How I Met Your Mother had certain characters that became fan favorites. One of those characters was Barney Stinson. Played by Neil Patrick Harris, the character was known for attempting to pick up women until he fell in love with Robin Scherbatsky, played by Cobie Smulders. Now, on the latest episode of How We Made Your Mother, hosts Josh Radnor and creator Craig Thomas spoke about the third episode of the series where Barney forces Ted (Radnor) to go with him to the airport so he can pick up women.

On the episode, Thomas shared that writers Phil Lord and Chris Miller of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse fame took the idea of Barney being almost cartoonish and “ran with it.” Thomas said “They just ran with ‘make it a cartoon.’” But it meant that we got to see a side of Barney that we hadn’t yet seen: Just how desperate he is to try to get women. “The emotion I liked behind it is just how pathetic it kind of is,” Thomas said. “My favorite thing about Barney and rewatching it is just, he’s such a broken man.”

Thomas went on to talk about Barney’s neediness and Ted’s lack of ability to play along with his plans. “I find it, like, so, like, poignant and moving in a way to watch how needy Barney is in these early episodes. Like, more so than I remember,” Thomas explained. “He just wants Ted to think his idea is cool and go along with it. That’s it. He just wants Ted’s approval.”

Josh Radnor Wishes Ted Was “More Game’

Radnor shared that when he was watching the episode, he felt like Ted could be a bit more open with Barney’s plan. “I had the experience watching it where I felt like, ‘I wish Ted was a little more game, and I wish Barney would be a little less excited,’” Radnor shared. But Thomas went on to explain that Lord and Miller’s idea was to have Ted as “the voice of reason” in the midst of Barney’s stunt.

“He’s sort of the human being interacting with an animated character,” Thomas said. That still wasn’t enough for Radnor, who said, “I was like, ‘You should go along with this. This could be fun.’” Which does, as Thomas points out, eventually happen on the show. “We got there more later,” Radnor agreed. “Ted softens. He realizes some of the best nights of his life are created by this madman, and it’s better to just go along with them.”

You can see Radnor and Harris as Barney and Ted on How I Met Your Mother.

Source: PEOPLE