How We Made Your Mother: S1E22 "Come On" | How We Made It Rain

Podcast: How We Made Your Mother
Hosts: Josh Radnor & Craig Thomas
Episode: How We Made It Rain (S1E22 "Come On")
Date: September 1, 2025

Overview

This episode marks the season one finale of the How We Made Your Mother podcast—a reflective deep-dive into the making and legacy of How I Met Your Mother, centered on the pivotal S1 finale, "Come On." Josh Radnor (Ted Mosby) and co-creator Craig Thomas reminisce about crafting the episode’s magical realism, the emotional stakes for the characters, the daring narrative choices, and the real-world uncertainty about the show’s future. They discuss the show's enduring resonance, respond to fan letters, and share personal growth through revisiting HIMYM twenty years later.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Episode’s Core Story & Thematic Overview

Description & First Impressions

• "Ted uses a rain dance to keep Robin from camping."—The official succinct episode summary, which the hosts lampoon for its odd, AI-generated tone but admit is technically accurate. (03:12)
• The finale sees Ted desperately attempting to win Robin over before she leaves with Sandy Rivers, while Marshall and Lily's relationship is rocked by her secret application to an art fellowship.
• The larger themes: the ritual of looking back, how life's highs and lows are often concurrent, and HIMYM’s willingness to balance hilarity with heartbreak.

Craig Thomas:

"I'm startled at how successful [the first season] was just in the basics of what a television season is supposed to do. It weasels its way into your heart. It tickles your funny bone." (08:19)

2. Revisiting the First Season with “Older, Wiser Eyes”

Rewatching the Show

• Both hosts had not rewatched in full until now; the experience is alternately nostalgic, illuminating, and generous. They express new appreciation, less self-criticism, and see the show’s “beating heart” more clearly.
  Josh Radnor:

"It's so interesting that you go back and there's so much more generosity. Any little details that could have been a little bit this way or that way, they just kind of come out in the wash. The thing is the thing." (17:17)

3. The Art and Tension of the Finale

Magic, Storytelling, and Earned Surrealism

• The discussion pivots on how the show balances grounded New York realism with moments of magical realism—especially Ted literally “making it rain.”
• The hosts connect Ted’s “Come on!” rooftop plea to themes of faith, intention, and storytelling: is it magic, coincidence, or simply the magic of how we remember and retell our own stories?
  Craig Thomas:

"There is something baptismal and renewing about the rain… Rain is change. Right. Water is change." (22:14)
"Ted is actually invoking a kind of cosmic magic trick... There’s magic in the universe. If your belief is strong enough, if your intention is pure, if you’re aligned, there’s magic." (25:07)

• The writers deliberately waited to “break the rules” (telepathy, rain dances, time jumps) until the audience trusted the characters, having “earned” surreal moments through previous emotional investment. (23:48)

Josh Radnor:

“The energy, Josh, you had in that whole sequence, and when it started to rain, and the joy and the freedom… How did that feel acting that whole sequence? Because energetically, something really shifted…” (24:28)

Nick Cave Quote—On Transcendence
Craig riffs on Nick Cave’s essay about the inability of AI to write a “great song”:

"Greatness lies in the fact of a human being transcending limitation. But robots and machines don’t have limitation, so there’s nothing to transcend." (42:02)

4. The Craft of the Finale — Emotional Crosscurrents

• The rain is a dual symbol: “absolute magic and celebration for Ted, total devastation for Marshall.”
• The showrunners praise Alyson Hannigan and Jason Segel’s acting in the emotional breakup scenes—highlighting how HIMYM gave sitcom tropes genuine emotional weight.
• The juxtaposition of Ted’s euphoria and Marshall’s heartbreak is cited as "one of my favorite moments of the entire series." (65:00)

5. The Reality Behind the Scenes

CBS’s Resistance to Serialization

• After the sound mix for the finale, the writers were called into a meeting, expecting congratulations—but instead were told:
  "You’re too serialized, you’re too emotional, you’re too 'emo.' Be more standalone. Don’t throw this thing away." (49:08)
• Instead, they doubled down and stayed true to the vision, anticipating that TV was about to shift toward their style.

Craig Thomas:

"We didn’t stop doing any of that stuff. If anything, we did it more." (50:36)

6. Legacy, Fandom, and Personal Growth

• The hosts read fan letters from viewers around the world about how HIMYM helped them navigate life, even learn English, and become a source of comfort and education.
• Josh opens up about his past ambivalence regarding the fame and loss of anonymity the show brought, and how re-examining the series (and international fan encounters) has shifted his perspective:

"Now I’m just seeing the sweetness of it… If you see me on the street, you’ll have a much nicer encounter with me if you call me Josh, you just will… But largely I’m just able to understand why people love the show so much." (71:33)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Craig Thomas (on episode titling, 03:27):
  "Let your future self name the episodes."

• Josh Radnor (on magical realism’s payoff, 30:45):
  “Maybe it just rained. Maybe it just happened to rain at that moment. But in future Ted’s story, he made it rain… And who’s right?... The answer is yes. The storytelling is what makes it magic.”

• Craig Thomas (on shared sorrow and joy, 35:08):
  "The rain to Marshall is tears, and the rain to Ted is proof that magic exists and Robin will be mine."

• Fan Letter, Joe (81:36):
  "There’s a future version of you to whom this all makes more sense… no matter how lost and confused I felt, I would inevitably make it to the other side..."

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Listener Voicemail from Argentina — Impact of the show: (00:55–01:34)
• S1E22 Aired & Plot Recap: (03:45–06:26)
• Reflections on Season One’s Surprising Solidity: (07:17–10:00)
• The Necessity of Constraints & Creative Compression: (10:00–11:54)
• On revisiting the show as actors and writers: (17:17–19:15)
• Exploring the “magic” and narrative risks of ‘Come On’: (21:31–34:50)
• Behind the scenes: Rain Dance filming & big gestures: (56:27–58:55)
• Fan Letters and Legacy: (81:36–90:15)
• Hosts’ emotional sign-off, celebrating their friendship: (90:15–91:18)

Other Highlights

Relationship Dynamics & Performances

• The bittersweet “pause” tactic between Marshall and Lily is commended as a “very good relationship tactic,” but one that ultimately fails amid overwhelming emotion. (59:57)
• Barney’s role as “voice of reason” and the subtle parallels between Barney’s sleight-of-hand magic and Ted’s more cosmic, sincere brand of magic.
• Alexis Denisof, Amy Acker, and Lou the weatherman get personal shoutouts as delightful guest stars. (58:55)

The Show’s Meta Commentary

• Fans and hosts alike comment on the multi-layered meta nature of the podcast—actors looking back on a show that is itself about looking back, now “adding commentary and hindsight to these past memories.” (83:24)

Fan Insights & Reflections

• Fans say HIMYM has helped them learn English, has offered comfort during illness or loneliness, and continues to teach them about friendship and emotional resilience.
• The finale’s mood struck many as comforting for its authenticity—acknowledging that "the universe of the show is Ted's dating life," and the show dares "to make us pay attention, to sit in the uncomfortable emotions." (53:35, 82:51)

Closing Thought

Craig Thomas (to fans):

"It's the fans that are the keepers of these stories, these characters, and their souls. The soul of the show itself continues to live in the hearts and minds and lives of the people who love it dearly." (87:58)

The hosts end with emotional gratitude for each other and their audience, looking forward to season two and promising more magic, heartache, and time-bending fun ahead.