How I Met Your Mother: What episode does Lily and Marshall break up? Explained

How I Met Your Mother was a popular sitcom on CBS. The show ran for nine seasons and had five main characters, one of them being Lily Aldrin and Marshall Eriksen. The couple meet in college and fall in love right away.

However, after dating for several years and even getting engaged, Lily breaks up with him in Season 1, Episode 22, saying she wants to concentrate on her artistic pursuits in San Francisco.

This causes them to be apart for three months; nonetheless, they are reunited many months after Lily's return to New York. The couple re-engage and eventually get married in season 2.

Though Lily and Marshall have dated for a long time, their relationship isn't boring. The only flaw in their relationship is the major break-up they had during their relationship phase in How I Met Your Mother.

Apart from this, the couple manages to keep things interesting by trying to figure out a life together, searching for a place to live, and starting a family together.

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How I Met Your Mother: Looking into Lily and Marshall's breakup and their relationship after

In the first season of How I Met Your Mother, Marshall and Lily have been living together with Ted for several years. They take their relationship to the next level in the pilot episode when they get engaged. It's a cute and amusing moment that completely captures who they are. However, things aren't always as ideal as they appear throughout most of the season.

Although Lily is content with Marshall, she doubts her decision because of a pregnancy concern and the chance to enroll in an art program in San Francisco.

Lily ultimately breaks up with Marshall in episode 22 to move to San Francisco and follow her artistic ambitions, leaving him devastated.

Marshall and Lily experience a lot in How I Met Your Mother season 2, beginning and ending with complete separation and marriage! When the season opens, Marshall is having a hard time adjusting to life without Lily.

Nevertheless, she soon makes a comeback, and for a short while, they switch back and forth. Marshall wants to date, but Lily is still too sad, and they end up getting back together after one date with someone else.

They get engaged again right away, and after the season, they tie the knot in a beautiful ceremony that solidifies their relationship for the duration of the program. Lily and Marshall are contentedly married and spending quality time together throughout most of season 3.

Since they are a generally content and simple pair, most of their narratives center on the group as a whole rather than any tension or drama involving the two of them.

However, they do have one significant life milestone this season of How I Met Your Mother: owning a home. Lily discloses her financial problems. Marshall gets hired as a corporate lawyer after law school, and they can purchase an apartment together. However, it's a horrible apartment with uneven flooring and close to a sewage treatment plant, so it's unlikely to be their permanent residence.

Lily gets pregnant in How I Met Your Mother season 7, and Marshall's grandparents give her and Marshall a suburban home. They aren't sure at first because they love the city, but the more they think about raising a child and their difficulties with their apartment, the more they agree it's a wonderful idea. But later, they shift back to the city after realizing the suburban life isn't the one they want to live.

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As Marshall gets a chance to become a judge and Lily is offered a job in Rome in the last season of How I Met Your Mother, there is a great deal of tension between them as they struggle to determine what to do with their life. Ultimately, though, they devise a scheme that works out well for them both.

Marshall decides to travel to Rome after Lily eventually confesses that she is pregnant again, giving her the life she has always desired.