Season 4
What did Stella say to Ted's proposal?
How I Met Your Mother
Rebound Bro How I Met Your Mother (season 4) Bill &amp; Ted's Excellent Comic Book As Fast as She Can Helen Palmer Geisel
Rebound_Bro-Plot How_I_Met_Your_Mother_(season_4)-Critical_response Bill_&amp;_Ted's_Excellent_Comic_Book-Reprints As_Fast_as_She_Can-Plot Helen_Palmer_Geisel-Illness_and_suicide
Ted decides that it is time for his relationship with Stella (Sarah Chalke) to take the next step. Stella is strangely reluctant, however, and she tells Ted a secret: she has not had sex for five years. Ted shares this with Marshall and Lily, as he does everything. When Stella comes over on the night that she was meant to have sex with Ted, they accidentally reveal that they know her secret. Stella is upset that Ted betrayed her trust and breaks up with him. Meanwhile, Barney tries to find a "Rebound Bro" to whom he can be a wingman to help him get women. He misses Ted and, unwilling to admit it, puts applications up on his blog. Receiving few responses except for an enthusiastic proposal from his colleague Randy (Will Forte), Barney resorts to calling up old friends and previous wingmen. After many unsuccessful attempts (one already has a wingman, one is married and has settled down, etc.) he decides to be the "Bro" to Randy and give him a chance. Unfortunately, he discovers that Randy hasn't had sex in thirteen years and Barney is repeatedly unsuccessful at getting him together with a woman, since Randy is uncomfortable with talking to women, and gets nosebleeds whenever he gets an erection. Barney is unsuccessful until he enlists Robin's help to make Randy comfortable with small-talk with women, telling Robin that he may have a sex tape with her to convince her to come and help Randy. Barney discovers that Randy was a police officer, albeit one that was fired for incompetence; nevertheless, Barney knows being in the 'force' impresses women, and quickly finds a woman who takes Randy home with her. Barney seems happy until Robin comments that "Ted doesn't know what he's missing". Barney tearfully remarks, "You had to mention Ted, didn't you? "Stella comes to Ted's house and admits that she broke up with him because she was afraid it was getting too serious and she was looking for a reason not to get too close to him. Ted and Stella's relationship goes even further than expected as Ted meets Stella's daughter and gets to know her. Later, Stella tells Ted that her sister (who was previously meant to take care of Stella's daughter while Stella and Ted had sex) is still in town and can take care of Stella's daughter. Stella and Ted rush to a motel, where they finally consummate their relationship. When Ted jokingly picks up the phone to tell Marshall and Lily about it after the deed is done, Stella pushes him off the bed in an equally lighthearted manner. 
Michelle Zoromski of IGN gave Season 4 an overall rating of 8.5 out of 10. Michelle stated, "This fourth season seemed to settle down the chase for the titular mother. While Ted was busy dating Stella, the gang settled into many stand alone episodes which were every bit as entertaining as episodes devoted to Ted's love life," later going on to say, "A stellar Robin-Marshall episode, titled "Little Minnesota," makes it clear that these two do not get enough screen time together. With Robin homesick and unemployed (and at risk of being deported), this pairing brought out the best Robin Sparkles reference of the season, when Marshall leads a rousing karaoke version of "Let's Go to the Mall!"
In 2005, Slave Labor Graphics reprinted the series in two trade paperbacks. While the reprints did include the "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey" adaptation, it did not include the eighth issue of the regular series due to the fact that Dorkin did not write or illustrate the issue. 
Picking up from the previous episode, Ted turns to see Stella behind him at a crosswalk. She is quickly joined by her fiance (and father of her daughter), Tony. Ted says that it's a great surprise to see them, and later at MacLaren's, Barney and Marshall praise his cool. Later that evening, Tony shows up at Ted's apartment, professing pity for Ted's condition, despite Ted denying any depression on his part. He explains that his family is rich and wants to make it up to Ted. First he offers him a professor position at Columbia, which Ted turns down, as it is a last resort in the field of architecture. Then, Tony brings Ted to a rich friend's house for dinner to offer Ted a job designing a new home. When the host starts insisting that his "laundry" room be soundproof, lined with stain-proof ceramic tiles, and filled with hanging chains, Ted quickly realizes the man is proposing the design of a "murder room. "Eventually, Ted rejects Tony's help, claiming he's glad to be rid of Stella, who left him at the altar. The comment makes Tony reconsider his commitment to Stella, and he breaks off the engagement. Stella shows up at Ted's apartment distraught, begging him to help her salvage their relationship. Ted refuses, claiming Stella hurt him and his ability to appreciate love. Meanwhile, Barney complains about a speeding ticket he receives. Marshall brags about how he evaded a ticket back in Minnesota by enticing the officer with the offer of bratwurst at a BBQ. Barney takes this as a challenge, and vows to talk his way out of a ticket, and speeds every time he is driving. After a few failures, he continues complaining, and Robin tells the story of how she cried her way out of a ticket. Finally, he encounters an attractive police officer. In the retelling of the story, Barney claims he promptly seduced the policewoman, but he was actually arrested for numerous moving violations. Barney calls Ted (who is in the middle of his argument with Stella) from jail in Brazzaville, NJ, desperate to be bailed out (even though he is only in the cell with two teenage vandals). Stella offers to drive Ted to New Jersey, and the two bail Barney out and drive him back to the city. Before he exits the car, Ted admits that he is tired of searching for love, and hopes to find what she and Tony have. Stella tells Ted a story of how she once talked her way out of a speeding ticket: When the officer said "Young lady, I've been waiting for you all day", she replied with "I'm sorry, officer, I got here as fast as I could." She admits the story was just an old joke and tells Ted the woman meant for him is coming "as fast as she can." Ted agrees to talk to Tony and the couple get back together. Future Ted then talks about how Stella established a new, successful dermatological practice on the West Coast, and Tony became a successful screenwriter, with a hit in May 2010 called "The Wedding Bride". Finally, at the bar, Lily returns, admitting the offensive joke Barney told her four weeks ago was actually funny, but once he starts explaining a scheme involving seducing amnesia patients, she promptly leaves again. 
Geisel committed suicide in 1967 with an overdose (O.D) of barbiturates, after a series of illnesses (including cancer) spanning 13 years. Geisel was also despondent over her husband's burgeoning relationship with Audrey Stone Dimond, whom he planned to marry after Helen's death. Feeling unable to live without him, Helen Geisel wrote in her suicide note:"Dear Ted, What has happened to us? I don't know. I feel myself in a spiral, going down down down, into a black hole from which there is no escape, no brightness. And loud in my ears from every side I hear, 'failure, failure, failure...' I love you so much ... I am too old and enmeshed in everything you do and are, that I cannot conceive of life without you ... My going will leave quite a rumor but you can say I was overworked and overwrought. Your reputation with your friends and fans will not be harmed ... Sometimes think of the fun we had all thru the years ..." Ted later said described his reaction to her death: "I didn't know whether to kill myself, burn the house down, or just go away and get lost." About Helen's death, Ted's niece Peggy commented: "Whatever Helen did, she did it out of absolute love for Ted. Peggy called Helen's death "her last and greatest gift to him."