HIMYM - The Ending

[mayerling]

What did you think?

 

[justginger]

I haven't watched it, but I've heard. I like the concept of it, but I guess I find it rather...blunt. A whole season leading up to a wedding that ends in divorce? Realistic, but sad. I need to see how it actually plays out, but it did make me happy to hear the blue French horn makes a reappearance.

Mixed feelings, I guess. The end of a wonderful show.

 

[mayerling]

When it first came up, I thought the divorce was a bummer. By the time the episode finished, the divorce was the least of my concerns.

 

[Nyc2chigal]

I think the ending was made so it would appease everyone.

I'll be honest.. before the mother showed up, I was so sure Ted and Robin would end up together because 'it made sense'.
Then the momther came along, and I saw how much her character meshed with Ted's.

I started disliking Robin's character, and was hoping that whatever was b/w her and Ted was done and over with.
Her character led Ted on for so long (in subtle ways, and not-so). Her relationship w/ Ted was unfair, and the only person that really suffered was Ted.

So, Robin is a JERK in my book.



That being said, my reaction to the very ending was "COME ON!!!!".

LOL

Can you tell I'm a HIMYM fan?

 

[ihy138]

I have loved this show for SO LONG. I actually really liked the ending, and I thought it made sense. HIMYM has always been about the importance of timing, the process, and the journey. The show is not really about how he met "the mother" - that can be summed up in a sentence or two. The show is about the process of looking for love, the disappointments, the triumphs, and tragedies. I think that Ted had to experience "the mother's" love that he pretty much always fantasized about. And he got that, but the loss changed him in some ways. The Ted that ended up with Robin is not the Ted that dated her in season 1. Like real life, the ending reflected that things are messy sometimes. I think people are upset because they wanted a happily ever after for Ted, and the REALNESS of him losing "the mother" was pretty jarring. That being said, I think it's still a happy ending, though not the one that everyone expected.

 

[katharath]

I have loved this show for SO LONG. I actually really liked the ending, and I thought it made sense. HIMYM has always been about the importance of timing, the process, and the journey. The show is not really about how he met "the mother" - that can be summed up in a sentence or two. The show is about the process of looking for love, the disappointments, the triumphs, and tragedies. I think that Ted had to experience "the mother's" love that he pretty much always fantasized about. And he got that, but the loss changed him in some ways. The Ted that ended up with Robin is not the Ted that dated her in season 1. Like real life, the ending reflected that things are messy sometimes. I think people are upset because they wanted a happily ever after for Ted, and the REALNESS of him losing "the mother" was pretty jarring. That being said, I think it's still a happy ending, though not the one that everyone expected.

Great post, it sums up my thoughts as well

 

[PetitiePoire]

I was really bummed when the first introduced "the mother" as the mother. I would have sworn it was going to twist around to show how Robin was their mother, which would explain why she was mentioned so much. However, but the time this season was over I could see how "the mother" was actually a better fit and I was really upset by her dying. I guess in tv shows I like happy endings and someone dying, that they worked so hard to make us like, wasn't my idea of a happy ending.

I also thought it was weird that Robin ended up as the dog lady and after putting Ted through so much she still got him in the end.

I did love Barney's ending. So incredibly sweet.

 

[mayerling]

I was really bummed when the first introduced "the mother" as the mother. I would have sworn it was going to twist around to show how Robin was their mother, which would explain why she was mentioned so much. However, but the time this season was over I could see how "the mother" was actually a better fit and I was really upset by her dying. I guess in tv shows I like happy endings and someone dying, that they worked so hard to make us like, wasn't my idea of a happy ending.

I also thought it was weird that Robin ended up as the dog lady and after putting Ted through so much she still got him in the end.

I did love Barney's ending. So incredibly sweet.

That's interesting. I never liked the Robin-Ted pairing (preferred Barney-Robin). I thought Ted deserved better (true, romantic love) so I was really glad she wasn't the mother.

 

[Circe]

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaated it.

