How I Met Your Mother Finale (Spoilers)

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So, who saw the ending 9 years in the making of  How I Met Your Mother?

Watched it with my wife last night and I must say, I thought it was awful. It felt like a reboot of every character back to their default. The use of the Mother in the end was pointless as she's deceased. And worst of all, Ted ends up with Robin. Robin who is selfish and has always focused more on career than people in her life. She also never wanted what Ted wanted in life. It also makes me doubt his whole romance with the mother, which seemed sweet - but if in his heart he was always in love with Robin, doesn't that cheapen things?

I digress. Everyone's else's thoughts? Or am I the only one here who saw the finale?

 
Pretty much all you said. It was awful.

Had picked up that the mom was dead a few episodes back, something that was said by ted or the way he said made me think she was dead. I think it was the episode where they were eating dinner just the two of them and Ted was trying to tell some story.

Last season as a whole was terrible, and this awful finale just punctuated that.

 
Shocked how divided people are about this, I thought the ending was brilliant. It basically hit what is life right on the head, sometimes chaotic things happen.

Why does him ending back with Robin cheapen his love/relationship with his deceased wife? Once he met Tracy he was all about her. There's probably people in everyone's life you might end up with that have always been in your life if circumstances changed.

Really the only character that "reset" was Barney, but that was obviously done to show there was only one person he could ever be totally committed to 100%, his child. Something people with kids tell me all the time.

I ask myself what people wanted out of this show's ending? Life isn't always fairy tales and happy endings. The show was always about the lives and stories of 5 friends and the twists and turns life can take. The finale was no different.

I also want to add. Just because Robin & Ted go back for another go round, it doesn't even mean that they truly end up together.
 
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Destro I mostly agree with you.  It was more true than most tv shows... "oh nos, people die and get divorces".   The truth of the matter is the most love is temporary, even destiny types of love.  Robin and Ted simply didn't work as a couple until the end. Yeah, they leaned (too) heavily on the trope in the series but the end somewhat justified it.  What was never really justified was Robin and Barney's romance. It was simply there as story device.  Barney could just have easily come the conclusion about his child whether he was divorced or not.  His speech to his kid was simply beautiful, even if trite. (Sidebar.. the Barney reset is very true to life. I'm old enough to see divorce guys rejecting "love" and becoming horndogs. The funny thing is, outside of his romances, Barney always acted like a recently divorced guy) 

My main complaint with the finale was the quick cut nature  which made things seem to move faster than they would've otherwise.  1 hour simply wasn't enough time to show why Barney and Robin really divorced, Ted and the Kids getting over their mother, etc. 

And the title was a complete lie. As his kids pointed out, it wasn't about meeting the mother. It was about Ted thinking about his past and Robin. This does, IMO, fit with Ted's character because that guy seldom knew what he really wanted.  People seem to forget that this wasn't a view into what happened, it was Ted telling a STORY and he many not have been the most reliable narrator.   Looking a back on it, it seems obvious the mother was no longer around....why would Ted be telling the story to his kids and she is nowhere to be found? 

LIke Ted, the mother had another "true love". Her boyfriend who was killed in the mother-centric episode.  Ted and Tracy simply came together when they needed each other for that set amount of time. Ted stressed this in his story.

Sorry this is rambling but I loved the episode. I once told a girlfriend that I "loved her forever" but couldn't promise this would always be the case. Predictably she was pissed but this finale really backs up that notion, to me. 

edit: rereading this I noticed I didn't mention Marshal and Lily. While I enjoyed the characters and what the provided, they didn't have much growth once they had kids. Marshal finding out about his dad dying was the highpoint (sounds weird) of there characters. Rewatching the pilot, it dawned on me they highlighted that relationship more early on.

 
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^ but again, that's pretty much all true to life. I have numerous friends who got married, had kids fairly quickly and they basically haven't changed. Cept I see them less, and we miss big moments, and ohhhhhhh look at that. More true life.

This finale was a home run on many different levels. Probably also helps that I have a friend who basically is Barney sans kid, and I also have friends who are Marshall and Lilly. I get it all, and it's just how everything in life CAN be. It's just one group's story.

