Hated this entire final season and the finale did nothing to change that.
The constant flash forwards in the last two seasons ruining any dramatic tension (e.g. showing Robin freaking out at her wedding to Barney long before they showed the courtship, proposal, and wedding; or having Ted and the Mother meeting and showing a lot of their relationship before the "Meet"). The entire finale was a downer - the gang drift apart, the Mother dies (the only exception being Barney and his daughter). And ultimately, the big payoff (Ted & Robin getting together) had nothing to do with the premise of the show, which was How I (Ted) Met Your (His) Mother.
I thought it was a decent enough ending and it made sense in a lot of ways. Its funny I hadn't watched this show in a long time, and the ending still made sense.
I did like an alternative story ending that I read today where Ted had Alzheimer and was trying to tell the kids the story of how he met their mother before he forgot.
So this show spent 9 years telling the audience how Ted met the kids' mother, only to kill her off almost immediately afterward. This show spent an entire season building up Barney and Robin's wedding, only to have them divorced halfway through the next episode?
It just seemed really rushed, and really predictable, and the easiest way out. "We're going to give you nine full seasons of character growth and development but in the end we're just going to rehash the pilot episode. Enjoy!" I hated absolutely everything about the way they ended this show, and it kinda taints the entire series for me.
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So this show spent 9 years telling the audience how Ted met the kids' mother, only to kill her off almost immediately afterward. This show spent an entire season building up Barney and Robin's wedding, only to have them divorced halfway through the next episode?
It just seemed really rushed, and really predictable, and the easiest way out. "We're going to give you nine full seasons of character growth and development but in the end we're just going to rehash the pilot episode. Enjoy!" I hated absolutely everything about the way they ended this show, and it kinda taints the entire series for me.
This pretty much sums up how my wife feels. Killing off the mother and making it about Robin at the end sort of tarnished the whole story for her. I guess it was the anticipation of getting to the mother and having it summed up so briefly.
So this show spent 9 years telling the audience how Ted met the kids' mother, only to kill her off almost immediately afterward. This show spent an entire season building up Barney and Robin's wedding, only to have them divorced halfway through the next episode?
It just seemed really rushed, and really predictable, and the easiest way out. "We're going to give you nine full seasons of character growth and development but in the end we're just going to rehash the pilot episode. Enjoy!" I hated absolutely everything about the way they ended this show, and it kinda taints the entire series for me.
No it was about how Ted met Robin and their lives and twists, their new mother.
Good stuff. Doesn't matter how the show dragged itself out, ending are always fun and sad.
It actually makes the most sense though. The story was about Ted and Robin the whole time, recently re-watching the whole series really brought me to that conclusion. This was always the end game and you could tell it was the plan from the start.
People complained that the stories he told were useless and didn't actually tie into how met the mother and always tied back to Robin.
This ending makes the series make sense, he is telling the back story to sell his kids on letting him date Robin.
To me this is a much more satisfying ending then just ending it with him and the mother happily ever after.
Last edited by SuperMatt18; 03-31-2014 at 10:29 PM.
This pretty much sums up how my wife feels. Killing off the mother and making it about Robin at the end sort of tarnished the whole story for her. I guess it was the anticipation of getting to the mother and having it summed up so briefly.
It taints the entire relationship between Ted and the mother anyway, basically he told his kids he kinda loved their mom but really he only ever wanted to be with Robin.
But you can't listen to me, I also hated the end of Friends. Ross was a pathetic whiny ######bag of a man, Rachel could've done a million times better (and did, several times).
It taints the entire relationship between Ted and the mother anyway, basically he told his kids he kinda loved their mom but really he only ever wanted to be with Robin.
I think that is a very negative way to look at it.
Yes Ted loved Robin but he was able to admit that at that point of their lives neither were the right people for each other. She wanted to be a famous news anchor and she was successful at that because she wasn't with Ted.
Ted was able to find love again, found "destiny" and had the family and wife he always wanted. It was only after tragedy and once his kids grew up that fate brought him back to Robin.
That quote above really does sum up the series IMO. The biggest miss in the finale for me was not having enough interaction between Ted and the mother and showing that the relationship was not just a relegation prize for Ted.
The only emotional moment between any of the characters was Barney and his daughter. They introduce and kill the mother off in the blink of an eye, so the audience has no reason to care.
I get that the whole show was the story of Robin and Ted but it felt really contrived. They spent 3 seasons or so with Barney and Robin falling in love and getting married then ended that within a few scenes. Hell, the entire season was at their wedding.
This was Dexter finale level bad. Bad on almost every single level.
Especially this line:
"Just... all kinds of stuff."