I've actually disliked Ted all along. I think his self-absorbtion, his expectation that people hew to his (really conventional) expectations, and his near-stalky romantic pursuits are awful qualities for a protagonist. I called it the first season, when I said (yes, I actually went and looked it up) "I spend the whole show thinking that The Mother from the show had damned well better have died in childbirth, otherwise he's basically telling his kids about his creepy-ass obsession with their aunt and expecting them to be interested. Erk." Only it's worse than that, because not only did the show fridge the mom, they then made his kids into his panderers. ERK.

But I didn't have that much time to get attached to The Mother (though I was also disturbed by how, after having shown Ted sleeping with, like, 30 women over the course of the show - yes, I looked this up, too, and see also, http://www.vulture.com/2013/09/how-i-met-your-mothers-ted-mosby-a-slut.html - The Mother is shown as having an affianced One True Love who dies, then a five year stretch of chastity, then an exclusive boyfriend who she only agrees to date because he's actually perfect, and who wants to marry her, 'natch, and then ... Ted, for a literal 1:10 ratio of appropriate female-to-male sexuality). Instead, I was just really disappointed by what they did with Barney and Robin.

I LOVED Barney and Robin together. They actually had things in common! And similar life goals! Why is this seen as being impossible? So I was disappointed, a) the first time they broke them up, because apparently one person (coughtheladycough) needs to be willing to take a backseat, and b) when they made Barney getting Robin back by basically gaslighting her, and, c) when they basically erased any character development either one had had and made them into caricatures of themselves for the last season - Commitment Phobic Manchild Man and Internalized Misogyny Woman . Barney basically peaked while he was engaged to the stripper, and Robin while she was dating her therapist: I feel like the show's insistence on keeping the semi-incestuous nature of the group their top priority really screwed their storyline. (Did anybody else notice that at the wedding, The Mother has zero friends of her own?) And then making Robin leave the group in direct contradiction of all the hints from the earlier season because ... what, she had a bad case of dog-in-the-manger syndrome? No bueno.

I feel like the show should have ended somewhere around the end of season 6, maybe season 7. Bah. Add two more episodes, one where Robin and Barney get married, and one - ONE, you get ONE episode for the meeting, like you get ONE day when you're getting married, not a whole season - where Ted meets The Mother and wraps up his interminable monologue, have it end with the kids giving one another the side-eye over how this just confirms their long-standing belief that their dad is kind of a letch, and call it a day. BAH.

 

[Nyc2chigal]

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaated it.

I've actually disliked Ted all along. I think his self-absorbtion, his expectation that people hew to his (really conventional) expectations, and his near-stalky romantic pursuits are awful qualities for a protagonist. I called it the first season, when I said (yes, I actually went and looked it up) "I spend the whole show thinking that The Mother from the show had damned well better have died in childbirth, otherwise he's basically telling his kids about his creepy-ass obsession with their aunt and expecting them to be interested. Erk." Only it's worse than that, because not only did the show fridge the mom, they then made his kids into his panderers. ERK.

But I didn't have that much time to get attached to The Mother (though I was also disturbed by how, after having shown Ted sleeping with, like, 30 women over the course of the show - yes, I looked this up, too, and see also, http://www.vulture.com/2013/09/how-i-met-your-mothers-ted-mosby-a-slut.html - The Mother is shown as having an affianced One True Love who dies, then a five year stretch of chastity, then an exclusive boyfriend who she only agrees to date because he's actually perfect, and who wants to marry her, 'natch, and then ... Ted, for a literal 1:10 ratio of appropriate female-to-male sexuality). Instead, I was just really disappointed by what they did with Barney and Robin.

I LOVED Barney and Robin together. They actually had things in common! And similar life goals! Why is this seen as being impossible? So I was disappointed, a) the first time they broke them up, because apparently one person (coughtheladycough) needs to be willing to take a backseat, and b) when they made Barney getting Robin back by basically gaslighting her, and, c) when they basically erased any character development either one had had and made them into caricatures of themselves for the last season - Commitment Phobic Manchild Man and Internalized Misogyny Woman . Barney basically peaked while he was engaged to the stripper, and Robin while she was dating her therapist: I feel like the show's insistence on keeping the semi-incestuous nature of the group their top priority really screwed their storyline. (Did anybody else notice that at the wedding, The Mother has zero friends of her own?) And then making Robin leave the group in direct contradiction of all the hints from the earlier season because ... what, she had a bad case of dog-in-the-manger syndrome? No bueno.