I think even people who don't like the finale now will go through life and realize (if it comes up) "you know, I really see where that was coming from" and then appreciate it.

I do also kind of agree. They could have axed 1 episode during this season, and done the finale in 2 hour-long parts to not "rush" everything.

I just think people were so invested on "this is the story of the mother". It took so damn long to get to the mother you might have realized earlier it's not solely about that. If I really opened up to someone (I don't have kids) about the loves and heartbreaks of my life, I would probably highlight much more of the heartache and loves lost than my marriage.

It's only human nature.

Also, relationships are fucking hard.
 
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I thought it was pretty bad.  I had a feeling the Mother would die (the "45 days" episode pretty much gave it away) but the execution of the episode was terrible.  Spend a whole season on Barney and Robin's wedding (really 2 since season 8 was all about their relationship) and then they get divorced 13 minutes into the final episode?  That was awful.  Ted and Robin also hadn't worked for a long time and to go back to them in the end felt cheap and unsatisfying.  I think it could have been better if they spread out all the events of the last episode over the course of the season.

I think it ranks up there with Dexter among the worst finales I've ever seen personally.

 
I think this pic sums it up pretty nicely


I'm not sure how I feel about the ending other than that it should have been longer than an hour. It seemed rushed and perhaps this is the reason not many are liking it. I think if it would have been longer, this less rushed it would have had a wider acceptance
 
I was going to mention that in our thread, but yeah that's just very poor...writing or planning or something.

Each season has covered like 6 months of these characters lives right? They tried to keep it played in real time with the audience, but then they have this last season that takes place over a weekend and this last episode which is all over the fuckin place.

It's just very poor...writing or planning or something.

 
Equistina said:
I think this pic sums it up pretty nicely


I'm not sure how I feel about the ending other than that it should have been longer than an hour. It seemed rushed and perhaps this is the reason not many are liking it. I think if it would have been longer, this less rushed it would have had a wider acceptance
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Yes. It did end up being "How I Met Your Step-Mother." That's exactly the point.

Also, I never liked Robin - so I admit my bias against the finale may be partially related to my dislike for her character.

Relatedly, I always thought Barney & Robin made sense as a couple. For them to just brush that off with a single scene seems ridiculous. The romance which bloomed season over season and made more logical sense than Robin & Ted EVER did just to get cast aside with a quick flash forward/back scene.

Barney and his daughter may be the greatest moment of that series placed in the middle of an otherwise awful episode, in my opinion.

 
phantomphoenix said:
Funny how the majority of the season was drawn out over 48(?) hours, but the finale covered ~16 years.
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I think that kind of fits. If Ted if telling the story then it makes sense to me that a big chunk of the story would be the weekend he actually met the mother.


mdmrn said:
Yes. It did end up being "How I Met Your Step-Mother." That's exactly the point.
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He tells how he met Robin in the pilot episode. As the kids said something like "How I figured out that I wanted to date my ex girlfriend (and friend's ex-wfie) 6 years after your mother died" is more accurate
 
I will say this. With the mixed reactions to the finale, and consequently the backlash of the whole show's premise as a result, I don't see How I Met Your Dad being a show anyone invests their time in.

I thought before that it might not even get picked up after they film the pilot, if it does it'll probably be a show that doesn't last past one season.
 
I didn't really like the finale either, too much was going on and the planning was pretty poor. It would have been a lot better if they did this across a couple more episodes, heck a 2 hour finale might even worked. Its pretty sad how they had this finale written 8 years ago and only managed to put this together.

I don't have a problem with Ted ending up with Robin. Based on that 45 days speech he did a while back its pretty clear Tracy was the only one for him. Ted and Robin getting together was just a happy ending. They probably didn't want to end the series with Ted as a widower and Robin out of the gang.

 
DestroVega said:
I will say this. With the mixed reactions to the finale, and consequently the backlash of the whole show's premise as a result, I don't see How I Met Your Dad being a show anyone invests their time in.

I thought before that it might not even get picked up after they film the pilot, if it does it'll probably be a show that doesn't last past one season.
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To be fair, How I Met Your Dad is a totally new cast & totally new environment. So, who knows how that's going to turn out.

