They literally did the almost impossible by creating the perfect character to live up to the insane build-up that was 'the mother' with basically perfect casting and acting, and then they threw that all away.
Yeah my big worry at 1st was that they weren't going to be able to actually make her character what she should be, but then they did. And then they ruined her story in a completely unforeseen way.
I would not be so pissed about the mother dying had Ted not gone back to robin five seconds later. The mother being dead all along is kind of a heartbreaking and moving concept, it explains why ted has been telling this story for so long, have him give a little speech about moving on or trying to get by without a loved one and end the episode there. Don’t break up Barney and robin and don’t force her and ted together again, this should not be a story about an old man trying to ask his kids for permission to date their divorcee aún because their mother is dead and he already used her to get the kids he wanted. This should be a story about a father who is reminiscing old times out of loneliness and talking about all the happy memories of his youth leading up to the best moments in his life. Also don’t kill her off in freaking 5 seconds, have the last episode revolve all around her death, send her of respectfully dammit.
Susana Lopez All I can imagine is the song your all alone starting to play as Tracy dies only to be cut of by something bittersweet as Ted looks at his kids and reminisces on everything they’ve been through.
I genuinely love this show and I love the ending, what I hate in the last season and the last episode is the timing : we stayed at the wedding for an entire season and all the story about the group falling appart only lasted one episode
It was all foreshadowed for multiple seasons. As for Barney it was never going to work: he would have to have changed to something we didn’t like: out of everybody he got he got the generic happy ending
UntamedBanana because the first episode was almost subverting rom com and sit com tropes. Instead of making you wonder about “will they won’t they” they tell you right away they won’t, and it was so refreshing and unique. But oh no forget it we are going to subvert your already subverted expectations it was Robyn al along ! Idk never liked robin and ted together and probably never will
The problem here is that the writers deliberately wanted Ted and Robin to be together but didn't want Robin to be the mother (in a sense, have their cake and eat it too). What the writers forgot was to make Ted and Robin a likeable couple we could root for.
I completly agree with this. I liked the show all the way thogh the last episodes but by the end I wished they had long let go of ted and robin but by the time victoria came and went, and went again because Ted could not let go of robin, it was clear they were stuck on that path. In the end it does not feel like a couple that 'should' be together. It feels like time just wore them down. I still like it because it feels gritty and realistic but probably not a great resolution for a sitcom
The last scenes with the kids were probably shot after season 2, when it still made sense that they end up together, but after season 8 it was too late. At some point when you choose a way you stick to it, you don't u-turn and risk losing the major part of the audience.
They were okay in the first two seasons. Their relationship was tired and overdone by season seven, and a walking zombie by season nine. Part of the reason I got into the show in the first place was because I thought they were going to subvert the trope of introducing the main love interest in the first episode but instead they go back to it.
I hated how the whole last season was focused on Barney and Robin’s wedding and then they end the relationship within the last ten minutes and then pair Ted with Robin again. It’s okay that the mother died but you didn’t have to force him into another relationship at the end.
that last scene made the mother look she was only useful to have Ted’s kids… i hated it so much.. Tracy was such a good character I wanted to know her more. How are you gonna make Ted a hopeless romantic and make one of his most important relationships have a small part of the show? I was so tired of ted’s and robin relationship like dang dude there was nothing left for them to give...
yoimstef Ted was more of a creep. So fixated on idealistic vision of Robin that he messed up his love story! Tracy was perfect for him and he truly didn’t deserve her because he still had a thing for Robin who doesn’t make sense! She loves Barney who deeply loves her and makes huge jumps for her to find out she couldn’t care less! She wanted her career then all that wedding panic was giving us hints she didn’t want to marry him. We saw Barney grow and become comfortable being who he is and even supporting her but she couldn’t do the same. Ted was also a creep telling her he loves her while she’s marrying his friend. Ted was a bad Friend actually and Barney was way careful and considerate of Ted in this situation.
@@mj-yo7vt It wouldn't have even been that bad if, again, the finale wasn't a goddamn slideshow? It's fine to love people and move on and change your mind as time goes on. Yet because the audience doesn't get to see what obviously should have been a couple of seasons of Ted and Tracy, that message feels forced as hell.
@@ABirdOnTheMoon The only creep there was Barney who was so obsessed with Robin. Robin didn't love Barney more than Ted,that's why it's easy for her to leave him for Ted.Ted didn't think Robin that way when he was with Tracy which clear in the deleted scene.
@@ABirdOnTheMoon Tracy was perfect for him but Tracy died so the next perfect choice would be Robin. Thats exactly why we got those 9 seasons to see that the only other girl for him would be Robin. They were 2 lonely people. Let them get together and comfort each other.
People break up, the last season was not about Barney and Robin getting married... it was about how people change, people fall apart and people go together.
It died when Robin became infertile, and Barney and Robin divorced. I seriously ship these two when Barney finally come into terms with him falling in love with Ted's ex-girlfriend, and I wish it would stay that way. 😔
@@andrejosue98 that may have been the intention, but the execution was terrible. And that message was brought on during the whole series, the fact that at the end Ted still loved Robin and goes back to her like a teenager made it feel like he never evolved or grow or learned anything since season 1.
@@MichR14 well considering the writers wrote the ending in season 1 and threw it at the other writers who had no input on the ending. Feels like just used Barney and Robin for ratings and didn’t even care enough to build up to their own ending
Barney and Robin's divorce pissed me off so much. An entire season centred around their marriage, the entire Barney character ark where he finally changed (since season 5 ffs) and decided to settle down with Robin all thrown out in the toilet within the first 5 minutes of the last episode. I honestly hated the idea of Barney and Robin together at first (because I thought she should have been with Ted) but seeing Barney change so much over the course of those last 3 seasons actually made me happy for them. Them divorcing and Barney reverting back to his S1 self and becoming a dad to a woman we never even get to see was such a slap in the face for fans. The first 8 seasons were good, but clearly the writers did not know how to handle a final season.
They probably should have killed Barney if that's what they wanted to do, just as well then a character we actually care about will have died by the end of the series which seems like what they were going for with the mother
The worst part about the final season is the way they disrespected Tracy's character. It feels like she was just a device that Ted used in order to have the things he wanted in life (kids, marriage, stability, etc), and once she had served that purpose, she was no longer useful, so they killed her off so Ted could be with Robin again, who wanted completely different things (no kids, travel the world, etc.).
the fact that the mother already lost her „true love“ before and Ted was just second choice doesnt make anything better but worse. So the whole romantic journey was just that they found the next best thing they could live with… It feels like a compromise instead of a real happy ending
I know they tried to show that he really loved her. But they just didn't quite sell it. He was very much of a throwaway character. Okay take I have kids with her. Now that they're grown. You can go to his true love Robin. Damn.
Didn’t help that the Mother was probably one of the sweetest characters of the show, and definitely Ted’s best love interest. I really liked Robin, and I get how you can have someone perfect in your life but pine after someone who is not right for you, but man... They missed the Mark there.
Alexander Angelus he was so obsessed with the idea that he should try it with Robin. I never saw it working and Robin wasn’t perfect but because of Ted she was tolerated and given a way out on many things . She had her major issues and Ted only saw her as perfect. Imo, ted was just so fixated on her, he couldn’t see it other way.
@@ABirdOnTheMoon He never fixated with idea,He accepted her for who she was.And in the end he broke up with her because he knows that was the right thing than making her commit him.
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS Really? Robin never actually liked him truly .. she only thought she should marry a guy love her that much! A guy who understands her but Ted was her good friend and she never was that much in Ted nor Barney! Barney loved her way deeper than Ted in the few moments we had! He knew how crazy she was and he actually came threw but Ted was always rushing like crazy whenever she calls just like a cheerleader! He was way way infatuated than in love! I don’t see him at all in love with Robin because Ted is in live with love! He’s that dreamy guy who proposes to almost every girl thinking she’s perfect! You gotta be kidding me thinking Ted saw her for her true self because that’s Barney not Ted. Ted seems just fixated on her because she’s the only one dismissing his lover vibes first hand ststing she’s not interested. My grandmother used to say weak men would die for that woman who plays hard to get! Somehow that gave her the upper hand over him for awhile .. that even finding his soulmate or perfect woman couldn’t change it! He was still wanting to have Robin because she’s the only one to dismiss him as a lover. That’s my opinion of course.
@@naokaderapider4210 That would've honestly been the best course of action. Have her there as a friend to everybody, or even as someone who was in and out multiple times as a side character, and then reveal her as the mother.
@@naokaderapider4210 that would have made no sense because the kids would figure out she's the mother within five minutes of Ted "introducing' her. Remember he's telling the story to his kids - not us. Plus, there wouldn't have been any impact of the dialogue 'and that is how I met your mother" if he had already met her three season ago.
@@SeaStarTea I mean you could've had the same magical meeting with marshal. She met barney in the past, so that coulda stayed the same. Ted too, and no reason the robin introduction would've had to change.
If you think this you really didn't pay attention during the final season the final season makes it very clear that's had let go of Robin it happened during the wedding then he found Tracy Robin's career got in the way of her relationship with Barney leaving her with no one Ted lived his life what's the woman that he loved for as long as he could then when she died like she says to him he gets stuck thinking about the old days his stories him telling his kids the story of How I Met Your Mother was his way of moving on from her and also without even knowing it asking them permission to get back together with Robin a person who became very lonely in the end and finally at the end became compatible with Ted because she achieves her dreams already
If they wanted the mother to be dead, that makes sense, fine. It's the reason why Ted is telling a story for 8 years, but then JUST LEAVE IT AT THAT. This is how I met your mother, I loved her so much, we had a beautiful relationship, and although we're all sad and we all miss her, you still have Aunt Robin, Uncle Barney, and aunt and uncle two other main characters, and that's beautiful because we've all been great friends for decades and we're going to be okay. That's beautiful, end scene. My dad died when I was a kid. If my mom sat me down for hours to talk about him then immediately ran to an ex, I'd lose all respect for her, it's just gross.
"How I Had Sex with 100 Women" I don't know how the writers had a blind spot that telling this story to your kids could be interpreted as creepy. Even during the heights of the show, people were already pointing this out. We just ignored it because the show was still good.
Forever feeling bad for the character of 'Mother'. How could Ted find his soulmate and still have Robin on his mind as soon as she died? Even after all these years, I can't wrap my head around it.
As soon as she died? Many many years passed. Ted was lonely and old. In many episodes it is shown many old people remaking their lives, finding a partner or getting married. Was Ted doomed to be alone for the rest of his life instead of being partners again with someone who meant a huge deal in his life?
The problem was there should have been more time in the 'present' showing Ted as a single father, rather than simply 'fast forward to today', which, to the casual viewer, may look like years later, but feels like only a few minutes.
i just dont get how could he tell his kids that he was going to tell them the story about how he met their mother when he was just trying to get them to realise hes always been in love with their aunt robin. Thats his way of asking for permission? Really? Bc i dont believe the whole "oh no this is all about your mother, i just didnt realise she was barely in the story". And the kids are happy about it. If i were in their place, i wouldnt mind if he wanted to date another woman, but dont use my dead mother as an excuse to get your point across.
rx10 Who said he had to be alone? Just because him getting back together with Robin makes no sense doesn’t mean he had to be alone. The show could have ended with him going on a blind date (he looks up and smile) and he says I’m glad it’s you. Leaving it to the imagination and showing that he is moving on.
alexxa I wouldn’t diffidently be mad. Also, no matter how much time has passed for me to grieve, if I was told a story about my mom who has passed, that’s all I would focus on, not my fathers love life. That could wait for another day.
Seconded, they likely predicted that fans would absolutely loathe the Canon ending, so they came up with the alternative, which will always be the "REAL" ending to me! ❤️
to be fair to Marshall, the actor wanted out of the series around season 6 or 7 because he was sacrificing a lot of his career (lots of movie opportunities mostly) for that show but they kept trying to make him stay so what happened in the last season was Jason putting his foot down and saying "i am not going to do this anymore" so they compromised and gave him scenes that could be shot quickly, in a short period of time and a few with the cast at the end so that his schedule would be open for bigger opportunities. and honestly, imo, even though he made a lot of movies, he isn't as big as he could have been if he had gotten out of the show a couple years before the end, but they didn't want to write out Marshall and i kinda get it, Marshall and Lily were amazing and their couple was a big part of the series, it would have been weird to have Lily alone in the gang.
Ive rewatched himym 5 times.... i dont know, it just brings such a nostalgic good feeling, just feels like home. But 4 of those 5 times I didn’t watch the last season, bc that mess has no excuse to exist
I rewatch it a lot too. But i never watch the final episode. I always imagine him just ending the story with her death and him going to the bar to have a drink with the group. WITHOUT GETTING BACK TOGETHER WITH ROBIN
I rewatch it ever few years, i dont skip the last season mostly because cristin Milioti is too dang charming as the mother. that being said i understand why they went with the ending they did but the alternate ending is far better
Exactly, he’s doing what the show did for eight years, defending him because he’s the main character. But as he points out, change the music drop the laugh track and you have ann8 year run of Netflix’s You without the murder scenes.
cubeincubes dude how many times did ted say that stories take weird curves and get side track. Dude explained it it to the audience you just didn’t pay attention. If that’s what you got from the show then I fee for your critical thinking or analytical skills. The shows foreshadowed things like crazy for seasons and told a story within the story with ted’s speeches that went beyond just that episode. It was stories within in a story. .
Edward Lomeli Yeah, way to ignore how the show wasn’t supposed to last this long. So actually, maybe your critically reasoning has been compromised. If the show had ended around season 4 or 5 it would have worked. Throughout the show they have shown us time and time again why Ted and Robin wouldn’t work, and it wasn’t just having kids or settling down. You saying they could have feel in love again means nothing because it wasn’t shown, I could say one of them came out as bisexual off screen. Yet, it wouldn’t mean anything. Show don’t tell.
Can we just think about for a second that Robin pretty much ruined Barney's life? He changed everything for her, his entire way of life, cheated on and broke up with his other major girlfriend for her(she stayed with Kevin in the end) when he finally starts to move on(or at least appears to) she can't stand it and tries at all costs to destroy his apparent relationship with Patrice and finally in the end when they finally get married she spends the whole time abroad doing the same thing she's always done, which is put her career above her relationships.
She dissapoints every other important character, she always got what she wanted, break Ted's heart, Barney's heart, for what?????? She got everything she wanted meanwhile the other characters built up, and when they finally moved on she comes like a bomb to fulfill her interest and her freaking ego
Myers Babe Yep, thats one of the biggest problem. The show focused so much on the wedding for a whole season and rushed so much in the last two episodes. Even though the time skip and character regressions left a lot of questions.
He did it a lot of those things on his own and he chose to do it, She was always about that and the only reason they broke up at the end is because they made the ending part in the 2nd season because they thought at the end Robin and Ted were going to end up together. They wrote themselves into a corner and had to force the ending to something that connects to something they did years ago. It’s the creators fault for doing that. That’s why they made an alternative ending where it ends when they meet and Robin and Barney never divorce. Also Barney manipulates and lies to girls constantly and cheated on his girlfriend with Robin.
Uhmm actually Barney was the one setting Robin up to love him. The "romance" with Patrice was just a trick to make Robin fall for him again. He wrote an entire page of his Playbook just to win Robin back. Also, Robin actually wanted to break up with Kevin but couldn't in the end since he immediately blocked her breaking up with telling her that he loves her no matter what she has done in the past. Also, her breakup with Ted was somehow Lily's fault. Robin's character was all about setting priorities in love or work. I would say she was one of the most realistic characters written since they also showed in her character arc that there cant be right and wrong. First she always but the priority on work over love. With Don, she changed this priority and got hurt in the process bringing her back into her old habits.
Shiro Shinigami Right... and the wedding season which the show spent so many episodes on addressed this issue and many others and the show had them both grow and overcome each fear and obstacle. You see this is why everyone says the last two episode (the fact that it tried to stuff so much in the last two episodes show the lazy writing) regressed most of the characters. Barney and Robin has grown by the end of the season and the last two episodes made them regress just to give them a quick progression again. Every last character was a stranger by the end and the show barley spent 2 out the 24 episodes it has to show who they were and how they were feeling and the effects of their actions. Which it usually did, it did show is why Barney and Robin would work and how Ted letting her could go led to him find this true love. Only to regress again.
when i was rewatching the show i realized how unlikeable ted actually was. he is a textbook ‘nice guy’, an actual hopeless romantic who falls in love with the idea of a girl instead of the actual girl. he is so set on the idea of finding the future mrs. ted mosby that he only ever falls in love with fantasies. and the writers really wanted to make barney seem like such a bad friend when actually he is everything i would want in a best friend; he’s caring in his own way, trustworthy, supportive, funny and always gives the others a good time. he and robin were a great couple and it was insanely frustrating to lose a whole damn season about their wedding and marriage just to end it in some half assed attempt to make us root for robin and ted again.