I feel like the show should have ended somewhere around the end of season 6, maybe season 7. Bah. Add two more episodes, one where Robin and Barney get married, and one - ONE, you get ONE episode for the meeting, like you get ONE day when you're getting married, not a whole season - where Ted meets The Mother and wraps up his interminable monologue, have it end with the kids giving one another the side-eye over how this just confirms their long-standing belief that their dad is kind of a letch, and call it a day. BAH.

LOL!!!!! I love this!

 

[Nyc2chigal]

Ted never connected with a woman the way he did with the mother... Not Robin, not Victoria... no one.

Robin was pretty much a booty call. All looks, some common jokes, but that's it.

 

[April20]

Don't even get me started.

In all fairness, looking back I can see how they set up for this. But I found the whole last episode crammed so many events and years into one hour that it was disjointed. I haaaaate that the mother died. I hate that Barney and Robin's marriage went up in smoke in the beginning of the finale when they spent the entire season plus bits and pieces of the two precious seasons leading up to it. Ugh. Just ugh.

I started watching season 1 on netflix today while I worked just because. I realized that there were clues dropped all among the first season that I never caught, but totally caught today knowing how it all played out.

 

[missy]

Disappointed. We actually stopped watching the show this season (it went on for too long IMO and we were losing interest) as we were more into hour dramas this year but returned for the last few shows because we had been fans of the show.

I was sad the mother was given a terminal illness and the Ted/Robin match just didn't feel right to me. I agree with those who thought Robin and Barney were the better match.

Having said that-anyone else love Robin's new haircut? Loved it!

 

[mayerling]

Don't even get me started.

In all fairness, looking back I can see how they set up for this. But I found the whole last episode crammed so many events and years into one hour that it was disjointed. I haaaaate that the mother died. I hate that Barney and Robin's marriage went up in smoke in the beginning of the finale when they spent the entire season plus bits and pieces of the two precious seasons leading up to it. Ugh. Just ugh.

I started watching season 1 on netflix today while I worked just because. I realized that there were clues dropped all among the first season that I never caught, but totally caught today knowing how it all played out.

What clues are you referring to?

 

[ame]

Ok, this is from someone who saw MAYBE 3 eps from the entire series besides the finale.

I overall liked the closure, though I have some issues with it. I hated that Barney and Robin divorced, that broke my heart. I hated that she gave him and out and that he took it. I hated it. But when they told the group and his telling Lily she was pregnant because she's a solid C cup again was hilarious. I liked Ted with "the mother" though, a lot, and it bugged me that what I expected to happen all along basically happened, that they kill her off and he ends up with Robin. I absolutely died sobbing when Barney held the baby. Couldn't even handle it. NPH is fantastic in that scene.

I don't get why Fudge Supreme (I seriuosly almost died laughing at that) has more of a storyline than Lily though. She seems like a baby maker and nothing more. Though she seems to be just like her American Pie character to me.

 

[erinl]

I thought the last 15-20 minutes or so of the finale were horrible. I don't have a problem with Ted ending up with Robin. He is an incredibly milquetoast character who envisioned himself a lot more romantic/interesting than he really is, and with that in mind, I don't see him having the imagination or energy to venture out in the big bad world and find someone new to share his last act with, so dating in his circle seems about as ambitious as he would likely be. I also don't have a huge problem with them killing off Tracy. Horrible tragedies like this befall families way too often.

My problem is the way Tracy was portrayed as a non character/breeder and the kids were used as plot devices. I know that they were symbols for us to be narrated to. However, having two kids who are at most 15 and 14 and who lost their mom when they were at most 9 and 8 act excited that the whole story revolves around their "aunt" robin instead of their own dead mom (whom I'm sure they cannot hear enough stories about since she is not there for them during their childhood!) is just terrible. At best this story told by their dad was a way to justify to his kids that he wanted to date Robin, and at worst, a revision of his history so that he could live out his final act in a fairytale romance again.