 
Vinyl said:
Isn't How I Met Your Dad suppose to take place in the same area? If so they maybe #31 is the mother in the story haha.
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I think the term was "the same universe".

The finale did leave me asking myself one question, why was Bob Saget ever the narrator? Josh Radner should have done it the entire show really.
 
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Haha, ok. I've got two things here. One initial reaction immediately after watching the finale, and a second perspective after rewatching the final 10 minutes to get a better grasp on the timeline.

Initial Reaction
Finally got a chance to watch the finale today...and I have mixed feelings (full disclosure, I'm probably about 75% didn't like/25% like). But I think I can pinpoint why people didn't really like it. For 9 years, we had a goofy sitcom that never really took itself too seriously, and then all of a sudden in the finale, they want to hit you in the face with real world issues.

For 9 years, this was a show people turned to to get a good laugh and enjoy the silly situations these New Yorkers got themselves into. But in the final episode, you're dealing with a divorce (after forcing the audience to basically participate in the wedding preparation for an entire season) and the short and bittersweet relationship with the woman the main character has spent his entire life searching for. Those are gut punches, man. It's real life. No question about it. But I guess there is a part of me that doesn't want my sitcom to end with similar themes as people I went to high school with. It sucked in those instances, and it sucked here.

Does that make me lame for wanting a happy ending? Maybe...I don't know. It's definitely a tale of life...but seeing Robin standing there jealous of Tracy being with Ted, and basically realizing that she made the wrong choice picking Barney instead of him is awful, man. That just wasn't fun at all.

And as far as Ted getting together with Robin at the end, I'm sorry...but to me, it made her come off as a consolation prize. She rejected Ted countless times when he gave up everything and threw himself at her. And based on everything the show built up between Ted and Tracy, there's no way any late life relationship with Robin could compare to that. All the shit he went through with Robin, it just doesn't make sense...outside of the realm of being two lonely elderly people who have nobody else...which, again...not a great way to end a sitcom.

I guess this just felt like an ending that tried way too hard. It was built up so much. And it felt like they kind of pannicked and just tried to make everybody happy (Barney being Barney, wrapping up the mother plotline, and satisfying the Ted/Robin crowd). I don't think it needed to come full circle that much. Part of the greatness of these shows is seeing how much the characters have grown and changed. Ending with the blue french horn just felt so forced.

It definitely had its moments, and there were some great scenes. Barney with his daughter was awesome, and incredible acting by NPH (part of me wondered if #31 would abandon the baby and leave Barney to be a single dad...which I thought would be kind of poetic for someone who tried so desperately to not be tied down). But killing off the mother was too much for me.

After Rewatching Final 10 Minutes
Ok, after seeing it a second time, I almost feel like I'll gain an appreciation for the episode over time. There's still definitely things I don't like. But it's almost for different reasons this time. Ultimately, I'm sorry, I disregard the Ted/Robin relationship. She was never right for him and pretty much always took him for granted. That ending does nothing for me.

As for the "realness" of the Barney/Robin divorce, obviously...divorce happens 50% of the time. I think the biggest reason to be upset by it is because they made us invest so much time...real time, mind you, preparing for that wedding. Seriously, all the way back to the premiere of season 8 deals with it. And in one episode (since it spanned so much time), it was just demolished. Yes, that happens...but the way they did it was a bit of a shellshock, and therefore subject to backlash.

And finally, Tracy dying. It still pissed me off. But on rewatch, the anger I felt is more from Ted's perspective. Again, it's real and it happens. But God damn, what a horrible, shitty thing to do to him. He spent that many years of his life looking for "the one", and only gets 10 years with her (Ted tells his kids the story in 2030, and at the end they say she's been gone for 6 years). She got pregnant in 2015...and they finally got married in 2020. And four years later she was gone. So, as much as I think I'll appreciate the episode in future viewings, I think I will always be angry for Ted because of that. It definitely happens, but it's something you wouldn't wish on anybody. And it's just a harsh way to end the show. The Robin/Ted ending doesn't make up for it...at least not for me.