Barney sold a woman to a man for a car and stole another woman's car, leaving her alone in the bear infested woods. That's worse than anything Ted has ever done.
@@hybridbutterfly3908 That line always bugged me. Like everything else he's done could be excused, but then the writers were like "what if we write a throwaway joke where he commits human trafficking and grand theft auto?" The fuck?
@@Santa1936 He actually did a lot of things like that throughout the show. Going to a hospital and tricking a woman with amnesia into believing he's her husband, telling a woman he's a scuba instructor and taking her scuba diving ("she got the bends" = decompression sickness from surfacing from the water too quickly), posing as a woman to move into a college sorority to seduce the girls in it, filming women during sex without their knowledge and making videos & books out of the footage, etc. I give him a pass on everything because Neil Patrick Harris often plays him over the top like he does Count Olaf on A Series of Unfortunate Events. It's only when fans defend him that I'm like no if someone did half the stuff he did we'd call them a rapist, illegal pornographer, human trafficker, and attempted murderer.
Cecily Crasto GoT was my fav show, I loved everything about it - and then they rushed everything, the characters lost their personality, plot build ups were thrown away and BOOM they killed the show for almost everybody. Yey
GoT is the worst. They had a legacy in their hand. They just threw away what could have been a legendary, culture-defining work of art. And they just threw it away because they got lazy and wanted to be done with it.
@@konradvonschnitzeldorf6506 Even with that bad season, it could have been "okay" if they just blurred the lines a little. Have Dany burn a straight line rather than going burn it all and have Jon STILL find that as going too far, just being one example. They also TOTALLY did the thing GRRM SPECIFICALLY had a WHOLE SPEECH about randomly throwing a twist despite foreshadowing, if it was a mystery novel it'd be stupid and in any novel it'd be stupid.
The whole Robin/Barney thing is what annoyed me the most. Sure, I didn't like that the mother died, but upon reflection that could have been an okay ending if played correctly. The thing about Ted/Robin vs Barney/Robin is that throughout most of the series it really seemed like Ted had fallen in love with the idea of Robin instead of Robin herself. I mean, think about it, he literally saw her across the room and instantly was all in, he didn't know anything about her other than how she looked, and I guess that she can smile. This is further reinforced by the fact that he is constantly imagining her settling down and being the mother of his children no matter how many times she said she didn't want that kind of life. Barney, on the other hand, knew Robin, knew her personality, and *then* fell in love with her. There's a moment, I don't know what season, but basically, Ted is making a fuss because Robin is all self-sufficient and he doesn't have to protect her (like literally in the case of possibly armed robbery he wants to be the one taking down the assailant and if Robin were to do so herself he would be upset). Barney, on the other hand, says he has no problem with that, it's what makes Robin Robin. That just solidified that Robin and Barney were the superior couple. And then everything suddenly got retconned at the last second. And honestly, if they had just had the first few episodes of the last season been the wedding and then the rest of it be Robin and Barney slowly growing apart that might have been okay too, because yeah sometimes people are great when they get married but eventually, things stop working no matter how hard you try. But having 22 episodes of wedding and then "actually no, it didn't work out" was just... if they couldn't go past the wedding then the wedding should have happened in the previous season and the show ended sooner. Yeah, less money for them, but more integrity. TL,DR: It feels like the last half of the show was building toward Robin/Barney and showing how Ted only loved the idea of Robin, not Robin herself, and at the last second the writers were like "oh crap, she's supposed to be with Ted" and threw in the scene with him and the locket to try and make everyone forget the last few years that made the show diverge from its original idea.
Yes to all of the points! and the fact that they made so many moments in the last season emphasizing how perfect Robin and Barney are for each other despite all of their flaws (like him standing up for her in front of his mom and saying he will choose Robin before everyone else even his family, or when they both freak out on their own but realize that they are actually ready to go through with the wedding, etc etc). What was all of that for? After all of this, they just said it didn't work out bcs of Robin's job, that's total bullshit
I can't tell you how much I agree with your comment. Ted is in love with the idea of Robin, Barney is in love with who she is and that's how it's supposed to be.
I disagree that people don’t watch it anymore. Maybe your friends don’t, but I know multiple people, I do too and most of us simply look past the first ending and consider the ‘revised’ ending to be the true ending/take the last season with a grain of salt. It was a good show that had a lot of great moments.
I've watched the whole show on many occasions. What HIMYM does that most shows don't do is refer back to previous episodes constantly. There are frequent callbacks so it's important to watch the show from the beginning until the end. With FRIENDS, you can come into the show in season 3, 4, 5, etc and still get invested. I don't believe the same can be said about HIMYM. It's a chronological story.
I actually had no problem with the Mother dying. Death is a part of life. What I hated was Ted was back with Robin five minutes later. How I would have ended things is with Barney, and Robin staying together, and Teds friends comforting him, and his children after they lose the Mother. Yes it is a sad ending, but it is a much more satisfying ending. You had two parts in the final. Have the first part being about her, and Teds relationship. Then have the second part be about her finding out she is sick, and dying. Spend the time needed for that story rather then killing her off in 30 seconds, and moving on.
Myers Babe Yep, that’s why they shouldn’t have spend so long on a wedding where they would have the characters quickly divorce. They could have had the wedding in two episodes with the mom meeting the gang one by one. 11 episodes with the mom and Ted dating and completely interacting with the gang and fleshing her out. 5 episodes Involving small time skips and the gang dealing with their adults lives, Barney and Robin’s divorce if they want with one of the episodes dealing with with the Ted reaction to his wife’s death. The last 5 episodes we would see Robin reconnecting with the gang and Ted and Barney and his daughter(hopefully with a past character we recognize). The final episode after Ted tells his kids the story could have had him leave the room, look at the horn and just think (we see its day). At night he goes over and to Robin and scene.
It was literally said its been six years since the mother died. For me the ending shows kind of a more light hearted approach to death. You should be able to move on with your life after six years. It should be okay to find someone else and be allowed to be happy again. They could easily have made the death of the mother an emotional scene or even episode, but they actively decided not to.
abc def Ted and Robin don’t work together more than friends. They don’t fit at all and Robin had lots of second thoughts and doubts of him! To say, they should go back is lame! In reality, it wouldn’t happen because he met his soulmate/magical wife! To say that was Robin all a long and not the mother is stupid! Especially since he is telling that to his kids! Especially because the last season was always hinting how perfect she was for him and how his wait for her was the reason for his happiness. Having Robin and Ted together was just way stupid
They did so many takes on the "reformed Barney" and "ready to settle down Robin", I was just over it by the end. Okay so all that wedding and they are STILL disfunctional who don't know what they want? I thought the whole point of the arcs were for them to mature over all these seasons. But uh.. no Barney didn't fix himself after marraige even after the whole wedding arc and the arc before that spending time highlighting how they're ready and matured. So we now jump onto a baby from a random girl he got pregnant . Ok NOW he's reformed and changed for good .Forget all the previous stuff . The whole Ted finally letting go of Robin and her image flying away from him on the beach with all that music .Just fakery .
@@abcdef9524 said. Not shown. That's the problem. You can't watch the entire show, get to that moment, and not feel like the writers baited you for a punch to the jaw.
My gf has this theory the last season has so many episodes around those 3 days, because for Ted, Robin's weeding felt like one of the hardest/longest things to go through. Which makes sense, if you think about it. Still doesn't mean it was the best choice tho
What really got me about the final is how disgusting the whole thing in context felt. I mean we are talking about a (supposedly)madly in love father who tells his kids for the first time in their life how he met their long dead mother. For all intends and purposes that should be a really emotional moment but nah dear father tells it in such a obviously staged way that even his godamn children catch unto him just wanting to lay their aunt. Like...wtf dude?
raped Slime you ever think about how the entire show ted tells stories within his stories. People get tired point of not wanting to listening to them. Hell, him and his wife had told each other every story they could think of and laughed. This wasn’t his first time 100% but probably the story from start to finish. There is no way Ted could go that many years without zer stories. He had a reason, maybe unconscious , to tell them it at that time
The lessons taught in HIMYM: People don't change. Not even over a near decade. If your soulmate dies, you should have a backup that turned you down and you moved on from years ago waiting for you. You cannot have a career and a relationship at the same time. Children are the fix-all end-all of scummy behavior.
My main takeaway from the ending is this: They show how even the best things in life end: The time when they are as friend at the bar ends, the perfect love story of Robin and Barney ends, the life Ted has always dreamed of, finding his soulmate, having kids and living in a house ends. Just as every good thing in life will eventually end. But instead of focussing on these sad aspects of life they make the best out of it, always with one smiling eye. Try not to be sad about the past but rather make the best out of your future. Kind of reminds me of the "always look on the bright side of life" ending of 'Life of Brian'. So in some way this ending is kind of inspiring for me. Now I am not saying this was the intention of the writers, but thats not really too relevant in the end. The most important is what you take from it.
You have kinda nihilistic view looking at things if those were only lessons that manifested. Not saying you are wrong or right but I'm just saying. Fun fact... well not ''fun'' but intresting one nonetheless which is; suicide is almost exclusively 1st world issue. If that doesnt tell you that world does not need more post modernism (which is a result nihilistic behavior then I show my way out.
chromesthesia especially the barney stories if I had a friend like barney I wouldn’t tell my kids those kinds of stories about him or at least not in that much detail
What's astounding about this is that they hyped a character for almost a decade, they ACTUALLY MADE IT WORK and then they killed it. Imagine nailing such a hard job and instantly undoing it. By choice.
It’s like if Jesus came back and he was totally awesome, just like they always said he was supposed to be. Sure, maybe he doesn’t LOOK like Jesus, but he acts like a gentleman, like you imagined when you were young. But then at the last minute, Jesus gets a piano dropped on his head and we’re told he’s never coming back. Sorry! No salvation for you! Actually, the real god was the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
I can live with the mother dying (pardon the pun!) I think that’s actually the least of the finale’s problems; and since it was planned from the start at least it didn't feel like it came out of nowhere. The main problem with the finale is it’s incompatible with everything the previous seasons (ESPECIALLY the last season) had gone to great lengths to set up. Just look at all the huge character changes that happened in the final season. Barney anonymously passed on his knowledge to his “protégées” Justin and Kyle proving that he was finally ready to close the last chapter on his old lifestyle, settle down and start a new life with Robin. Ted was finally able to get over his feelings for Robin by literally letting her go (yeah, the balloon thing was kind of stupid, but the point was he had finally moved on. ) Likewise, Robin was able to let go of any lingering doubts about a future with Ted after he told her he wasn’t the same guy she’d met all those years ago. Then they really sealed the deal when Barney promised Robin he would always be honest with her, and giving them a beautiful, picture perfect wedding. Then they threw all that out the window in the next episode. Barney goes right back to his old sleazy ways until he has a child with a random woman we never even meet and then he changes AGAIN (what was the point of all that?) except it doesn’t feel like heartwarming, earned, mature character development anymore, instead it just feels sad. (Out of everything they screwed up in the finale, I really hate how they handled Barney’s character, it just feels like they did him a dirty for no reason.) And Ted’s whole spiel to Robin about how he was a changed person now? Defenestrated. The only “justification” for Ted and Robin being together is the promise they made to be each other’s backup, which isn’t exactly the most romantic foundation for a relationship. This finale is a good example of why first drafts are usually (and should be) scrapped. Although the ending may have worked back when the writers originally envisioned it, by Season 9 the series and characters had come too far and evolved too much to support it as a satisfying conclusion.
HIMYM used to be my universe. I owe being fluent in English to this show. After the last season however, I never went back and I never looked back. They just ruined it for me personally.
I learned English by watching Friends, while the last seasons were definitely not as good as the earlier ones it still had some pretty funny episodes and Paul Rudd was hilarious as Phoebe's BF/Husband, they didn't ruin anything for me and I still come back to rewatch all 10 seasons from time to time. HIMYM I remember really liking seasons 1-4, 5th was when I starting to notice drop in quality and after that it just went really downhill. When shows ends this badly (as writing I don''t mind if its "sad" ending) I just don't wanna rewatch it at all, even the good seasons. That's why I don't think I will ever go back to rewatch GoT or HIMYM.
i genuinely loved tracy much more than robin in the short amount of screen time tracy had. i wished she was introduced seasons earlier. i feel like season 8 would’ve been a perfect time as it would have gave us a more clear prospective on tracy’s and ted’s relationship.
I had my own version of the ending, where, Ted, played by Bob Saget is revealed to have written a somewhat fictionalized memoir. The kids tell him that it's totally exaggerated and unbelievable. The kids walk out, the mother walks in. She touches his shoulder. He kisses her hand, and he says, "I didn't exaggerate everything." Cut to credits.
That pretty much lines up with how I thought it would end as well maybe with a few revisions of removing Tracy and having Ted look at his wedding photo with a loving smile on his face because even before S9 I kinda already pieced together that she had to be dead but the memory of her and the way it was treated felt...disrespectful But frankly that doesn't fix the season from its biggest problem which is that S9 had the potential to be something great but ultimately felt like wasted potential and just makes me wonder if the writers stopped caring about their own show after a certain point
i really like yours and want to share mine too, so after ted finished the story the kids say something mocking how long it took to tell the story then after that ted grabs a flower from a table, a picture frame of him and tracy as well as the yellow umbrella then he goes to her grave and says "i got you more flowers, they''re your favorite." sets down the 6 flowers replacing 5 old ones from before and the picture frame on the tombstone where we see 5 other picture frames and then proceeds to say "happy birthday tracy.." (one from each year she's been dead) and sets the umbrella over her tombstone to shield it from the rain then the wind blows it away where it knocks into someone holding balloons and he lets them go but yet one doesn't fly up (this balloon part is kinda far fetched ik) . guys i know mine is dark but i think it could be a really beautiful ending
The final season should have been about Ted and the mother’s relationship, and be cause they had the endgame planned since season two Robin and the mother’s relationship and Ted and Robin’s relationship post-mother.
Matthew Newman the story was about how they met the mother. The parts with Ted and her were either before they were officially together or hinting about her death (minus short scenes talking about milestones like pregnancy or second baby happening after midnight $
The implication of the ending should have been that Ted and Robin are together. What would of been shown was Robin dropping everything to make sure that Ted and the children would be okay. Developing Robin into a motherly character with a sensible reason to undergo that character change. They most definitely didn't want to do anything like this.
@@jerm70 Robin would be a terrible mother. And Ted doesn't need Robin to be a mother. He already found his perfect woman Tracey. It would be disrespectful for him to look for another "the one" after her death, because Tracey was perfect. That's why he ends up with Robin together. Robin is his best friend and the ideal partner for him to grow old after he lived the life he always wanted with Tracey. Robin and Ted learned most from each other during the whole show and they are now able to finally give each other what they were supposed to. They were made to be partners, friends, roommates, soulmates, not a dream couple. They were very different persons, which is why Barney and Tracey, who were very similar to Robin and Ted, were such ideal lovers for them. But their love life is over. They can now complement each other until their days are over.
Barney said he didn't have to "wait for it" anymore cause he has Robin and then ended up breaking them up and breaking my heart just to give barney a kid which was a nice scene but it wasn't worth it
scarlett bazah Robin broke it off because to her career was first and she never cared for him. Apparently Robin is married to her career. Even Ted won’t be able to be that selfless about it. Robin was lame and selfish. She also was the holy grail Ted always wanted to taste. They don’t fit but he was so fixated and Ted to me has some weird fixes! He is almost obsessed with his ideas of ideal love that he goes for it regardless
scarlett bazah Barney loved Robin as she is and for who she is. The problem, Robin didn’t love him equally nor was able to. She tried to convince herself she can but the last season was her full of doubts and she almost left him at the alter. Robin needed to marry Robin and just be on her own because she wasn’t fair to anyone.
