How I Met Your Mother 'The End of the Aisle' Review: Love is the best thing we do

Firstly, my apologies for the lateness of this review. I spent Monday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn cheering, booing and being sarcastic during three-plus hours of Monday Night Raw and didn't watch this How I Met Your Mother episode until about 1 a.m. And if I wrote this review at 1 a.m., then it would have maybe three coherent sentences in total, so I thought it best to wait a bit.

Now, onto "The End of the Aisle," the penultimate episode of How I Met Your Mother. Yes, next week is the series finale, but we had to make one more stop before Ted meets his wife, and it was an important stop. It was what we've been building to for this entire long-ass Season 9: Barney and Robin's wedding. And throughout the entire episode, two words floated around my head: "One more."

One more detour into the possibility of Ted and Robin. The bride freaked out about marrying Barney and his not finding her lost locket. She wanted Barney to be the kind of guy who comes through for her no matter what, which she acknowledged was completely unfair. Ted gave the locket to Barney to give to her, but Robin saw right through the ruse and thought it was time to run away with Teddy Westside.

I've made no secret of my frustration with the repeated returns to the Ted and Robin romance, particularly in this final season that is supposed to be all about Robin's marriage to another man and Ted's fateful meeting with the love of his life. But I greatly appreciated the way Ted not only shut down Robin's attempt, but played Dikembe Mutumbo defense and completely shut down Robin's attempt because Barney is his best friend about to marry the love of his life.

"If you think I'd be a part of breaking that up, then maybe you don't know me at all," Ted tells the nervous bride. It was true to Ted's character that he would put others before himself, and it was important to see Ted finally (FINALLY) turn that corner and realize that he was well and truly done with Robin as a potential romantic partner.

One more impassioned speech from Ted. His "love is the best thing we do" monologue was classic Mosby, and he delivered it at just the right time for his friend.

One more freak out from Robin and Barney, who have spent half the season completely in love and the other half coming up with every excuse imaginable for why they shouldn't get married. So of course one or both of them would get cold feet just before the wedding. After a season's worth of doubt, it was a bit annoying to have to go through it again, but everyone is allowed his or her customary pre-wedding jitters.

This also allowed Robin to finally meet The Mother, who convinced her to take a deep breath and then decide what she wanted to do. And sure enough, there was Barney, who decided to stop trying to write perfect wedding vows and just vowed to be honest, the very issue that caused Robin to freak out in the first place. Looks like the Barnacle came through in the clutch, after all.

One more "awwwww" moment from Lily and Marshall, as they unofficially renewed their vows and updated them to reflect the current state of their marriage. No grand, sweeping promises. No cheesy words about eternal love. Just real, honest promises. It was a moment befitting the two characters and one they deserved.

One more slap! We knew it was coming, we just didn't know when. After the long and ridiculous episode dedicated to the previous slap, I enjoyed that this was just a quick one used to calm down Barney.

One more episode. Yes, we only have one more episode left. The fateful moment is about to arrive, and then it will all be over. And hopefully, like Barney and Robin's wedding, it will be legendary.

Notes and Quotes:

-       At first I thought it was odd that we didn't actually hear the ceremony, but we pretty much got the gist during Barney and Robin's one-on-one a few minutes earlier.

-       Also, "Future Days" by Pearl Jam was a fantastic choice for that scene. Am I saying this because I am a devoted PJ fan? Perhaps. But listen to the lyrics and tell me I'm wrong.

-       I could have done without the numerous Lily bathroom jokes.

-       The Ring Bear was adorable! Also, Barney promised not to lie and then immediately lied when he said he was joking about the gorilla.

-       We saw numerous guest stars in the audience, which was a nice way to give them a bit of face time before the finale.

What did you think of Monday's episode? What do you expect from the finale? Let us know in the comments below.