'HIMYM' Boss Craig Thomas Talks Ted, Robin, And Some Big Changes

(WARNING! If you haven't yet watched this past Monday's "How I Met Your Mother," be very, very forewarned: this article contains some massive King-Kamehameha SPOILERS pretty much right off the bat. Don't. Read. Further. Get caught up however you must. Then come right back and read what "HIMYM" co-creator Craig Thomas has to say.)

Hey there, "How I Met Your Mother Fans," let's try something that goes against the panicky change-fearing nature of fandom: stay the course, and hear the puppet masters out.

"HIMYM" co-creator has played with his Ted-and-Robin fire before. When he opened the series seasons ago with a charming date between sweet, romantic, yet bumbling Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) and the lovely, just-a-little-rough Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders) that ended with the "let's get this clear right now..." quote "And that's how I met . . . your Aunt Robin," fans were already turned on their heads and pretty much just told "you'll thank me for this."

At first, they didn't. They actually started off the series pissing many a fan off telling them "it looks good now, but don't get comfy...it's not happening." As time wore on, fans have learned trust in Thomas and co-creator Carter Bays' meticulous continuity and timely, orchestrated call-backs.

That doesn't mean that fingers don't every so often find "Panic!" buttons.

This past Monday, Ted and Robin completed a nearly five-year full circle. The two eventually came together at Season One's end, but had split again by the second season's close with both realizing their disparate priorities just weren't right for one another. "Where do you see yourself in five years?" they had to ask one another.

Lo and behold, Ted's first-season, pre-Robin girlfriend Victoria made a cameo three episodes into the current season. She warned Ted that there's a chapter yet to be written between he and Robin - and that it won't have a happy ending. The two just can't be simply "friends," she predicted.

Then came "Drunk Train."

Monday night, Ted and Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) looked for love in a most wrong place - a late-night train commute - and Ted realized that he still loved Robin. He then hurried home and told her the wonderful truth . . . as she mourned the end of her engagement.

Hold everything, though. Thomas claims this won't be just another fake-out. As is almost always the case, there's a very specific method behind what we mistake for madness.

"There's a new purpose for this happening for Ted and for Robin," Thomas explained to Entertainment Weekly. "It will spin off in a direction different from what we've seen before between teh two of them. We didnt' feel like we were retreading ground."

Instead, Thomas explained, it's the pair looking at themselves five years after that one loaded question that broke their relationship. They'll be seeing just where exactly they have landed, and if maybe they're right for each other after all. EW.com reports that the Feb. 20 episode "No Pressure" picks up where "Drunk Train" left off, complete with Ted assuring Robin there's "no pressure."

Thomas claims it all yields "big shifts" not just for Ted and Robin as characters, but in the show's identity.

"The series will even look a little different on TV," Thomas explained. "There will be some big switches in the dynamics of our gang as we head into the end of season seven. There are going to be some changes that we see . . . I hope people who are fans of the whole serialized, emotional aspect of our show will stay with us . . . You don't want to miss any of these last batch all the way to [the finale]. There's definitely some turbulence coming up."