So we all know this show was meant to last 2 seasons and they didn't change the ending when it lasted longer. I swear to God they didn't change one line from the 2006 script; all the characters regress, even Marshall and Lily regress. This ending only makes sense as the season 2 finale, maybe 3; but after 9 years? Nah bro
The ending could have been episode 2 of season 1 and it would have fit perfectly. HIMYM was my Hyperfocus so I saw every interview where they told us for years that the mother was not gonna be dead at the end like most people first think when they see the first season. They straight up lied.
4:47 The Dobler Dahmer Theory "If both people are into each other, then a big romantic gesture works: Dobler, but if one person isn't into the other, the same gesture comes off serial-killer crazy: Dahmer."
The thing is people were into Jeffrey Dahmer. He didn't like bludgeon people over the head and drag them into his house when they weren't into him, he seduced them The difference isn't whether or not someone is into them but whether or not they have good intentions. You want a creepy Stalker type go to Ed Gein.
But that show never used just 1 room. Even when the characters stayed at the farm, there were still a lot of scenes in the fields, in the woods and the near city.
@@linkinboss2 - Dude, Alex Meyers has TWO MILLION subscribers. I don't think he needs you to rescue him from this terrifying guy with 44 thousand subs.
@@tastyloaf5487 Still, it doesn't hurt to give credit where it's due. All of the other appearances got credited as well. Why not Alex? A simple sentence on screen would suffice, really.
The sad part is that it shows how you can undo almost a decade of good writing by half-assing the finale. Kind of like Game of Thrones, both series went from cultural phenomenon to irrelevant in the time that it took the fans to realize just how little the writers cared about finishing the story off.
and barney wasn't changed by it. he changed for his baby. we can only assume it serves to prepare robin to settle down at 50. key lesson of the show: shit happens (for a reason?)
Did you all miss the fact that "the mother" was never a real character? She was a plot device so that Ted could have kids, which Robin didn't want to do. The ENTIRE show was about Ted being in love with Robin.
Which is absolutely ridiculous given that throughout the entire show they sprinkle in these coincidences and near-misses in terms of Ted and her meetings, as if divine fate was at play and that they're perfect for each other, only for it all to mean absolutely nothing. If we had gotten more time to see the relationship between her and Ted, then maybe I'd be convinced that it was true love that he will never be able to fully get over, but that's just not how they go about the timeline.
@@LA-mz1dd So, you're saying that you knew that she wasn't important, but you allowed yourself to care about her and then got upset when the show proved that she was basically a nonentity? You have no one but yourself to be mad at.
@@violagreene4643 God you're an asshole. What Laura was saying was that people realised that *after* the finale. That wasn't how the show was building "The Mother" up during its run with the constant near-misses and teases, and with the *three* storylines about how Robin and Ted weren't right for each other. *That* is why people were mad. They felt misled. Protip: If you as a writer need a character to be a plot device to get two other characters together, then those two characters aren't MEANT to be together and you suck as a writer. You might not dislike the final season, and that's fine. You might like the finale, and that's *fine.* But stop acting like you're so much smarter or so superior to people who disagree with you. Let people have their own opinions without being a dick about it.
I am still really surprised that Cristin Milioti didn't become an overnight sensation. She's had steady work, but when she was introduced as Tracy, she was just amazing. Her on screen chemistry with Lily and the cookies was, to me, the best of the whole show. I seriously think the writers traumatized us by killing her off like that. I hope for many more mainstream rolls for her!
How I met your mother is a show that tells it's audience for 7 seasons that Ted and Robin to not belong together in any way, explain to us every reason she does belong with Barney, then give us a woman who is literally perfect for him, his soulmate, one that fits into the group and his life, kills her and then still has the fucking balls to put Ted and Robin together even after the entire point of the show was to communicate to us that they do not work as a couple! As someone who has found that special someone as well, the one that I love with all my heart I cannot picture myself trying to move on with anyone, because it would be a shallow image of what used to be. I will never and can never love someone like I love my soulmate, there is no moving on from him. The show also tried to make this okay by the mother sharing that sentiment with her dead fiancee, trying to hint to the audience that she was wrong, falling in love as she thought she was is winning the lottery, and she shouldn't play twice, but TED! She won the lottery twice and he can too! No. Just no. Ted moving on with Robin would be like her marrying the guy she was with in the final season. They weren't right for one another, and she knew it. By all means, go ahead and make Ted's story tragic, that I understand. Rewatching it, especially the last season makes you cry more when you know. But don't simply assert that 'Ted's had his kids, so now he and Robin are soulmates!' No. That's not what a soulmate is, and you can't give us an example of them in Lilly and Marshal to establish in this universe they are real but then shit all over the concept. Fuck. That. /endrant
robin wasn't his soul mate.. they aren't "right for each other" but she's an old friend who can keep a single father company. they're not gonna marry after the finale. 1) she doesn't compare to tracey 2) commitment-phobic robin got a bad taste of marriage 3) she doesn't want to be a step parent (but maybe penny will have a some sort of motherly figure at her wedding) 4) ted doesn't NEED marriage anymore, he had a great one. they wanted to remind the audience that terrible things happen & the only option is to move on. do i love the ending: no. they made artistic choices that i wouldn't have, but i wouldn't have made a hit tv show.
When watching the later seasons i really liked how they werent making robin and ted end up together. It tells people watching an actually good and real message about no matter how much you love someone, if you guys have different goals for your life (such as robin and teds views on kids) it won't work out and that's ok. You'll find someone who shares them, this actually helped me realize a similar situation when i was in college talking to a girl who wanted to travel and live in another country while my plans are to be near my family. However, the last episode destroys that message.
The day the show died was the day they filmed David Henrie's and Lyndsy Fonesca's side of the conversation that ended the show, because at that point they made a commitment to a payoff that was going to work against the show if it went against the character development that it would eventually take. And to say that's exactly what happened would be the understatement of the century.
I thought the same about Jennifer Aniston's character in FRIENDS. I watched it multiple times, I loved the show but as the seasons went on I started getting annoyed by Rachel's character. Every time Ross finds someone she tries to sabotage the relationship but when she dates someone, she wouldn't give a shit about Ross, her character became more greedy, selfish.
Rachel is the worst. And you've only touched on her relationship with Ross. She's just as intolerable in all her other interactions. She routinely takes advantage of the kindness of those around her (Poor Gunther) without giving much in return besides her presence. She rarely ever thinks of putting others before herself. She will take what she wants and then act shocked that someone is upset by that. And only then does she consider whether she was wrong or not. Monica and Van Damme comes to mind. The vast majority of her non-Ross romances happened because she engaged in disturbingly inappropriate behaviour to get them to even notice her. I really dislike her handling of the Mark situation. The first time I ever watched those episodes, I got so frustrated asking myself why Rachel was so stubborn in acknowledging Ross' very obviously real concerns. Why she wouldn't out of respect for Ross draw some boundaries for Mark, who again, was as obvious with his intentions as could be. So when the break happened, I immediately blamed Rachel. She was so selfish during that period. Ross was wrong to "cheat" but it speaks to Rachel's selfishness and sense of entitlement that she thought Ross should wait around until she feels she's ready to talk to him again.
Thank you for bringing up Bob Saget! I never expected older Ted to be played by Saget, but I expected him to be dubbed over by Saget, which is what the alternate ending did; Josh Radnor's "and that's how I met your mother" is dubbed over by Saget. But the official ending not only has Radnor speak at the end, but the entire narration for the series finale 2-parter is done by Radnor. Why bother with Saget to begin with?
No. This time, Ted doesn't think of Robin as his dream girl. She's now just the friend he chooses to become old with. He already lived his life with the perfect woman for him. Now it's time to spend the rest of his life with the person he started his journey with. The story starts with him seeing Robin as his first "the one" ideal. Now, he doesn't need Robin to be that anymore, which is why they can settle down for good together. The whole show showed, that Ted and Robin were perfect friends and their respective journeys are now over. Their friendship is the reason why they can move on together as partners, that couldn't have happened back in Season 2. It's a beautiful wrap-up for Robin and Ted
Very good series but everything was entirely based around the last season and that it was a huge letdown. With how the show ended it made almost everything preceding that kind of filler. Yes, every story has a climax but the characters change & grow but I think Barney was the only one that ultimately grew and that was only due to him having a kid seemingly randomly
Christopher Ballero I wish that we didn’t have to waste a whole season on a relationship that didn’t matter. Also, if they hadn’t wasted time we could have gotten a face for his baby momma, maybe a past character he slept with after the divorce.
The finale was a slap in the face to everybody who watched from the beginning. You spend this whole time indicating that Ted & Robin were SUPPOSED to be together. But then, nope. This never before seen woman is actually your mother. But... wait. How I met your mother, who cares, she's dead and now Ted is FINALLY going to get with Robin. The show should have been called "How I Finally Got Together With Your 'aunt' Robin" 🤦♂️
Jason Evans damn you didn’t pay attention. Ted foreshadowed everything and told stories within stories. His speeches weren’t just about one particular episode but the entire thing. From the story venturing off, to life’s obstacles, to hinting early on she was going to die (or died), Ted has told the kids these stories for sure. That’s why they are bored probably, lol. This wasn’t about the mother per se but honoring her and moving on. Finally letting go. Plus everybody hates Ted besides the mother for his stories. There’s no way he didn’t tel them this stuff before just maybe not start to finish the adventure at once.
And that's all well and good but, as it's pointed out in this video, the actual mother doesn't appear until the last season (ok, so it was technically the 8th season finale). It's as if the mother is more of an after thought in every story he tells and Ted is more interested in getting to the point where him and Robin get together, rightfully so too since, when you think about it, majority of his stories are about him pining for Robin... his REAL dream girl. I guess I'm just basing my OPINION on my own personal history. My Dad's story of how he met my mother, starts the day before he met my mother. My mother's story of how she met my Dad, starts the day before they met. I know the whole idea that "well nobody liked Ted's stories except the Mom", but is that supposed to include the people watching? Spending 9 seasons watching for the mother to be an after thought? And you can spin it all you want, that last season and finale turned the mother into just that. An after thought.
Ian However p, that’s the problem their ending didn’t work anymore because they changed the structure of their show. So, it’s still bad writing. They still tried to force the characters to reach the ending they planned long ago, even if it didn’t make sense anymore.
Edward Lomeli You keep insulting people while ignoring that the structure of this show changes but they still try to force the character to the ending they had planned long ago. The only problem was that by the end it didn’t work anymore. Also, No normal child would respond the way they did, I do t care how much they love their Aunt Robin or how many years have passed. If this is a story about how you meet my mother, I don’t care about your wet dreams.
Ian Yep, because if they had the wedding be the focus for 3 (with the mom meeting members of the gang) episodes. We could have had 10 episodes with the mom/Ted and the gang just doing goofy stuff together and going through life. The remaining 11 episodes (4 with the mom in it) would have been similar but with small time skips sprinkled into it. We would have gotten a gotten a whole episode of Ted dealing with the mother’s death. A whole episode of Robin reconnecting with the gang. A whole episode for Barney to deal with father-hood. A whole episode for Marshall and Lilly figure their work/family situation out. The final episode could have the gang hanging out or Robin getting back with either Ted or Barney. Because it wouldn’t have felt so fast.
When I started to watched the show I was 16 and had just gone through a really bad breakup, she was the first person I ever really loved, so it was hard for me. HIMYM was kinda therapeutic for me in a way, Ted went through all of these relationship problems, but throughout the entire thing, we knew he would end up with the right person, and his struggle with getting over Robin was something I could seriously relate to. It helped me through a lot in ways I can't really explain. But having Ted just end up with Robin instead kinda undermined what I loved about the show in the first place. I, like many others, fell in love with the mother character, and in my eyes seemed like the type of person that I would want to end up with. So for the writers to simply kill off the character and have Ted end up with Robin was just incredibly disappointing for me and lead to a dissatisfying end
Same here. This show helped me to get over a person too , making me see that there is not necessarily "the one" and even if you are good as friends it doesnt mean you are compatible as partners. I could really relate to ted because over the years , even when he thought he had let her go , his feelings for robin occasionally came back again and sometimes he was able to control them and sometimes not. It was so rewarding to see that all that emotional burden over the years was worth it when he finally found someone suitable (almost perfect for him). But for some reason they decided to kill her off (which in itself is ok because once again HIMYM was always about how life isnt perfect like in fairytales and death is part of it) but they did all of that just to bring him back to Robin. All those lessons about letting someone go , accepting that what feels right in the heat of the moment isnt always the actual right thing , not trying to force ideas like "destiny" or "fate" into everything and most importantly : accepting that the concept of "the one" is toxic and will only emotionally consume you once seeing "the one" doesnt see you that way (And it did make ted suffer alot)....all of that is thrown out of the Window , because apparently it works : ted in the end is being rewarded with his obsession about robin , he never truely let go and like his kids kinda said themselves : the whole story was if ted is lowkey trying to get approval so he can get back to robin because he had such feelings for her for such a long time...The mother itself is barely in the story.
for me the moment with the mother where she talks to her deceased partner is absolutely beautiful, thinking about that 'Hi Max' gets me teary erry time
I binged the entire SERIES in 2015. Never watched an episode and then watched it all in one go. It was all I watched for months. I was super invested in the characters by the end of it. Yet found myself not giving a shit during the last season because it was so unlike the rest. I had the ending spoiled by someone, and I kept hoping they were overreacting. They weren't. I haven't watched a single episode since.
i remember started watching it in 2013, 2014 in 2014 when it went on nick at night, boy some good times and actually watching it up to 2015, i just realized it ended in 2014, which is weird when it came on nick at night, didn't know those were the last few episodes, well i kinda did
This show was almost a masterpiece, until season 9. The biggest problem was that it felt as if the writers knew what they wanted to do from the very first episode. And at some point, I have to commend them for sticking true to their vision after 9 years. But therein lies the problem: if this show ended around season 5 or 6, I think the finale would’ve been much better received. However, after almost a full decade, the last 3 years of which were essentially a completely separate story, they should’ve known to expect all the backlash that they got. Of course it didn’t help that there were project conflicts with two of the shows main cast. Marshall was off filming other movies (I think sex tape came out around this time), while the mother was filming her scenes for the wolf of Wall Street. So the backstage issues really hurt the final season. Even so, the final season was highly disappointing. This show did not die a peaceful death.
iBeParadox Yeah, and the person said that by changing the structure of the show (to make it longer) it ruined the ending that they had originally planned. And honestly, Ted and Robin would have worked if the show eneded around season 4 or 5.
the last few seasons, they were getting into the real stuff and it just felt like they forgot to add these plots in the previous and are trying to cram them all into the very last seasons
Man, I was convinced that Barney was the true protagonist of the series for a while. Seeing how his character changed and he grew to love Robin. I thought that's why Ted told his kids this long story starting with how he met Robin. I thought it was a giant prologue leading up to the wedding where he ACTUALLY met the mother. I thought it was all brilliant story telling. But my gosh did I give the writers too much credit. The last episode took utterly shat on the whole series and destroyed it.
I agree with every single thing you said! The last episode ruined the whole show for me. And yes, I still quote it every single day but it's bittersweet. I am not mad that the mother died-it sucks but it can happen. I am kinda mad that Ted and Robin got back together, it is not my taste but it can happen. I am mad that the whole season was spent on the wacky wedding that took place over a weekend and we did not see how the mothers diagnosis affected everybody, when Robin decided to come back to the band's life's, Marshall and Lilly's third child (we do not even if it is a boy or a girl), how Barney is dealing with his responsibilities as a father and his relationship with the mother of his baby. There are so many missed opportune ties, instead Robin is floating like a balloon, Marshal is trying to hide big news from his wife, Lilly is pretending to get drunk but is is not, Ted is trying to sleep with anything that moves, Robin wants to be with Ted event hough she has said multiple times that she has no feelings for him anymore. I am still angry!
As someone who didn't finish the show until a year or two after it was actually done airing and binged all of it on Netflix to catch up again, there's something extremely jarring about the ending most people miss that just always sticks out to me: The titular mother is literally killed off in the same way Marshall "kills" Lily in that sex fantasy about the hot delivery girl and for essentially the same reason. The character we waited almost a decade to see was killed in the same manner used as a joke in an earlier episode, just so he could bone another woman.
