How I Met Your Mother: The Final Season

[doubleohfive]

You guys are missing the entire point. The Mother has always been a McGuffin. She's the Island on LOST. The story has never actually been about how Ted met her. It's about the growth and maturation he had to do in order to be ready to be with Robin. Just about everything we needed to know about how the show would end has been included in the episodes this season, much like how all the clues we needed to figure out WTF was going on over on LOST were finally made known in the first episode of its final season.

The Ted Mosbys out there are searching for "the one." The perfect soul mate who completes their expectation of what an ideal relationship should and must be. Tracy was exactly that. The reality of the situation is that most of the Ted Mosbys out there probably won't find her.

Too, and I seem to go back to this over and over again this season, this is the story the writers wanted to tell and the show they wanted to make.

From a certain perspective, there is the entirely legitimate ownership of that that the writers have every right to. Call me a Hollywood douche for agreeing with it, but we're fans; they're the creators. They know what they're doing. This is the story they chose to tell. Nothing they shot seven years ago made them do it; this is what they WANTED to do.

Thematically, it ties together perfectly and all the clues, all the foreshadowing all the necessary information to deduce this on our own has been there all along. The twist ending of the pilot episode -- "That's how I met your Aunt Robin" -- we should have known (and I started to suspect once Robin and Barney got divorced) that this was exactly how the show would end. This finale fulfilled exactly what those seven words were brimming over with in that entire episode. It's a great twist ending for a pilot episode and it is ultimately a satisfying precursor to an epic love story.

Re: Barney: The womanizer finally meets his match not in Robin but his own daughter. Who "Number 31" is doesn't really matter in the equation because she isn't the one we've been watching for 9 years - Barney is. We can assume she became part of Barney's life as the mother of his child, but his daughter was the one to finally teach him and let him grow out of his immaturity. A father's love for his daughter is a powerful one and I completely bought that Barney would change his ways under those circumstances.

Likewise, as delightful as Tracy has been, she's also not one of the five characters we have been watching for nine years. That the resolution of her arc has caused such an uproar is as much a testament to the writers crafting such a perfect character to complement Ted as it is to Milioti's performance, but our interest, our emotional investment has always been with Ted, Marshall, Lily, Barney and Robin, both from from a narrative standpoint and from the our vantage point as the audience. Narratively speaking, it makes complete sense that this whole ziz-zag tale would ultimately be about Ted and Robin.

Besides, if you want to feel bad for someone or be angry about something, how about Bob Saget? The man narrates the show for 9 years and doesn't utter a single word in the entire 44 minutes of the finale, let alone ever even appear on screen.

Clearly I'm in the minority here with this opinion and I'm likely to get eviscerated for it, but I thought the finale was beautiful, heartbreaking, and ultimately very good. This show knows how to dole out the feels, and that's exactly what they did last night.

Did the mother drive to the wedding? I think so. Where did the fucking pinapple come from? I don't know. But just like with all those mysteries on LOST that people got so hung up over after the finale, it doesn't really matter. These nitpicks aren't what How I Met Your Mother was about.

 

[tighr]

The story has never actually been about how Ted met her. It's about the growth and maturation he had to do in order to be ready to be with Robin.

Yeah, that's what I said in my post about the hypothetical six episodes after the mother dies. The point is that after the mother dies, he still has some growing to do (getting over her) before he's ready to be with Robin. All we see is him go back to Robin literally 30 seconds after the mother dies.

Did the mother drive to the wedding? I think so. But just like with all those mysteries on LOST that people got so hung up over after the finale, it doesn't really matter. These nitpicks aren't what How I Met Your Mother was about.

What, like literally? No, we saw her on the train with Lily. She stole Darren's van when he was being a douche, and was going to drive back to the city.

 

[davejames]

The very way in which the final Ted/Robin scene plays out is evidence of the show's rom-com mentality. Given everything that's happened between the two of them, all the ups and downs and missed connections and personal losses, a cutesy callback to the blue French horn is the last way in the world Ted would realistically bring up a possible return to their relationship. That's the kind of sentimental shorthand you use when the bond between two characters is a soulmates/destiny/other-cliche-here kind of thing. And that's the problem: the show wants to give Ted that kind of happy ending, but it can't commit to either Robin or Tracy being the one, so it tries to split the difference. It's not realism: it's two kinds of reassuring romanticism, awkwardly stitched together.

Yeah the show liked to indulge in the usual rom-com cliches now and then, but the finale was hardly suggesting that Ted and Robin will go on to live "happily ever after" with no issues whatsoever from now on. As with the series as a whole, what the finale tried to make clear is just how messy and complicated life can be, and that sometimes great things don't always last.

For all we know, Ted and Robin only end up dating for another few years and split up again. All the finale was stating was that Ted decides at that point in time to finally move on and give it another shot with this girl he's had feelings for.

