I.P.S Season Finale Has Us Begging For More... Marshall, That Is

we all know that if, if, marshall gets the opportunity to disclose his feelings to mary one of two things will
happen: mary can respond to his affection right away the the show will end here and there, maybe with a
wedding episode where the only suspense will be which \"witness\" the couple will chose at the altar, unless
they bring back all the ones who appeared on the show...
on the other hand, if mary in her very selective obliviousness takes the confession with great surprise, the
shock will yield one, maybe two episodes where her feelings will sway back and forth and her professional
relationship with him will be foggy and uneasy. then either the show reaches the first conclusion described
above or *gasp* she decides a relationship between such different temperaments has less chances of
working out than the union of a wildcat and a raccoon (don\'t ask me why i chose those two).

i think that fans of the shows and supporters of marshall in particular, like myself, can suffer and cringe
their teeth at the choice of outcome for the season finale in regards to the quality of the story and the
character relationship development we\'ve witnessed for the past three seasons.

we might have our cake and eat it later but for now, let\'s just savor the frosting.

ipf

*sigh* spoiler alerts might have been nice...

spoiler much?

of course the nice guy never gets the girl...

of course.. this could have been posted in the comments for the finale (with big spoiler warnings)
as it's not exactly news.

ban this user please.

this is not news, it is an opinion and it completely ruined the finale.

relax folks, it's not a spoiler for two reasons. first, it aired weeks ago, and second, that's not what the hell happened.
i'm sick to death of watching people's starry-eyed wish-fulfillment cause them to misinterpret what's actually taking place
on-screen, and ruining what the writers went to so much work to craft. it's like coming up with the perfect joke, and
some knucklehead screams out his own punchline before you can get to the real one, and by then everyone's lost focus
and it's no longer funny.

for those that want to know, here's what actually happened. it might cheer you up:

marshall was, indeed, trying to give mary advice, but he wasn't trying to sell himself. this is why mary was looking a little
stunned and awkward, because she realized that marshall, in his ernest, childlike sincerity, was completely oblivious to
the fact he was effectively describing himself. that's also why she was so happy that stan walked in, so she could
change the subject before marshall had a chance to possibly realize the significance of what he'd said.

look, to any "shippers" reading this, i don't care one way or the other about those two "getting together." if they do,
fine, if they don't, fine. i watch the show for marshall, because i like the guy and think he's a cool character, and i
generally just want to punch mary most of the time, but if she floats his boat, no biggie. it's not like i've gotta cuddle with
her and whimper in fear for my life every night. still, all that aside, if you actually pay attention to the usage, context,
intent, and even facial expressions, of what's being said, it often doesn't fit what you're wanting it to. case in point, the
time marshall told someone he loved mary. that wasn't romantic love he was professing at the time. she's his best friend
(for some bizarre reason), and he loves her. love with a lower-case l. she'd been shot, and he might have lost her.
kinda brings out the ol' emotions, y'know?

got any family? mom, siblings, and so forth? chances are you love them, but don't really even wanna live with them,
much less take warm showers together. love has a lot of facets, and you're selling yourself, and your favorite shows, a
bit short if you assume the "l word" automatically means alimony payments are somewhere down the road.

and yeah, personally i thought it made perfect sense that she ultimately took marshall's advice and took a vacation with
someone that everyone, except mary, had known fit the description from the get-go.