This is the ultimate example of a bad destination ruining the journey. The finale was so bad it traveled through time and poisoned the rest of the show.
The thing about HIMYM is that in one episode they went from being a show that's kinda cringey in some aspects upon reflection to being a show that was actively ruined and trashed and hated. The idea that a man would sit down and, in painstaking detail, tell the children of a dead woman how he met her and loved her for like 5 minutes but really Mom was just a way for him to get kids before ultimately hooking up with a lady who actively didn't want the lifestyle he did is so horrifying to me. But on top of that, it's the idea that they wanted to beat the message that "people change over time and what they want might not be the 'happy ending' they started out wanting" that they tried to shoehorn all the growth made over the course of the show out the window in the last episode. Let's spend years making Barney and Robin perfect for each other, two people who understand each other's issues and love the same things, but more importantly have similar life goals of "probably not kids, lots of travel and having fun being grown ups." Let's spend one entire season deeply exploring their relationship in cheap-ass bottle episodes, and then over the course of one episode they hate each other and can't handle the adventurous lifestyle of one. Meanwhile, spend 8 years building up this supposedly great love story of Ted and "the Mother" (I imagine a better ending episode where his overblown romanticism is making this story a big deal but once they're together either they have the most average marriage ever or a dark timeline where they get divorced and Ted isn't over it, hence the story) while really we watch Ted desperately want Robin but also want the kids and picket fence life that sounds like Robin's nightmare. Then we meet mom and she's thrown in the garbage after cranking out his two kids, all so Ted can get with Robin who isn't a booby prize, is pretty much just 1B to Mom's 1A, and Robin somehow ditches Barney for having slight differences in their life goals but she's gonna get back together with a guy who has 2 teenagers at the time that he'd have to continue to raise, which we've been very vocally told Robin didn't want to do. And don't even get me started on the idea that Barney then makes a kid that he absolutely adores, but not enough to stop referring to it's mother as a number. In their effort to get deep and say that the ways we change make our life goals change and the happiest ending isn't always possible because sometimes Mom dies, they had to shoehorn the actual growth and development of characters into the trash and try to wrench their personalities to where they needed to be.
AND ANOTHER THING! That alternate ending is doubly insulting because not only is it tacked on, clearly doesn't fit with the other episodes in the season/show, and ultimately a pathetic "please don't hate us, how will we sell boxed sets?" cash grab, but ALSO it's equally as effective as just not watching the last episode, which I almost did because the shady website I watched the last season on had misnumbered the last two episodes as the same number and I almost, ALMOST, didn't click on it. For one fleeting moment I had the ending where they met and that was the last shot of the show, literally the ending to a story about how he met their mother. Barney and Robin were together, everyone was friends and close still, and I could imagine a future for them where they didn't kill her off 10 minutes into the finale. They could have just ended their show one episode earlier and had the same damn ending except that we don't see the scenes that tell us about their future. And if they'd wanted to add an alternate ending, they could've just tacked those on to the penultimate episode!
The way I would've rewritten the final season. Number 1 : extend the wedding to episodes 1 - 13 then 14 - 24 focused on Ted and his wife (she doesn't die) , Robin get unexpectedly(miracle) pregnant from Barney( they don't get divorce ) barney says the exact words he said to the baby in the finale and he and robin are bot tired because of the baby's crying . Ends with Ted's wedding and lily and Marshall leaving to Italy and ends with a montage like the Alternative ending ends with Ted saying " And that kids is how I met your mother and the mother comes and ask what story did they dad tell them? With the kids respond with what a great mother she is ( hugging her ) and ted kisses his wife to hear a knock on the door and its Robin and barney and there daughter and lily and Marshall and the kids all coming together for Thanksgiving.
I don't know if I would have ended it with the Thanksgiving thing (although it could be a good callback to the Slapsgiving running joke). Also, I would have kept the mother dying, because, the more I look back on it, I like how sweet and sad it was, that he was telling his kids the story of how he met her because she's not there anymore.
Also, you are forgetting 1 important factor here. Thr ending was filmed all the way back in season 2. So, this ending could not have taken place back then.
Kev Masengale Really? Well hand in that scientific study and go claim your prize. You can pick it up with that crazy feminist woman who claims that all men are rapist.
I don't know what you're talking about; the last season of Scrubs had a perfect series finale. That spinoff with those annoying med students was awful, though.
You've been viewing but you haven't been watching, pay more attention to the small stuff, the point of the season, hell the point of the whole show is very consistent, and what it's trying to show is that Barney can change and he can love, but Robin needs Ted not Barney. Who found her the locket? Who's always had her back? Who always goes big for her? Who'll always do anything and I mean anything to make her happy? Ted would never want her to be distressed but Barney does it constantly, on purpose.
I'm still mad about the ending They made it very clear that Robin isn't in love with Ted and she found her perfect match , so why would you break them up. After 9 seasons I wanted to see Ted happy in his perfect relationship but nooooo they had to kill the mother off why????? Just to make Ted and Robin a couple again even though we know it never worked
"Ted is the kind of guy who would bite down puzzle pieces to fit it together and then put it on display for everyone" Which is exactly why we was obsessed with Robin the entire show There is nothing profound or even remotely romantic about these two
I've watched HIMYM several times, and have several friends who have as well, but that's in spite of the last season, definitively not because of it. And it's as you say, I rooted for Barney and Robin, it was actually my favorite part of the show, but they fucking ruined it. No idea why...
I'll never forgive this admittedly beautiful show for how it callously, casually slaughtered both Tracy and Barney and Robin's marriage in the same episode, just to do what the show itself was rightfully warning against from episode 1: Get Ted with Robin. It's always bizarre to me watching the first part of that final episode how it starts off so lovely and earned. It flashes back to Robin getting acclimated into the gang to remind you how far these great characters have come. It has that fantastic continuity of Robin and Barney seeing Tracy again, strengthening her connection to the group outside of Ted where Barney as always jumps into 'Have you met Ted' like episode 1 only for them to just miss each other again, leading into the wonderful goodbye the characters have with each other. You know it won't be needed but it's still so apt considering this is now part 1 of the final episode. It always feels so warm and welcome when Ted is found immediately back in MacLaren's like normal, changing his plans on a whim for a girl, this girl being the one, with Lily and Marshall also immediately onboard. Then comes the onslaught. The deterioration of Barney and Robin's marriage in THE SAME EPISODE as they had their first dance together. I mean, who's absolutely tone deaf idea was this? I'm all for Barney and Robin as endgame so I never enjoy the idea they divorce at all, but to do it in the same episode they begin their marriage together? It's no wonder this finale has become iconic given how bad these decisions are for the characters and the story. Then they have Robin, who the show insists is 100% adamantly not in love with Ted (e.g. the immediate 'No' to Ted in season 7 despite her considering marriage to Kevin of all people an episode before, and I love Kevin but the guy is a little inconsequential), pining over how she's started to realise Ted was probably the one for her all along, despite, as I say, being absolutely vehemently against anything to do with him romantically (beyond spur of the moment, no thought required, instances of passion like when she was vulnerable after finishing things with Kevin and kissed Ted), which just feels sudden, forced and utterly unnecessary, especially since it's coming at the expense of Robin and Barney's relationship. And then we get to Barney, again I know he has that absolutely heart rending scene with his baby daughter where NPH just does the business, but the idea that for 3 years Barney was in an absolute rut, reduced to behaving the exact same way he was 13 years before, living the same life and feeling unable to change thanks to the failure of his marriage to the one person he saw himself being able to develop with (again, I love the idea of his little girl being that person for him but I still feel they could have had that scene in addition to keeping Robin and Barney's marriage, have them complement each other) is just so depressing and unsatisfying to me. And I know life can hit you like that and the show never hid this from you, actually going out of it's way to emphasize a lot of the time how tough things can get, but when you couple this altogether literally in the same episode as this lovely wedding, the 'farewell' of these great friends and characters, it feels cheap, hollow and nasty, not realistic and thoughtful in it's harshness. But possibly the worst instance of character assassination in this finale is Tracy. It's not even her character that suffers, she's absolutely fantastic and so, so earned by this point given the 8 seasons of struggle we've seen T-Mose go through in his pursuit for love. But the idea that she is killed off in this little montage scene is the epitome of disrespect to me. And her death would have been one thing, again, like people say, tragic as it would have been it makes sense that it could have been one of the factors spurring on future Ted to discuss her with his kids. But to use her grave as the stepping stone for Ted to climb high enough to leap back into Robin's same old apartment with the same old blue French horn as the show happily forsakes the yellow umbrella, just sucks so hard, especially when the show does such a legitimately good job rightfully convincing you that Ted and Robin just don't work. It's like they tell you in episode 1 this isn't going to work. Robin says it, Ted knows it and future Ted confirms her place in the kids life as Aunt Robin. And it's like they then spend the next 9 seasons drilling this into you, over and over again that these two just don't work, despite however much evidence to the contrary and not for lack of trying on Ted's part, only to dump all of that character development and story and progression into the bin just to get them together? And why? We've seen Robin freak out about marriage in the restaurant, having a panic attack just thinking Ted is proposing to her, we've seen them about to kiss on the sofa as future Ted admits that would be wrong, we've seen Robin admit she doesn't love Ted, we've seen Ted finally let Robin go after 8 years and do what's right, telling Robin he'll have no part in her pre-wedding freak out and run off with her (especially since he has the experience of Victoria and Klaus' wedding) because she and Barney are meant together. All of this just to throw it all on it's head and do the complete opposite, at the expense of Ted and Tracy, Barney and Robin and 9 years of story telling? It just feels to me like the whole 9 seasons of Ted and Robin's relationship was just to get Robin past the fear of marriage, have it so she finds out she isn't able to have the kids she's almost entirely dead-set against having anyway, have it so Ted has a way of having the kids Robin doesn't want, and then just meet them back in the middle to get back together following the utterly ruthless annihilation of Tracy and Barney and their place in the story. For a show I absolutely adore and watch at least once a year, it has one of the, if not the worst ending I have ever seen and it cannot be understated how badly the writers dropped the ball in not anticipating the curve all the way back when they planned the ending. If only they hadn't been so dead-set on an ending that had absolutely no place in the show by Season 9.
They literally did the almost impossible by creating the perfect character to live up to the insane build-up that was 'the mother' with basically perfect casting and acting, and then they threw that all away.
Yeah my big worry at 1st was that they weren't going to be able to actually make her character what she should be, but then they did.
And then they ruined her story in a completely unforeseen way.
@@BrennanCh06 it's actually impressive how much they fucked it up.
This commented is underrated
Because she’s not important to the story he’s telling the kids.
@@Willpowerbomb he's telling the story about why he should date Robin now
I would not be so pissed about the mother dying had Ted not gone back to robin five seconds later. The mother being dead all along is kind of a heartbreaking and moving concept, it explains why ted has been telling this story for so long, have him give a little speech about moving on or trying to get by without a loved one and end the episode there. Don’t break up Barney and robin and don’t force her and ted together again, this should not be a story about an old man trying to ask his kids for permission to date their divorcee aún because their mother is dead and he already used her to get the kids he wanted. This should be a story about a father who is reminiscing old times out of loneliness and talking about all the happy memories of his youth leading up to the best moments in his life. Also don’t kill her off in freaking 5 seconds, have the last episode revolve all around her death, send her of respectfully dammit.
Susana Lopez All I can imagine is the song your all alone starting to play as Tracy dies only to be cut of by something bittersweet as Ted looks at his kids and reminisces on everything they’ve been through.
I genuinely love this show and I love the ending, what I hate in the last season and the last episode is the timing : we stayed at the wedding for an entire season and all the story about the group falling appart only lasted one episode
It was all foreshadowed for multiple seasons.
As for Barney it was never going to work: he would have to have changed to something we didn’t like: out of everybody he got he got the generic happy ending
personally i’m not the biggest fan either but it makes sense why they did it. why else would the first episode be about meeting robin?
UntamedBanana because the first episode was almost subverting rom com and sit com tropes. Instead of making you wonder about “will they won’t they” they tell you right away they won’t, and it was so refreshing and unique. But oh no forget it we are going to subvert your already subverted expectations it was Robyn al along ! Idk never liked robin and ted together and probably never will
The problem here is that the writers deliberately wanted Ted and Robin to be together but didn't want Robin to be the mother (in a sense, have their cake and eat it too). What the writers forgot was to make Ted and Robin a likeable couple we could root for.
Gotta be honest, I think it was the creators, not the writers.
I completly agree with this. I liked the show all the way thogh the last episodes but by the end I wished they had long let go of ted and robin but by the time victoria came and went, and went again because Ted could not let go of robin, it was clear they were stuck on that path. In the end it does not feel like a couple that 'should' be together. It feels like time just wore them down. I still like it because it feels gritty and realistic but probably not a great resolution for a sitcom
I rooted more for barney and Robin and was gutted by their divorce even after multiple re watches
The last scenes with the kids were probably shot after season 2, when it still made sense that they end up together, but after season 8 it was too late. At some point when you choose a way you stick to it, you don't u-turn and risk losing the major part of the audience.
They were okay in the first two seasons. Their relationship was tired and overdone by season seven, and a walking zombie by season nine. Part of the reason I got into the show in the first place was because I thought they were going to subvert the trope of introducing the main love interest in the first episode but instead they go back to it.
I hated how the whole last season was focused on Barney and Robin’s wedding and then they end the relationship within the last ten minutes and then pair Ted with Robin again. It’s okay that the mother died but you didn’t have to force him into another relationship at the end.
While insinuating it was always meant to happen like that.. Should be called how i met your step mom
@@SarahBrown-mg6cy It said clear in the show this is the story of "How I met your Aunt Robin".
@@RandomGuy-wr7je yeah but she isnt aunt anymore
pineappleagent1 should’ve been a half and half season.
not only the last season, but multiple times the wedding days is shown to appear which is bs
that last scene made the mother look she was only useful to have Ted’s kids… i hated it so much.. Tracy was such a good character I wanted to know her more. How are you gonna make Ted a hopeless romantic and make one of his most important relationships have a small part of the show? I was so tired of ted’s and robin relationship like dang dude there was nothing left for them to give...
yoimstef Ted was more of a creep. So fixated on idealistic vision of Robin that he messed up his love story! Tracy was perfect for him and he truly didn’t deserve her because he still had a thing for Robin who doesn’t make sense! She loves Barney who deeply loves her and makes huge jumps for her to find out she couldn’t care less! She wanted her career then all that wedding panic was giving us hints she didn’t want to marry him. We saw Barney grow and become comfortable being who he is and even supporting her but she couldn’t do the same. Ted was also a creep telling her he loves her while she’s marrying his friend. Ted was a bad Friend actually and Barney was way careful and considerate of Ted in this situation.
She feels more like an object and not a real person
@@mj-yo7vt It wouldn't have even been that bad if, again, the finale wasn't a goddamn slideshow? It's fine to love people and move on and change your mind as time goes on. Yet because the audience doesn't get to see what obviously should have been a couple of seasons of Ted and Tracy, that message feels forced as hell.
@@ABirdOnTheMoon The only creep there was Barney who was so obsessed with Robin.
Robin didn't love Barney more than Ted,that's why it's easy for her to leave him for Ted.Ted didn't think Robin that way when he was with Tracy which clear in the deleted scene.
@@ABirdOnTheMoon
Tracy was perfect for him but Tracy died so the next perfect choice would be Robin. Thats exactly why we got those 9 seasons to see that the only other girl for him would be Robin. They were 2 lonely people. Let them get together and comfort each other.
the scene where tracy says "what kind of mother would miss their daughter wedding" always breaks me
maybe Penny won't get married...she might not ever be "that kind of mother"
I always assumed they meant teds mother died and missed Ted and Tracy’s wedding
@@darrenmazzei3791 same
that was the best acting scene of Josh Radnor i ever saw from him.
It died when Barney and Robin got divorced. A whole season for a wedding just to say never mind
People break up, the last season was not about Barney and Robin getting married... it was about how people change, people fall apart and people go together.
It died when Robin became infertile, and Barney and Robin divorced. I seriously ship these two when Barney finally come into terms with him falling in love with Ted's ex-girlfriend, and I wish it would stay that way. 😔
@@andrejosue98 that may have been the intention, but the execution was terrible. And that message was brought on during the whole series, the fact that at the end Ted still loved Robin and goes back to her like a teenager made it feel like he never evolved or grow or learned anything since season 1.
