One episode in period five of the way I Met the Mother, called “Hooked,” revolves around individuals being held “on the hook,” romantically speaking, by people in the show’s gang that is central of. “I can’t be with you … right now” may be the expression the pals keep using to sequence these people along, the “right now” making the entranceway cracked open just enough that evidently some guy that is poor prepared to continue doing Robin’s washing and rub her foot for the vague risk of a someday relationship. Continue reading “The Psychology of ‘Backburner’ Relationships”