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It taints the entire relationship between Ted and the mother anyway, basically he told his kids he kinda loved their mom but really he only ever wanted to be with Robin.
But you can't listen to me, I also hated the end of Friends. Ross was a pathetic whiny ######bag of a man, Rachel could've done a million times better (and did, several times).
I think it's important to remember that the context of the show is a 50 year old Ted recanting this story to his kids 6 years after the death of Tracy. He's old and lonely, and longing for another time where he lived the best of his life. I think this story wasn't the story of how Ted met their mother, but the story of Ted having the courage to move on.
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For finales I thought it was pretty good. The last episode was a bit rushed but they definitely had a lot of loose ends to cover.
As for the mother dying i thought it worked well, he loved her, he had moved on from Robin and he was happy. Unfortunately bad things happen in life and the mother died. I think one thing people keep overlooking is that the Mother brought Robin back to the group, it wasn't Ted chasing her. I think it was the best way to have Ted and Robin get together because the central story was always about Ted and Robin. So i have to give credit to the writers for sticking to the central story.
Let's face it though I cannot think of to many finales (maybe newhart where he wakes up in his old tv show) that have great no matter what there's always something to not like.
Absolutely hated the ending. I've been a pretty loyal HIMYM fan over the years, even through the seasons that were just so-so. I liked the fact that the show was a good mix of comedy and some pretty decent drama. I feel like the ending cheapened the whole series for me.
The series went 9 seasons basically telling us how Ted and Robin weren't right for each other, and that they are better off as best friends, only to have it end where they get back together. They spent years changing Barney's character, only to have him revert back to his old self in 20 minutes. The 9th season was pretty much a waste of time.
Man, I am freaking bitter...
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The only emotional moment between any of the characters was Barney and his daughter. They introduce and kill the mother off in the blink of an eye, so the audience has no reason to care.
I get that the whole show was the story of Robin and Ted but it felt really contrived. They spent 3 seasons or so with Barney and Robin falling in love and getting married then ended that within a few scenes. Hell, the entire season was at their wedding.
This was Dexter finale level bad. Bad on almost every single level.
Especially this line:
"Just... all kinds of stuff."
Exactly, what was the point of all of that? Why bother showing Barney going through these grand gestures to win over Robin, showing them both struggling with the wedding/vows/marriage, showing how they had both grown and learned to commit to each other, only to give them such a pointless ending?
And how creepy is this entire premise? Presumably Ted is still friends with Barney. Barney whose ex-wife is Robin. Who was Ted's kids' Aunt Robin. Who is now going to presumably be their stepmother? And how are gatherings on the oft-mentioned porch going to be when you have Barney and Robin presumably both invited to these events?
I get that the show wanted this ending from the start, but after nine years of character developments, it just doesn't make sense anymore.
It doesn't help that I just honestly haven't liked Ted for several seasons, and the only times when I did were the flash-forwards with the Mother. Also that feels like a major cop-out. She was PERFECT for Ted, really cute and endearing, and then she's introduced and killed off and then they're just moving on to Ted going after Robin?
If you were going that route, it feels like you could've better used the entire 9th season, rather than building up to a wedding/marriage you were planning to axe fifteen minutes into the next episode.
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The most frustrating part for me is that they threw out 8 seasons of character development to burn everything down and use the ending that makes sense if you only watched season 1 and season 9.
Barney has been evolving from a horrible womanizer with no ability to care for another being into someone finally capable of emotional attachment and commitment for several seasons. Then at the drop of a hat, he revers back to Season 1 Barney, only to be transformed back into a decent human being again thanks to the magic of baby.
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Lots of little things in the episode too, In the final scene in the bar when Robin returns to the group for Ted's wedding Marshall hands Lily some cash...is that him finally paying up on the bet that Ted doesn't end up with Robin?
They could have used more of this season to show the relationship between Ted, Tracy, and the kids but then the ending doesn't make as much sense. The daughter even says it "you make us sit down and listen to this story about how you met mom, yet mom's hardly in the story".
I think the point is we don't have to see the relationship with the mother. We are supposed to understand from the short time they had together, and that we got to see them together, that she was truly Ted's destiny and the love that Ted had. Sadly that love was tragically cut short.
The most frustrating part for me is that they threw out 8 seasons of character development to burn everything down and use the ending that makes sense if you only watched season 1 and season 9.
Barney has been evolving from a horrible womanizer with no ability to care for another being into someone finally capable of emotional attachment and commitment for several seasons. Then at the drop of a hat, he revers back to Season 1 Barney, only to be transformed back into a decent human being again thanks to the magic of baby.
Basically if the show had lasted about 3 seasons, this ending would've been perfect. Too much has changed since 2005 for this ending to work.