@@MichR14 well considering the writers wrote the ending in season 1 and threw it at the other writers who had no input on the ending. Feels like just used Barney and Robin for ratings and didn’t even care enough to build up to their own ending
Valid
Barney and Robin's divorce pissed me off so much. An entire season centred around their marriage, the entire Barney character ark where he finally changed (since season 5 ffs) and decided to settle down with Robin all thrown out in the toilet within the first 5 minutes of the last episode. I honestly hated the idea of Barney and Robin together at first (because I thought she should have been with Ted) but seeing Barney change so much over the course of those last 3 seasons actually made me happy for them. Them divorcing and Barney reverting back to his S1 self and becoming a dad to a woman we never even get to see was such a slap in the face for fans.
The first 8 seasons were good, but clearly the writers did not know how to handle a final season.
No they dropped the ball completely that final season
YES THANK YOU this show was my ride or die until they ruined their relationship, since then thinking of it just fills me with anger
They probably should have killed Barney if that's what they wanted to do, just as well then a character we actually care about will have died by the end of the series which seems like what they were going for with the mother
THIS!!
Total nightmare!
The worst part about the final season is the way they disrespected Tracy's character. It feels like she was just a device that Ted used in order to have the things he wanted in life (kids, marriage, stability, etc), and once she had served that purpose, she was no longer useful, so they killed her off so Ted could be with Robin again, who wanted completely different things (no kids, travel the world, etc.).
L 8008
the fact that the mother already lost her „true love“ before and Ted was just second choice doesnt make anything better but worse. So the whole romantic journey was just that they found the next best thing they could live with… It feels like a compromise instead of a real happy ending
I know they tried to show that he really loved her. But they just didn't quite sell it. He was very much of a throwaway character. Okay take I have kids with her. Now that they're grown. You can go to his true love Robin. Damn.
Didn’t help that the Mother was probably one of the sweetest characters of the show, and definitely Ted’s best love interest. I really liked Robin, and I get how you can have someone perfect in your life but pine after someone who is not right for you, but man... They missed the Mark there.
Alexander Angelus he was so obsessed with the idea that he should try it with Robin. I never saw it working and Robin wasn’t perfect but because of Ted she was tolerated and given a way out on many things . She had her major issues and Ted only saw her as perfect. Imo, ted was just so fixated on her, he couldn’t see it other way.
@@ABirdOnTheMoon He never fixated with idea,He accepted her for who she was.And in the end he broke up with her because he knows that was the right thing than making her commit him.
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS Really? Robin never actually liked him truly .. she only thought she should marry a guy love her that much! A guy who understands her but Ted was her good friend and she never was that much in Ted nor Barney! Barney loved her way deeper than Ted in the few moments we had! He knew how crazy she was and he actually came threw but Ted was always rushing like crazy whenever she calls just like a cheerleader! He was way way infatuated than in love! I don’t see him at all in love with Robin because Ted is in live with love! He’s that dreamy guy who proposes to almost every girl thinking she’s perfect! You gotta be kidding me thinking Ted saw her for her true self because that’s Barney not Ted. Ted seems just fixated on her because she’s the only one dismissing his lover vibes first hand ststing she’s not interested. My grandmother used to say weak men would die for that woman who plays hard to get! Somehow that gave her the upper hand over him for awhile .. that even finding his soulmate or perfect woman couldn’t change it! He was still wanting to have Robin because she’s the only one to dismiss him as a lover. That’s my opinion of course.
The mother should have been a main character for at least the last 3 seasons.
I agree. I liked Tracy.
How I "Met" Your Mother... Anything after that would have been anticlimactic, and the channel wouldn't have aired it anymore.
@@shaimawahab5916 you couldve still had her without spoiling that she would be the mother
@@naokaderapider4210 That would've honestly been the best course of action. Have her there as a friend to everybody, or even as someone who was in and out multiple times as a side character, and then reveal her as the mother.
@@naokaderapider4210 that would have made no sense because the kids would figure out she's the mother within five minutes of Ted "introducing' her. Remember he's telling the story to his kids - not us.
Plus, there wouldn't have been any impact of the dialogue 'and that is how I met your mother" if he had already met her three season ago.
Explaining to your children how you don't love their mother but your friend's wife is the worst idea ever.
That's not at all what happened 😂😂
LOL this is not at all what happened!!!! Don't be so dramatic.
So many people don't get this show and it's crazy to me 🤦🏽♂️
Did you actually watch the show or just the final episode lol
yep. that was the entire show. but it's still my favorite show ever.
In hindsight, they could've kept the Marshall storyline and just used Tracey(the Mother) as his buddy and we would've gotten to know her character.
They needed her to magically meet all the characters though.
Mariana Gonzalez Marshall could’ve introduced her to them OR she could’ve ventured off and met them all organically
@@SeaStarTea I mean you could've had the same magical meeting with marshal. She met barney in the past, so that coulda stayed the same. Ted too, and no reason the robin introduction would've had to change.
If only...
Aaron wow that sounds so much better
The ending makes it seem like he never really loved the mother because he was pining after Robyn
If you think this you really didn't pay attention during the final season the final season makes it very clear that's had let go of Robin it happened during the wedding then he found Tracy Robin's career got in the way of her relationship with Barney leaving her with no one Ted lived his life what's the woman that he loved for as long as he could then when she died like she says to him he gets stuck thinking about the old days his stories him telling his kids the story of How I Met Your Mother was his way of moving on from her and also without even knowing it asking them permission to get back together with Robin a person who became very lonely in the end and finally at the end became compatible with Ted because she achieves her dreams already
There is a deleted scene about ted and Robin lunch. Watch it
It had been 6 years
You need to learn some punctuation and with some I mean all the punctuation.
@@Raheel_Ishaq it's a TH-cam comment it doesn't matter I'm not writing a book report hear I'm trying to make a point
If they wanted the mother to be dead, that makes sense, fine. It's the reason why Ted is telling a story for 8 years, but then JUST LEAVE IT AT THAT. This is how I met your mother, I loved her so much, we had a beautiful relationship, and although we're all sad and we all miss her, you still have Aunt Robin, Uncle Barney, and aunt and uncle two other main characters, and that's beautiful because we've all been great friends for decades and we're going to be okay. That's beautiful, end scene. My dad died when I was a kid. If my mom sat me down for hours to talk about him then immediately ran to an ex, I'd lose all respect for her, it's just gross.
I'm sorry for your loss ❤
"How I Had Sex with 100 Women"
I don't know how the writers had a blind spot that telling this story to your kids could be interpreted as creepy. Even during the heights of the show, people were already pointing this out. We just ignored it because the show was still good.
Forever feeling bad for the character of 'Mother'. How could Ted find his soulmate and still have Robin on his mind as soon as she died? Even after all these years, I can't wrap my head around it.
As soon as she died? Many many years passed. Ted was lonely and old. In many episodes it is shown many old people remaking their lives, finding a partner or getting married.
Was Ted doomed to be alone for the rest of his life instead of being partners again with someone who meant a huge deal in his life?
The problem was there should have been more time in the 'present' showing Ted as a single father, rather than simply 'fast forward to today', which, to the casual viewer, may look like years later, but feels like only a few minutes.
i just dont get how could he tell his kids that he was going to tell them the story about how he met their mother when he was just trying to get them to realise hes always been in love with their aunt robin. Thats his way of asking for permission? Really? Bc i dont believe the whole "oh no this is all about your mother, i just didnt realise she was barely in the story".
And the kids are happy about it. If i were in their place, i wouldnt mind if he wanted to date another woman, but dont use my dead mother as an excuse to get your point across.
rx10 Who said he had to be alone? Just because him getting back together with Robin makes no sense doesn’t mean he had to be alone. The show could have ended with him going on a blind date (he looks up and smile) and he says I’m glad it’s you. Leaving it to the imagination and showing that he is moving on.
alexxa I wouldn’t diffidently be mad. Also, no matter how much time has passed for me to grieve, if I was told a story about my mom who has passed, that’s all I would focus on, not my fathers love life. That could wait for another day.
The fact they NEEDED to make an alternative ending
Seconded, they likely predicted that fans would absolutely loathe the Canon ending, so they came up with the alternative, which will always be the "REAL" ending to me! ❤️
Isn't there a official alternative ending
The twist should've been Barney talking to his kids he had with Robin. Barney should've had the happy ending.
Trina Q apparently they hadn’t decided which ending would be the canon one till 2 weeks before the finale aired
@@trinaq yeah
to be fair to Marshall, the actor wanted out of the series around season 6 or 7 because he was sacrificing a lot of his career (lots of movie opportunities mostly) for that show but they kept trying to make him stay so what happened in the last season was Jason putting his foot down and saying "i am not going to do this anymore" so they compromised and gave him scenes that could be shot quickly, in a short period of time and a few with the cast at the end so that his schedule would be open for bigger opportunities. and honestly, imo, even though he made a lot of movies, he isn't as big as he could have been if he had gotten out of the show a couple years before the end, but they didn't want to write out Marshall and i kinda get it, Marshall and Lily were amazing and their couple was a big part of the series, it would have been weird to have Lily alone in the gang.
Remember when Jason Segel was the one from the cast with a career outside the show? Good times
What career outside the show?
Ive rewatched himym 5 times.... i dont know, it just brings such a nostalgic good feeling, just feels like home. But 4 of those 5 times I didn’t watch the last season, bc that mess has no excuse to exist
Do it again, the ending is actually really good (+the 9th season is realllyyyy great)
Dexters the same way. The last season was so rushed
I rewatch it a lot too. But i never watch the final episode. I always imagine him just ending the story with her death and him going to the bar to have a drink with the group. WITHOUT GETTING BACK TOGETHER WITH ROBIN
Same here.. I think the series is pretty good if you remove the last season..
I rewatch it ever few years, i dont skip the last season mostly because cristin Milioti is too dang charming as the mother. that being said i understand why they went with the ending they did but the alternate ending is far better
No one is saying this ...but...Good Job on the Alex Meyers's reference .''being creepy is totally ok if you're the main character
Where is the clip from?
@@Chaos__64 Alex Meyers
Teslimah Buari I meant to ask what video specifically. Sorry for the vagueness.
@@Chaos__64 oh dude it's fine
Chaos 64 probably either the one about Twilight, You, or 50 Shades.
"Ted isn't Toxic! He's just full of himself, creepy, and made everyone else's life revolve around him.... but not toxic"
I've never watched the show but it sounds like Kirito and I'm a anime fan so it bad group of women want him for no reason
Exactly, he’s doing what the show did for eight years, defending him because he’s the main character. But as he points out, change the music drop the laugh track and you have ann8 year run of Netflix’s You without the murder scenes.
The story went against its own premise. The whole things leaves an empty feeling that life is just as pointless as this show.
That actually makes ALOT of sense.
cubeincubes dude how many times did ted say that stories take weird curves and get side track. Dude explained it it to the audience you just didn’t pay attention.
If that’s what you got from the show then I fee for your critical thinking or analytical skills. The shows foreshadowed things like crazy for seasons and told a story within the story with ted’s speeches that went beyond just that episode. It was stories within in a story. .
Edward Lomeli Yeah, way to ignore how the show wasn’t supposed to last this long. So actually, maybe your critically reasoning has been compromised. If the show had ended around season 4 or 5 it would have worked. Throughout the show they have shown us time and time again why Ted and Robin wouldn’t work, and it wasn’t just having kids or settling down. You saying they could have feel in love again means nothing because it wasn’t shown, I could say one of them came out as bisexual off screen. Yet, it wouldn’t mean anything. Show don’t tell.
Yesss
Exactly how GoT made us feel
Can we just think about for a second that Robin pretty much ruined Barney's life? He changed everything for her, his entire way of life, cheated on and broke up with his other major girlfriend for her(she stayed with Kevin in the end) when he finally starts to move on(or at least appears to) she can't stand it and tries at all costs to destroy his apparent relationship with Patrice and finally in the end when they finally get married she spends the whole time abroad doing the same thing she's always done, which is put her career above her relationships.
She dissapoints every other important character, she always got what she wanted, break Ted's heart, Barney's heart, for what?????? She got everything she wanted meanwhile the other characters built up, and when they finally moved on she comes like a bomb to fulfill her interest and her freaking ego
Myers Babe Yep, thats one of the biggest problem. The show focused so much on the wedding for a whole season and rushed so much in the last two episodes. Even though the time skip and character regressions left a lot of questions.
He did it a lot of those things on his own and he chose to do it, She was always about that and the only reason they broke up at the end is because they made the ending part in the 2nd season because they thought at the end Robin and Ted were going to end up together. They wrote themselves into a corner and had to force the ending to something that connects to something they did years ago. It’s the creators fault for doing that. That’s why they made an alternative ending where it ends when they meet and Robin and Barney never divorce. Also Barney manipulates and lies to girls constantly and cheated on his girlfriend with Robin.
Uhmm actually Barney was the one setting Robin up to love him. The "romance" with Patrice was just a trick to make Robin fall for him again. He wrote an entire page of his Playbook just to win Robin back. Also, Robin actually wanted to break up with Kevin but couldn't in the end since he immediately blocked her breaking up with telling her that he loves her no matter what she has done in the past. Also, her breakup with Ted was somehow Lily's fault. Robin's character was all about setting priorities in love or work. I would say she was one of the most realistic characters written since they also showed in her character arc that there cant be right and wrong. First she always but the priority on work over love. With Don, she changed this priority and got hurt in the process bringing her back into her old habits.
Shiro Shinigami Right... and the wedding season which the show spent so many episodes on addressed this issue and many others and the show had them both grow and overcome each fear and obstacle. You see this is why everyone says the last two episode (the fact that it tried to stuff so much in the last two episodes show the lazy writing) regressed most of the characters. Barney and Robin has grown by the end of the season and the last two episodes made them regress just to give them a quick progression again. Every last character was a stranger by the end and the show barley spent 2 out the 24 episodes it has to show who they were and how they were feeling and the effects of their actions. Which it usually did, it did show is why Barney and Robin would work and how Ted letting her could go led to him find this true love. Only to regress again.
when i was rewatching the show i realized how unlikeable ted actually was. he is a textbook ‘nice guy’, an actual hopeless romantic who falls in love with the idea of a girl instead of the actual girl. he is so set on the idea of finding the future mrs. ted mosby that he only ever falls in love with fantasies.
and the writers really wanted to make barney seem like such a bad friend when actually he is everything i would want in a best friend; he’s caring in his own way, trustworthy, supportive, funny and always gives the others a good time. he and robin were a great couple and it was insanely frustrating to lose a whole damn season about their wedding and marriage just to end it in some half assed attempt to make us root for robin and ted again.
On tik tok I’ve seen people call Ted a “nice guy” and is basically just like Barney but within his eyes Barney is a shitty guy
Barney sold a woman to a man for a car and stole another woman's car, leaving her alone in the bear infested woods. That's worse than anything Ted has ever done.
@@du2081 I’m in Kirkland
@@hybridbutterfly3908 That line always bugged me. Like everything else he's done could be excused, but then the writers were like "what if we write a throwaway joke where he commits human trafficking and grand theft auto?" The fuck?
@@Santa1936 He actually did a lot of things like that throughout the show. Going to a hospital and tricking a woman with amnesia into believing he's her husband, telling a woman he's a scuba instructor and taking her scuba diving ("she got the bends" = decompression sickness from surfacing from the water too quickly), posing as a woman to move into a college sorority to seduce the girls in it, filming women during sex without their knowledge and making videos & books out of the footage, etc.
I give him a pass on everything because Neil Patrick Harris often plays him over the top like he does Count Olaf on A Series of Unfortunate Events. It's only when fans defend him that I'm like no if someone did half the stuff he did we'd call them a rapist, illegal pornographer, human trafficker, and attempted murderer.
HIMYM: I've got the worst final season
Game of Thrones: *hold my beer*
Cecily Crasto GoT was my fav show, I loved everything about it - and then they rushed everything, the characters lost their personality, plot build ups were thrown away and BOOM they killed the show for almost everybody. Yey
GoT is the worst. They had a legacy in their hand. They just threw away what could have been a legendary, culture-defining work of art. And they just threw it away because they got lazy and wanted to be done with it.
Konrad von Schnitzeldorf 💯 agree. At least we still have the books.
