Now we all
know “How I met your mother,” which ran from 2005 to March of this year. The
CBS sitcom follows Ted Mosby as he tells his children about how he met
their mother. (The show title kind of gives it away) Ted tells of his
adventures with his 4 best friends Marshall, Lily, Robin and Barney. For the
audience this story of how he met Tracy McConnell, his future wife and mother
of his children, lasted 9 years for the audience. Throughout the series there were
multiple women Ted goes out with and for us; we just had to keep guessing if “this
one” was the mother.
How I met
your mother was a great show, as evident with the fact it lasted just short of
the 10 year mark. For each generation there is a sitcom that is thee show that we relate to the
most and find comfort in. The 90’s had Friends, the 80’s had Cheers, in the 70’s
it was M.A.S.H (obviously not as relatable as the others but it summed the
decade) and the 60’s had Happy days.
Now I found
that the show was this generation’s Friends, in my opinion. While both shows
had many laughs, they also approached some very serious issues. For friends,
sexuality was a recurring theme as in the 1990’s it was becoming more accepted
and embraced. HIMYM (I’ll be using this abbreviation to save from repeating the
title) had themes such as love, death, family and the future, particularly
following your dream but also having to face reality
- Ted wanted to be an architect but went to be a professor
- Marshall wanted to save the world through environmental law but ended up in corporate law various times but finally achieves his dream and also gets progress in his quest of doing good by becoming a supreme court Judge
- Lily wanted to be an artist, settled as a kindergarten teacher and later an art consultant
- Robin dreamt of being a famous journalist but spent most of the series in low level journalism jobs but eventually achieves your dream working at the World Wide News
- Barney doesn’t go on the same journey as the others. In terms of employment Barney’s job is vague and well playing. In much of the series he remains the same but his development is more in lifestyle than a the job
While we
love the series many of us have been disappointed and angered by the ending. Now
the series ended with a two part episode “Last Forever.” The finale showed us
the first meeting of Ted and Tracy as well as the 25 years between them meeting
and 2030 when future Ted begins the story.
Where they
went wrong
Season 9 was
an awkward one, having almost the entire season span across a single weekend.
Now it’s not to say that nothing happened, the season was a pivotal one. It was
the wedding of Barney and Robin, the woman Ted has had feelings for since
season 1 and his best friend. (In Barney’s eyes) A lot was going on, with the
wedding, Marshall and Lily moving to Italy and Ted secretly leaving for
Chicago. It was clear they were building up to an emotional end, telling us how
even the tightest of gangs can drift apart. While the season did feel stretched
and our annoyance as we waited for Ted’s meeting of Tracy, it was a good one….up
until the finale
The finale
begins with a look back to the first season when they first meet Robin. Cut to
the present and it’s the wedding reception and Ted leaves half through but has
an emotional good. As he is leaving he sees Tracy at the train station, finally
they are going to meet, nope. Cut to the next day and Ted isn’t in Chicago. He’s
at MacLaren and talks about how we met Tracy.
- 2015: Ted is planning the wedding (should point out we still haven’t seen the meeting yet) and we find out Tracy is pregnant. Postpone the wedding
- May, 2016: they finally meet up again like the good old days and then we find out Barney and Robin got divorce after 3 years
- October, 2016: Halloween party reunion and Robin realises she should of gotten together with Ted
- 2018: Everyone except Robin meet up and Marshall announces he’s going to be a judge
- 2019: Robot wrestling. Robin is still absent and Barney announces he’s going to be a father, he doesn’t know the mothers name
- 2020: Ted see’s Robin after so many years apart. Cut to hospital waiting room where Barney officially a father. He holds his daughter and gets emotional. Ted renews his proposal. They get married and they see Robin again
- 2024: Tracy Mosby dies of an unspecified illness
Cut back to
the present at the train station, Ted finally talks to Tracy and it is love at
first sight. Finally back to 2030 where Ted finishes his story of how he met
their mother. His children call him out on his story, saying their mother is
barely in it and it is just a way for Ted to talk about how he loves Robin.
They convince him to ask her out. We see future Robin with her many dogs and
Ted shows up with a blue French horn.
