HIMYM Season Finale **Spoilers**

[MichaelWinicki]

That's basically when the show turned for the worse and I lost all interest in it lol

If that's not the overall goal of the show, than what makes HIMYM different from, say, Friends. It becomes the exact same show, more or less.

I think the writers just got too cute with it...an Aha moment to end the show with who the mother actually is might be the easiest way out, but that's because its the right way out. It wraps it up rather than opening all these stupid doors about Robin/Ted and what happens to Barney (who they butchered in the last episode btw. He went from 40's lothario to loving father in like 2 minutes).

I agree that they tried way to hard to compress big, life changing events into what 42 minutes?

And really what is the difference between any of these shows that features at least 2 male and 2 females friends whose lives are put on display in comedic fashion week after week?

To me they're all about the same.

 

[Future]

I agree that they tried way to hard to compress big, life changing events into what 42 minutes?

And really what is the difference between any of these shows that features at least 2 male and 2 females friends whose lives are put on display in comedic fashion week after week?

To me they're all about the same.

lol yea, but the thing that separated HIMYM, at least in part, was that you were supposed to be progressing towards some type of ending. The others are sitcoms with no real driving plot. Even though it might have been in the background, the search for the mother was at least always present.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

lol yea, but the thing that separated HIMYM, at least in part, was that you were supposed to be progressing towards some type of ending. The others are sitcoms with no real driving plot. Even though it might have been in the background, the search for the mother was at least always present.

I enjoyed the ending, because it wasn't the typical "Everyone lives happily ever after". I thought it took some courage from the writing team to kill off the mother. I was both a little sad and a little in awe of that happening.

Did anyone who watched the show think the Barney and Robin marriage was going to last? Even if they didn't project into the future and show their divorce that was certainly not a stunner.

 

[Nova]

I enjoyed the ending, because it wasn't the typical "Everyone lives happily ever after". I thought it took some courage from the writing team to kill off the mother. I was both a little sad and a little in awe of that happening.

Did anyone who watched the show think the Barney and Robin marriage was going to last? Even if they didn't project into the future and show their divorce that was certainly not a stunner.

I did. It wasn't a complete shock that they didn't end up with a happily ever after, though, and I actually liked the way they handled it-- at least up until the Ted and Robin finale.

I think the years of the will they/won't they back and forth just seemed like it would actually go somewhere. I mean, that whole thing with them started 6 years ago. But still, a realistic fate.

 

[Kevinicus]

I never thought Barney/Robin worked very well. The times that Barney most seemed like a guy for Robin, was when he acted like Ted IMO (the proposal, the rehearsal dinner, etc.).

 

[DanteEXT]

I enjoyed the ending, because it wasn't the typical "Everyone lives happily ever after". I thought it took some courage from the writing team to kill off the mother. I was both a little sad and a little in awe of that happening.

Did anyone who watched the show think the Barney and Robin marriage was going to last? Even if they didn't project into the future and show their divorce that was certainly not a stunner.

I'll admit I shed a few tears about the mom dying. So it worked as being sad. But it was also a wow, they really did it. And I'm man enough to admit the episode that Marshall's died dad hit pretty hard having lost my dad less than a year before it aired to cancer. They've did a good job of occasionally pulling back from the funny and hit you with the serious.

And I agree, it took courage because most people ( I think at least) expects a sitcom to have the happily ever after.

I HOPED Barney and Robin would but the idea seemed bad for those two characters so no I would think, even had they never shown that it happened, that those characters in that universe probably at one point or another got divorced.

 

[Gemini Dolly]

I liked the finale, even though I did not like Ted ending up with Robin. I was so over the idea of Ted and Robin and had warmed up to the mother and they just kill her off like that. Boo.

 

[Galian Beast]

Like they said in the finale, the story was never really about the mother. The kids knew their mother well, it's not as if they needed Ted to introduce her to them. The story was about how he always loved Robin, and while that is true, it doesn't take anything away from how he loved their mother.

Also Ted didn't just forget the mother, the show is clear that the mother had passed six years prior to the telling of this story. The kids love Robin, and they want their father to be happy again.