Two and a half men: Hold my STD
@@konradvonschnitzeldorf6506 Even with that bad season, it could have been "okay" if they just blurred the lines a little. Have Dany burn a straight line rather than going burn it all and have Jon STILL find that as going too far, just being one example. They also TOTALLY did the thing GRRM SPECIFICALLY had a WHOLE SPEECH about randomly throwing a twist despite foreshadowing, if it was a mystery novel it'd be stupid and in any novel it'd be stupid.
The whole Robin/Barney thing is what annoyed me the most. Sure, I didn't like that the mother died, but upon reflection that could have been an okay ending if played correctly. The thing about Ted/Robin vs Barney/Robin is that throughout most of the series it really seemed like Ted had fallen in love with the idea of Robin instead of Robin herself. I mean, think about it, he literally saw her across the room and instantly was all in, he didn't know anything about her other than how she looked, and I guess that she can smile. This is further reinforced by the fact that he is constantly imagining her settling down and being the mother of his children no matter how many times she said she didn't want that kind of life. Barney, on the other hand, knew Robin, knew her personality, and *then* fell in love with her.
There's a moment, I don't know what season, but basically, Ted is making a fuss because Robin is all self-sufficient and he doesn't have to protect her (like literally in the case of possibly armed robbery he wants to be the one taking down the assailant and if Robin were to do so herself he would be upset). Barney, on the other hand, says he has no problem with that, it's what makes Robin Robin. That just solidified that Robin and Barney were the superior couple. And then everything suddenly got retconned at the last second.
And honestly, if they had just had the first few episodes of the last season been the wedding and then the rest of it be Robin and Barney slowly growing apart that might have been okay too, because yeah sometimes people are great when they get married but eventually, things stop working no matter how hard you try. But having 22 episodes of wedding and then "actually no, it didn't work out" was just... if they couldn't go past the wedding then the wedding should have happened in the previous season and the show ended sooner. Yeah, less money for them, but more integrity.
TL,DR: It feels like the last half of the show was building toward Robin/Barney and showing how Ted only loved the idea of Robin, not Robin herself, and at the last second the writers were like "oh crap, she's supposed to be with Ted" and threw in the scene with him and the locket to try and make everyone forget the last few years that made the show diverge from its original idea.
well said
Yes. All of that.
THIS
Yes to all of the points! and the fact that they made so many moments in the last season emphasizing how perfect Robin and Barney are for each other despite all of their flaws (like him standing up for her in front of his mom and saying he will choose Robin before everyone else even his family, or when they both freak out on their own but realize that they are actually ready to go through with the wedding, etc etc). What was all of that for? After all of this, they just said it didn't work out bcs of Robin's job, that's total bullshit
I can't tell you how much I agree with your comment. Ted is in love with the idea of Robin, Barney is in love with who she is and that's how it's supposed to be.
I disagree that people don’t watch it anymore. Maybe your friends don’t, but I know multiple people, I do too and most of us simply look past the first ending and consider the ‘revised’ ending to be the true ending/take the last season with a grain of salt. It was a good show that had a lot of great moments.
Exactly!! Completely agree!!
I've watched the whole show on many occasions. What HIMYM does that most shows don't do is refer back to previous episodes constantly. There are frequent callbacks so it's important to watch the show from the beginning until the end. With FRIENDS, you can come into the show in season 3, 4, 5, etc and still get invested. I don't believe the same can be said about HIMYM. It's a chronological story.
Same. Everybody that I know that watched it once, has watched more than 4 times already
yea its my comfort show, i think ive watched it 6 times now fully
I still watch it every day
I actually had no problem with the Mother dying. Death is a part of life. What I hated was Ted was back with Robin five minutes later. How I would have ended things is with Barney, and Robin staying together, and Teds friends comforting him, and his children after they lose the Mother. Yes it is a sad ending, but it is a much more satisfying ending. You had two parts in the final. Have the first part being about her, and Teds relationship. Then have the second part be about her finding out she is sick, and dying. Spend the time needed for that story rather then killing her off in 30 seconds, and moving on.
Myers Babe Yep, that’s why they shouldn’t have spend so long on a wedding where they would have the characters quickly divorce. They could have had the wedding in two episodes with the mom meeting the gang one by one. 11 episodes with the mom and Ted dating and completely interacting with the gang and fleshing her out. 5 episodes Involving small time skips and the gang dealing with their adults lives, Barney and Robin’s divorce if they want with one of the episodes dealing with with the Ted reaction to his wife’s death. The last 5 episodes we would see Robin reconnecting with the gang and Ted and Barney and his daughter(hopefully with a past character we recognize). The final episode after Ted tells his kids the story could have had him leave the room, look at the horn and just think (we see its day). At night he goes over and to Robin and scene.
It was literally said its been six years since the mother died.
For me the ending shows kind of a more light hearted approach to death. You should be able to move on with your life after six years. It should be okay to find someone else and be allowed to be happy again. They could easily have made the death of the mother an emotional scene or even episode, but they actively decided not to.
abc def Ted and Robin don’t work together more than friends. They don’t fit at all and Robin had lots of second thoughts and doubts of him! To say, they should go back is lame! In reality, it wouldn’t happen because he met his soulmate/magical wife! To say that was Robin all a long and not the mother is stupid! Especially since he is telling that to his kids! Especially because the last season was always hinting how perfect she was for him and how his wait for her was the reason for his happiness. Having Robin and Ted together was just way stupid
They did so many takes on the "reformed Barney" and "ready to settle down Robin", I was just over it by the end. Okay so all that wedding and they are STILL disfunctional who don't know what they want? I thought the whole point of the arcs were for them to mature over all these seasons. But uh.. no Barney didn't fix himself after marraige even after the whole wedding arc and the arc before that spending time highlighting how they're ready and matured. So we now jump onto a baby from a random girl he got pregnant . Ok NOW he's reformed and changed for good .Forget all the previous stuff . The whole Ted finally letting go of Robin and her image flying away from him on the beach with all that music .Just fakery .
@@abcdef9524 said. Not shown. That's the problem. You can't watch the entire show, get to that moment, and not feel like the writers baited you for a punch to the jaw.
My gf has this theory the last season has so many episodes around those 3 days, because for Ted, Robin's weeding felt like one of the hardest/longest things to go through. Which makes sense, if you think about it. Still doesn't mean it was the best choice tho
I also think it's kinda to drag out the story from his end, because he is procrastinating from getting to the point. Lol
Dude says: “Ted toxicn’t”, then continues to explain how he thinks Ted is toxic, just avoiding that word lol.
My exact thoughts.
Everything you don't like is considered woke now lol.
What really got me about the final is how disgusting the whole thing in context felt.
I mean we are talking about a (supposedly)madly in love father who tells his kids for the first time in their life how he met their long dead mother.
For all intends and purposes that should be a really emotional moment but nah dear father tells it in such a obviously staged way that even his godamn children catch unto him just wanting to lay their aunt.
Like...wtf dude?
*Intents
Intents and purposes. Otherwise, good post.
Hah,was genuinely unaware of that.
Thanks.
raped Slime you ever think about how the entire show ted tells stories within his stories. People get tired point of not wanting to listening to them. Hell, him and his wife had told each other every story they could think of and laughed.
This wasn’t his first time 100% but probably the story from start to finish. There is no way Ted could go that many years without zer stories.
He had a reason, maybe unconscious , to tell them it at that time
Edward Lomeli Your own backstory is not canon, but it is proof of bad writing because you are using your own head canon to make it work.
Edward Lomeli Also, it’s still a jerk move. This is a story about their mom, not a time for daddy’s love life, it could have waited a day or two.
The lessons taught in HIMYM:
People don't change. Not even over a near decade.
If your soulmate dies, you should have a backup that turned you down and you moved on from years ago waiting for you.
You cannot have a career and a relationship at the same time.
Children are the fix-all end-all of scummy behavior.
My main takeaway from the ending is this:
They show how even the best things in life end: The time when they are as friend at the bar ends, the perfect love story of Robin and Barney ends, the life Ted has always dreamed of, finding his soulmate, having kids and living in a house ends. Just as every good thing in life will eventually end. But instead of focussing on these sad aspects of life they make the best out of it, always with one smiling eye. Try not to be sad about the past but rather make the best out of your future. Kind of reminds me of the "always look on the bright side of life" ending of 'Life of Brian'. So in some way this ending is kind of inspiring for me.
Now I am not saying this was the intention of the writers, but thats not really too relevant in the end. The most important is what you take from it.
You have kinda nihilistic view looking at things if those were only lessons that manifested. Not saying you are wrong or right but I'm just saying. Fun fact... well not ''fun'' but intresting one nonetheless which is; suicide is almost exclusively 1st world issue. If that doesnt tell you that world does not need more post modernism (which is a result nihilistic behavior then I show my way out.
@@normaaliihminen722 I didn't say they were the only lessons. Also, are you trying to tell me I'm suicidal?
@@normaaliihminen722 lessons learned from normaali: if you criticize a show with a problematic ending, you're suicidal
naomikimiko No? *IF* I was actually saying that I would say so but I didn’t.
Edit: put emphasis on the word “if”
Tracy was one of the only good things in season 9- every time she appeared on screen, I got so happy-
This show should've been called Ted Mosby's Love Quest To Find A Boyfriend-Free Girl
The struggle is real
I call it Stop telling Your Teenage Son and Daughter about Your Sexcapades or These Dtories are Not Appropriate for your Children
chromesthesia especially the barney stories if I had a friend like barney I wouldn’t tell my kids those kinds of stories about him or at least not in that much detail
HES WORKING ON IT!!
Lmao nice chrischan joke
What's astounding about this is that they hyped a character for almost a decade, they ACTUALLY MADE IT WORK and then they killed it. Imagine nailing such a hard job and instantly undoing it. By choice.
It’s like if Jesus came back and he was totally awesome, just like they always said he was supposed to be. Sure, maybe he doesn’t LOOK like Jesus, but he acts like a gentleman, like you imagined when you were young. But then at the last minute, Jesus gets a piano dropped on his head and we’re told he’s never coming back. Sorry! No salvation for you! Actually, the real god was the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
I can live with the mother dying (pardon the pun!) I think that’s actually the least of the finale’s problems; and since it was planned from the start at least it didn't feel like it came out of nowhere. The main problem with the finale is it’s incompatible with everything the previous seasons (ESPECIALLY the last season) had gone to great lengths to set up. Just look at all the huge character changes that happened in the final season. Barney anonymously passed on his knowledge to his “protégées” Justin and Kyle proving that he was finally ready to close the last chapter on his old lifestyle, settle down and start a new life with Robin. Ted was finally able to get over his feelings for Robin by literally letting her go (yeah, the balloon thing was kind of stupid, but the point was he had finally moved on. ) Likewise, Robin was able to let go of any lingering doubts about a future with Ted after he told her he wasn’t the same guy she’d met all those years ago. Then they really sealed the deal when Barney promised Robin he would always be honest with her, and giving them a beautiful, picture perfect wedding. Then they threw all that out the window in the next episode. Barney goes right back to his old sleazy ways until he has a child with a random woman we never even meet and then he changes AGAIN (what was the point of all that?) except it doesn’t feel like heartwarming, earned, mature character development anymore, instead it just feels sad. (Out of everything they screwed up in the finale, I really hate how they handled Barney’s character, it just feels like they did him a dirty for no reason.) And Ted’s whole spiel to Robin about how he was a changed person now? Defenestrated. The only “justification” for Ted and Robin being together is the promise they made to be each other’s backup, which isn’t exactly the most romantic foundation for a relationship. This finale is a good example of why first drafts are usually (and should be) scrapped. Although the ending may have worked back when the writers originally envisioned it, by Season 9 the series and characters had come too far and evolved too much to support it as a satisfying conclusion.
Perfect.
HIMYM used to be my universe. I owe being fluent in English to this show. After the last season however, I never went back and I never looked back. They just ruined it for me personally.
I learned english by watching himym aswell. I still rewatch it from time to time but I never watch the last two episodes.
I learned English by watching Friends, while the last seasons were definitely not as good as the earlier ones it still had some pretty funny episodes and Paul Rudd was hilarious as Phoebe's BF/Husband, they didn't ruin anything for me and I still come back to rewatch all 10 seasons from time to time. HIMYM I remember really liking seasons 1-4, 5th was when I starting to notice drop in quality and after that it just went really downhill.
When shows ends this badly (as writing I don''t mind if its "sad" ending) I just don't wanna rewatch it at all, even the good seasons. That's why I don't think I will ever go back to rewatch GoT or HIMYM.
i genuinely loved tracy much more than robin in the short amount of screen time tracy had. i wished she was introduced seasons earlier. i feel like season 8 would’ve been a perfect time as it would have gave us a more clear prospective on tracy’s and ted’s relationship.
I had my own version of the ending, where, Ted, played by Bob Saget is revealed to have written a somewhat fictionalized memoir. The kids tell him that it's totally exaggerated and unbelievable. The kids walk out, the mother walks in. She touches his shoulder. He kisses her hand, and he says, "I didn't exaggerate everything." Cut to credits.
That sound so good
Love it
That pretty much lines up with how I thought it would end as well maybe with a few revisions of removing Tracy and having Ted look at his wedding photo with a loving smile on his face because even before S9 I kinda already pieced together that she had to be dead but the memory of her and the way it was treated felt...disrespectful
But frankly that doesn't fix the season from its biggest problem which is that S9 had the potential to be something great but ultimately felt like wasted potential and just makes me wonder if the writers stopped caring about their own show after a certain point
i really like yours and want to share mine too, so after ted finished the story the kids say something mocking how long it took to tell the story then after that ted grabs a flower from a table, a picture frame of him and tracy as well as the yellow umbrella then he goes to her grave and says "i got you more flowers, they''re your favorite." sets down the 6 flowers replacing 5 old ones from before and the picture frame on the tombstone where we see 5 other picture frames and then proceeds to say "happy birthday tracy.." (one from each year she's been dead) and sets the umbrella over her tombstone to shield it from the rain then the wind blows it away where it knocks into someone holding balloons and he lets them go but yet one doesn't fly up (this balloon part is kinda far fetched ik) . guys i know mine is dark but i think it could be a really beautiful ending
The final season should have been about Ted and the mother’s relationship, and be cause they had the endgame planned since season two Robin and the mother’s relationship and Ted and Robin’s relationship post-mother.
Matthew Newman the story was about how they met the mother. The parts with Ted and her were either before they were officially together or hinting about her death (minus short scenes talking about milestones like pregnancy or second baby happening after midnight $
The implication of the ending should have been that Ted and Robin are together. What would of been shown was Robin dropping everything to make sure that Ted and the children would be okay. Developing Robin into a motherly character with a sensible reason to undergo that character change. They most definitely didn't want to do anything like this.
@@jerm70 Robin would be a terrible mother. And Ted doesn't need Robin to be a mother. He already found his perfect woman Tracey. It would be disrespectful for him to look for another "the one" after her death, because Tracey was perfect. That's why he ends up with Robin together. Robin is his best friend and the ideal partner for him to grow old after he lived the life he always wanted with Tracey. Robin and Ted learned most from each other during the whole show and they are now able to finally give each other what they were supposed to. They were made to be partners, friends, roommates, soulmates, not a dream couple. They were very different persons, which is why Barney and Tracey, who were very similar to Robin and Ted, were such ideal lovers for them. But their love life is over. They can now complement each other until their days are over.
Barney said he didn't have to "wait for it" anymore cause he has Robin and then ended up breaking them up and breaking my heart
just to give barney a kid which was a nice scene but it wasn't worth it
scarlett bazah Robin broke it off because to her career was first and she never cared for him. Apparently Robin is married to her career. Even Ted won’t be able to be that selfless about it. Robin was lame and selfish. She also was the holy grail Ted always wanted to taste. They don’t fit but he was so fixated and Ted to me has some weird fixes! He is almost obsessed with his ideas of ideal love that he goes for it regardless
@@ABirdOnTheMoon exactly but she was a better fit for barney cause she made him happy
scarlett bazah Barney loved Robin as she is and for who she is. The problem, Robin didn’t love him equally nor was able to. She tried to convince herself she can but the last season was her full of doubts and she almost left him at the alter. Robin needed to marry Robin and just be on her own because she wasn’t fair to anyone.
