How I Met Your Mother Finale
 

Spoilers, obviously. I hope you didn't make it this far wondering if there would be spoilers, though.

Anyways, the last episode of How I Met Your Mother was on tonight, and I loved it (though, I do think they could have done some things differently) Lots of people hated it. What'd you think?

I'm not sure what to think. On the one hand, it's nice to finally see Ted and Robin get some closure. On the other, I don't really think much of all the events that lead up to that final scene.

It's not how I would've ended it. I'm not raging and throwing stuff at my TV, but it is not what I would have done. Up to the last ten minutes it was pretty great, though.

That episode was good except till the very end which kind of ruined the entire series. It should have just ended with Ted and Tracey's scene at the train station, and not continued further. If Ted was supposed to get with Robin they should have wrote that to happen instead. I also think that Tracey/The Mother should have been in the show a lot sooner like back a few seasons ago and should have showed them together and got rid of a lot of the bullshit stories they did with Ted. This final episode basically made the final season worse, instead of just being at the wedding it should have just been like the final episode flashing through scenes between the end. The end basically just ruined the entire show for me because it wasn't even about How I Met Your Mother. Errgh I'm so frustrated by this, it's like the Lost finale again. I wish we could have seen more of Tracey/The Mother because she was quirky and such a fun character that I wish was more then one season. Barney, Marshall, and Lily all ended great, I loved how their stories were but I didn't like what they did with Robin and well I liked Ted's all up until the ending. They didn't even give you time to grieve over the Mother's death.

Honestly, the more I think about it the more I really, really hate the last ten minutes.

You and me both brother.

Incoming long post with tons of spoilers. I'm not going to tag any of them so don't read it if you haven't seen the finale. TURN AWAY

Here goes.

To start, i'm glad Barney and Robin divorced. From when they got engaged in season 8, all the way up until the actual wedding, they kept dropping hints that there was a lot of tension in the relationship and that the wedding would not end well. The wedding happened and made you think that they resolved their differences, but they ended up getting divorced. I could never get behind Barney and Robin, so this makes sense to me. Barney then reverted to his old ways, which I know bothers a lot of people, but it makes sense to me. Barney spent most of his life as a player, and when he finally settles down and marries somebody, it doesn't work. I can totally believe that he would lose faith in marriage (and relationships in general) and revert to his old ways. He became broken, and had to fill the void in his life, which was eventually filled by him having a child. Barney and Robin's arc made sense and I liked it. Lilly and marshall I have no real opinion on, since their ending was pretty standard.

Now, the mother. We spend an entire season getting to know her and like her, and then she dies. I don't have a problem with that. I do have a problem with the fact that they just made it happen and moved on. It made it seem like she wasn't really that important in Ted's life, which you could argue that she wasn't, but that sort of cheapens the entire thing to me. It seems like they spent a lot of time setting up how much he loved her and how he would have done anything for her, so why couldn't they at least show a scene of him grieving her? Either him at the funeral, or Marshall trying to cheer him up, or something. It would have made their relationship seem more legitimate and important to the series, and would have made the Robin ending a little bit better too.

As for Ted and Robin, I'm glad that they ended up together. It brings the entire series full circle, and the pilot makes a bit more sense. Lots of people i've talked to seem to think that putting them together de-values Ted's relationship with the mother, which I disagree with. It was clear that he really loved the mother, but she died and he had to move on. Going back to Robin made sense, since he always had feelings for her. I do think this part was a bit rushed, though, and could have been handled better.

I don't see why they tried to cram 17 years into 2 episodes, but spread out 3 days across 22 episodes. Season 9 could have been truly special had they spread everything out better. I don't mind what they did though, because the finale was a crazy good episode.

I see your points but I really hated that they killed the Mother, she was one of my favorite characters. Also I feel they basically destroyed Robin at the end there. Also they didn't even tell you what was going on in Lily's life was she working? or anything like that and she basically made Marshall work at something he hated for 4 years give or take so she could do something for one year. Barney was absolutely fantastic at the end but really belonged with Robin to me. I just thought it was stupid to kill the Mother they shouldn't have done that. It was basically done for fans of the First season, I didn't start with the First Season so I never saw Ted and Robin together and never thought they did anyways.

Overall I enjoyed it. I feel a bit annoyed that ever three years of build up and an entire season dedicate to the wedding, Barney and Robin's marriage fell apart in 20 minutes. I had a feeling for the longest time The Mother/Tracey was dead when Ted was telling the story to the kids. Just wish we had gotten to spend more time with her because she was a fantastic character.

I've sporadically watched episodes of HIMYM over the years, so I hardly consider myself invested in the show...

But from what I've gleaned here...

It pisses me off, even. They literally just had her dead after barely getting to know her? That's bullshit.

Something that was pointed out to me is that much of the finale was written (and in fact Luke and Penny's reactions were shot) waaaaaaaaaay back in season 2/3. So that explains why some of it works and the rest of it seems a bit... out of date with more recent developments.

So I watched the finale and I gotta say I really liked it. I never expected the mother to die and yet it doesnt surprise me the slightest. its like Luke and Penny say at the end the whole show didnt revolve around Ted meeting Tracy and instead it was always about Ted meeting Robin and falling in love with her.

I felt the point they were trying to make with that last Episode was never the meeting the Mother part. Its the journey to get there that made this Series so incredibly special. What the show always tried to convey (especially with the last Episode) was that life is constantly changing. It isnt about a special happy end you work towards. Life is about the big moments and at the end of the day even if they didnt kill off Tracy I bet nobody will ever remember the show for how it ended. Fans will always love this show for the stories it told over its span of nine years.

Have you been reading The AV Club?

Nope I have not :) I dont even know what that is to be honest :lol

Here. What was so hard about this?

http://gawker.com/someone-fixed-the-...her-1556841304

I've only been a passive watcher since season 6 or 7 since my dad sometimes had it on, but I think Ted ending up with Robin makes sense. The entire story was about his relationship with her and only got to the mother in the end, plus they have always had a strong relationship whether dating or not. However, it is not a good ending. The show should have ended with meeting Tracey. While I don't think those last 2 minutes ruin the good will the entire show built up, both with Tracey and Ted 's maturing, people seem to think it does. All they say was that it showed was that Tracey was not important in Ted ' s life. Well, Ted spent like 12 years with her before she died, so he obviously loved her.

Right? That's perfect.

Wow, I'm not trying to troll, but why is a discussion on this showing up on EVERY message board I go to? You would think this show was the greatest show ever made. I've seen less Breaking Bad Finale threads than HIMYM ones.

Breaking Bad's ending was FAR less controversial than How I met your mother's. This one has been really divisive.

Just gonna say I didn't like the ending and the last few seasons have been fairly crappy half the time. I didn't like that Robin was alone and exiled for 10+ years just so Ted could have someone for after the mother was gone. It really screwed over Robin and undid all the character development for her, Ted, and Barney from the last two seasons. I had assumed the mother was dead for a long time now so I wasn't too bothered by that. Anyway, kudos to them for picking an ending 9 years ago and sticking to it even though it didn't work anymore.