Personally, I think it could have been ok if they had cut that final scene with the kids and handle it all more sensitively. I think they were so proud of themselves that they had had the foresight to film those scenes with the kids during the first season that they couldn't see beyond that and realize how inappropriate it really was at the end of season nine. I would have even felt better if there had been a scene with Tracy in which she encouraged Ted to go after Robin.

My grandmother married a past boyfriend after my grandfather died. I guess they had gone out on a date or two and then my grandmother met my grandfather. A few years ago her kids put together a video scrapbook of her life. They had dug up old pictures of her new husband and wrote this whole narrative of how they met-- which of course I had never heard before. I wasn't close to this grandmother at all, but I found this narrative suspect as hell as my grandmother made up stories about herself and reinvented history all the time. So this video put stuff about some random one off date/beau in high school (her second husband) , then put in the stuff with my grandfather etc, then included her marriage to her second husband. While I was happy my grandmother found someone to spend her last years with, I thought the video was unnecessary and tacky as hell. This finale reminded me of that.

 

[Gypsy]

I didn't hate it. And I didn't like it.

I too thought it was horrid how the wedding we spent seasons leading up to ends in divorce. REALLY HATED THAT. I thought Robin and Barney were perfect for each other.

And I hated that the mother died.

THAT SAID, at least it makes sense why he went though the whole Robin years. Which always irked me.

Ted and Tracy fit so well. I've never liked him with Robin. And I hate that she was his destiny.

But as consolation prizes go... Barney's ending was nice .... not as nice as if he and Robin had make it work.

 

[Tuckins1]

I was really sad that the mom died. I felt so sad for Ted and the kids. I was also pissed that they gave Barney a child, and then he continued his womanizing afterwards... The divorce pissed me off too, because it wasn't because Barney was a jerk, it was because Robin was too successful and traveled. I thought it was petty and like it didn't fit either of their characters.

 

[kgizo]

I didn't like this whole season. Spending all those episodes on one weekend was annoying and boring. I haven't like Robin in awhile as I think it was irritating that she went back and forth with Ted and Barney so many times. It bothered me the most the way they finished Robin and Lily's relationship with Robin essentially dumping her as a friend. Robin was really selfish and if there was another season I'm sure she would leave Ted again. Her character became stereotypical career woman without a life, ugh.

 

[mayerling]

I was really sad that the mom died. I felt so sad for Ted and the kids. I was also pissed that they gave Barney a child, and then he continued his womanizing afterwards... The divorce pissed me off too, because it wasn't because Barney was a jerk, it was because Robin was too successful and traveled. I thought it was petty and like it didn't fit either of their characters.

He doesn't. He is shown to advise some scantily clad girls to go put on some clothes and be good to their parents.

 

[missy]

My dh liked the ending. He always thought Robin and Ted should have ended up together and that Barney and Robin were a poor pairing. And when I asked him about the fact they killed off Ted's wife/mother of his children he said it didn't bother him as he had nothing invested in her character since she was such a negligible part of the story.
Men.

 

[justginger]

I've actually seen it now and it made me mourn - the loss of the mother, who was clearly Ted's One, the loss of a cast that had to come to feel like friends, the loss of what could have been one of the most beautiful finales in TV history...but was not.

The enthusiasm of the kids made me feel, well, yucky. It rang hollow. Ted and Robin were surely, by then, completely different people. The show made it clear that Robin had all but disappeared -- how can they expect to pick up where they had left off, 10 years earlier, pre-success and pre-children? Part of life is pain, and loss, and missed opportunities. I've always found that you can't ever go back. I just can't imagine there was anything there for Ted and Robin, except a treasure trove of memories they shared when they were different people, at a different time in their lives together.

Regardless of how it ended, I love the show. I'm just getting to that age myself, that I see so much beauty in sharing the crazy times of youth with special people, and then supporting each other as life marches on and changes in both good and bad ways. Something about the show makes me very nostalgic, sentimental.