@@ABirdOnTheMoon well they could've done better to her if she refused to marry him or cancelled the wedding, they gave us false hope
Yeah he kinda ended up like his mom
The montage of the background actors meeting, getting engaged, getting pregnant, child graduating, and the dad passing was absolutely SOOO CLEVER!!!
So we all know this show was meant to last 2 seasons and they didn't change the ending when it lasted longer. I swear to God they didn't change one line from the 2006 script; all the characters regress, even Marshall and Lily regress. This ending only makes sense as the season 2 finale, maybe 3; but after 9 years? Nah bro
The ending could have been episode 2 of season 1 and it would have fit perfectly.
HIMYM was my Hyperfocus so I saw every interview where they told us for years that the mother was not gonna be dead at the end like most people first think when they see the first season.
They straight up lied.
It honestly would work better as a movie
This was me and my ex boyfriend's show we'd watch together... Like our relationship, it did not age well lol
Same
Same lmao
Saame
As Kelso would say, "BUUURN!"
This was my and my nice grammar
4:47
The Dobler Dahmer Theory
"If both people are into each other, then a big romantic gesture works: Dobler, but if one person isn't into the other, the same gesture comes off serial-killer crazy: Dahmer."
The thing is people were into Jeffrey Dahmer.
He didn't like bludgeon people over the head and drag them into his house when they weren't into him, he seduced them
The difference isn't whether or not someone is into them but whether or not they have good intentions.
You want a creepy Stalker type go to Ed Gein.
"This is a Bottle SEASON, which I don't even know if that's a thing"
Walking Dead fans: *look into the camera*
But that show never used just 1 room. Even when the characters stayed at the farm, there were still a lot of scenes in the fields, in the woods and the near city.
Good to see the Alex Myers clip in there.
It was good to see, it was bad not to see it credited tho... considering he's trying to make a profit out of this 🙄
Thought I was crazy when I saw it... Bothered me a little
@@linkinboss2 - Dude, Alex Meyers has TWO MILLION subscribers. I don't think he needs you to rescue him from this terrifying guy with 44 thousand subs.
@@tastyloaf5487 Still, it doesn't hurt to give credit where it's due. All of the other appearances got credited as well. Why not Alex? A simple sentence on screen would suffice, really.
@@tastyloaf5487 okay but he also worked for the audience he has...giving credit for work is always a good thing
The sad part is that it shows how you can undo almost a decade of good writing by half-assing the finale.
Kind of like Game of Thrones, both series went from cultural phenomenon to irrelevant in the time that it took the fans to realize just how little the writers cared about finishing the story off.
They spent an entire season dedicated to Barney and Robin's wedding only to have them divorce in the finale.
and barney wasn't changed by it. he changed for his baby.
we can only assume it serves to prepare robin to settle down at 50.
key lesson of the show: shit happens (for a reason?)
@@PyrokineticFire1 Shit happens in real life
Did you all miss the fact that "the mother" was never a real character? She was a plot device so that Ted could have kids, which Robin didn't want to do. The ENTIRE show was about Ted being in love with Robin.
Which is absolutely ridiculous given that throughout the entire show they sprinkle in these coincidences and near-misses in terms of Ted and her meetings, as if divine fate was at play and that they're perfect for each other, only for it all to mean absolutely nothing. If we had gotten more time to see the relationship between her and Ted, then maybe I'd be convinced that it was true love that he will never be able to fully get over, but that's just not how they go about the timeline.
That's awful. That's exactly how the last season made it seem. So disappointing because I loved that show so much.
No one missed that, that's the reason most people hate it.
@@LA-mz1dd So, you're saying that you knew that she wasn't important, but you allowed yourself to care about her and then got upset when the show proved that she was basically a nonentity? You have no one but yourself to be mad at.
@@violagreene4643 God you're an asshole.
What Laura was saying was that people realised that *after* the finale. That wasn't how the show was building "The Mother" up during its run with the constant near-misses and teases, and with the *three* storylines about how Robin and Ted weren't right for each other. *That* is why people were mad. They felt misled.
Protip: If you as a writer need a character to be a plot device to get two other characters together, then those two characters aren't MEANT to be together and you suck as a writer.
You might not dislike the final season, and that's fine. You might like the finale, and that's *fine.* But stop acting like you're so much smarter or so superior to people who disagree with you. Let people have their own opinions without being a dick about it.
I am still really surprised that Cristin Milioti didn't become an overnight sensation. She's had steady work, but when she was introduced as Tracy, she was just amazing. Her on screen chemistry with Lily and the cookies was, to me, the best of the whole show. I seriously think the writers traumatized us by killing her off like that. I hope for many more mainstream rolls for her!
She needs to get naked she looks great, why be a prude, she could do an inclusive scene with another woman ?
"and that kids, is how you turn a no into a yes" TED NO-
How I met your mother is a show that tells it's audience for 7 seasons that Ted and Robin to not belong together in any way, explain to us every reason she does belong with Barney, then give us a woman who is literally perfect for him, his soulmate, one that fits into the group and his life, kills her and then still has the fucking balls to put Ted and Robin together even after the entire point of the show was to communicate to us that they do not work as a couple!
As someone who has found that special someone as well, the one that I love with all my heart I cannot picture myself trying to move on with anyone, because it would be a shallow image of what used to be. I will never and can never love someone like I love my soulmate, there is no moving on from him. The show also tried to make this okay by the mother sharing that sentiment with her dead fiancee, trying to hint to the audience that she was wrong, falling in love as she thought she was is winning the lottery, and she shouldn't play twice, but TED! She won the lottery twice and he can too!
No. Just no. Ted moving on with Robin would be like her marrying the guy she was with in the final season. They weren't right for one another, and she knew it. By all means, go ahead and make Ted's story tragic, that I understand. Rewatching it, especially the last season makes you cry more when you know. But don't simply assert that 'Ted's had his kids, so now he and Robin are soulmates!' No. That's not what a soulmate is, and you can't give us an example of them in Lilly and Marshal to establish in this universe they are real but then shit all over the concept. Fuck. That.
/endrant
robin wasn't his soul mate.. they aren't "right for each other" but she's an old friend who can keep a single father company.
they're not gonna marry after the finale. 1) she doesn't compare to tracey 2) commitment-phobic robin got a bad taste of marriage 3) she doesn't want to be a step parent (but maybe penny will have a some sort of motherly figure at her wedding) 4) ted doesn't NEED marriage anymore, he had a great one.
they wanted to remind the audience that terrible things happen & the only option is to move on.
do i love the ending: no.
they made artistic choices that i wouldn't have, but i wouldn't have made a hit tv show.
When watching the later seasons i really liked how they werent making robin and ted end up together. It tells people watching an actually good and real message about no matter how much you love someone, if you guys have different goals for your life (such as robin and teds views on kids) it won't work out and that's ok. You'll find someone who shares them, this actually helped me realize a similar situation when i was in college talking to a girl who wanted to travel and live in another country while my plans are to be near my family. However, the last episode destroys that message.
The day the show died was the day they filmed David Henrie's and Lyndsy Fonesca's side of the conversation that ended the show, because at that point they made a commitment to a payoff that was going to work against the show if it went against the character development that it would eventually take. And to say that's exactly what happened would be the understatement of the century.
I thought the same about Jennifer Aniston's character in FRIENDS. I watched it multiple times, I loved the show but as the seasons went on I started getting annoyed by Rachel's character. Every time Ross finds someone she tries to sabotage the relationship but when she dates someone, she wouldn't give a shit about Ross, her character became more greedy, selfish.
Rachel is the worst. And you've only touched on her relationship with Ross.
She's just as intolerable in all her other interactions.
She routinely takes advantage of the kindness of those around her (Poor Gunther) without giving much in return besides her presence.
She rarely ever thinks of putting others before herself. She will take what she wants and then act shocked that someone is upset by that. And only then does she consider whether she was wrong or not. Monica and Van Damme comes to mind.
The vast majority of her non-Ross romances happened because she engaged in disturbingly inappropriate behaviour to get them to even notice her.
I really dislike her handling of the Mark situation. The first time I ever watched those episodes, I got so frustrated asking myself why Rachel was so stubborn in acknowledging Ross' very obviously real concerns. Why she wouldn't out of respect for Ross draw some boundaries for Mark, who again, was as obvious with his intentions as could be. So when the break happened, I immediately blamed Rachel. She was so selfish during that period. Ross was wrong to "cheat" but it speaks to Rachel's selfishness and sense of entitlement that she thought Ross should wait around until she feels she's ready to talk to him again.
I disliked Rachel from the beginning. Now I hate her
Thank you for bringing up Bob Saget! I never expected older Ted to be played by Saget, but I expected him to be dubbed over by Saget, which is what the alternate ending did; Josh Radnor's "and that's how I met your mother" is dubbed over by Saget. But the official ending not only has Radnor speak at the end, but the entire narration for the series finale 2-parter is done by Radnor. Why bother with Saget to begin with?
I kept waiting for Ted to turn into Bob Saget too LMAO
LOOOOOOL
I feel like robin and ted broke up again afterwards and the kids didn’t care
Good 😂
I hope so 🤞🏽
like how ross and rachel broke up 2 weeks after the end.
@JIM MEL Yep.
No. This time, Ted doesn't think of Robin as his dream girl. She's now just the friend he chooses to become old with. He already lived his life with the perfect woman for him. Now it's time to spend the rest of his life with the person he started his journey with. The story starts with him seeing Robin as his first "the one" ideal. Now, he doesn't need Robin to be that anymore, which is why they can settle down for good together. The whole show showed, that Ted and Robin were perfect friends and their respective journeys are now over. Their friendship is the reason why they can move on together as partners, that couldn't have happened back in Season 2. It's a beautiful wrap-up for Robin and Ted
Honestly they should have ended it with the umbrella scene, they meet they have a little chat and that kids is how i met your mother the end goodnight
Very good series but everything was entirely based around the last season and that it was a huge letdown. With how the show ended it made almost everything preceding that kind of filler. Yes, every story has a climax but the characters change & grow but I think Barney was the only one that ultimately grew and that was only due to him having a kid seemingly randomly
Christopher Ballero I wish that we didn’t have to waste a whole season on a relationship that didn’t matter. Also, if they hadn’t wasted time we could have gotten a face for his baby momma, maybe a past character he slept with after the divorce.
The finale was a slap in the face to everybody who watched from the beginning. You spend this whole time indicating that Ted & Robin were SUPPOSED to be together. But then, nope. This never before seen woman is actually your mother. But... wait. How I met your mother, who cares, she's dead and now Ted is FINALLY going to get with Robin. The show should have been called "How I Finally Got Together With Your 'aunt' Robin" 🤦♂️
Jason Evans damn you didn’t pay attention. Ted foreshadowed everything and told stories within stories. His speeches weren’t just about one particular episode but the entire thing. From the story venturing off, to life’s obstacles, to hinting early on she was going to die (or died),
Ted has told the kids these stories for sure. That’s why they are bored probably, lol. This wasn’t about the mother per se but honoring her and moving on. Finally letting go.
Plus everybody hates Ted besides the mother for his stories. There’s no way he didn’t tel them this stuff before just maybe not start to finish the adventure at once.
And that's all well and good but, as it's pointed out in this video, the actual mother doesn't appear until the last season (ok, so it was technically the 8th season finale). It's as if the mother is more of an after thought in every story he tells and Ted is more interested in getting to the point where him and Robin get together, rightfully so too since, when you think about it, majority of his stories are about him pining for Robin... his REAL dream girl. I guess I'm just basing my OPINION on my own personal history. My Dad's story of how he met my mother, starts the day before he met my mother. My mother's story of how she met my Dad, starts the day before they met. I know the whole idea that "well nobody liked Ted's stories except the Mom", but is that supposed to include the people watching? Spending 9 seasons watching for the mother to be an after thought? And you can spin it all you want, that last season and finale turned the mother into just that. An after thought.
Ian However p, that’s the problem their ending didn’t work anymore because they changed the structure of their show. So, it’s still bad writing. They still tried to force the characters to reach the ending they planned long ago, even if it didn’t make sense anymore.
Edward Lomeli You keep insulting people while ignoring that the structure of this show changes but they still try to force the character to the ending they had planned long ago. The only problem was that by the end it didn’t work anymore. Also, No normal child would respond the way they did, I do t care how much they love their Aunt Robin or how many years have passed. If this is a story about how you meet my mother, I don’t care about your wet dreams.
Ian Yep, because if they had the wedding be the focus for 3 (with the mom meeting members of the gang) episodes. We could have had 10 episodes with the mom/Ted and the gang just doing goofy stuff together and going through life. The remaining 11 episodes (4 with the mom in it) would have been similar but with small time skips sprinkled into it. We would have gotten a gotten a whole episode of Ted dealing with the mother’s death. A whole episode of Robin reconnecting with the gang. A whole episode for Barney to deal with father-hood. A whole episode for Marshall and Lilly figure their work/family situation out. The final episode could have the gang hanging out or Robin getting back with either Ted or Barney. Because it wouldn’t have felt so fast.
Personally never thought the kids scenes were in day time, assumed from the start it was a night time story type scenario.
“Never bothered a second view”? I watch HIMYM literally everyday
Thanks to hulu.. i cant no more😭 it was better on netflix
I finished it on Friday and yesterday i started watching again because I already missed them
Ingrid Barros I don’t, still love friends though.
Same
every year, I binge all seasons
When I started to watched the show I was 16 and had just gone through a really bad breakup, she was the first person I ever really loved, so it was hard for me. HIMYM was kinda therapeutic for me in a way, Ted went through all of these relationship problems, but throughout the entire thing, we knew he would end up with the right person, and his struggle with getting over Robin was something I could seriously relate to. It helped me through a lot in ways I can't really explain. But having Ted just end up with Robin instead kinda undermined what I loved about the show in the first place. I, like many others, fell in love with the mother character, and in my eyes seemed like the type of person that I would want to end up with. So for the writers to simply kill off the character and have Ted end up with Robin was just incredibly disappointing for me and lead to a dissatisfying end
+1 , big time
Same here. This show helped me to get over a person too , making me see that there is not necessarily "the one" and even if you are good as friends it doesnt mean you are compatible as partners. I could really relate to ted because over the years , even when he thought he had let her go , his feelings for robin occasionally came back again and sometimes he was able to control them and sometimes not.
It was so rewarding to see that all that emotional burden over the years was worth it when he finally found someone suitable (almost perfect for him). But for some reason they decided to kill her off (which in itself is ok because once again HIMYM was always about how life isnt perfect like in fairytales and death is part of it) but they did all of that just to bring him back to Robin.
All those lessons about letting someone go , accepting that what feels right in the heat of the moment isnt always the actual right thing , not trying to force ideas like "destiny" or "fate" into everything and most importantly : accepting that the concept of "the one" is toxic and will only emotionally consume you once seeing "the one" doesnt see you that way (And it did make ted suffer alot)....all of that is thrown out of the Window , because apparently it works : ted in the end is being rewarded with his obsession about robin , he never truely let go and like his kids kinda said themselves : the whole story was if ted is lowkey trying to get approval so he can get back to robin because he had such feelings for her for such a long time...The mother itself is barely in the story.
for me the moment with the mother where she talks to her deceased partner is absolutely beautiful, thinking about that 'Hi Max' gets me teary erry time
I binged the entire SERIES in 2015. Never watched an episode and then watched it all in one go. It was all I watched for months. I was super invested in the characters by the end of it. Yet found myself not giving a shit during the last season because it was so unlike the rest. I had the ending spoiled by someone, and I kept hoping they were overreacting. They weren't. I haven't watched a single episode since.
Leah B some but in 2019 I felt like I watched the last season just for the sake of watching it
i remember started watching it in 2013, 2014 in 2014 when it went on nick at night, boy some good times and actually watching it up to 2015, i just realized it ended in 2014, which is weird when it came on nick at night, didn't know those were the last few episodes, well i kinda did
Same here
I love rewatching how I met your mother just skip the last episode
I love the last season with all my hearth.
I rewatched it this month so
This show was almost a masterpiece, until season 9. The biggest problem was that it felt as if the writers knew what they wanted to do from the very first episode. And at some point, I have to commend them for sticking true to their vision after 9 years. But therein lies the problem: if this show ended around season 5 or 6, I think the finale would’ve been much better received. However, after almost a full decade, the last 3 years of which were essentially a completely separate story, they should’ve known to expect all the backlash that they got.
