How I Met Your Mother

[Flames89]

Didn't watch the finale, but am surprised by the analysis here. People are treating this sitcom like it was Breaking Bad.

[loob job]

Good ending, good show, no need to overanalyse, it's a tv show.

[Coys1882]

Is there a TL DR version for people who stopped watching in Season 3 but are still curious how this show ended up?

[automaton 3]

Originally Posted by Freeway

The Final Page was arguably the best episode they ever did, as it had Ted self-lessly putting Barney & Robin's happiness ahead of his own. Him falling in love with the Mother in the finale should've been the pay-off. It wasn't.

Agreed - that episode was very well done. The finale felt completely out of step to what they had set up for.

Demolishing Barney and Robin's marriage in about 15 seconds flat after they spent many, many episodes convincing us they were going to make things work was a head-shaker.

[The Big Chill]

What was great about this show was that while it was (almost) always funny, it still had an ongoing heavier, dramatic side to it. Some of the best moments of the show were those types of moments, like when Marshall's dad died, or when Barney admitted to his Dad that he was "broken".

So much time was spent into developing Barney's character, with his Dad telling him he can change his ways if he finds the right person to settle down with. But all that is cheapened by having them get divorced in the first 15 minutes after they were finally married.

I didn't like that part at all. I had no issues with how they handled Tracy, but I really didn't like that Barney was basically an afterthought in attempt to complete Ted's story.

[strombad]

Originally Posted by Coys1882

Is there a TL DR version for people who stopped watching in Season 3 but are still curious how this show ended up?

I'll sum as much of the series up as I can:

Marshall & Lily:
Briefly break up, get married, Lily is a teacher, have kids, live in Rome for a year, Marshall becomes a judge/state senator

Barney:
Womanises, almost falls in love (doesn't work), hooks up with Robin, they get married, get divorced, has a baby with random lady

Robin:
Things don't work with Ted, dates around, she can't have kids, marries Barney, becomes world famous new anchor, gets divorced, drifts away from the group, lives alone with a bunch of dogs and ends up with Ted

Ted:
Goes after Robin, gives up on Robin and moves on, feelings for Robin resurface at awkward moments, becomes an Architect/Professor, is going to move to Chicago, doesn't because he meets the mother, she dies, he ends up with Robin

[GreenLantern]

If they ended the show with that great scene of Ted and Tracy on the platform I would have been very happy. But they didn't and because of that they ruined it for me.

Glad this show is done as it was more frustrating than anything in recent seasons.

[CaptainCrunch]

I would have written it completely differently, and had it end in the bar right after the mother died and the group comes in, they look at each other, realize that they're not the gang anymore and they all go their seperate ways.

Then you see Ted picking up this super skanky hooker on a street corner and then the scene flashes back to the den and Ted smiles at his kids and says "And that kids is how I met your new mother"

[Bigtime]

One thing I REALLY liked was the first lines of dialogue between Ted and the mother. You got all those callbacks to the close calls of them meeting and when they (or the yellow umbrella) missed crossing paths by mere moments.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by The Big Chill

What was great about this show was that while it was (almost) always funny, it still had an ongoing heavier, dramatic side to it. Some of the best moments of the show were those types of moments, like when Marshall's dad died, or when Barney admitted to his Dad that he was "broken".

So much time was spent into developing Barney's character, with his Dad telling him he can change his ways if he finds the right person to settle down with. But all that is cheapened by having them get divorced in the first 15 minutes after they were finally married.

I didn't like that part at all. I had no issues with how they handled Tracy, but I really didn't like that Barney was basically an afterthought in attempt to complete Ted's story.

I was thinking about this too because that was a gap for me as well. Not necessarily that Barney had changed (I think his change was overstated, he was still running "plays", etc but now it was just for Robin only) but that Barney truly wanted to change and become a better person.

I think that is a part they glossed over in the finale. Barney truly did love and want to change for Robin, but sadly Robin didn't want to change for Barney and that pushed Barney away.

After that attempt to change, and having it all for naught as he was unhappy and once again heart broken, it was not a stretch to see him fall back into that behavior.

Much like how Barney became "Barney" originally after having his heart broken by a woman.

Had they used this whole season to tell more of the future story for the whole group I think the ending would have been better received by all. You do have to fill in your own story a little bit for how much

[TheyCallMeBruce]

I wasn't sure what I was watching. I turned on the tv and saw this thing happening and it seemed super emotional. In the end I realized it was the How I met your mother finale and thought, "Oh ok, so this is "How I met your Mother" Then I went to bed.

3 out of 5 stars.

[Buff]

People expect way too much out of a sitcom.

[FlamesAddiction]

I never really watched this show past the first few seasons, except for the odd episode here and there, but I can't help but be curious about the finale.

Do they ever explain why in 2030, he sounds like Bob Saget?

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

I was thinking about this too because that was a gap for me as well. Not necessarily that Barney had changed (I think his change was overstated, he was still running "plays", etc but now it was just for Robin only) but that Barney truly wanted to change and become a better person.

I think that is a part they glossed over in the finale. Barney truly did love and want to change for Robin, but sadly Robin didn't want to change for Barney and that pushed Barney away.

