Marshall and Lily are considered to be “relationship goals” and they are definitely the healthiest couple out of all the different romantic duos on the show. On How I Met Your Mother, everyone looks up to their relationship, even Barney (a task which is seemingly impossible). Yet despite these two being a great couple, there were some significant moments that proved they had some stuff they really needed to work on. Here are the 5 worst things Lily did to Marshall (and the five worst things Marshall did to Lily).
10. LILY: BREAKING OFF THE ENGAGEMENT
How I Met Your Mother fans are still not over the episode when Lily broke off her engagement with Marshall in order to do an art program in San Fransisco. Lily was worried that her relationship with Marshall was stopping her from becoming the next great artist, so she decided to sign up for a three-month program on the other side of the country.
We’re pretty sure there are tons of incredible art schools in NYC so this move kind of comes across as unnecessary and it makes us think Lily is trying to run away from her relationship. Although it’s perfectly fine that she wants to find a sense of freedom before settling down, it was uncool of her to go behind Mashall’s back and apply for the art program without even telling him.
9. MARSHALL: NOT TELLING LILY ABOUT BECOMING A JUDGE
Here is another perfect example of this couple not being able to communicate like adults. After Marshall and Lily make the decision to move to Italy, a decision that Marshall greatly supported and even pushed on an unsure Lily, Marshall instead takes a position as a judge in New York. That is a huge life decision that affects the entire family. The fact that he couldn’t be honest with Lily upfront and let her in on the truth right after it was decided proves that this couple has a lot of work to do.
8. LILY: ASSUMING MARSHALL WOULD CRAWL RIGHT BACK TO HER AFTER BREAKING HIS HEART
After Lily and Marshall broke off their engagement, Lily came back from her San Fran art program fully expecting Marshall to crawl right back to her. The fact of the matter is, Lily only left the program because her art teacher told her she was never going to make it as an artist. Basically, being with Marshall was her fallback plan and she assumed he wouldn’t be able to find happiness without her. She should have considered his feelings more thoroughly before making her big decision to move and she needs to understand that certain things don’t come as easily as she would have liked them to.
7. MARSHALL: DOESN’T ALWAYS PAY ATTENTION TO HER WANTS AND NEEDS
In the final episodes of How I Met Your Mother, the series goes from a comedy to a soap opera based on the levels of drama that we watch unfold. In a heartbreaking scene, Lily takes Ted up to the rooftop and she admits to him a secret that she has never told anybody, not even Marshall.
She tells Ted that sometimes she doesn’t like being a mom and that she will occasionally get the urge to pack up in the middle of the night and leave. The fact that she feels this way is upsetting, but what’s more upsetting is that Marshall doesn’t seem to take any notice to Lily’s feelings. As her husband, he should be more attentive.
6. LILY: FAILING TO TELL MARSHALL ABOUT THE CREDIT CARD DEBT
Having the amount of credit card debt that Lily has is bad enough, especially considering it’s all over stuff that she doesn’t need such as designer clothes and shoes. But what makes matters worse is that she can’t own up to her actions and tell Marshall the truth that they are swimming in a sea of debt. She owes it to him to let him know and it’s becoming clearer by the minute that these two don’t know how to address their issues.
5. MARSHALL: MAKING LILY CHOOSE WHO WAS THE SETTLER IN THEIR RELATIONSHIP
Marshall and Lily are told that in every relationship there is a person who settles and a person who manages to score someone out of their league. Marshall then pressures Lily into telling him who she truthfully thinks the settler of their relationship is. Then when he finds out, he gets totally upset about it. He was the one who bugged her about it in the first place and made her fess up, so it wasn’t fair of him to lash out after stating her honest opinion. Plus, in good relationships, both people believe they are incredibly lucky to be with the person they ended up with.
4. LILY: STALKS MARSHALL’S DATE
After Lily and Marshall go through their breakup, months pass until Marshall finally entertains the idea of getting back into the dating pool- not that he was ever in it. Marshall and Lily had been together since freshman year of college, so he really didn’t have all that much experience with the ladies. To make matters worse, once he scores a date with a barista, Lily wears a disguise and stalks her. Although this scene was rather hilarious due to how outrageous it all was, it still wasn’t cool of her to stalk the person Marshall had a chance with.
3. MARSHALL: DITCHES LILY FOR THE CLUB
In one of the episodes, Marshall and Lily throw a wine and cheese night in order to try and act more mature as a couple. They discover how boring this lifestyle is and Marshall and Lily realize that this is not what they are meant to be doing. Instead of Marshall taking Lily with him to leave the party, he climbs out of the bathroom window, essentially ditching Lily. Even though he knew she didn’t want to be there, he left her all alone.
2. LILY: DOESN’T FILL HIM IN
Lily seems to have a lot of internal struggles when it comes to her life, and she doesn’t ever think to fill her husband in on these issues. There have been several times throughout the series when she wanted to leave and move somewhere totally different. It isn’t that far off to say she often felt trapped. Lily has every right to feel this way, but it would be a whole lot better if she informed Marshall on these issues rather than letting him guess how she’s feeling.
1. MARSHALL: IS IMMATURELY CRUEL TO HER AFTER THE BREAKUP
Marshall has the right to be upset with Lily after their big breakup, but some of the things he says and the anger he displays is just uncalled for. For better or worse, all Lily was trying to do was better herself. She wanted to become the best version of Lily Aldrin that she could possibly become, and Marshall shouldn’t have trash-talked her while she was in San Francisco. Despite how much she hurt him, he shouldn’t have lashed out on her the way he did.
