Fans weren’t very happy with the series finale of How I Met Your Mother.
But was it really that bad?
For fanatics,How I Met Your Mothers idiosyncratic jokes made their way into our real lives.
Viewers may have suited up or lost a slap bet.
We wondered if the Olive Theory had any weight and pondered the existence of the majestic cockamouse.
The phrase Challenge accepted!
and high-fiving became things in our circle of friends.
My brother (anotherHIMYMobsessive) and I had difficulty facing the fact that it was actually ending.
Do people rememberThe Sopranos?Lost?
Each of those finales was far more disappointing.
a waste of time after the finale feels like a kick to the groin.
The finale was enjoyable and completes the story ofHIMYM, albeit in frustrating fashion.
The camera cuts to Robin as Bob Saget/older Ted says, And there she was.
If you watched the series closely, that was never explicitly promised.
The writing of Season 9 is to blame for the lack of resolution, not the finale.
Another detail that may have influenced viewer reactions is Netflix.
Netflix is amazing, but it is a way to blow through shows.
Then there are the viewers who only watched sporadically, in pursuit of finding out The Mothers identity.
Some even said they stopped watching the series at the end of Season 8 when she was revealed.
Unfortunately, these viewers missed the point of the show.
The show is about far more than just The Mother.
Due to her lack of time on-screen, her death was quite bearable.
After nine years, handling her death so easily was disappointing.
Season 9 Issues
Two words: plot stretching.
To have an entire season that occurs over the span of one weekend was a death sentence in itself.
This seems to have been forgotten.
These inane, ridiculous plot points all took away on-screen time from the important story.
It was the early episodes in Season 9 that held the finale back, and not the finale itself.
Viewers believed in the relationship because Neil Patrick Harris is so talented an actor.
I never had any faith that Barney and Robin would last.
Its not like theyre going to stay together, remembering Barneys Relationship Exit Theory from earlier in the series.
Ironically, Barney took the Three Year Exit Robin offered.
Conversely, Ted and Robins relationship ended in devastating tears.
At their core, Robin and Barney were far too similar to work out.
Even then, though, this doesnt by any means ruin the series.
Ted and Robin
Ted and Robin were always destined to be together.
Even when Ted was dating people better suited for him than Robinlike Victoriahe was still infatuated with her.
Teds biggest relationships ended mostly or partly because Robin was still around.
Ted then meets Tracy, and they hit it off.
Ted then, unforgivably off-screen (whilst reconnecting with Robin), mourns from 2024 to 2030.
But does that mean that Ted felt nothing for Tracy?
Both Tracy and Ted moved on with people after their loved ones were gone.
Just because life happens, that doesnt mean that either should settle for being alone.
Its hard to imagine Tracy objecting to Ted being with Robin if she could speak from beyond the grave.
Teds POV
This is an issue of all first-person narratives, regardless of medium.
The viewers experience of the events on-screen is skewed by the story being told to us by one person.
Ted is a hopeless romantic, and therefore, we saw everything through his heart-on-my-sleeve lens.
Could Ted have over-romanticized certain events?
Ted deserved a happily ever after, but the finale was much more realistic than a fairy tale ending.
It bears repeating that Tracy had a significant other before Ted came along.
What if she had just packed it in?
With his best friend.
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