 
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^ even in the things you don't like, you got what they were going for. Think about real life. They invested so much time in a season being about one wedding weekend. Then it was a flash divorce. Does that sound like an actual marriage in grand scope? Yup.

They nailed every thing you feel in real life in microcosms, even the small time Ted got with his wife when he finally found her. You even said you'd probably appreciate some things after time. I think everyone will.

I understand people not liking it, and I can see the reasons why. But some of those same reasons I see differently and still love it.
 
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DestroVega said:
^ even in the things you don't like, you got what they were going for. Think about real life. They invested so much time in a season being about one wedding weekend. Then it was a flash divorce. Does that sound like an actual marriage in grand scope? Yup.

They nailed every thing you feel in real life in microcosms, even the small time Ted got with his wife when he finally found her. You even said you'd probably appreciate some things after time. I think everyone will.

I understand people not liking it, and I can see the reasons why. But some of those same reasons I see differently and still love it.
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Oh yeah, I totally get it. It just felt very odd for a show that didn't take many risks throughout its run to go for this "meaning of life" finale. Other than Marshall's dad dying, I can't think of one really tragic event that any of them went through. It was a lighthearted show with a pretty heavy ending. In that way, it felt a little out of place.

It was even depressing in places. The idea of "Hey, we're not carefree and in our 20's anymore. We're in the real world now. And the real world sucks." So, even if it was a good finale...I'm not sure if it was an enjoyable finale...if that makes any sense. It just definitely wasn't the direction I expected the last episode of this show to go in.

 
Haha, wow...apparently a fan re-edited the ending to give it the happy (and yes, admittedly, safe) ending that most people wanted.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0caCEG1nH3E[/youtube]

It's funny because this is exactly where my wife said she wished the show would have ended. Again, I get that they wanted to be edgy and show that not everything has a happy ending. But we know that. And sometimes after watching a show for 9 years...you just want it to end the right way. You want the people/characters you care about to have only good things. No, it's not realistic...but I don't know many people who go around saying "Yeah, my buddy from college...I hope his wife dies." And above all, who wants a sitcom bringing them down?

 
[quote name="n8rockerasu" post="11663742" timestamp="1396501780"]Haha, wow...apparently a fan re-edited the ending to give it the happy (and yes, admittedly, safe) ending that most people wanted.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0caCEG1nH3E[/youtube]

It's funny because this is exactly where my wife said she wished the show would have ended. Again, I get that they wanted to be edgy and show that not everything has a happy ending. But we know that. And sometimes after watching a show for 9 years...you just want it to end the right way. You want the people/characters you care about to have only good things. No, it's not realistic...but I don't know many people who go around saying "Yeah, my buddy from college...I hope his wife dies." And above all, who wants a sitcom bringing them down?[/quote]link was taken down :(
 
usickenme said:
I think that kind of fits. If Ted if telling the story then it makes sense to me that a big chunk of the story would be the weekend he actually met the mother.
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The more I think about it, the more it seems like he remembers that weekend vividly because the actual love of his life was getting married to someone else. Then the 16 years pass in what amounts to a fraction of the actual time of his story telling. I would think a bigger chunk of the story would be the bliss and excitement in the time period shortly after Ted and Tracy met. From that, I take that the mom was clearly not as important.

 
Well... but she is important to Ted. Just not to the story... if that's possible. So yes, I agree then, the way they approached it story wise sucked.

Quit making me analyze shit, when I can just enjoy it as is. :lol:

 
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phantomphoenix said:
The more I think about it, the more it seems like he remembers that weekend vividly because the actual love of his life was getting married to someone else. Then the 16 years pass in what amounts to a fraction of the actual time of his story telling. I would think a bigger chunk of the story would be the bliss and excitement in the time period shortly after Ted and Tracy met. From that, I take that the mom was clearly not as important.
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I think that's definitely true. But I think it casts both the show and the characters in a different light. One article I read raised an interesting point...the final scene with the kids telling Ted to ask Robin out was shot in 2006...during the show's 2nd season. The creators had no idea the show would last this long, or how much the characters would change during that time.

