Look on paper I like the idea of romantic manic pixie dream girl Ted slowly showing the cynical independent cool girl Robin to believe in love, but like, Robin sometimes acts like she has no feelings for Ted. Like, when she even showed she had feelings for him it seemed to come out of nowhere, and it seems like she's forcing herself to like him because he kept asking her and she doesn't want to reject her friend she cares about. Like, maybe it will change in the later seasons, but as of early season 2 she doesn't seem to actually have feelings for him. And ted's feelings? He's not actually in love with her. He loves the idea of her that he made up in his head. The idea was made when he first met her, and he hasn't let go of that idea. The idea of Robin and the real Robin are in conflict to Ted. On the one hand he sees his friend, on the other hand he sees the image of her he created in his mind and he goes to that because he can't let her go. I know the show won't go this route because I have a general understanding of what happens, but it would have been better writing if they realized the characters realized they were forcing their relationship and just became friends. There was literally a whole episode comparing Ted and robins relationship to ted's divorced parents. Stop beating the dead horse of Ted x robin. Its excruciating. What a good message it would send if they dropped the romance.