The reality is you can please people, and after so many seasons, people didn't appreciate the misdirection, but should have seen it coming. For years people complained, "When is he going to meet their mother." And people originally thought Robin was the mother, yet they made it clear early that she wasn't. Yet they still didn't focus on that. The premise of the entire show is how Ted used to be happy, found happiness with their mother, but now is basically alone, and wants to have happiness again. His kids recognize that easily, and the characters are much more mature than the audience apparently...

 

[Tabascocat]

Sigh, I stopped watching mid-way through last season. I guess I need to catch up to throw in my two cents..........

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Like they said in the finale, the story was never really about the mother. The kids knew their mother well, it's not as if they needed Ted to introduce her to them. The story was about how he always loved Robin, and while that is true, it doesn't take anything away from how he loved their mother.

Also Ted didn't just forget the mother, the show is clear that the mother had passed six years prior to the telling of this story. The kids love Robin, and they want their father to be happy again.

The reality is you can please people, and after so many seasons, people didn't appreciate the misdirection, but should have seen it coming. For years people complained, "When is he going to meet their mother." And people originally thought Robin was the mother, yet they made it clear early that she wasn't. Yet they still didn't focus on that. The premise of the entire show is how Ted used to be happy, found happiness with their mother, but now is basically alone, and wants to have happiness again. His kids recognize that easily, and the characters are much more mature than the audience apparently...

I won't go into the "maturity" thing... LOL!

But I thought you did an outstanding job articulating the show for the entire run.

 

[Aikmaniac]

I'm up to season 7 on Netflix, but I walked in on my fiance watching the finale. I ended up just watching it with her.

I always thought Ted should end up with Robin, but I think my opinion may be skewed as I hadn't been introduced to the mother character at all prior to the finale. Whether or not I would have become attached to her character remains to be seen.

But at this point, Robin and Ted were the perfect match. Opposites attract. Ted was always the overly positive, gung-ho guy while Robin was always afraid of committing to anything.

I didn't mind the finale. Like you all have mentioned, the mother's death seemed rushed. Did they mention in previous episodes that she had died? I figured they had and therefore didn't need to go into exhaustive detail.

 

[Nova]

I'm up to season 7 on Netflix, but I walked in on my fiance watching the finale. I ended up just watching it with her.

You didn't miss much then

I always thought Ted should end up with Robin, but I think my opinion may be skewed as I hadn't been introduced to the mother character at all prior to the finale. Whether or not I would have become attached to her character remains to be seen.

But at this point, Robin and Ted were the perfect match. Opposites attract. Ted was always the overly positive, gung-ho guy while Robin was always afraid of committing to anything.

I didn't mind the finale. Like you all have mentioned, the mother's death seemed rushed. Did they mention in previous episodes that she had died? I figured they had and therefore didn't need to go into exhaustive detail.

They hinted at it a few episodes prior to the finale, but that's the only real reference from the show. Fans had pieced together that she probably dead because of a few things. Most notably...

1. The fact that the creators of the show have long maintained that they had the ending already in place, and they filmed the children's parts early in the series so they would not age. Considering they did not cast the mother until a little before season 8 began, obviously the mother would not be in the shot, so what else could it be.

2: Later on, one of the creators kind of reminded audiences that the ending had already been planned, but he added that the ending would be "heartbreaking, sweet and wonderful".

3. Sort of a spoiler, but you've seen the ending now so... here we go? An episode in season 8 called "The Time Travelers" where future Ted gives a short speech of what he wished he could've said to the mother (who is off camera, for the scene). At the time, Ted was going through some really tough times and just needed a light at the end of the tunnel, so the speech seemed like it was really more for him to keep chugging along because he was so close.

Exactly 45 days from now, you and I are going to meet. We’re going to fall in love and we’re going to get married, and we’re going to have two kids. We’re going to love them and each other so much. All that is 45 days away, but I’m here now, I guess because I want those extra 45 days with you. I want each one of them…I am always going to love you. Until the end of my days and beyond.

At the time it aired, you were focusing more on the fact that you're really close to meeting the mother-- just 45 days away until Ted can complete the journey. But the 45 days thing, and the last sentence stuck out quite a bit to some fans who saw it more as an omen.