 

[davejames]

Clearly I'm in the minority here with this opinion and I'm likely to get eviscerated for it, but I thought the finale was beautiful, heartbreaking, and ultimately very good. This show knows how to dole out the feels, and that's exactly what they did last night.

Agreed.

Granted, it probably helps that I always thought Ted and Robin had boatloads more chemistry together than any of the other couples (no matter how much they forced it, I never bought Robin putting up for long with Barney's childish and immature behavior-- and the doubts she had about him before the wedding seemed more than reasonable).

But more than that, I just loved that they stayed true to the spirit of the show as a whole. With how much time they passed, and with everything we've seen before, it was only natural that there would continue to be conflicts and issues and that certain "perfect" relationship wouldn't last. All the finale did was condense 3 or 4 seasons of that drama into one hour-long episode.

 

[Brendan Moody]

I can see why people liked the finale. If you were engaged by the five main characters rather than by the story around the mother, of course the decision to stick to the original plan and treat her merely as a plot device is going to work for you. But there were people who cared about the mother, which is why the creators kept dropping hints about her over the years and eventually made her a recurring character in the final season. They were engaged in a well-intentioned but deeply futile effort to please people who liked a version of the show they'd never intended to make. That may be "what they wanted to do," and I don't begrudge writers in a mass medium for casting a wide net. But it's perfectly understandable that people are unhappy with the way things played out.

 

[FPAlpha]

What a crap finale that was because of one event!

Seriously.. the show is called "How i met your mother" and then they kill her off in the finale after Ted spent 10 friggin' years looking for her in the show?

I know the show is about the journey one takes in their life and how each decision leads you to certain points you may not have reached otherwise but i felt that somewhere in the later season Ted has done everything he could (if you want to express it that way) and there was really no character growth anymore. The show at that point was just stalling for 2-3 seasons or more because it was so successful and meeting the mother would mean the end of the show so they kept on to milk the cow as much as possible.

When you put the Pilot and Finale next to each other it's also disengenious.. "And that's how i met your aunt Robin!" was brilliant at the time because it turned the trope of "Will they/won't they" in its head by instantly saying they will not end up together (at least that's what the audience thought at the time). Now apparently the plan was to have Ted and Robin together with the mother being merely an obstacle that was brushed aside to have this apparently huge message (and i think the writers even believe they're clever and did a good story finale).

Radnor and Milloti had so much chemistry together in the few scenes we got with them together that i am pretty much pissed right now thinking that's all we'll ever get. We won't see her integrate in the circle of friends, have her bond with them more closely and develop some running gags of her own and we won't fully see Ted arrive at the finish line with her and be happy for the rest of his life.

It's just bad and a self serving shocker finale so everybody will talk about it (and they do.. i've read respectable news sites today that had an article about the season finale on the front page!).

It's not all bad though.. i even bought the divorce of Robin and Barney because things like this happen in real life often enough. For every happy couple like Marshall and Lily there is one that doesn't make it.. doesn't even have to be their fault but sometimes life intervenes and makes enough problems to cause a rift.

I also liked the aspect of close friends drifting apart because that happens too.. happened to me too(my circle of friends is vastly different than it was 20 years ago) and it is inevitable sometimes.

So it's not a total loss but they still blew one of the main aspects of the show and that will stand forever. The last few seasons were not really of the usual quality but the final season picked up really well so i was hopeful we'll get a finale that the fans had been waiting for years.. instead we got a huge bummer finale just because two showrunners thought they needed to turn everything around and be "unique".

 

[AliciaD496]

I've always been a Robin and Ted shipper, even after it all seemed kind of useless and hopeless. Thing is that last scene in the finale was fairly open ended. By her smile and what the kids said it seems like Robin might be receptive to Ted wooing her again, but she could just reject him all over again for all we know. I think one of the things the show talked about was how certain relationships happen at certain times in our lives, and perhaps Robin and Ted weren't meant to work out until after he'd gotten his 'happily ever after' with Tracey and she was all traveled out and settled into a different and less active point in her career. It seems like Robin's already helped Ted and the kids heal from the loss of Tracey, so it seems natural that she might become a more official part of the family especially after six years.

I felt a little cheated by the Barney plot line not being expanded a little, but it seems that he's happy and finally gotten something he at least subconsciously wanted (a child) as well.

Otherwise I really liked the finale. But from those who supported the Robin and Barney relationship and were frustrated by Ted's on and off pining for Robin I can see why they wouldn't have liked it.

 

[Campe]

Here are my full, unedited thoughts on this one...

My Review

 

[Caligula]

Great review, Campe98! Very persuasive arguments!

I haven't watched the show in a few years. I've been so spoiled by episodic TV dramas that sitcoms... HIMYM included... just aren't as fun as they used to be. I had thought to come back for the finale anyway, but I'm almost glad I didn't. I think I would have been bummed out like so many others who watched.