After that attempt to change, and having it all for naught as he was unhappy and once again heart broken, it was not a stretch to see him fall back into that behavior.

Much like how Barney became "Barney" originally after having his heart broken by a woman.

Had they used this whole season to tell more of the future story for the whole group I think the ending would have been better received by all. You do have to fill in your own story a little bit for how much

This thing really snaps true, in the end to me Robin turned out to be a pretty terrible person. She put career in front of a guy who was willing to give up everything to be with her, and then she comes out with the whole lame easy exit strategy for herself and doing it in a way to make it seem like its Barney's fault.

Then it became clear that she still loved Ted as the guy she should have been with, so maybe she never loved Barney and just settled.

Then she goes all emotionally distant and puts it on the gang instead of where the problem was and that was with her.

Just looking at the final episode Aunt Robin looks like a pretty terrible person who basically destroyed a guy that loved her nearly unconditionally and that she pretty much ignored over three years of marriage.

He basically became the tag a long husband and her career clearly came first, she basically treated him like luggage.

Then when she was done with him and emotionally had ripped his heart out and gave that stupid exit ramp thing, she wasn't doing it for Barney, she was putting the onus on him so she wouldn't feel guilty.

Then she basically threw the whole friendship concept in Lilly's face (who was pretty much just the everything is sad girl in this episode), went back to the whole I don't belong in this gang so I'm turning in my members card all because she has the emotional growth of a turnip and doesn't want to work at anything and vanishes.

Maybe it was me, and they didn't really show much in the 6 years since the mother died so we don't know what the emotional support was. But if I was the kid, and Ted did this whole story and then asked permission to go after Robin I would basically think he was nuts to be in love with an emotionally handicapped ego maniac like Aunt Robin.

[burn_this_city]

I think many of us would feel less ripped off if they didn't spend the whole 9th season on an largely irrelevant wedding and instead fleshed out Tracy and Ted more. A lot of people spent 9 years waiting for the big payoff and it ended up short and contrived.

[strombad]

Originally Posted by Buff

People expect way too much out of a sitcom.

Expecting it to wrap itself up consistently and logically?

Yeah, we craaaaazy.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

I think many of us would feel less ripped off if they didn't spend the whole 9th season on an largely irrelevant wedding and instead fleshed out Tracy and Ted more. A lot of people spent 9 years waiting for the big payoff and it ended up short and contrived.

I think that's the biggest problem with it.

They fell into a trap that a lot of shows do, where they want to finale to have some big shocking conclusion that it ends up being inconsistent with everything that has built up to the finale and/or they don't want to reveal anything before the finale, so everything gets crammed into one episode.

The first 22 episodes this season dragged out the final 72 hours before the wedding, then the final episode rushed through 17 years.


If they had wrapped up the wedding in the season premiere and had Ted and Tracy meet at the beginning of the second episode, they could have told the same story that they told this season, but they could have made it one where we cared about the mother dying, and one where we saw Robin be there for Ted after she died, so we'd all want them to end up together.

[Burninator]

I am not surprised by the lame ending to this show. They had no problems jerking around the audience. I stopped watching the show after Ted's first wedding didn't work out and he ran away with Robin. Perhaps it is just me but I find nonsense like that insulting as a viewer as it treats the audience like idiots.

[Arsenal14]

Originally Posted by getbak

I think that's the biggest problem with it.

They fell into a trap that a lot of shows do, where they want to finale to have some big shocking conclusion that it ends up being inconsistent with everything that has built up to the finale and/or they don't want to reveal anything before the finale, so everything gets crammed into one episode.

The first 22 episodes this season dragged out the final 72 hours before the wedding, then the final episode rushed through 17 years.


If they had wrapped up the wedding in the season premiere and had Ted and Tracy meet at the beginning of the second episode, they could have told the same story that they told this season, but they could have made it one where we cared about the mother dying, and one where we saw Robin be there for Ted after she died, so we'd all want them to end up together.

I largely agree with this. It's not that the episode wasn't consistent but that it rushes ahead so quickly that there are necessarily gaps that the viewers don't see. How you fill them in determines how satisfying/realistic you think the ending is. The only problem with your suggestion would be the inevitable question of: "he met the mother in the second episode of the season, why are there another 20"? I still think compressing the lead-up to the wedding (which was pretty boring) and stretching out the "post-script" of their meeting would have worked better.

[SuperMatt18]

Yeah you could have used this season to have more flash forwards and tell more of the 17 years that we don't get to see it would have been better.

I am the type that is instantly filling in those 17 years with what I think is logically happening, I was able to take Ted's little monologue about how much he loved and cared for the mother and stretch that out, and that is probably why I liked the ending.

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

This thing really snaps true, in the end to me Robin turned out to be a pretty terrible person.

Funny thing is I came to the exact same conclusion after writing that post.

Over the course of the show she:

• Broke Ted's heart- twice
• Ruined Ted's relationship with Victoria
• Cheated on Kevin
• Promised to break up with Kevin for Barney, but doesn't, even though Barney ended his relationship
• Slept with her ex's best friend, then married him, then divorced him
• Put her career ahead of everyone including said husband
• Never supported her friends, and bailed on them for long periods of time

Robin really was a bitch.