 2006.