 

[davejames]

Now apparently the plan was to have Ted and Robin together with the mother being merely an obstacle that was brushed aside to have this apparently huge message (and i think the writers even believe they're clever and did a good story finale).

I think you're seriously misreading the episode. Ted really did fall totally in love with the Mother and made it clear that he cherished every moment they spent together.

It was only 6 years after her death that he told this story to his kids that revealed just how much he once loved Robin, and which suggested to his kids that maybe he was finally ready to move on.

The finale was hardly saying the Mother was just an "obstacle to be brushed aside."

 

[Scout101]

Good review, more or less lines up with my thoughts. It was always leading to Robin, otherwise story doesn't make sense, too much focus on her and moments in her life with Ted. Either had to be Ted winding up with her (but someone else first to be Mother to the kids, and they explicitly aren't hers), or it was after Robin had died and they were using the Mother story to tell the kids about Robin more as well, and the times he had in his 20s.

Would have made the wedding less than the full season (maybe half-season max, and spread the finale out over more than one episode?), but in general, it worked. Couldn't really work as a full season, because after the wedding, it's pretty clear that things weren't back to normal. they spread out, didn't see each other as much, and only got together for the big moments. Did we want a season of characters each out on their own without much overlap? Worked better as a montage, just wish it was a little longer I guess.

And ending up with Robin doesn't cheapen anything with Tracy. They had 11 happy years together, and 2 kids. We saw them date, first kiss, wedding, birth of first child, etc. It just didn't last forever. Which is how things go.

 

[Nociod]

Hated the ending, and I agree with most of the others who disliked it as well.

As someone else said earlier in this thread, I almost hope this is just some sort of April fools joke, that would be legen...dary. These two episodes? piles of shit

 

[CaptainCanada]

It's about the growth and maturation he had to do in order to be ready to be with Robin.
...
Too, and I seem to go back to this over and over again this season, this is the story the writers wanted to tell and the show they wanted to make.

The problem being that they did a terrible job of telling it -- in fact, they spent the last several seasons telling a completely different story, where Ted/Robin has been framed for years and years as something he needed to get over. The finale then essentially sweeps away the last several years' worth of stories (including, frankly, Barney's entire character), and reduces the Mother to a footnote (she's quite literally brushed aside to die offscreen, followed by that jarring scene of the kids telling to go date Robin).

 

[Campe]

Would have made the wedding less than the full season (maybe half-season max, and spread the finale out over more than one episode?), but in general, it worked. Couldn't really work as a full season, because after the wedding, it's pretty clear that things weren't back to normal. they spread out, didn't see each other as much, and only got together for the big moments. Did we want a season of characters each out on their own without much overlap? Worked better as a montage, just wish it was a little longer I guess.

That's fair. Perhaps a better way is to keep the wedding the entire season but to have more flashforwards throughout to expand on events from the finale. We would have gotten more Tracy, which would have been great. Only issue is you'd probably have to show that Barney and Robin's marriage failed a lot sooner than I think was intended.

 

[JarodRussell]

That ending sucks, and you're all stupid for liking it.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I just figured out how Barney was surviving financially.

Robin was paying him alimony.

 

[davejames]

The problem being that they did a terrible job of telling it -- in fact, they spent the last several seasons telling a completely different story, where Ted/Robin has been framed for years and years as something he needed to get over. The finale then essentially sweeps away the last several years' worth of stories (including, frankly, Barney's entire character), and reduces the Mother to a footnote (she's quite literally brushed aside to die offscreen, followed by that jarring scene of the kids telling to go date Robin).

And it WAS something he needed to get over in order to finally meet the Mother and enjoy his life with her. Nothing about that changed. It was only after she died that he told this story that revealed the feelings he once had for Robin, and made it clear to his kids that he was probably ready to move on.

And sorry, but I never really brought this major "transformation" Barney supposedly made. He might have wanted something more serious in his life, but the vast majority of the time he was still acting just as childish and immature as ever. It frankly wasn't hard to see how Robin would have eventually tired of that behavior.

 

[Mr Light]

It's almost 24 hours later and I'm still upset over this I had such an emotional investment in the show, particularly in Ted and the Mother.... NOT Ted and Robin, which was shown over and over and over to not work...

 

[C_Miller]

To all that didn't like the ending... I give you this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0caCEG1nH3E

 

[Admiral2]

Having never liked this show, I was still curious enough to watch the finale on line. having done so, i offer these words of wisdom for those of you who stuck with this inane concept for nine years straight:

[Nelson Muntz, pointing] HAH HAH! [Nelson Muntz, pointing]

This dumb-ass has been droning on about some woman you've never seen or heard from for eight friggin years and in the ninth year, we find out she's DEAD. That's like the finale for Quantum Leap...except less entertaining.

God save us from hip and clever TV writers...