When you think about how much Ted, Robin, and Barney all changed in that 9 year span...the ending starts to seem a little silly. Ted was infatuated with Robin in season one. But after all the stuff he went through (and she put him through)...to still be hung up on her 25 years later just makes his character seem incredibly stunted.

And then Barney, turning back into a d-bag, writing the Playbook II, etc. It just undid all of his character development from the past 3-4 seasons. Yeah, sure, they kind of stopped the downward spiral by giving him a child...but that almost felt like a plot device so people wouldn't think he was completely pathetic. These things just kind of indicate that the show creators were unwilling to compromise or do any kind of rewrites on what they envisioned for the show 7+ years ago.

 
Shit... I didn't know they shot the kids' scene so long ago. That would probably change things. And by change, I mean stick to a script.

Wasn't that scene with Robin and Barney fighting in the hotel shown previously though? I would've sworn it was. So to see the divorce, I was not surprised.

 
It showed them being drunk and picking up the baby and then getting kicked out. I don't remember them fighting though.

Yeah, that scene was shot a long time ago and the showrunners wanted to stick to it so much (probably because they didn't want to have to recast the kids or something) that they wrote themselves into a corner. That was only their second big fuck up though. The first was the ending the pilot with the "Aunt Robin" line.

 
Why? Because Robin then couldn't be the mom? I thought they fuck ed up with introducing the mom so late and not giving the audience a chance to guess who she was/is.

 
Yes, because then Robin couldn't be the mom. So that forced them to shoot the ending that they shot after they saw the Ted/Robin chemistry and realized they really liked it.

Then the show ran for 9 seasons and characters developed and everybody stopped caring about Ted/Robin and started to really like this Mother character that got introduced, but they were stuck with what they shot.

 
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phantomphoenix said:
Guys, it's about the journey, not the destination.

Oh, wait...
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Dawg, I was totally going to say this in our thread since you've spoiled everything for Mo, but then I didn't cuz I would have just said that both kind of sucked and I posted a Leda video instead.

But like I totally didn't even see this post until after I changed my mind that would have been weird if I did say that.

 
I don't think the writers got painted into a corner because they filmed the ending in 2006. They obviously had a framework of how the story was going to go. Getting so many seasons only have them more time to drag out eventually meeting the mother. This last season easily could have been season 7 or something. And if the show was canceled in maybe 2008 they could have redone the ending. This is how they wanted it to end even if most people didn't.
 
Having the mother die gave them tons of flexibility..it wasn't super important who she was since her time was always limited. Didn't need her for the ending, just the concept.  I read somewhere that Victoria was the "back-up" in case they got cancelled. 

 
DestroVega said:
I don't think the writers got painted into a corner because they filmed the ending in 2006. They obviously had a framework of how the story was going to go. Getting so many seasons only have them more time to drag out eventually meeting the mother. This last season easily could have been season 7 or something. And if the show was canceled in maybe 2008 they could have redone the ending. This is how they wanted it to end even if most people didn't.
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That's all well and good...but it does nothing to address the issue that because of how the show dragged on so long, the characters no longer fit the ending.

That's like buying a suit to wear in 10 years, then when you realize you've gained 20 pounds and the suit no longer fits, you say "well, fuck it...I planned to wear this suit. So, I'm going to put it on anyway." And it rips and you look like an idiot.

I thought of one more thing this morning, for the people who want to suggest the show was always about Ted getting with Robin (as the kids say when they tell Ted that he's just using the story as a vehicle for moving on from Tracy), isn't that almost more sad? This tremendous quest of Ted finding "the one" ultimately ends with an "If we're both single when we're 50" deal?

 
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I did watch the ending, and I thought it was bittersweet and the only possible ending provided that the Mother didn't die.  Ted and Robin are indeed the bestest of friends, and it was very clear throughout the years, even more than Marshall or Barney ever could be. I admit I teared up at the end, but if they filmed Ted's life through the next 20 years, I'd be a quivering mess for the next week.

 
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My kids are hooked on a Full House... Watching it reminded me that Danny Tanner (Bob Sagat's character) was also a widower..
 
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