THE END
Now let’s
breakdown why this episode annoyed us
Firstly,
with the divorce between Robin and Barney it basically makes their story arc
from half way of season 8 (episode 12: The final page, part 2) along with
season 9 void and pointless. I get that it is giving the realistic message that
something it just doesn’t work out but still. Their divorce is so abrupt that
it makes for a terrible pay off to their story.
Secondly,
they spoil Barney as a character. For a lot of the show Barney remains much of
the same while all the others develop. It is season 6 where Barney begins to
blossom. He begins his journey with trying to find his father which shows some
of Barney’s real emotions and how the abandonment has led to Barney being
emotionally distance. By season 7 it become evident Barney is in love with
Robin but cannot do anything because he wishes not to ruin her relationship
with her boyfriend at the time Kevin. Come season 8 Barney flipped upside-down
with his commitment to Robin as for years Barney stated he would never get
married. Barney dedicates himself to Robin and stops his womanizing. Barney’s
wish of settling down is a moving arc for him to have and it would round off
his story arc well if they stopped there. However, once Robin and Barney are
divorced that arc is tossed aside and Barney is then just a much older version
of his season 1-5 self. He is again a serial womanizer, preying on younger
women and even once he gets “girl 31” pregnant he thinks it is the end of times
and never actually remembers her name. It is touching that Barney falls in love
again when he meets his daughter.
Then there
is the death of the mother. While I do think it was moving it was mainly irritating.
Tracy McConnell only really becomes a character in the final season and even at
that it is padded out so they Ted is the last to meet her and we barely see
anything of them first falling in love. There is the train platform and their
first date but then they skip forward to when they are clearly in a serious
relationship. We get to see them throughout the years but they then skip a
decade in time. Seeing briefly that she is dead, no explanation, just 30
seconds of her in hospital with Ted by her side. It’s extremely emotion with
Future Ted narrating how he always loved her no matter what happened. We get to
see them truly together for the extended finale but she’s not even there in the
end being killed off just before the big climax.
Finally,
what I possibly hated the most was the total copout that was Ted and Robin
getting together. Ted and Robin were the Rachael and Ross and for years fans had
speculated that Robin was the mother but the show creators frequently had
Future Ted refer to her as Aunt Robin and with the discovery she was unable to
have children there was no way she could be the mother. So with knowing it was
never going to happen we all settled ourselves, coming to terms and eagerly
anticipating the Mother to arrive so we could get closure, which came far too
late. And finally we get the mother so everyone can live happily ever after but
there is the divorce and Robin constantly thinking about how she should have
gotten together with Ted, well too late lady you missed your chance. And then
the mother dies and the show finishes with Ted getting together with Robin.
That was possibly what grinded my gears the most. What that basically said “you
know those 9 years you spent on this show waiting to meet the mother? Well forget
that, he’s going to end up with his friend you kept rejecting him.”
How they
could have ended it
Now I’ll say
this, all these endings are pretty farfetched and probably would have been more
frustrating than the actual ending. And yes, I am just ripping of other endings
- The whole gang, and all the women he dated, are a manifestation of Ted’s mind
- Once Ted finishes the story the camera zooms out to show the house is in a snow globe being held by an autistic Barney and the rest of the gang are just people who work in the home he is in
- After years of not seeing Barney dies and at the funeral they meet his daughter who is all grow up. It turns out Barney was an excellent father
- Tracy still ends up in hospital but it is due to her heart, she is able to get a transplant which saves her life. As it turns out it was Robins. Who loved him and would always want him to be happy
- They’re in Purgatory
- It ends with Tracy waking up in the middle of the night. It was all just a dream of her where she met her dream man
- Marshall sits Daisy and Marvin down and starts to tell them how he met their mother. They sigh and groan but Marshall says “don’t worry, I’ll keep it short.” Cut to black, the end
To conclude,
the ending seemed rushed, cramming such a long passage of time into 45 minutes.
In a way I’ll the show, like I said, it was the sitcom of our generation and
now that it’s over, what do we have? Big Bang Theory, Mike & Molly, Two and
a half men and the Exes. Finally I’ll say this; my favourite part of the whole
finale was the very end, the credits. With the season 1 shots and the freeze
frames with the names. Truly classic ending. I'd happy just rewatch it just for that clip
Would you of
preferred one of those other endings? How did you find the finale? Like it?
Hate it?
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