Of course it didn’t help that there were project conflicts with two of the shows main cast. Marshall was off filming other movies (I think sex tape came out around this time), while the mother was filming her scenes for the wolf of Wall Street. So the backstage issues really hurt the final season. Even so, the final season was highly disappointing. This show did not die a peaceful death.
Ghostflame92 they did know what they wanted from the first episode, that’s why the scene with the children was filmed during season 1
iBeParadox Yeah, and the person said that by changing the structure of the show (to make it longer) it ruined the ending that they had originally planned. And honestly, Ted and Robin would have worked if the show eneded around season 4 or 5.
the last few seasons, they were getting into the real stuff and it just felt like they forgot to add these plots in the previous and are trying to cram them all into the very last seasons
"i don't agree w calling fictional characters toxic!" *proceeds to describe Ted's toxic behaviors and points him has a selfish creep*
If neil Patrick Harris was t playing Barney then I wouldn't have even watched it the first time round.
Well, you wouldn't've known now, would you.
@@XxSsaRaHxX exactly
I think he means "no funny" without Barney... actually they are pretty much all pathetic characters except for Barney
Man, I was convinced that Barney was the true protagonist of the series for a while. Seeing how his character changed and he grew to love Robin. I thought that's why Ted told his kids this long story starting with how he met Robin. I thought it was a giant prologue leading up to the wedding where he ACTUALLY met the mother. I thought it was all brilliant story telling. But my gosh did I give the writers too much credit. The last episode took utterly shat on the whole series and destroyed it.
How is it that every hit sitcom manages to stay around 1-2 seasons past its expiration date?
I thought Bob Saget’s voice was supposed to be how Ted thought he sounded.
That makes no sense.
@@giovannigiovanni.7220 The way you sound in your head isn't the way you actually sound to other people. So it makes some sense.
@@JRSanchez93 He was talking to the kids tho.
Giovanni Giovanni. But we’re in Ted’s POV until the final episode so we’re in his head, or at least that’s the way I’ve always seen it.
They just hired Bob Saget because they wanted a good voice. We don't have to overthink everything.
I agree with every single thing you said! The last episode ruined the whole show for me. And yes, I still quote it every single day but it's bittersweet. I am not mad that the mother died-it sucks but it can happen. I am kinda mad that Ted and Robin got back together, it is not my taste but it can happen. I am mad that the whole season was spent on the wacky wedding that took place over a weekend and we did not see how the mothers diagnosis affected everybody, when Robin decided to come back to the band's life's, Marshall and Lilly's third child (we do not even if it is a boy or a girl), how Barney is dealing with his responsibilities as a father and his relationship with the mother of his baby. There are so many missed opportune ties, instead Robin is floating like a balloon, Marshal is trying to hide big news from his wife, Lilly is pretending to get drunk but is is not, Ted is trying to sleep with anything that moves, Robin wants to be with Ted event hough she has said multiple times that she has no feelings for him anymore. I am still angry!
Lol, yep, those are all the things that ruined the final season!
The way you broke this down made me laugh out loud, “floating like a balloon” was the perfect way to describe Robin 🤣💕
As someone who didn't finish the show until a year or two after it was actually done airing and binged all of it on Netflix to catch up again, there's something extremely jarring about the ending most people miss that just always sticks out to me: The titular mother is literally killed off in the same way Marshall "kills" Lily in that sex fantasy about the hot delivery girl and for essentially the same reason. The character we waited almost a decade to see was killed in the same manner used as a joke in an earlier episode, just so he could bone another woman.
This is the ultimate example of a bad destination ruining the journey. The finale was so bad it traveled through time and poisoned the rest of the show.
Couldn't have said it better myself, perfect analogy!
The thing about HIMYM is that in one episode they went from being a show that's kinda cringey in some aspects upon reflection to being a show that was actively ruined and trashed and hated. The idea that a man would sit down and, in painstaking detail, tell the children of a dead woman how he met her and loved her for like 5 minutes but really Mom was just a way for him to get kids before ultimately hooking up with a lady who actively didn't want the lifestyle he did is so horrifying to me. But on top of that, it's the idea that they wanted to beat the message that "people change over time and what they want might not be the 'happy ending' they started out wanting" that they tried to shoehorn all the growth made over the course of the show out the window in the last episode.
Let's spend years making Barney and Robin perfect for each other, two people who understand each other's issues and love the same things, but more importantly have similar life goals of "probably not kids, lots of travel and having fun being grown ups." Let's spend one entire season deeply exploring their relationship in cheap-ass bottle episodes, and then over the course of one episode they hate each other and can't handle the adventurous lifestyle of one. Meanwhile, spend 8 years building up this supposedly great love story of Ted and "the Mother" (I imagine a better ending episode where his overblown romanticism is making this story a big deal but once they're together either they have the most average marriage ever or a dark timeline where they get divorced and Ted isn't over it, hence the story) while really we watch Ted desperately want Robin but also want the kids and picket fence life that sounds like Robin's nightmare. Then we meet mom and she's thrown in the garbage after cranking out his two kids, all so Ted can get with Robin who isn't a booby prize, is pretty much just 1B to Mom's 1A, and Robin somehow ditches Barney for having slight differences in their life goals but she's gonna get back together with a guy who has 2 teenagers at the time that he'd have to continue to raise, which we've been very vocally told Robin didn't want to do. And don't even get me started on the idea that Barney then makes a kid that he absolutely adores, but not enough to stop referring to it's mother as a number.
In their effort to get deep and say that the ways we change make our life goals change and the happiest ending isn't always possible because sometimes Mom dies, they had to shoehorn the actual growth and development of characters into the trash and try to wrench their personalities to where they needed to be.
AND ANOTHER THING! That alternate ending is doubly insulting because not only is it tacked on, clearly doesn't fit with the other episodes in the season/show, and ultimately a pathetic "please don't hate us, how will we sell boxed sets?" cash grab, but ALSO it's equally as effective as just not watching the last episode, which I almost did because the shady website I watched the last season on had misnumbered the last two episodes as the same number and I almost, ALMOST, didn't click on it. For one fleeting moment I had the ending where they met and that was the last shot of the show, literally the ending to a story about how he met their mother. Barney and Robin were together, everyone was friends and close still, and I could imagine a future for them where they didn't kill her off 10 minutes into the finale. They could have just ended their show one episode earlier and had the same damn ending except that we don't see the scenes that tell us about their future. And if they'd wanted to add an alternate ending, they could've just tacked those on to the penultimate episode!
I mean... His son and daughter aren't adults, but they're old enough so that Robin doesn't have to raise them.
The way I would've rewritten the final season. Number 1 : extend the wedding to episodes 1 - 13 then 14 - 24 focused on Ted and his wife (she doesn't die) , Robin get unexpectedly(miracle) pregnant from Barney( they don't get divorce ) barney says the exact words he said to the baby in the finale and he and robin are bot tired because of the baby's crying . Ends with Ted's wedding and lily and Marshall leaving to Italy and ends with a montage like the Alternative ending ends with Ted saying " And that kids is how I met your mother and the mother comes and ask what story did they dad tell them? With the kids respond with what a great mother she is ( hugging her ) and ted kisses his wife to hear a knock on the door and its Robin and barney and there daughter and lily and Marshall and the kids all coming together for Thanksgiving.
Robins miracle pregnancy seems far fetched...rest sounds good tho
A bit fanficy but I like it
I don't know if I would have ended it with the Thanksgiving thing (although it could be a good callback to the Slapsgiving running joke).
Also, I would have kept the mother dying, because, the more I look back on it, I like how sweet and sad it was, that he was telling his kids the story of how he met her because she's not there anymore.
Also, you are forgetting 1 important factor here. Thr ending was filmed all the way back in season 2. So, this ending could not have taken place back then.
I agree with your formatting of the season. The wedding should've taken the first half and the second half should've covered the 15 years.
Can we talk about how Robin messed Barney and Ted's life?
It's what women do best....
Kev Masengale Don’t generalize.
@@shayla106 I'm not....
Kev Masengale Really? Well hand in that scientific study and go claim your prize. You can pick it up with that crazy feminist woman who claims that all men are rapist.
@@kevmasengale6903 You are big idot
You know why the reason of the ending would be like this? ......
BECAUSE THIS ENDING WAS MADE.... ON SEASON 2!!!!!!
The mother should have been a delusion and Ted was telling the story to children he had kidnapped and held captive
I think Bob Saget just needed a job and yeah that finale ruined the show for me I haven't gone back to it since
Yeah, that finale takes a huge dump all over the entire series!
Very true
I felt about Scrubs the same as That 70s Show: the last season never existed.
I absolutely refuse to watch the last season of scrubs lol
I don't know what you're talking about; the last season of Scrubs had a perfect series finale.
That spinoff with those annoying med students was awful, though.
The final scene of Scrubs still makes me cry honestly. I can't really remember the rest of the season tho 😅
Well scrubs’ last season was supposed to be a spin off but the network forced them to brand it as the next season
I feel that way about all Star Wars after Return of The Jedi; and that includes whatever comes out in the future.
A whole season to tell us that Barney and Robin would work - a single fight to break them apart
You've been viewing but you haven't been watching, pay more attention to the small stuff, the point of the season, hell the point of the whole show is very consistent, and what it's trying to show is that Barney can change and he can love, but Robin needs Ted not Barney. Who found her the locket? Who's always had her back? Who always goes big for her? Who'll always do anything and I mean anything to make her happy? Ted would never want her to be distressed but Barney does it constantly, on purpose.
I'm still mad about the ending
They made it very clear that Robin isn't in love with Ted and she found her perfect match , so why would you break them up.
After 9 seasons I wanted to see Ted happy in his perfect relationship but nooooo they had to kill the mother off why????? Just to make Ted and Robin a couple again even though we know it never worked
"Ted is the kind of guy who would bite down puzzle pieces to fit it together and then put it on display for everyone"
Which is exactly why we was obsessed with Robin the entire show
There is nothing profound or even remotely romantic about these two
I honestly wanted more of Ted and Tracy’s journey. She got the shaft in this whole thing
It died when Zoe was introduced.
I forget who was Zoe? I haven’t watched this show since that terrible finale
@@kylecampbell565 The Captain's wife. Probably Ted's worst girlfriend. The activist who protested against the demolition of the Arcadian Building...
Zoe was such an insufferable character
I've rewatched HIMYM multiple times and I just skip the last 2 episodes.
To this day, I refuse to rewatch how I met your mother. I LOATHE it
Marshall was sidelined due to his Contract Withholding$$$$
I’m rewatching Buffy rn and Xander isn’t so much toxic as he is a creep, HES A HUGE CREEP
That's what they mean by toxic.
@@selahanany5645 there’s a difference between toxic and creepy
Ok but i have never in my life realized the narrator wasnt Josh Radnor lmao
An airport referred to as a "plane station?" I've honestly never heard that before.
I've watched HIMYM several times, and have several friends who have as well, but that's in spite of the last season, definitively not because of it. And it's as you say, I rooted for Barney and Robin, it was actually my favorite part of the show, but they fucking ruined it. No idea why...
I'll never forgive this admittedly beautiful show for how it callously, casually slaughtered both Tracy and Barney and Robin's marriage in the same episode, just to do what the show itself was rightfully warning against from episode 1: Get Ted with Robin.
It's always bizarre to me watching the first part of that final episode how it starts off so lovely and earned. It flashes back to Robin getting acclimated into the gang to remind you how far these great characters have come. It has that fantastic continuity of Robin and Barney seeing Tracy again, strengthening her connection to the group outside of Ted where Barney as always jumps into 'Have you met Ted' like episode 1 only for them to just miss each other again, leading into the wonderful goodbye the characters have with each other. You know it won't be needed but it's still so apt considering this is now part 1 of the final episode. It always feels so warm and welcome when Ted is found immediately back in MacLaren's like normal, changing his plans on a whim for a girl, this girl being the one, with Lily and Marshall also immediately onboard.
Then comes the onslaught. The deterioration of Barney and Robin's marriage in THE SAME EPISODE as they had their first dance together. I mean, who's absolutely tone deaf idea was this? I'm all for Barney and Robin as endgame so I never enjoy the idea they divorce at all, but to do it in the same episode they begin their marriage together? It's no wonder this finale has become iconic given how bad these decisions are for the characters and the story. Then they have Robin, who the show insists is 100% adamantly not in love with Ted (e.g. the immediate 'No' to Ted in season 7 despite her considering marriage to Kevin of all people an episode before, and I love Kevin but the guy is a little inconsequential), pining over how she's started to realise Ted was probably the one for her all along, despite, as I say, being absolutely vehemently against anything to do with him romantically (beyond spur of the moment, no thought required, instances of passion like when she was vulnerable after finishing things with Kevin and kissed Ted), which just feels sudden, forced and utterly unnecessary, especially since it's coming at the expense of Robin and Barney's relationship.
And then we get to Barney, again I know he has that absolutely heart rending scene with his baby daughter where NPH just does the business, but the idea that for 3 years Barney was in an absolute rut, reduced to behaving the exact same way he was 13 years before, living the same life and feeling unable to change thanks to the failure of his marriage to the one person he saw himself being able to develop with (again, I love the idea of his little girl being that person for him but I still feel they could have had that scene in addition to keeping Robin and Barney's marriage, have them complement each other) is just so depressing and unsatisfying to me. And I know life can hit you like that and the show never hid this from you, actually going out of it's way to emphasize a lot of the time how tough things can get, but when you couple this altogether literally in the same episode as this lovely wedding, the 'farewell' of these great friends and characters, it feels cheap, hollow and nasty, not realistic and thoughtful in it's harshness.
But possibly the worst instance of character assassination in this finale is Tracy. It's not even her character that suffers, she's absolutely fantastic and so, so earned by this point given the 8 seasons of struggle we've seen T-Mose go through in his pursuit for love. But the idea that she is killed off in this little montage scene is the epitome of disrespect to me. And her death would have been one thing, again, like people say, tragic as it would have been it makes sense that it could have been one of the factors spurring on future Ted to discuss her with his kids. But to use her grave as the stepping stone for Ted to climb high enough to leap back into Robin's same old apartment with the same old blue French horn as the show happily forsakes the yellow umbrella, just sucks so hard, especially when the show does such a legitimately good job rightfully convincing you that Ted and Robin just don't work. It's like they tell you in episode 1 this isn't going to work. Robin says it, Ted knows it and future Ted confirms her place in the kids life as Aunt Robin. And it's like they then spend the next 9 seasons drilling this into you, over and over again that these two just don't work, despite however much evidence to the contrary and not for lack of trying on Ted's part, only to dump all of that character development and story and progression into the bin just to get them together? And why? We've seen Robin freak out about marriage in the restaurant, having a panic attack just thinking Ted is proposing to her, we've seen them about to kiss on the sofa as future Ted admits that would be wrong, we've seen Robin admit she doesn't love Ted, we've seen Ted finally let Robin go after 8 years and do what's right, telling Robin he'll have no part in her pre-wedding freak out and run off with her (especially since he has the experience of Victoria and Klaus' wedding) because she and Barney are meant together. All of this just to throw it all on it's head and do the complete opposite, at the expense of Ted and Tracy, Barney and Robin and 9 years of story telling? It just feels to me like the whole 9 seasons of Ted and Robin's relationship was just to get Robin past the fear of marriage, have it so she finds out she isn't able to have the kids she's almost entirely dead-set against having anyway, have it so Ted has a way of having the kids Robin doesn't want, and then just meet them back in the middle to get back together following the utterly ruthless annihilation of Tracy and Barney and their place in the story.
For a show I absolutely adore and watch at least once a year, it has one of the, if not the worst ending I have ever seen and it cannot be understated how badly the writers dropped the ball in not anticipating the curve all the way back when they planned the ending. If only they hadn't been so dead-set on an ending that had absolutely no place in the show by Season 9.
I rewatched the show like 8 times and at the end i sighed, opened TH-cam, and played the alternate ending.
My head cannon is forever that the mother of Barney's daughter is Quinn and the two of them eventually got back together
sam karanja I respect it.
Aww I kinda love that. I think with a good couples therapist Barney and Quinn could go the distance
“I don’t think these characters are toxic” “He’s creepy and insistent and never matures” 😂
Honest title:
"The kids figured out the premise of the show before i did, and i'm still mad about it"