Art consultant Lily Aldrin is a huge source of the endless laughs in How I Met Your Mother. She's been unhappy before but it's hard to catch her in that state for long. In general, she's a happy person, and seems mostly content with her choices in life - and especially happy to have the loving relationship that she does with Marshall.
However, no one is happy all the time, and Lily definitely has moments in the series that challenge her and cause her pain. Whether it is her family issues and her past, or her struggles to balance motherhood, marriage, and her own sense of self, Lily has some moments that leave fans' hearts breaking.
10 Her Strained Relationship With Her Father
Lily is estranged from her father Mickey. Any attempts by either of them to form a bond never works. In Season 2's "Moving Day," it's revealed that he funded her wedding. Lily even hired a harp player to play at the wedding because Mickey loves harps. However, by Season 5's "Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap," their relationship hits rock bottom again.
Lily confesses that she hasn't spoken to Mickey since 2006. In her own words: "He broke my heart every day for 20 years." Some of the sins that Lily finds hard to forgive include forcing her grandmother to retire and refusing to come to an agreement with her mother. When she swallows her pride and invites him to Thanksgiving dinner, all he does is remind her of her forgettable childhood years.
9 The 'Box Of Shame'
In Season 3, it becomes clear that Lily is addicted to shopping. She goes on a shopping spree whenever she is stressed out. The problem is that she can't really afford it. She spends way beyond her means and this gets her in debt. She even has a "box of shame" where she keeps her numerous credit cards.
Lily is obviously not happy about her excessive spending. She is so ashamed of her behavior that she doesn't tell Marshall when she runs them into debt. Thankfully, she learns to get control of this and become financially mature later on in the show.
8 No Couple For Her And Marshall To Hang Out With
Lily and Marshall have always longed for another couple to hang out with. Unfortunately, their friends spend most of their time dating around, leaving Lily feeling lonely. When Robin and Barney start dating, it feels like a dream come true for them. The fact that Lily already likes Robin too much means the two couples will be hanging out together all the time.
Sadly, in Season 5's "The Sexless Inkeeper," Robin and Barney decide to "break up" up with Marshall and Lily because they are too clingy. Later, Robin and Barney regret their decision and invite them back, but for the bulk of the series, Lily is without her ideal couple friends.
7 Her Dream Home Is A Bust
Buying a home in New York City is no small feat, and despite Lily's debt, the pair do manage to find a beautiful apartment and make an offer. After years of living with Ted, they are thrilled to finally be moving on up in the world and getting their own home... which is what makes it so sad that everything goes wrong with the apartment.
They move in and realize that the entire apartment is crooked - and the cost to actually level out the floors is going to be huge. And that's on top of the fact that after buying it, they learn that the area name - "Dowisetrepla" - is a shortened version of "downwind of the sewage treatment plant", and the entire area stinks.
6 Career Conflicts With Marshall
The major thing that threatens Lily and Marshall's relationship is their career paths. She briefly breaks up with Marshall in order to pursue her painting career in San Fransisco. And because of Lily's credit card debt, Marshall is forced to take up a cooperate job instead of looking for his dream job as an environmental job.
Lily is also conflicted when her millionaire boss gives her an offer to work in Europe. And when Marshall gets accepted as a judge, he keeps it a secret from her for a while because he knows it will mess up her plans to move to Europe. In the end, it seems that Marshall's career comes first, but it's sad to see Lily give up her own dreams.
5 She Never Gets To Explore Her Sexuality
Throughout the series, it's clear that Lily is attracted to Robin, and whenever she gets a little tipsy, she ends up making 'joking' suggestions about her friend. And when she finds out that her doppleganger is a stripper, she jumps at the chance to take her place on stage. It's extremely obvious that Lily is bisexual and has some pent up sexual desires that she would love to express, and that this is a part of herself she never gets to explore.
RELATED: How I Met Your Mother: Best Episode In Each Season (According To IMDb)
She's obviously happy with Marshall, and she never seems anything other than happy that she and Marshall have only ever slept with each other - but at the same time, the fact that she has to supress this part of herself is heartbreaking.
4 She Struggles To Get Pregnant
After getting married, Marshall and Lily decide to have kids but things don't go so smoothly for them. They try for a while, but Lily doesn't get pregnant.
The couple soon begins to lose hope. Marshall takes it upon himself to visit a fertility clinic to confirm if he is fertile. The struggle to get pregnant stresses the couple out and almost affects their marriage. Luckily, they are able to have children in the end, but for a couple that has been through a lot, they could have done without this kind of stress.
3 She Loses Her Job For Trying To Do The Right Thing
In Season 2, it's revealed that Lily enjoys inflicting a form of punishment which she labels "Aldrin Justice." Whenever someone is being mean, she punishes them by taking away a thing that they value. She began doing this while working as a kindergarten teacher where she took away toys belonging to kids who misbehaved.
Lily tries to apply this to adults but it doesn't work. When Ted brings her over to work at his office, she takes a prized baseball bat belonging to his boss Hammond (Bryan Cranston). This is because Hammond has constantly been mean to everyone. Sadly, Ted fires her for putting everyone's jobs at risk after Hammond threatens to let everyone go.
2 She Feels Unfulfilled
During Barney and Robin's wedding weekend, it becomes apparent that Lily isn't satisfied with her life. She ends up having an emotional breakdown and confesses that she wishes she was never a mom. This is surprising given how much she wanted babies before. But she does clarify that she doesn't usually feel this way, just at her lowest moments.
Since she is a kindergarten teacher too, Lily always feels sad about having to take care of children all the time. She does it at work and at home too. She is sad that she's never had time to pursue her passions. What's worse is that Marshall has never been aware of how she feels because she has always kept it to herself.
1 Her Biggest Regret
In Season 4's "Happily Ever After," Lily opens up about her biggest regret in life. When in high school, she passed gas loudly while seated next to a boy named Michael Sasser.
Embarrassed, she blamed Michael and as a result, everyone mocked and bullied him. He was even nicknamed "Gasser."The experience traumatized Michael so much that he had to move to a different school. In the episode, Lily states that if she ever saw Michael, she would walk right up to him and apologize.
from ScreenRant - Feed https://ift.tt/34LmXiO
No comments: