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How I Met Your Mother- Episodes 9.23/9.24 "Last Forever" Review- The final slap is delivered, from the writers to their fans

1 Apr 2014

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There are bad finales and there is the How I Met Your Mother series finale, a finale which essentially ignores all the character development over the past 9 seasons and the plot of the last season, a finale that may have worked back in season 1, 2 and 3, but not after, say, seasons 7, 8 and 9. It crams 20 years of progression in 43 minutes and it just rushes to the end line, adding a plot twist that seems there only for the sake of shocking it audience.


When I finished watching it I was both crying and laughing, not because something funny or something poignant happened; I was crying by how I felt that I spent 3 years following this show so that the meaning I gave to the show- so that the reasons that I watch the show- could not only be proved to be wrong, but many of the episodes I loved (“No Pressures”, “The Final Page”, “Platonish”, “Sunrise”) which were about Ted letting Robin go are now meaningless. My favorite episodes of the series are ruined forever.

The saddest part is that it was up to a good start: at the wedding Barney recognizes The Mother and he wants Ted to meet her, but Ted is set on getting going to Chicago, so they go outside to have a poignant goodbye, which includes the epic high 5 Ted and Barney gave each other (they broke their hands, but it was worth it!, totally worth it!).

Then, the next day, Ted doesn’t actually move to Chicago, he met a girl and he is happier than ever. One can see in Josh Radnor face that everything is working out great for Ted, upon meeting this girl he is incredibly happy. On the next 2 seconds it is already 2015 and the mother is pregnant; it was an abrupt jump, but ok, things are going smoothly. Then we have yet another jump in less than a minute to 2016, where things just start falling apart.

15 minutes and 25 seconds, that’s the moment Robin tells the gang that she and Barney got divorced. WHAT?! After 22 episodes this season focused on their wedding, after Barney setting up a beautiful proposal (“The Final Page” screwed), after burning down the Play Book for Robin (“Weekend’s at Barney’s” also screwed) and making every sacrifice there to be, their relationship just implodes within minutes. And why? Just because Robin is working so much and that isn’t working for their marriage.

Robin actually got to be with her true love all along: her career. She has never sacrificed anything to be with Ted or with Barney, she is so focused on her career that she is not even willing to find a solution to her marital troubles, she just gives Barney an out… What happened to the girl who chose Don over her career? It seems like she never existed, and man, once she gives Barney an out everything goes downhill.

Barney regress to his season 1-3 self, the player who screws around. What happened to the moment in which Barney said “I slept with over 200 women and that left me feeling nothing but broken!”? I guess the show is expecting you to forget that, because Barney is that broken man again. It’s incredibly sad in so many levels that I can’t even begin to describe.

Marshall and Lily don’t have the best sendoff either, with Lily often upset that they don’t get to see Robin anymore and Marshall back at corporative law. After a Halloween Party to say farewell to the apartment, as Lily and Marshall are moving out to a bigger house, Robin sees Barney hitting on someone and Ted being happy with The Mother. She doesn’t want to stay because the gang for her is a married couple with children who she barely sees, her ex-husband flirting on floozies and “The man who she probably should ended up with the beautiful mother of his child”. Then she leaves and Lily is left alone sobbing, as her best friend goes MIA for quite a while.

That line, right there, so filled with jealousy made me hate Robin. Wasn’t she the one who always pushed Ted away? Yeah, she told Ted on “The End of The Aisle” that she should be with him, so when I go back to see that episode I’m supposed to believe that Ted should have ditched Barney and escape with Robin? Because it seems as if the wedding makes no sense whatsoever. Did she ever love Barney to begin with? We watched 22 episodes dedicated to a wedding destined to fail! In the end it would have been for the best if in “Platonish” The Mother and Barney never met, that way Ted and Robin would have been together sooner and this thing wouldn’t have happened. But no, they had to go through all the pain. And guess what? After that Halloween party the gang almost never saw Robin again.

So after that, Barney goes back to his old self, and guess what! He gets a girl pregnant! And her name is #31, whom we never see, isn’t that the best thing ever? Now, Barney holding his baby girl is probably the highlight of the episode; it’s a touching moment delivered with perfection by Neil Patrick Harris. His baby girl has changed his world and that is really poignant, but he has to endure being a single father for life, unless #31 is actually around, but we don’t know that, after all, why bother? Barney got back to his season 1-3 self so now he needs a life changing experience to make it feel like he progressed. Why was that needed? If they just stuck to his season 9 persona (even his season 7 persona was ready to date other people seriously not named Robin) this could development could have come organically with someone he came to love (Nora or Quinn, for instance), but instead this is just forced and downright unnecessary.

But we haven’t got to the worst part yet; the whole episode builds up Ted and The Mother as the perfect couple, just as every single episode of this season in which The Mother appeared. We finally get to know her name (Tracy), we get to see her love Ted and interact with the gang. Ted is happy, she is happy, but wait… remembered that crazy theory that said The Mother was actually dead? Turns out it was right on the money. Tracy got sick in 2024.

Forget all the tenderness of this couple; the show has been selling us for 9 years that Tracy is the woman of Ted’s dream that she is everything he dreamt of and we came to love her when she was presented to us. But she had to be ripped apart, she has to get sick and die, why? All so that Ted gets to tell this story to get permission from his children to go get his true love, Aunt Robin. The End.

That is so wrong in so many levels… the show played us, the show always made a point that Ted and Robin just were never going to work out, Ted wanted a family, Robin did not, Robin wanted to travel everywhere, Ted did not. When they tried to move in together it was a disaster, they couldn’t coexist like that. As a couple they had some good moments back in season 2, but the finale gets Robin so absorbed in her career that it makes it impossible to believe- to me at least- that she is ever going to change. I can see her regretting getting together with Ted in 2030 and then go screw around with Barney two days after, because that’s the kind of character she is now, a person who can’t commit to anything that isn’t worked related. Her work was more important than her marriage with Barney, so what makes Ted think that is going to be different this time around? Why does he have to chase the woman who hurt him so much for 8 years? Anyone else would be better (Victoria, anyone?).

I haven’t mentioned it, but we actually get to see the moment when The Mother and Ted meet, and it is beautiful, filled with sparks of chemistry and innocence that makes it all the more painful that it came right after we get to know that Tracy is dead.
I watched the finale 2 times and by watching a second time I came to be even more depressed than I was already on my first time. The pacing is horrible, it feels like it rushed to the end, fast forwarding every little moment, but the main issue with this finale is that it negates all the character development over seasons 4 to 9, it is an ending that the creators foresaw in season 1, but that only works for early seasons, and inserting it later just denies the progress the characters have made.

It is sad, and tragic, and I don’t have a trouble with sad endings (my favorite book “Brave New World” ends with its main character killing himself), but it’s not the story the show sold us over the years. No, the show changed over the course of the seasons, and so the finale should have changed too. This feels awfully out of place, season 9 dedicates a full season to a wedding that doesn’t work out (“Didn’t Ted told us last week that it was ‘legendary’, LIES!”) and all of that is thrown into the garbage can.

What hurts me the most is that there is only one right way to watch the show: you have to buy Ted and Robin as a couple. If you don’t, you are going to hate the ending. That would’ve been ok if the show wasn’t so set out on breaking them up every time, if the show didn’t make countless points to why these two don’t work out. I always believed that How I Met Your Mother was a show about a man who would eventually meet the love of his life and it would make all the pain in the process worth it, that it didn’t matter how much Robin hurt him because he got Tracy. But he doesn’t, in the end he only has The Blue French Horn and Robin up in the window, a relationship that may not even last a day, while the yellow umbrella doesn’t mean anything anymore and fades into oblivion.

And that’s why I may never see a rerun of this show again, and if I do I may ignore the finale ever happened. I watched the show because I found it inspirational, I thought that you could love someone a lot and get over from him/her to find something even better. The finale, however, sets it up so that you are always chained to the person you once loved, you can’t escape. Barney is going to die alone because he didn’t get Robin (“if it didn’t happen with Robin, it won’t happen with anyone” he states), he only gets his daughter but no romantic partner, while Ted is going to get Robin because he never really got over her. So there is no hope, if you fall in love with someone you may never rally, you are chained to them forever.

How nice for HIMYM to end that way. How nice for it to change the meaning of the show on the last five minutes of what had already been an horrible finale, all so that they can ruin not only the final episode of the series, but the series altogether. Great work Craig Thomas and Carter Bays, I applaud you, 80% of your fanbase hate you for it, and the 20% that loved the finale are probably Ted/Robin shippers, people who love sad, tragic endings and/or people who saw the show as the quest of love of these two since the beginning and couldn’t care less about Barney being alone, Tracy dying or Ted lying about getting over Robin (even her daughter calls him out, the whole story was about how much he loved Robin, not their mother). All those who watched the show with different eyes got royally screwed.

My only hope is that someday I can come to forget the bitterness of this finale and watch the rest of the show and enjoy it remembering it for what it used to mean to me. The stain is there, and while the finale can’t take away my past enjoyment of the series it surely was able to take any future enjoyment of How I Met Your Mother for me. If the finale was just bad then ok, but when it changes the whole series, then it’s awful.

Grade: F

Season Grade (excluding its finale): B+

Stray Observations:
-If you liked/loved the finale, let me tell you from the bottom of my heart how happy I am for you: I mean it, no sarcasm, not anything, I'm truly happy for those who got to enjoy it, you have your favorite comedy there and it will always be there for you. Sadly for me, it ended. It's like breaking up in the worst terms possible; you get the fond memories of the past, but everything is stained with the bitter aftertaste of the break up.

-Marshall Fudge/Judge jokes were funny. I was sad that he had to go through corporative law jobs again, even if it was to make a joke, it was pretty sad to watch. What is this? Season 3?

-“Just be cool, lady, daaaam!” One of the best lines of the episode.

-I’m right there with Lily, watching the Playbook #2 was just too sad. Oh, Barney, what they have done to you?

-The photo of the group brought some nostalgia, but it doesn’t fix anything.

-Seeing Robin in her apartment with all the dogs took her all the way back to season 1, and she is probably still putting her career as priority. She probably had the biggest character regression along with Barney in the finale.

-Episodes essentially ruined by the finale: “Lucky Penny”, “The Leap” (who cares he got that teaching job where the mother was, after all she dies!), “Challenge Accepted” (New is always better? Apparently not), “The Bestman”, “The Ducky Tie”, “Disaster Averted”, “Tick, Tick, Tick”, “No pressure”, “Trilogy Time”, “The Final Page” (Barney proposes, but it doesn’t matter! He is going to die alone!), “Weekend’s at Barney’s”, “Platonish”, “How Your Mother Met Me” (as Penny says “this story wasn’t about mom!”) “Sunrise” (Ted never got over Robin in the end).

-Episodes mostly unaffected by the finale: “Three Days of Snow”, “Say Cheese”, “Subway wars”, “Last Words”, “The Perfect Cocktail” (mostly because they don’t center on Ted or Barney’s love life).

-“I kept this story short and to the point.” That would have been better than this.

-There’s no way I’m watching “How I Met Your Dad” after this.

-Stay tuned, soon a roundtable discussion will be made and both me and Shirleena Cunningham will discuss the aftermath of the finale!

About the Author - Pablo
I'm currently studying Psychology while also writing fantasy books (one already published in my home country, Chile, you can check it out on the facebook icon). I watch many different types of shows, including my favorites Revenge, Game of Thrones, Once Upon a Time and about 23 more. Currently writing reviews for Once Upon a Time, How I Met Your Mother and Community

311 comments:

  1. They just ruined everything. And I'm so sad and angry. Cannot believe they thought this was a good idea.

    And I have like six fix-it fic ideas (maybe more) in my head right now.

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  2. Agree with everything you said. I HATED the finale!

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  3. Tomáš Petrík1 April 2014 at 22:30

    True words!

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  4. I just feel angry again. I mean what a sorry excuse for a series finale. Robin decided to put her love life ahead for Don, but decides to keep her carrier ahead now that she is successful. It felt like the divorced over absolutely nothing.

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  5. Sébastien B.1 April 2014 at 22:31

    Please, tell me this is a review of 14 years old teanager ? I don't like all parts of this finale, but this kind of review and hate is just more depressing. I will newer understand people who say they will never rerun HIMYM because of the end. And i'm not a pathetic TedRobin Shipper like you say, or a great fan of this finale .

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  6. Jamie Coudeville1 April 2014 at 22:32

    Completly feel the same way, aaand I'm gonna wanna read those

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  7. Tomáš Petrík1 April 2014 at 22:32

    OK, you are free to enjoy it. However, the majority here shares the reviewer's opinion.

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  8. It has ruined the show for me. I just can't see the episodes the same way.

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  9. Tomáš Petrík1 April 2014 at 22:35

    Agreed. I planned on rewatching the whole series again, but it would just not make sense now, for example seing Barney's elaborate proposal to Robin, knowing how it ends...

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  10. Pablo Troncoso1 April 2014 at 22:36

    Happy that there are only parts of the finale you didn't like, but I already said above why the show is essentially ruined for me; I have to get a new brain in order to enjoy its new meaning, if the story is about the romance of Ted and Robin and not Ted getting over Robin I just can't come to enjoy it, because I find the show contradicting itself waaay to much. And it's sad, Tracy is dead, Barney is alone in the end, the only ones happy are Marshall and Lily, and maybe Ted and Robin IF their relationship work out. That is depressing.

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  11. You're review is just bad, episode is very good, it doesn't deserve F. It's about their destiny, and that was ted's destiny, he finally met woman of his dream but she died, that's what happens in real life too, after 6 years you move one, he moved on so he decied to try with Robin because feelings were always there, it doesn't mean he ended up with her again and they broke up again.

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  12. Pablo Troncoso1 April 2014 at 22:37

    Oh god, The Final Page being ruined it's probably what hurt me the most

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  13. Feeling were always there after the EPs said that he moved on. Give me a break.

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  14. I looked be at a few interviews and I can't believe they would blatantly lie like that

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  15. what is wrong with you people. i loved every second of the finale.

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  16. Pablo Troncoso1 April 2014 at 22:40

    Ok, but why does he have to move on with Robin? The woman who rejected him time after time, the woman who hurt him so much?
    And this is my opinion, my review is not bad just because you disagree with me. I explain why I didn't like the episode and I'm happy for the people who loved it, so I'm happy for you, but the episode is atrocious for me and ruined the show for me. I explain why I hate it and I go into details, it's not like I just say "it sucks". A failing grade may be a shock to see, but it doesn't mean that the review itself is bad

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  17. Sébastien B.1 April 2014 at 22:40

    We talk about that in six months... I said the same for Lost, and i enjoyed more than the first time. the ReRun.


    When i see the list of episodes ruined by the finale ?!? So for example: in your life, if you proposes a woman you love at this moment but you divorce 4 years later, everything is forgotten, all your love story is ruined ?
    Because Your wife dies, you don't have the right to move on ? And it means, your wedding and your fantastic 12 years together were ruined and forgotten?


    Again i'm not a big fan of this final, the execution was poor sometimes, but i read arguments for hours who angers me.


    Sorry by the way, for language's error, i'm French ;)

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  18. I could ask you the same question.

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  19. Pablo Troncoso1 April 2014 at 22:41

    Really happy for you, honestly. For all those who loved the finale you get to keep the show with you and watch reruns, for the rest of us...

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  20. Yeah and I'm sick of ship wars. The fact that this reviewer included ship war attitude in his/her review has really dissappointed me. SpoilerTV is better than that and I expect better from its reviewers.

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  21. Pablo Troncoso1 April 2014 at 22:52

    I didn't say only T/R shippers liked the episode, I say there are other types of people who could have actually liked it too, read the review again, I said "PROBABLY are", I didn't deny that there were other type of people who liked it,

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  22. He could have worn a ring to stop women hitting on him. (I have friends who actually do that. Well, their partners make them do it).

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  23. Yeah, you also said people who love tragedies. So you're saying we are either T/R shippers or people who like death. I'm failing to see the positive of what you're saying.

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  24. Sébastien B.1 April 2014 at 22:55

    i think some argument are childish, not the fact to not like this finale.

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  25. Well I don't like shipper wars either, and I expect better from STV reviewers than calling immature to people who disagree with them

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  26. Thank god i'm not TV fan then. I really had no time to get emotionally attached to fiction anymore. I have more serious things to care about in real life.

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  27. Pablo Troncoso1 April 2014 at 22:57

    I insist on the "probably", these are the people I can think of who liked the finale. That doesn't mean I know every single person who liked it, and I wrote it because I think that, for me to enjoy it, I would have to be one of those people. If you tell me why you love the finale and it doesn't enter in those 3 categories above I would appreciate it very much, maybe it would help me like it better

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  28. it's not like Ted has had women throwing themselves at him when he was single.

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  29. Things like writing on SpoilerTV, I guess...

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  30. There is no need to be rude to a reviewer who is simply giving their own honest opinion of what they thought.

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  31. Sebastien isn't a STV reviewer.

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  32. Boy that made me laugh lol xD

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  33. Pablo Troncoso1 April 2014 at 22:59

    Good for you then, but don't bash the people who do get emotionally attached, at least getting emotionally attached to fiction I get a great deal of satisfaction out of what I watch (most of the time) and I can live my life at the same time. I get to feel in real life and in fiction, almost like living twice and that's beautiful. If you don't get that it's ok, but don't bash the ones who do

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  34. "It's really pathetic how some people get pissed about damn tv show!!"


    Oh, you have no clue how much I hate that sentence. Can't even describe it, but will try my best: 9 years. 9 years were spent watching this show. It's not like a 5-minute carousel. 9 years. Do you love your pet after 9 years? I presume you do. It's somewhat of a familiar feeling: you love the pet, you love the show. I want to go deeper in explanation, but I can't, because I'm too tired and sleepy XD

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  35. Sébastien B.1 April 2014 at 23:00

    I'm talking about here precisely, but when on facebook, or twitter, i'm seeing for hours death treats, some people who burn DVD's, who want to kick Bay and Thomas, etc... I'm very disgusted and depressed by that. I Love this show since 2006, and i will never forgot all the pleasure i take. Never.

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  36. Whoa, watch yourself. Take a step back. You're unleashing hell. You're either a good troll or you just don't know what you're writing. Be careful. Television IS serious business, and any further talk like that will have the entire STV against you :P

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  37. Pablo Troncoso1 April 2014 at 23:00

    Those people are not me, I'm not burning my DVD or making death threats, so don't treat me like I'm one of those people

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  38. Sébastien B.1 April 2014 at 23:01

    lol good one.

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  39. Sébastien B.1 April 2014 at 23:03

    i talk about about all the climate on internet today about this finale.

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  40. For starters, apologies for being confrontational. I re-read what I wrote and It didn't sound like that in my head haha. I'm not in one of those groups. I liked it because it showed how real the world is. It highlighted that we get more than one "one true love" or "soulmate". Granted in my ideal finale Robin would have stayed with Barney and after the death of the mother Ted would have rekindled a romance with Victoria for example. It bothers me that people are calling Robin Ted's consollation prize. If that's true, then isn't Ted Tracy's consollation prize? Didn't her "one true love" die on her 21st birthday? I just think that there were positives in this finale that everybody is hating on for the wrong reasons. The world isn't black and white. It's all shades of messy, and timing can be an incredible thing.

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  41. it's like you've never watched a TV show.

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  42. Pablo Troncoso1 April 2014 at 23:05

    I can understand your frustration over that, if I had loved the finale I probably would feel the same, but please consider that I'm only saying that I didn't like the finale and that the meaning of the show changed FOR ME, I'm not saying it's bad to like it, I explain why I didn't. Saying that a 14 year old wrote this is insulting, and I don't deserve that since I haven't insulted you. So please, try to understand and let's make peace

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  43. Tomáš Petrík1 April 2014 at 23:05

    Right, I mean - no bull-fighting, Ted's hand not bandaged...

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  44. I don't think the reviewer did that at all. The finale was bad on its own merits that go beyond who you "ship." I have never thought Robin had any particular chemistry with Ted or Barney. I could live with Barney as a possibility because of all the character development they were putting them through. But Ted and Robin proved how many times over that there just wasn't anything substantial there. Robin never particularly cared for him. He always liked her some, but neither liked the other enough to want to compromise their differences. Robin is a character who always puts career first. She's going to have problems in a relationship with anyone, and now we want to believe everything will be okay with Ted?

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  45. The bull fighting was mentioned in a scene that was cut. Hopefully it will be on the DVD'S.

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  46. This article is amazing and pretty much sums up what I thought about the series finale. I would give the final season a C though, and that's me being very generous. The final slap was truly from Thomas and Bays to the audience. It looks like they now also understand how the audience is reacting to that slap the day after.

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  47. Sébastien B.1 April 2014 at 23:09

    Ok, there are more important things, it was stupid from to use this expression. It's just, i think, some people like me are tired to read some hate for this finale, and more important for the entire show because of this last 5 minutes. But of course, you have the right to be angry. But don't be so sure, to see HIMYM be ruined by this finale ;)

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  48. Hahaha, you know, i have evening, and writing here takes seconds, but nice try. :P

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  49. sixseasonsandamovie1 April 2014 at 23:09

    RIP How I Met Your Mother.


    Buried in the same graveyard as Tracy aka the mother.

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  50. Josh said they Robin mentions bullfighting in a future scene that was cut (http://www.spoilertv.com/2014/04/how-i-met-your-mother-josh-radnor-talks.html )

    His hand did look bandaged to me on the train station, though.

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  51. It was your free choice to devote your free time to this show.

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  52. Good review. I also found the episode to be a huge disappointment. It goes beyond who you "ship." I personally feel no strong inclination towards Robin with anyone. Ted and the mother were adorable together. I am disappointed that they killed her, and in such a senseless way. I am disappointed that the show pulled a bait and switch, making the whole premise about Ted meeting "the mother" and then at the end making it really about him having a thing for Robin all along. If they wanted to go that direction, I could've lived with it, but it would've required something different in the writing and planning of the show than what was given to us. As it was, they illustrated again and again and AGAIN how much Ted and Robin just don't work. Neither will compromise for the other. Neither feels strongly enough. Ted seems to cling to her in an unhealthy, desperate way. No good to watch and not rewarding to see play out as the ending.

    There are lots of things I could've lived with. I do not hate Robin. If the show had been written differently, they could've brought me around. But I do not like feeling we are being jerked around and forced through plot points that make no sense and take the characters on a 180 just to be "shocking." That's a huge disappointment after following for 9 years.

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  53. Ok, whatever, you win.

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  54. I think many people are feeling put out by what feels like a last minute bait and switch.

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  55. @solitaire Your comment makes absolutely ZERO sense. So you are saying people cannot be disappointed about something they have invested time in?

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  56. Personally, I understand how people feel the whole show has been ruined. It's put such a bad taste in my mouth I certainly can't imagine wanting to watch reruns anytime soon. Maybe that passes, maybe it doesn't. I definitely have no interest in watching anything else by these guys if this is the way they treat their fanbase.

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  57. Okay, that's taking it too far.

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  58. I just read your entire review, something I never do, because I don't care what others think of a show or episode. What matters to me is if I like it, not anyone else. But after watching the HIMYM finale I just had to know if people were feeling what I'm feeling, and I gotta tell you, it's like I could have written every word of that review. And after seeing some of the comments that people have written on here, it really opens my eyes to how rude some of these readers are. I love that you expressed your opinion, which happens to be mine too. I love that you get so connected to a TV show, because like you said, that's what TV fans do. And OF COURSE we get mad and frustrated and sad and all kinds of feelings when we've invested so much time in something that royally screws us over! Good job on the review, really, and I want you to know that I'm right there with you feeling angry, just like many others are. And I hope you don't take those comments to heart. You were professional, you argued your case well, and no one should bash you for that! :)

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  59. I am glad that I was never a fan of the series and didn't spend nine years of my life watching it. I've seen a few episodes here and there, saw the pilot and decided to watch the series finale….I am sorry for anyone who wasted away nine years for that.

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  60. Good for you. I guess.

    P.S: If you are not a TV fan, what are you doing on this site then?

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  61. I agree. I am so disappointed in the way they ended the show. We deleted it off the DVR right away and I have no intention of buying the season on DVD when it comes out. I now wish I'd never seen it.

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  62. My previous comments were deleted so I'll briefly explain in a fresh one why I liked the finale. Hopefully to give people a different view that might shed some light on potentially why they could learn to tolerate the finale in the future. Life is messy. Timing is key to everything. We would all like to believe that we each have a soulmate or a one true love, but the reality is that we all may have more than one, or a few. True loves based on timing. Situations change. I've seen a few people calling Robin a consolation prize. Please don't. If Robin is, then so is Ted. Tracy had a true love before Ted who was killed, remember? just like Ted had Tracy who passed on. I liked the finale because it reflected how messy our lives can be, and that we should enjoy every moment with our loved ones because it could all go away at any moment. And if it does go away? life does move on, situations change.

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  63. Sébastien B.1 April 2014 at 23:24

    Don't be sorry for us. We love this show for years, we laughed, we loved characters, it was a good time..

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  64. Tomáš Petrík1 April 2014 at 23:24

    Well I compared Last Forever with Farhampton and while he really did have his hand bandaged in yesterday's episode, it was a skin-color bandage - that's why I missed it initially.
    However, in Farhampton, he had a clear white bandage - and that's why I spotted the visual change (and mistakenly said that last night he had no bandage at all).

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  65. I meant it like not THAT invested tv fan, i like to watch tv, but i keep certain distance from it.

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  66. Same here. It's just really sad, because I really loved the show before this episode. It's not just a ruined ending of A show. It's a ruined ending of a show that used to be really great and really made me laugh :( Like you said, I wish I'd never seen it, and just stopped at episode 22..

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  67. Good for you but don't you dare call other people "pathetic" who do.

    We do NOT tolerate that attitude here at SpoilerTV. If you can't be polite and respectful to other people then you won't last long here.

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  68. Yeah, I noticed the distinct color change of the bandage too.

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  69. Not really fair, is it? Definition of a review 'a critical appraisal of a book, play, film, etc. published in a newspaper or magazine.' (or in this case, a website). This means that the reviewer can give his/her opinion of the subject that they are reviewing. So what if the opinion is different to yours? Isn't that what an opinion is - something that you think? I never understand people that hate on people/reviews who don't have the same opinions as them. I don't mind people disagreeing - if people didn't then opinions would never exist, but don't hate on other people because they disagree. It's not fair on them or those who agree with them.

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  70. When you are telling me so nicely, and politely, of course i will be more respectful.

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  71. Maria Ferreira1 April 2014 at 23:39

    Well, since the finale wasn´t a letdown for me, I don´t feel like having been slapped:)

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  72. I agree. And what's worse is that there were little moments that I would've found beautiful if not for the huge kick in the teeth that was the Ted really telling the story about Robin reveal. I loved the meeting. I loved Barney's scene with his daughter, much as I hated everything else they did to his character.

    But it cheapened the entire story that this was Ted's dead WIFE and he was telling his kids about... Robin? And that they were cool with it? And the presenting of Robin as having been the true love all along was just . . . cheap. I could've almost lived with the Mother dying tragically, but the fact that it was cheapened by spending so little time with this woman we've waited all this time to meet, then to have Ted run out and get the blue french horn like he's aged 20 years and still no emotionally smarter than the guy he was at 25 is just sad.

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  73. Exactly!! I also really liked the farewell at the beginning of the episode, as well as the meeting and Barney's scene with his daughter. But nothing really matters when it ended like that. It's like, if I ever watch the show again, I'll just be reminded of how it's all useless. Why watch all that character development, when it's like it never happened in the end? Why watch Ted and Robin say goodbye a million times, and finally say goodbye WITH them, only to see them back together? Why watch the entire wedding when it's ruined 10 minutes later? Why watch anything when they just ruined it?.. I'll probably never watch it again.

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  74. Great Review Pablo!

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  75. It's something that people devote a lot of time to, did you did the math of how many hours How I Met Your Mother had?



    It's time that people had invested in, it's like reading a book and then getting to an awful ending. Or getting in the car/plane to a new place and the place is awful. People are going to be pissed if something that they have invested so much turns to be pretty mediocre (and by mediocre I'm being nice).

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  76. You still need to read it, and it seems that it took you more than a few seconds to read the whole review and comment, or you just bypassed to the comments?

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  77. Except I said sorry for anyone who felt like they wasted nine years. You can't speak for anyone and I've heard many people say they indeed wasted so many years on the show after watching the finale.

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  78. Your review confirm what i already thought. (To much hatred) When can dislike something whitout Time people, time. Evrything is about time. You said "several minutes later they divorce". No, R&B have been married three years ! A lot for both of them. The fact that we have so much information (and in the same time so little information) in such little amount of time is what made people uncomfortable, amongst other things.
    Barney's ending is for me what makes more sense. In the end he couldn't be a husband. Being a father is his redemption. Being a dad saved him. It was what he needed and sadly Robin coundn't give that to him. That's an other part who make me a bit uncomfortable. It's like, you know if Robin was able to have child maybe it would have work out, even if i don't think that's true. Barney isn't a marriage man. When you are a husband or a wife you made sacrifice. Neither Barney or Robin was capable of that. Lily an Marshall for example. (Not that i can pronounce on that, i'm far too yong to be married).


    The most painful to watch for me was Robin sadness and unhappiness, see her growing apart from the other.
    We got Ted and Tracy for only several minutes, but keep in mind that they've been together at least 15 years more or less. And then she died, and he has been grieving for 6 years. It's was short to us but it wasn't. I think a lot of people have forgot that. I loved the mother and i'm sad they chose the sickness path but they have.
    Feel free to be angry and sad it won't change anything anyway.


    Last thing, you've lost your wife, she was sick. It was 6 years ago. You're finally in peace with it. You are ready to date again. Who do you choose. A stranger or an old love ? I gess love never really disappear.
    Put the way they put it, it sure seems that Robin is the love of his life and evrything was just a bad joke.
    But The mother was the love of his life. And Robin is... well, i don't know who "aunt Robin" is.


    Sure the final have make some epidodes meaningless but some others make perfect sense. (The show did start with Ted meeting Robin).
    All I know is that evreything isn't black or white.
    Like Ted said it, it doesn't necessarily make sense. It's love. And it's life, we don't understand the half of it.


    Special mention to Lily the Whale.


    Damn, I've writen a lot! Now feel free to yell at me !


    Oh, and sorry for any potential grammar and vocabulary mistakes, I'm not a native.

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  79. As its our free choice and right to feel disappointed or anything else we as fans may feel. Your statement makes no sense.

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  80. Great review, I could have written it myself ^^
    And aren't those kids the worst children on Earth ? I could have punched them in the face i believe... And slapped is exactly what I feel


    Now here is how it should have ended, some seasons earlier : We have the scene with Ted on Barney and Robin's table, when he's talking with Lilly. He sees the Mother playing bass (but we DIDN'T, we shouldn't have seen her face, imho). He holds up his breath, he is subjugated by her beauty, everything. We have flashforwards about their life, getting married, (still without seeing her face)...
    And then, BAM, black screen, end of the series
    Smooth, classy, beautiful. And cutting the crap about Barney dying alone, Robin and Barney getting divorced and the Mother dying.


    And I'm so not watching HIMYD after that either, no way.

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  81. I think "How I Met Your Dad" is D.O.A. now.

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  82. Umm, great for you, but I don't watch rom sitcoms (especially the ones on CBS) for how you put it: how messy our lives can be. There are Breaking Bads and other shows that deal with that.

    I don't think this review mentions it, though it might, haven't read it all, but the worst problem this finale had was how horribly displaced it was in the light of the entire last season, and even season 8. It would be admirable for the creators for sticking with their guns creatively if the story in the current time made sense in how it affected the season and the series as a whole after 9 long years. That footage with the kids simply didn't work as an ending of 2014 HYMYM after the way they structured the last two seasons.

    It baffles me how weirdly they planned the last two, three years if they always wanted to have this ending. Were they drunk or something, how come no one told them it was a BAD idea? What they should have done was, never go with this ridiculous whole season is wedding weekend idea, never show Tracy in such a way that the audience bonds and connects with her so much that they find the idea of Ted with another woman, especially the one who rejected him time and time again repulsive, don't hook up Barney and Robin at all, call your show something other then HYMYM because people will feel cheated when it turns out it actually is not about the titular character meeting this mysterious mother, but getting back together with an old unhealthy obsession.

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  83. I rewatched the finale and I still love it. I'm incredibly pleased that I was so in line with what the writers were leading up to and very little about the finale came as a surprise, so I don't feel played in the slightest. Not only do I buy Ted and Robin as a couple, I didn't buy Robin and Barney as a couple. I thought the story arcs were totally in line with my perceptions of the characters, from Robin and Barney divorcing (and in an amicable fashion), to Barney becoming a dad, to Ted loving Tracy so completely in the last years of her life, to Ted and Robin still loving each other twenty-five years after they met and the final gesture with the blue french horn. Love is unpredictable, and this show embodied that. Though the execution of the finale and the final season as a whole could have been handled better for the benefit of the fans, this was the bold, honest finale I signed on for.


    I really do feel sorry for the people who are genuinely so displeased with the finale that they are done with the show. I personally look forward to re-watching reruns of HIMYM for years to come, and it remains solidly as one of my favorite shows of all time.

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  84. I agree, i think if everyone would let go of their personal view of what the finale should have been, they would also understand that what happened in the finale is incredibly real. We fall in love, get married, get divorced, people die, people move on and people do not change alone. Robin and Ted couldn't be together in season 1 because they weren't right for each other at that time. Ted got married and had kids, Robin became a famous reporter and there they are at 50 years old and they realize that all the problems they had in the beginning are not there anymore, but their love for each other still there.

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  85. Pablo Troncoso2 April 2014 at 00:10

    Thank you for your insight. As I said before, I would have no trouble with that at all if the show had prepared us for a real life ending, but the show always seemed to point at the story of how Ted and Tracy got to live happily ever after, so I felt that the finale was out of place.
    But it's good that you can see it that way, I'm happy that some people can take a different approach to it and enjoy it, that's for the best, it would be way too sad if the whole fandom hated the finale

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  86. Pablo Troncoso2 April 2014 at 00:11

    Thank you so much for your comment! It really means a lot to me.
    I can't deny that I'm angry at the show, but when I wrote the review I watched the whole episode again so I could focus on why I didn't like it and so that I could tell that to everybody, it means a lot to me that you got that :)

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  87. Fantastic review man. You echoed everything I felt perfectly. For me as well it was the character regression that hurts me the most as it will forever change the feel and tone of any of my favorite episodes on rewatch. Who knows how I'll feel in time, but I won't bother with any reruns any time
    soon. Great review my friend.

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  88. Pablo Troncoso2 April 2014 at 00:13

    Thanks for your comment!
    Yesterday was a bleak day for many of us, but I trust that little by little we will move on

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  89. ☆Krysta☆ Mae☆2 April 2014 at 00:13

    So they wanted to close doors? Hmm, so they ended their friendship? Barney died? Is #31 the spinoff idea? Did everyone split after that wedding? What happened between 2024-2029? Why in the world did C and C dedicate a whole season to B/R wedding (and even an episode ago - the actual wedding) and this is how you treat the characters? I'm sorry if I were an actor in this I'd have been outraged and told the general public so. What are C and C gonna do? The show is over...contracts are void. Come on now. Where is Neil? Why hasnt he spoken up? The before 'excitement' was all arouse.

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  90. Pablo Troncoso2 April 2014 at 00:15

    I'm honestly happy for you and for everyone else who loved the finale. May you enjoy the show and its rerun for the years to come :)

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  91. Pablo Troncoso2 April 2014 at 00:17

    He wore it when Tracy was in labor, so I think there is actually a continuity error there

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  92. Well said, good sir.

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  93. "Umm, great for you, but I don't watch rom sitcoms (especially the ones on CBS) for how you put it: how messy our lives can be. There are Breaking Bads and other shows that deal with that."


    So you are sayng that HIMYM should have been a happy show and that's it? Everyone lives happyli ever after? i dont get it. ^^


    But i do agree that probably the last 2 seasons had much on Barney and Robin, and the entire season/wedding for me was a mistake that's why i understand why people get mad even if i dont agree with them.

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  94. As I read this review, I realized I had already written it a million times in my head.Thank you to whoever wrote this, I wouldn't have been able to put it into words half as well as you did.
    People may look down on those who give importance to TV shows, yet they're head over heels about football or celebrity gossip or fashion or whatever it is they enjoy. People shouldn't ever be judged on whatever makes them happy unless it intereferes with someone else's happiness. TV matters to me. HIMYM matters to me, and to watch the destruction of nearly everything that made it amazing? Hell yeah that matters to me, it makes me pretty damn angry and frankly very sad. I'm not delusional, I know it's just a story, it's just make believe, not 'clearly superior real world business', but stories like HIMYM were a big part of what made me feel better after some pretty bad days and to me (and to a whole bunch of other people), they're important, that finale was important, and you don't need to agree with that, but you do need to respect it.

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  95. Of course, man! Once again, you really did a great job with the review, and I'm happy to have been able to support you and back you up :) By the way, do you know why it says "Featured by SpoilerTV" above my comment? Am I the only one who can see that? :D

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  96. Pablo Troncoso2 April 2014 at 00:19

    It was chosen as the best comment so far ;)

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  97. The show had the most realistic portrayal of human relationships ever. From season 1 to 9. And where in the wolrd was it ever implied that Ted and Tracy would have their happily ever after life?
    I was shocked this morning. Deeply shocked by the reactions. And I'm getting more and more frustrated. Frustrated because there are people who watched a show and their characters for nine years and didn't understand either of them one single bit.

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  98. I think what people are forgettin is that Ted had his Happily ever after, it just wasnt forever but 10+ yeras which is still a lot don't you think. I guess everyone is still stuck on the final 5 minutes xD

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  99. Pablo Troncoso2 April 2014 at 00:21

    Thank you for the comment and the support! If in any way I have been of help getting past this finale I'm glad :).
    We are lovers of fiction, and as such we want the best ending possible; sometimes it's not possible, sometimes you are going to be disappointed, but you always will have people to talk through it, to get past it, and then you can move on to new stories and enjoy their rides

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  100. Oh wow! What an honor! :)

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  101. Pablo Troncoso2 April 2014 at 00:22

    I think 12 years is too little for such a good guy like Ted. It's unfair to him and to his kids. Sure, that happens in real life, but in the world of HIMYM this felt out of place, at least for me

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  102. Well, yes, basically. There is drama enough in other stuff. But when you think about it, Ted got his happily ever after. That is THE PROBLEM. It wasn't with the Mother but with Robin and people feel the show didn't earn that ending. TO many stuff changed in the last few seasons for this particular happily ever after to work.

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  103. Agree. Especially CT blatantly lied several times!

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  104. Pablo Troncoso2 April 2014 at 00:27

    For those who may be interested, these are the grades I gave HIMYM during its final season:
    1/2-A-
    3-B+
    4-B
    5-B+
    6-A-
    7-B+
    8-A
    9-A
    10-C
    11-B+
    12-B-
    13-A
    14-B
    15-A
    16-A+
    17-A-
    18-A-
    19-B+
    20-B+
    21-A
    22-A-
    23/24-F



    Many people didn't like the season (even before the finale), but I felt that it made nice progression and had very amusing storylines with a fine balance of comedy and drama.
    As I said above the finale ruined the show for me, but I still have the fond memories of the times I didn't watch it, and I will try to remember HIMYM for the series it was before the finale, not for what it became after.
    If you want to know what I think of each season, here is how I would grade them:
    S1: A-
    S2:A
    S3:A-
    S4:A
    S5:B+
    S6:B+
    S7:B
    S8:C
    S9 (Finale Included): B-

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  105. i get it trust me, i loved the Mother i didnt want her to die and i am mad at the fact that she's dead. idk i guess its something i can get over, and you cant. We all are different that's the beauty of it xD but i think you can agree that maybe this show doesnt deserve that F


    i almost forgot ALL HAIL FUDGE SUPREME ehehehe

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  106. Nicolás Festa2 April 2014 at 00:29

    People who liked the episode are not just Ted/Robin shippers... They're people who knows nothing about writing and execution.


    The only point this episode shows is that Future Ted is an a**hole, a liar full of shit. He claims that if he "could give up anything for 5 minutes more with Tracy", that she was "the love of his life", "The One", "That she made him believe in destiny again", his "soul mate" and a large etcetera over the past 9 seasons...


    Yet, beware! 'Cause the Finale send this "one" to the background to focus on Ted & Robin! I couldn't believe when they simply announced all their years togethers with a couple of photos of some random moments... that she just "got sick"... and then where're back at Ted having the hots for Robin.


    That is ignoring a CONCEPT to wich the show was concived!


    You want to break up Robin and Barney? Ok, you can! You want to make Barney a womanizer again? Ok, you can! You wanna make Barney knock up some random chick, have a baby and hope for some empathy? Ok, you can! You want to kill Tracy? Ok, you can! You want to make Ted move on after his death with Robin? Ok, you can!


    BUT YOU CAN'T PUT THE MOTHER AS A SECONDARY, SHORT PLOT DEVICE TO LED TO TED TRYING TO GET ROBIN AGAIN! YOU CAN'T GIVE THAT MUCH SCREEN TIME TO ROBIN BITCHING ABOUT TED! THAT'S BAD, BAD WRITING! THE WORST I'VE SEEN IN MY LIFE! IT'S NOT ABOUT PLOT HOLES, IT'S ABOUT IGNORING A CONCEPT!


    And Robin? She's a f**king bitch! She's a horrendous person! That's what this Finale shows us! If you people didn't notice, Barney kind of quit his job to be with her... She didn't sacrifice anything to made her marriage work: She was out there, living the dream "you don't like when i'm out for a long time, you don't like when you come along"... Yet! She blames Barney when the marriage didn't work!


    This thing has soo many fucked up thing on it... I just hope to never write a piece of shit like this Finale in my life!

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  107. Pablo Troncoso2 April 2014 at 00:29

    Finally, I want to thank all of those who have supported me now and back when I started making the HIMYM reviews. It has been a long ride and I have enjoyed it, I have loved reviewing the show. Sometimes I haven't been punctual, sometimes we don't agree on our appreciation of the episode, but as a whole we all loved the show all the same. While the finale ruins it for me, I will always remember the show for what it was before it, and those who love the finale have the right to love it for what it is afterwards. I hope we can all remain fans of the show, even if it is looking backwards or forward.
    Thank you everyone for taking this trip with me

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  108. Pablo Troncoso2 April 2014 at 00:31

    I think you are right in the money with the last 5 minutes. If they weren't there, I would have probable graded it C- or D+, but those 5 minutes are still there, and when they are all mixed up with the episode I feel that an F is what it gets, sadly

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  109. Ted got his happily ever after. That is THE PROBLEM. It wasn't with the Mother but with Robin

    That is where i think you are wrong, and probably a mistake of the writers if that many people think like you, Idk i feel the Mother was what Ted wanted and his happily ever after, i think that both episode were so much full of stuff to tell that in the end it was all too fast and the audience never got time to adjust,

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  110. I've been watching 'live' this show since the 4x05, Shelter Island episode. And I do remeber very well what robin and ted said to each other. It also come to my mind that Ted didn't get worried with robin almost dying on the helicopter.

    Also, Klaus said that thing about lenbenlangershichssahds...tizer IF YOU HAVE TO THINK ABOUT IT, YOU HAVE NOT FELT IT
    wicht ted completes with AND HE WAS RIGHT

    by the way, baby number 3 was as important as the woman 31

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  111. How can we be wrong? It's simple mathematics, 10 years with the Mother vs all the time he pined for Robin combined with the rest of their lives aka happily ever after. Mother was just a construct, a vehicle for him to last until he ends up with Robin. That is quite clear from the show, that is why they chose the ending envisioned beck in season 1. In an ideal scenario for the writers the Mother would have never been cast and sparing us seeing the talented miss Millioti act so beautifully in this train wreck.

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  112. Unfortunately Tracy was just a means to Ted getting the kids he wanted and then getting Robin who didn't want kids too. How I Met Your Incubator.

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  113. Great review. CTCB really ruined the show with that finale!

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  114. Maria Ferreira2 April 2014 at 00:48

    I subscribe every word you wrotte:)

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  115. Bad writing, bad structure and really bad character conclusion. That's my complaint.

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  116. thats just mean ^^

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  117. Damn, this tops "How I Want to Bang Your Aunt Robin" lol

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  118. idk i guess that even when i looked at Ted with the mother i see happiness, all the scenes with the two of them. the key factor is that she died, she is not there anymore, because if she still was Ted would be with her.

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  119. Thank you. And I hope at least some people who didn't like the finale will eventually come to appreciate it.

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  120. Finally someone who wrote exactly what i think THANK YOU

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  121. I stopped in the middle because omg poor swarkles fans I can write a roman about what it's logic and it was the plan all along, all the clues, ect but I don't care anymore this fandom is a bunch of hypocritr and blind... Oh and you kbow what the cast loved the endgame and the message behind it and the full circle. don't watch himym anymore who cares it's done, deal with it!

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  122. Maria Ferreira2 April 2014 at 00:54

    I´m not a Ted/Robin shipper (nor Barney/Robin) and I loved the finale! Does that mean I know "nothing about writting or execution"? Probably, but I don´t pretend to know...Does that mean you know eveything about it? I seriously doubt you know anything at all, sorry...

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  123. That's a complaint. But let me ask you this, if it were you what would you have done in the writers place?

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  124. idk i guess that even when i looked at Ted with the mother i see happiness, all the scenes with the two of them. the key factor is that she died, she is not there anymore, because if she still was Ted would be with her.

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  125. Yeah, but she died so the writers could set up Ted with Robin, it as simple as that and people are mad because
    A) The don't want Ted and Robin yet again, especially after a whole season centered around her wedding to Barney
    and
    B) The chemistry between Josh and Christin was amazing and whatever little screen time they had to together they nailed it.

    You know you have a bad episode, a bad ending when, I'll quote you here:

    ...were so much full of stuff to tell that in the end it was all too fast and the audience never got time to adjust

    That is bad writing. All because they didn't want to change, didn't want to accept that time for their planned ending has passed.

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  126. Finally someone who wrote exactly what i think THANK YOU

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  127. come again for big fudge???

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  128. If I had wanted THIS finale: Barney and Robin ends in season five (if it happens at all), Ted and Robin never have the "do you love me? no" conversation and we never met the Mother (her back is just fine if she's gonna die). Oh, and the kids are ok about their father dating another woman, but not overjoyed of knowing she was always his first choice.

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  129. I really doubt the cast would say this finale sucks...

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  130. I hate that "full circle" thing as it was called.


    I don't have a problem with the mom being dead if it would have been done with respect and not just brushed over. Sure it was six years ago for the kids, but some seconds for us viewers. I thought the Mom being dead thing could turn very bittersweet about living life/love/happiness to the fullest as long as it last and enjoying every crazy step of your path, but it didn't. It was "She is dead. Can I be with Robin?" for the viewer.

    I wouldn't have a problem If Ted fell in love again, but I don't like it is Robin, because the last 5 season always hinted that even though there were some more or less mutual feelings they didn't fit together albeit all the back and forth and all the goes at relationship. Ted let go of Robin was such an important part for his story just so he goes back to her? I maybe could have lived with it, If it was done better, but it was so rushed and the season, which should lead up to this finale, just didn't smooth the way for this finale as it should have.


    How did the Mother say it again? "Don't live in your stories" But this is exactly what Ted is doing.. He goes back to a story from nine years ago - robin at the window, dogs and blue horn included. He actually starts his story with Robin all over again at the beginning and it doesn't matter that 9 years of charakter growth have happened. Like an infinite loop. A circle never ends, you just go in the same place again and again and again.

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  131. wow sarcasm, Ignore her DarkUFO. I mean she comes to a site about tv shows just to write a comment about the fact that she's not a tv fan and she doesn't have time to and those who get attached are pathetic, imean it's just LOL to me. i mean really solitaire what are you doing on this site?? dont waste time on this nonsense i bet you have something nonpathetic to do anywhere but here ^^. have a good life

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  132. Agree, and seeing how doggedly they clung to an ending that no longer fit well makes me appreciate that much MORE other TV writers who in interviews say they give the story space to breathe in a natural way, that they have a set plan outlined but aren't afraid to change that set plan if the natural progression of the characters takes them somewhere different as time goes on. The Robin ending could've worked okay if they had written the later seasons of the show differently, but that's not what happened. It feels like a huge letdown and waste of time to have watched the last few years and all that character development and change they went through, in addition to the colossal waste of time that was this season and a wedding that would never last more than a blink to be immediately jerked around corners the way we were.

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  133. Nicolás Festa2 April 2014 at 01:10

    Let's see, english is not my first language but i'll try to express as properly as i can.


    The short concept of this show is from the point of view of a character who is a typical romantic "by the books": he believes in destiny and finding true love in a way that feels magical. He falls over and over, reaching a point of denial of who he is and trying to chase what's familiar.


    But we also have a future version of him who, for over nine years, expressed that all this burdens he endure during his journey will pay off when he meets The Mother, this person who is the person he loved most in his life.


    That's a raw sinopsis of the concept of HIMYM from Season 1 to Episode 22 of Season 9.


    Once Tracy died, it's ok for him to persue Robin(Just like the Finale). The issue here is that they left Tracy, the supposed love of his life, be a minor plot device that led him to try winning Robin again.


    The episode should have played diferent. The "Ted and Robin back together years after Tracy died" should have been in the montage.


    The way Bays and Thomas wrote the script make seems like Robin was Ted's true love; a thing that goes in conflict with all Future Ted says about the mother... Remember that Ted is telling the story.


    I'm not actually complaining about what they wrote...but how the episode was written and directed.

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  134. I could've been okay with that, but not the way the past few seasons are written. It didn't lead us there naturally. It felt like things were forced in, and then we were jerked around a corner in the last HOUR of the show. If this was their plan all along, they should've plotted things out over the last few seasons very differently.

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  135. The key piece of the entire review is "What hurts me the most is that there is only one right way to
    watch the show: you have to buy Ted and Robin as a couple."


    Well yeah, of course! That is the story that the creators and writers told.

    Taken from their point of view the entire finale not only made perfect sense, but reinforced everything in the previous 9 seasons. Could the final years have been better? Was the final season unneeded for the most part? Sure. Regardless, the fact remains, that it was their story to write however they wanted and end however they wanted. Like it or not.

    It all reminds me of Barney watching The Karate Kid and thinking William Zapka's character was the hero. He saw something totally different than the story as written.

    If someone chooses to see something else despite that story being evident throughout the series no one will ever be able to say anything to make them hurt less or make them less angry.

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  136. You know, I get that you guys who liked the ending are the smartest ones, but allow us poor fools feel whatever we want about it, please. Stop trying to convince us that we are wrong.

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  137. I wish they will put an alternative ending on the dvd as an extra, like to me the perfect ending would have been:
    - the mother entering when ted was telling the story to the kids and saying "thats how your father met mee".I was expecting something like that, a sign of her in the future, NOT THE HOSPITAL SCENE!!! is just to cruel what they did to her in the end, why was on the show for?
    - and barney and robin addopting (maybe a funny way like monica and chandler with anna farris in friends) and then the scene with barney and the baby because it was really touchy, and also i enjoyed the grown and mature Barney. I just hate that just because she was miserable with her life after her divorce the writers have to fix her life by killing the mother so she can end up with Ted. I love Robin but the last episodes, the side of her that the writers show of her where a let down for me. Why they did the B/R shipp if it was going to end like that. I just fell toyed.
    - lilys and marshal 3th baby
    - all the gang doing a barbacue with all the familys. to me that would have been a great ending.

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  138. - Well said Pablo..took the words right out my mouth! The finale was, in short, a condensed version of Season 9 (the frustration of the majority of disappointing episodes, soothed only by a few scattered gems like "How Your Mother Met Me", one of my top 10 HIMYM episodes of all time, Sunrise & Gary Blutman) but transformed into it's worst version possible.


    - The biggest issue with the finale in short was that it went totally against everything that happened the previous 8 yrs...which begs the question 'Why can't some fans see the problem with the finale, even if they are die hard Ted/Robin shippers?':
    1. Ted finally let Robin go in "Sunrise". Sure he loves & cares for her as she is one of her best friends, but he no longer see's her as a love interest, a fact that was again established during Robin's panic attack minutes before her wedding. Besides Robin had given up on Ted a long time ago.
    2. The Mother died. Possible. Still heart-breaking. But then it turns out the whole 8 yr long story was aimed towards Ted getting back together with Robin? In what world does that make sense, despite the Mother being dead for 6 yrs? This huge inescapable inconsistency was epitomized by inserting 'THAT scene with Ted's kids' which was shot 6 yrs ago..it wouldn't make much sense even if the show ended in it's first season.


    - This all goes to show that no matter how good a show-runner you are, if you had a finale set in mind right from the start, sometimes by the time you are done, the show takes a life of it's own and the finale does not fit the show anymore. Not one freaking bit, unlike in the case of Breaking Bad.

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  139. So you can express your views and I cannot express mine? Seriously? XD


    I have disliked finales of shows I loved and simply I do not understand how one episode can ruin everything a person enjoyed before. The show was not about the finale it was about all of the episodes.


    More over, I cannot fathom how people think they know a series and what it was about better than the writers. The grandiose and arrogance confounds me.


    People are of course free to watch a show for whatever reason they like and to like or dislike anything they want. To me they cross a line when they say they know better then the creators or writers or understand their endgame plan for the past 9 years.




    I could not care less about convincing you about anything.
    I am just stating my reaction to the over-reaction of part of the fandom.

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  140. Nicolás Festa2 April 2014 at 01:32

    Yeah, 'cause in The Karate Kid we were reminded every five minutes that William Zapka was the hero... ¬¬


    A more relatable version would be this: Daniel San trains and trains as the viewer sees his hard work... The tournament day is here! All the viewers are cheering for Daniel San! But... In the last five minutes it's revealed that he was on drugs the whole time. William Zabka wins still and he became champion...


    I say it below... It's no problem that Ted ended up with Robin. That's perfectly ok! But the episode was written and developed soooooo bad it goes against the pure concept of the show!

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  141. Pablo Troncoso2 April 2014 at 01:32

    You can always watch this, it helps me
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0caCEG1nH3E

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  142. We just see it completely differently. that's okay.
    I saw every thing in the finale leading up to that ending including Robin realizing she still loves Ted, then that she divorced Barney,and soon after acknowledging she should have ended up with Ted. That all happened in the first 15 or 20 minutes... Plus it was set up to go that way for 9 seasons prior.


    I was actually shocked how transparent the finale was.

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  143. You can express whatever you want to, but if you say over and over again that we didn't like it because we didn't understand it, I say please stop. I understand that after being rejected by Robin a million times Ted still loves her. And I don't like it. I understand that in this show a woman can't choose her career over any relationship and not being bitter at 50. And I don't like it. I understand that the Mother was just another woman in Ted's life who happens to give him kids. And I don't like it. I understand that a womanizer can father a child over a ramdom woman and not giving a shit about her name. And I don't like it. I could go on, but it's 2.45 here in Spain and I'm tired. I'm really glad you liked this finale. Really, I hope I could be there with you.

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  144. Nicolás Festa2 April 2014 at 01:49

    How was Ted & Robin set up to go that way since the beginning?


    We heard Future Ted saying how Tracy was the love of his life, how he would give up averything for two more minutes with her.


    Yet the Finale show her as a minor plot device.


    While the show was the story of how ted met the mother(his true love) the Series Finale made it feel like it should be called "How i Settled For Your Mother".


    Again, i'm not saying he shouldn't date Robin again. That's totally ok... But it's like he was freed by Trudy's death.


    The script(NOT THE TELEPLAY) and direction was BAD.

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  145. Nicolás Festa2 April 2014 at 02:13

    Jajaja I did something similar... I edited the episode and did my own cut of it. Now i can actually re-watched the whole show jajaja xP


    It looks a lot like this one...

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  146. The mother dies..does that mean Ted is just supposed to be miserable the rest of his life? The fan base came to love lily,marshall,barney,ted,robin..why should tracy be able to sneak in there as a great character for the finale? We didn't give a shit about her for 8 seasons. We always thought how does Ted end up with robin. They made it happen.

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  147. Well said Pablo. I know you and I were talking about the episode and how the writers messed up horribly, but I wanted to comment here as well (plus I very much enjoy your reviews of Community, so I knew, even though this was a hard one, that it would be well worth the read).


    I absolutely agree with what you said about the finale. It was designed as a finale that would have worked in the first 3 seasons, before, during, and immediately after the Ted/Robin romance. But Season 4 onward they have shown that they don't work as a couple, and any lingering feelings Ted has had were squashed quickly. The show adapted and changed as storylines, chemistry, and real life (for pregnancies of Alyson and Cobie) set in. So to have a finale that was not designed for what the show became was incredibly disrespectful for the fans. They showed they were cowards with their thinking and only cared about one thing, which went against everything from Season 4-9.


    I may not have been the strongest advocate for Season 9, you will see in many episode "what did you think" I have very negative things to say. Even Season 8 was pretty weak to me. Still, I could find some solace in the fact that we were coming to this magical, special point of Ted meeting the woman of his dreams and the road being worth it. Yes, life can be cruel sometime and sometimes shows should be more realistic, but to change the meaning of the story (from why the road to meeting the Mother was important to why the road means he should be with Robin) just doesn't go with what the show was about. It retroactively destroys many, many stories of the past seasons.


    And like you said, you have to buy Ted/Robin as a couple for it to work. The majority of the fans were overwhelmingly annoyed by the fact that we STILL had Ted/Robin this late in the game. I could buy the whole friends with benefits thing from Season 4, but that was a one episode thing. Every year since Season 3 ended, Ted/Robin has been more and more annoying, and the fact that it was even an idea, let alone what happened in the end, just boggles my mind. It should never have happened!


    Even my parents, who loved the show even more than I did when I introduced it to them, complained after every episode because the whole wedding weekend season was not our cup of tea (now its even more worthless), and my mom periodically said during the finale "This is awful."


    What the writers did was stupid, selfish, incomprehensible, and downright disrespectful. To take a story that had affected so many fans to such a degree over 9 years and to completely annihilate in 1 40-minute episode for 70+% of the fans is wrong. They should never really be allowed to write again, in my book.


    Anyway, sorry I keep writing so much, but you and I are alike where we watch a lot of TV and get involved in the shows we love. You know me and Community. Good job on the review, and good luck with trying to accept this finale. If I may suggest, say you never watch the finale again, just picture in your mind as follows: Ted leaves to go to Chicago and says goodbye to everyone at the wedding, then skip to Ted meeting the Mother, and don't think of anything else. That way everything and everyone is still intact.

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  148. Pablo Troncoso2 April 2014 at 02:28

    But we did gave a shit about her for 9 months, they introduced a lovely character and then killed her off like this was Game of Thrones.
    Ted is not supposed to be miserable, he is supossed to either A) Grow old with Tracy or B) Move on and date anyone but Robin, because his relationship with her has never worked and the point of the show was supposed to be him getting over Robin so that he would get something better

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  149. I agree the mother was a minor plot device. I actually do not think she was even needed in the series as a named character. The show was just never about her.

    Not to the writers at least, but I know many people did fixate on the mother and her identity as the most important aspect of the show. I just did not.

    I did not see him settling for Tracy. I do not think Ted loving Robin or ending up with her diminishes Tracy in any way whatsoever. Tracy was his fantasy woman and he loved her, but the show was not about that despite the title.


    IF you felt the show was about the mother or how Ted met her or how Ted ended up with her I can see how you would think the show did a complete turn from its theme or how the mother being a footnote in the series was a slap in the face. I saw it as completely consistent from the very first episode since the show was about the 5 friends and their adventures in love and life....

    I feel bad for you and the others that had a series ruined by the "surprise twist" ending (or whatever reason people hated the finale). Especially because I think that ending was neither surprise nor twist. I thought it was how the entire series was set up to end from the beginning..



    Oh well, I'm not going to change you mind and I'm not trying to honestly.
    I think I need to just turn away from the PC and stop replying to people replying to me! XD

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  150. You know , i was all revved up to watch this and then after looking around I couldnt help myself. I read reviews, I read a play by play of the episode.


    Then I made the decision. Id just bypass this episode completely.


    Ill admit it. i watched the show for the antics Barney got up to in the early seasons. His price is right gig, his rules of life/brohood.


    Then in season 3 he started to evolve (although i saw glimmerings before that). He became attracted to Robin and then started to slowly but surely make concious changes. He did things to try to impress Robin, he actually told her how he felt but Robin felt he was channeling Ted. Time progressed. He met Nora, Robin got Jealous and then Don happened and so on.



    By the start of Season 9 , Our season 1-3 Barney was more or less gone and replaced by the 'evolved' Barney. Sure a lot of the mannerisms were there but count how many times he said Legendary as the seasons progressed ( or variations on the theme). I wont say he evolved past his schemes or tricks but they were definitely diluted.


    So we come to the final season which is the buildup to the final marriage of Barney and Robin. That happens.. then we are led to believe they split up because Barney didnt like travelling so much? really?


    I understand the final scenes were shot back in 2005. Hey they might of worked had the plot not gone in a different direction. But i kinda feel those scenes don't gel with the story we were told ( the who square peg in the round hole analogy)

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  151. Pablo Troncoso2 April 2014 at 02:37

    Great to see you here! The sad part is that we meet in the bleak day that is the post-HIMYM fiasco finale.... well, nothing can be done about that.
    Every season since season 4 Ted and Robin grew more and more appart, and Ted insisted on how it was a good thing they didn't get back together (season 5 finale, anyone?) and then at the end it's all about how he should have been with her in the first place. It's awful, for those who loyally followed the show it's a bad joke, a really cruel one.
    Luckily there are other TV shows out there that are still good and don't seem to be leading to this kind of endings: With HIMYM gone (and with this horrible after taste) Community inherits the title of my favorite comedy on the air, and it's a comedy I trust (with Harmon back I can't see the writers messing up the ending), so at least I'll have that show to hang onto now.
    I think it's time I put HIMYM to bed; I still have to do a roundtable, but after that I rather stay with the memories of 9 seasons that I mostly enjoyed and just ignore the finale, I take the video with the alternate ending, no death scene, no Robin, just Ted meeting the mother. The End. That's the show for me

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  152. Pablo Troncoso2 April 2014 at 02:40

    I think bypassing the episode is the best choice you can make.
    The ending: Barney and Robin got married, it was legendary. Marshall and Lily renewed their vows, they are happy. Ted met the mother, they got married and had two children. The End.
    The actual finale is a slap in the face, I so much regret watching it. If I knew it was this horrid... well, I probably would have watched anyway, but I felt awful by the end of the episode

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  153. How can writers writing the story they created be selfish?
    I don't get it... it's their story!! XD

    It seems to me if the fans wanted something other than what the writers wrote - and had planned from the very beginning - then the fans are the ones being selfish.

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  154. Pablo Troncoso2 April 2014 at 02:43

    Then tell me, what is the point of episodes like "How Your Mother Met Me" which is all about The Mother, or "Sunrise" which was all about Ted letting go of Robin? And why did Ted insists in that it is good that they broke up? Why at "The End of the Aisle" did future Ted remarked he had no more feelings for her? After all that, most of the audience believed Ted and Robin were history and then the finale tells you "Nope, these two were supposed to be together from day one". That's it, cut to black, the end.
    Ugh, no thanks, not the story these guys made over season 4 and onwards, maybe from season 1 to 3, but not from there onwards

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  155. faiths_watcher2 April 2014 at 02:45

    I regret not writing for SpoilerTV anymore, if only to say this finale was perfect. I rewatched the entire series over the past 4 weeks and it was clear Ted/Robin are endgame. I would of been happy with the ending with the mother being the ending but Robin made more sense (Go watch the film Definitely Maybe) Ive followed this for years an a few weeks ago I questioned how they would break up Barney/Robin with a satisfying conclusion (P.S Barney's "One" is his daughter) and it all fits into place. This has been one of those rare shows that pays off the observant loyal viewer rather than the people tuning into the final episode who havnt watched it in years.
    TLDR: The only reason Ted and Robin didn't work out the first time (Season two finale) was because they both wanted different things (Kids/Go travelling). By the final episode they had both overcome those obstacles, they could finally make their relationship work. Yeah it sucked that the cost came at the mothers death, but logically, IMO this was the perfect/tragic/'romantic' ending.

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  156. Pablo Troncoso2 April 2014 at 02:46

    When you show your story to the public its not your only, its also a part of the fans. When I'm writting books I'm always conscious of what the fans says, I don't let them guide the whole story, but their feedback lets me grow as an author and learn stuff. I want to write something that satisfy me, but that it can also be satisfying to the audience, I would never like to betray them.


    Sticking to an ending that was made at the beginning of the series is being selfish, the show grew and became something different from what they created way back on 2005. The finale denies that, it acts as if it is the same show when it's not. They treated the show as if it was on season 1 instead of season 9, and that's disrespectful, it's like treating an adult like a kid

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  157. This exactly.

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  158. Pablo Troncoso2 April 2014 at 02:49

    The way they got what they wanted was pretty lame, killing off a great character and divorcing another one. Besides nothing guarantee they will last, Robin already said multiple times that she didn't love him, even when her career was not her top priority like in season 7, so why should it be different this time around? Oh, right, because it's the finale...
    Seriously, no

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  159. It was selfish on their part because wrote a finale for what the show used to be and not what it became. They clung to this idea that Ted/Robin were perfect, that this ending would be perfect, and it might've been back in Season 2-3. But the show evolved and became something else, and the writers... well they didn't. They were selfish in the fact that they clung to this idea that didn't work for what the show became and destroyed seasons of character development all for the sake of that idea.

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  160. Exactly, after years of showing and proving that they didn't work, the story became that they do work even though we've seen that they don't. They definitely didn't have the fans in mind for this.


    Welcome to the club! Community has been my favorite comedy (and show) for a while now, but I do feel bad that you are left with a bad taste in your mouth from HIMYM. I hope there aren't more Ass Crack Bandit episodes to disappoint you, just some good ol' fashion Greendale escapades that involve the study group needing to save the school in some way!


    That's a good call, that video was infinitely better than the finale was because it cut out all the crap.


    I look forward to conversing with you with your next review, which hopefully will be under better circumstances than these.

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  161. yeah it helps a little. thanks. i was feeling empt but I'm slowly getting back to normal. It'll be hard to trust another series again, my loyalty didn't pay off :'S

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  162. Like I have said before, I simply do not comprehend how people could feel betrayed.


    I think they had this planned from the beginning and never left it go out of their mind. They moved pieces around, but always with the intention of this as their endgame. It made perfect sense.


    There was never and either or, never Robin or Tracy. It was always both. IT was set up that way from the beginning. Ted Loved Robin, but she was not everything he thought he wanted. He met everything he thought he wanted in Tracy, and it was awesome, but she died.


    After that he was no longer the person he was at the start of the series that was incompatible with Robin. Now having loved and lost his fantasy he realized he still loved Robin. I just do not see anything wrong with that. In fact it happens all the time in real life. Exes get back together after break ups, widows marry their dead spouses friends. I don't see how you can say it was either Robin or Tracy. Ted could not have both.


    Oh well...
    I honestly do not want to make anything worse for the people who hated the finale and I suspect my support of the finale does. I'll just unsubscribe to the HIMYM threads and move on from what was a perfect finale to a good series.

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  163. jaja you are so right xD Greetings from chile, neighbor :)

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  164. faiths_watcher2 April 2014 at 03:10

    Thank you. HIMYM was never going to be your standard traditional 'happy ending' and thats I fell in love with the show in the first place. Robin stood for the hopeless romantic and the mother spoke to the realist romantic. It would of made more sense to go with the 'realist' but damn I'm glad they went with the romantic ending.

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  165. there are some shows that you can rewatch over and over again over the years, because they are funny and you enjoy watching it them, and example for me is Friends, I just love that show, I watched 10 seasons of that show and I really enjoyed the end, for that reason i keep coming back to that show and every once in a while if I see it on tv I can't help start watching it again. With HIMYM they just kill me, I will never see the show as i use to see it, I will always remember the bitter mark of the ending, i just hate that feeling. I will always remember how the writers deceive me.

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  166. Nicolás Festa2 April 2014 at 03:19

    Oh, God! You're still saying i'm mad 'cause of the "surprise twist"! I'm not! I'm ok with Ted ending up with Robin!


    I'm just freaking explaining why the script, not the story within the script, but the way that story was put into acts was poorly done.


    When you write a book/tale/short story/serial you have a concept to be attached to: A romantic character "by the books" on a hard journey to rekindle his burned soul by meeting his true love. Future Ted tells you Tracy is this person more times i can count.


    But she can die... Shit happens and people must move on(six years is a reasonable time). He can pursue Robin again, wich is the one person after Tracy that he truly loved. That's totally ok.


    The problem is that, like it or not, if you took this BIG moment you're building to for the past nine years and give it 3 minutes of screen time and a collage to use it as a minor plot device on a Ted/Robin focused episode you've been misleading the audience with the core concept of the show.


    So, does Future Ted lie when he tell his kids how Tracy was the big, big love of his life to get them to be empatic with his whole Aunt Robin thing? Then Ted is a freaking jackass.

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  167. faiths_watcher2 April 2014 at 03:35

    Also in response to the review here, the episodes 'ruined', if you go back and watch them knowing the only 'positive' Ted gets is his children its just as heartwarming/breaking. Without the lucky penny, without Tracey, Ted never ends up with his daughter Penny.
    In fact, in response to the review, all those episodes that you claim have been ruined, now actually have significant emotion attached to them, the same emotion I had attached when i watched them originally (Ted & Robin 4eva)
    Barney doesnt end up "alone", you completely missed the point of his final arc. Which admittedly is slim in the final episode.
    Im not trying to criticize your review, I'm simply saying rewatch the whole series again, knowing robin/ted are endgame (like ive always believed) and the ending, the journey, 100% pays off.

    Lily "Pay up"
    Marshall "not yet..."

    Barney "this wasn't an unsuccessful marriage, it just a successful marriage that only lasted three years"

    Victoria (breaking up with Ted) "I hope that eventually you end up with her"

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  168. thepinoydragon2 April 2014 at 03:37

    Well said Pablo. I've been following HIMYM from almost the beginning (around Season 3) and definitely feel cheated with the last couple of minutes. From the very first episode, you're invested in the idea of the story of how Ted meets the mother. From the lines "And that's how I met your Aunt Robin", I'm sure everyone got hooked into its mystery. From there, every episode that dropped clues about the mother (Yellow Umbrella, Cindy, Meeting the mother at the wedding etc) were my favorites because it was leading up to something big. Even at times when the show felt sluggish (around season 7/8 for me), I knew it would pay off once they have Ted meet the mother. Having him go through so much shit, and him finally getting over Robin was one of the biggest highlights on Season 9. Because he finally let go, the universe did its work and he can finally meet the Mother. And that scene alone justified the whole series for me. It was beautiful when they finally met, and to me it was the true full circle of the series. If Ted wasn't so hung up over Robin, he would have not been on that train station. If they left it on that, it would have been perfect.


    But when death rolled in and blue horn scene came to play it soured what 9 seasons built up. Why spend so much effort building up why Ted and Robin can't work only to have them in the end? I admit, I did love Ted and Robin in the beginning, but as the seasons rolled on it was made clear why they couldn't work, and how vital it was for Ted to let go of her in order to meet Tracy. But in the end, the trick was on us and Tracy was used as a piece for Future Ted to get back with Robin.


    And yes, I get the whole, "this is true to life, shit happens" argument. But it didn't work well for this story. Maybe if it was earlier on in the series it could have. Or if they didn't spend 7 seasons revisiting why Ted and Robin can't work. Or maybe they didn't give 10 seconds of the mother's death to only have kids be like "Yeah go do Aunt Robin!" so quickly. Just badly executed.


    Overall, I can say it's about the journey of this series, and not the actual end.

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  169. faiths_watcher2 April 2014 at 03:41

    Like I've said in other comments, if you rewatch the show over and over again, knowing the writers ending, I don't believe they deceived the viewer, they paid off the regular viewer. "I will never see the show as i use to see it" is kind of the point. They built a realist ending within the romantic ending. They proved (with filming Teds childrens scenes years ago) that they knew the ending they were heading towards (unlike LOST which I also loved).

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  170. faiths_watcher2 April 2014 at 03:51

    It was made clear why Ted and Robin would never work, Robin wanted to travel to exotic places. Ted wanted children and to 'settle down'. Lily forced their break up by reminding them. By the final episode they had both fulfilled their obstacles. They were both free to connect again as a relationship. This was the ending that should of in some ways been of expected. I don't get why fans are so hating on it.
    The mystery of "Aunt Robin" has always been how they would end up together (go watch the film Definitely Maybe)

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  171. Part of me wants to watch it Pablo it really does. The rational part of me wants to hit that part badly and leave it bleeding on the floor. So I wont. Ill resist all urges to see it, I dont mind be accused of disliking something I havnt seen. I know what happens from all of these posts.


    Ive seen the cast already talk about the series and the ending and everyone is smiling and jovial now.


    Id like to see down the track after the hoopla has died down interviews with the characters and perhaps writers on why they chose the ending they did and whether the actors (who normally 'own' their characters after a long time playing them) think their characters were true for that last double episode. I have a feeling they are currently saying they agree with how it pans out, that will later change to they disagree.

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  172. ^THIS +1000
    Can the haters hate and the lovers love without trying to make each other change their opinion?

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  173. i wish i could have your eyes, but they ruin me with the last seasons, i just can't see the series as you do. but i respect your view,

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  174. faiths_watcher2 April 2014 at 04:14

    Because the ONLY two reasons they broke up in the first first place was because (kids/travelling) and Lily intentionally breaking them up. (rewatch the season two finale) by the time we get to the series final they have both fulfilled what they want from life. Ted has children, Robin has travelled the world and is ready to settle down.

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  175. exactly, is like watch season 1-3 and skip to 9 and you will be happy. just forget about season 4-8, they where aprils fools.

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  176. thepinoydragon2 April 2014 at 04:21

    Most people are hating on it because the whole premise of the show was Ted meeting the mother, not Ted falling for Robin for the hundredth time at the end, which was beaten down so hard over the course of the series. Each time post breakup, it was made clear that Robin isn't the one for Ted. Getting over Robin was the pivotal point on how Ted meets Tracy. Spending 9 seasons to fall back to Robin in the end after waiting so long for Tracy to show up is all the cause for anger.


    But I mean, you seemed to like the idea of Ted and Robin, and I respect your view. Just didn't fit right with me.

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  177. faiths_watcher2 April 2014 at 04:21

    The difference came when she realised how devoted Ted was to her. Robin fell properly in love with Ted in those final episodes before her wedding (locket, her mother commenting on reliance, trust and how Barney is similar to her father who would never turn out to be long term husband material). But then it was too late as he was dating 'the mother'. Consider season 1 - 8 when Ted loved Robin. Consider Season 9 etc when Robin loved Ted. And consider the finale when they could finally be together.

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  178. faiths_watcher2 April 2014 at 04:28

    Thank you for being positive even though you disagree. All i ask is that you watch season 1 - 8 with *my* eyes, with the *writers* eyes and with *teds* eyes and you'll see the finale 100% makes sense.
    *although I completely think that making season nine 99% about the wedding weekend makes little sense in retrospect.

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  179. so thats the solution? i have to rewatch the first seasons so I will ship them again?, so the ending won't be sour? like, i have to forget the seasons I have being following faithfully over these past years?. so what was the point watching ted grow old, mature, releasing robin, for someone that was supose to be better? i now in real life you sometime get back with your ex, and that justified the ending but i can say in example that I met with an ex after 5 years of being apart and we reconnect inmediatly when we met again only two last 2 years together, but eventually we broke up again (and ended up as friends). I Shink dating him again give me a chance to grow and that he was a means to and end, and that someone better will come in the future. but maybe not maybe, i'm doom to reconnect with him again because is the most common thing to happen in real life. for experience i think even if Ted and Robin fullfilled their dreams now, they just won't last. life is like that. getting back with and ex 4 or 5 times is just not possible, is an obssession.

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  180. faiths_watcher2 April 2014 at 04:45

    The premise of the show was "how i met your mother" which it fulfilled. The extra premise(s) which looking back on it is "How I fell in Love with Robin" and "How I fulfilled my lifes dream to have children and a family"
    If you look back, if you rewatch, the shows more subtle (if you can call it that) aspiration is the romantic entanglement with Robin.
    The final season. The final Episode. Isn't about Ted falling in love with Robin for the "hundreth time" , its about Ted finally letting go and Robin FINALLY falling in love with Ted too late.
    As Ted says in the first episode, (And this isnt me trying to patronise but make sense of the series as a whole)

    "I was too close to one piece of the puzzle to see the whole picture"

    If you focus on the first episode, the first puzzle piece. it was never about robin, it was about the mother.
    If you focus on the final puzzle piece its about the mother.
    If you look at the whole puzzle, it was about how Ted and Robin's lives finally led to each other.

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  181. For those who do feel betrayed by or angry at the finale, this Tumblr post may help http://nanceoir.tumblr.com/post/81350351382/personally-i-really-loved-the-finale-i-think

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  182. faiths_watcher2 April 2014 at 05:16

    You don't have to forget anything. I'm not saying you have to rewatch the whole series. What I'm saying is the whole series stands up as a finalized puzzle. IF you rewatch the series, it makes sense, if you ONLY pay attention the final season you'll be disappointed.
    If you rewatch it you'll realise you were not meant to 'stop' "shipping" (I hate that word) them. As I mentioned in another comment, the final season was about Ted finally "releasing" Robin, but it was also about Robin FINALLY falling in love with Ted (seriously rewatch those final several episodes).
    It was about Robin finally falling in love with Ted but TOO LATE.
    It would have made for a more realistic ending which I predicted several days ago that Robin would finally realise that Ted is the one that slipped away (rather than Robin being the one that slipped away) but in the final episode they allowed both Ted and Robin to acknowledge the love that has ALWAYS been there.
    My main point in all the comments I've made tonight is that the only reason Ted/Robin broke up in the first place is because they had obstacles (Ted wanted children/Robin wanted to travel the world) by the final episode they had both achieved their goals/overcome their obstacles. So why shouldn't they end up together.
    (it just sucks that it comes at the expense of the 'Mother' dying)

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  183. But we never got to see her saying i love you or doing a great gesture for ted. Maybe if she Was the one who came with the blue hornet. But why have to be ted! And also Why kill the mother! She was too young. Maybe when they were way older i would' have accepted the writers killing her. And then some people sayd 6 years are ok to start again but the episode was so rushed that it didnt simce like 6 years pass.

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  184. thepinoydragon2 April 2014 at 05:38

    I wouldn't say "How I fell in love with robin" was an extra premise if this is the ending the writers had planned all this time. That was the main point C&C wanted to accomplish all along. That is what angered/upset most because at the end of it all it wasn't about the mother, it was about Robin. The mother was a giant red herring.


    As for the puzzle quote, I interpreted the other way around. The first piece was always Robin. She came way before the mother. If Ted didn't go through Robin, it wouldn't have unraveled the other pieces the eventually led to the mother.


    Again to each their own. I respect your views on the shows ending, and more power to you that you liked it.

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  185. Great review Pablo! This finale left a bad taste in my mouth! Even last night i had nightmares after watch the Series Finale. Seriously, that majority of the fans are feeling cheated by the writers, and this is my feeling as well. I mean, it was NINE years, believing in a story that in less than an hour was completely destroyed. It was sad and painful watch all the development, and the essence of the show be completely destroyed, and that will be hard to forget! For me, it was the worst finale ever!

    Now it's became painful rewatch the series, because a lot did not make sense anymore. It's really tragic when the writers manage to destroy a entire show in the last episode.

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  186. Robin always wanted Ted only when he was happy with someone else; same thing happened with Victoria and Stella. I think she murdered Tracy so she could get Ted. And once she got Ted back she probably broke up with him again, she only ever wanted him when she could not have him.


    I loathe Robin now, and I will never watch the show in re-runs ever again.

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  187. What does it mean if I'm not angry, or disappointed.



    Usually At some series finale/season finale/ many episodes of various shows, I watch I get get a bit angry and disappointed, and word my voice. But I Don't know I watch the Finale, and was just like, I see what they did, and went right on to watching the next thing on my list, which was The Tomorrow People; and I moved on.

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  188. I actually loved it. It was lovely and poignant. It seemed to touch on real life and made the show even better to me. I usually delete shows, but I have saved the last 2 because they were so good and had such lovely, loving moments.

    How lucky was Ted! He met the Mother and she was terrific! AND, in the end, he and Robin were together. I think the ending fit the show. Many of us never get one loving relationship and Ted had two! What a lucky guy. Yes, sad that the Mother died - that happens. How fortunate that his kids loved him enough to encourage him to be happy - as would his first wife.

    Thank you HIMYM for what I consider some of the best entertainment in your final season. I loved reconnecting with the characters and loved the ending.



    Grade A+

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  189. Great review! You have pointed out a lot wrong with the finale, and especially that the show was stuck with the ending they had filmed all those years ago, which ruined the later seasons basically with character development. I think right from the get go I was feeling uncomfortable with the pacing, it was just so rushed, and I thought that would change with the "big moments" talk. But no, the love of Ted's life is lost in a sentence, and the kids just want him to go after Robin.

    I give that relationship a couple of weeks before it's back to the same thing, and yeah - the shot of Robin in the apartment with her dogs just reminded me of how she was early on and how she has not progressed, I don't know if that was their point. It didn't give me any hope, and the story is bound to repeat itself.

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  190. This is a very fine review. The wordplay with the final slap to the fans and "Major Disappointment", really made my day.

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  191. I agree. Robin knows Ted will there for her no matter what, he's her great escape. He always was. And that's not love, that's selfishness.

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  192. I will never see the show as I use to because whenever I see Barney growing up, I'll remember he really doesn't. And whenever I see Robin saying she doesn't love Ted, I'll remember he's still obsessed in 2030. And whenever I see season 9 I'll think Quinn or Nora should have been the bride. This show is ruined for me, period. I'm glad you loved it, but I'll never do.

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  193. The thing is I only have my eyes, and they see a totally different thing.

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  194. Sammy Lee Maltese2 April 2014 at 09:29

    Your review couldn't have described it better what's in my heart....thank you...definitively a final slap in the face for most viewers.....the finale did totally change the series after season 4 and you can throw precious season 9 into garbage trash....writers, really, so much effort and then too lazy to write an appropriate ending? Why was Robin damned to have to choose both guys, I would have fine with her staying with Nick, before they screwed his character up.....I mean in Dawson's Creek the writers were bold enough to change its original finale which seemed fitting according to the chemistry....But HIMYM spent so much time convincing us Robin is not the one in so many aspects that there will most likely be no happy ever after the last minutes we just watched.....

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  195. I agree with every single word of this review. The writers completely betrayed us and I wish I could go back in time and unsee this finale. It should have stopped at the train station. None of this made any sense. And that divorce..I mean breaking up because of the travelling, no WiFi? Please, check into the Hilton. Pretty sure they have wireless internet in all their hotels. Still no reason to break up over. And how were they planning on making that work with Ted? He has kids so he can't follow her around the world either. Unless the sequel would be How I met your babysitter.
    For me the worst part is still poor Barney. They destroyed his character in 43 minutes. It's like the writers after last week handed a bottle of Tequila and a copy of episode 1 to the intern and said "Doesn't matter if you never say a single episode, watch this and you can write and ending. Will be fine. If you need us, we'll be down at the bar."

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  196. The finale was disappointing TO ME, I've watched this show for 6 years and yes I shipped Barney and Robin but it wasn't even about the ships in the end. It was about how they trashed 8 years of character development.
    The only thing I liked about the finale was Barney having a baby girl (tho they didn't even give importance to the mother, which I find misogynist, like her only purpose was to deliver a baby) but only because Neil's acting was perfect.


    The thing is.. you may not believe it but I swear I read a theory on the internet that was practically identical to how the finale played out. Like even the reason why Ted tell the story to the kids.. because he still thinks about Robin and he wants to be with her. Every single thing was the same even the mother's name.
    If I was the author of that theory I would sue the writers for plagiarism lol

    And it wasn't the only theory like that I saw more than one!!... Apparently the writers didn't write a "shocking" ending. They just copied-pasted a theory they read online


    And then I think about the way Alyson put it: "They wrapped it up the way fans wanted it to be wrapped up"


    Well shit!

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  197. I love Friends; it my all time favorite show. I watch reruns every chance I get. I own the DVDs and watch the episodes when I feel nostalgic. I laugh at all the jokes like I am watching it for the first time.


    With HIMYM, although it has been my second favorite show (until at least yesterday). I just can't see it the same. I don't think I can ever watch a rerun again without thinking about this sorry excuse of a finale. I planned on doing a marathon doing my summer vacations, but now I definitely won't.

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