I know that everybody and their brother has written about why they did or did not like the series finale of How I Met Your Mother. It's been talked to death, but now it's time for me to put in my two cents.
It goes without saying that this post has a buttload of spoilers, so if you haven't seen the finale and you've managed to not find out what happened, please don't read on.
So, Ted and Robin end up together. It's supposed to be gooey and romantic, and Voiceover Ted talks about how his whole life has been a long journey that led him to where he is now and he wouldn't change any of it. That's a really sweet sentiment and I generally like that kind of thing in a TV show.
But I HATE that Ted ends up with Robin.
This whole show - NINE YEARS - that's over two THIRDS of my life - Voiceover Ted has been telling his kids and the TV audience that his life was a journey that led him to The Mother. He starts the story with where he met Robin because he felt like that was where his Journey began. "Dad, it feels like you've been going on about this for a year! Why hasn't mom come in yet?" "Because, this is about the journey to her." And because the show had to last for more than one season. That's awesome.
But what's NOT awesome is to tell us for NINE. YEARS. that this whole story, the whole show, Ted's whole life, was leading him to The Mother and then, in the last 20 minutes of the show, turn it into a journey that led him to Robin. Fuck that. I'm sorry, but really. You're going to spend nine years giving us hints about The Mother, showing us her ankle, giving Ted her umbrella, having Ted date her roommate, having her show up in a class that he thought he was supposed to teach, only to have him end up with the woman who, for the last seven years, has proven to be not only not The Mother, but not even a good match for Ted? Make it seem like The Mother was just a pit stop on Ted's way to Robin?
And there's another thing. We just spent the last nine months, the whole last season, at Barney and Robin's wedding. And in the first 20 minutes of the finale, you tell us that they got a divorce. Thanks for punching us in the face right before you punch us in the gut. Yeah, it's cool that Barney says "It's not a failed marriage, it's an awesome marriage that ended." In fact I really liked that. But COME ON. A whole season at a wedding just to have the marriage end 20 minutes later (three years in the timeline of the show).
And then, there's the reason for their divorce. Robin was traveling too much. She wasn't ready to settle down anywhere. That's part of why she drifted out of the gang's life. So we're just supposed to assume that, at the very end of the show, she's magically decided to settle down and that's why she and Ted are finally right for each other? Bull shit. I mean, sure, she has an apartment and five dogs again, so maybe she really has settled down. But there are some things that you need to TELL the viewer. Have Robin say somewhere before Ted goes over there with the blue French Horn, "All that traveling was getting to me so I finally decided to take a job that will keep me in New York." Just to make it more clear that Robin and Ted are finally at the right place at the right time.
It just feels like the writers didn't even care about the viewers in the last episode. Apparently, a lot of the story was inspired by the writers' actual lives, so that's cool. But some of us don't WANT a more realistic ending. Some of us don't CARE that maybe something similar to this happened to an actual person. Some of us just spent nine years wondering who The Mother was and we didn't WANT her to be dead (although that has been a theory since about halfway through season one). And lots of us - me included - did NOT want Ted and Robin to end up together simply because they knew that they were not right for each other by the end of season two.
There were a lot of awesome moments, though. Lots of things I did like about the finale.
Ted's goodbye to Lily made me cry. It was so silly and Alyson Hannigan looked so sad - I imagined that maybe that was the last scene they filmed with Alyson, so maybe those tears were real because this was the last time the cast and crew would be together. (I like to imagine this kind of thing because I want to work in sitcom.)
The Captain Ahab/White Whale costumes. Oh my god, amazing. But why the HELL was Ted wearing the Hanging Chad costume?! He wore that to try to find the Slutty Pumpkin. He found her. He didn't like her. He should have done an awesome couples costume with The Mother, but no, he was in a costume that he wore in order to search for some other woman. dafuq.
Barney seeing his daughter for the first time. Oh god, all the feels. I pictured NPH seeing his babies for the first time, and imagined that he was channeling that feeling. Tears.
Ted finally talking to The Mother for the first time. Super adorable. I actually expected them to kiss because there had already been so many scenes of them together.
Ted bringing Robin the blue French horn was really sweet. As much as I hate that they're together, I do like that he brought her the horn again. It's like they're starting over, rather than picking up where they left off. Which is good, because they technically left off with Robin being a terrible friend and abandoning everybody, even for all of their Big Moments.
The clips of everybody from way back in season one made me start to cry so hard that I actually had to get up and walk away, thinking "I can't handle this." Partly because I'm ridiculously emotional. Partly because I was watching it with Derek (my boyfriend), and he always teases me for crying at shows and that just makes me feel silly for crying which, of course, makes me cry harder. But mostly, because it brought me back to season one. Back to 13 year old me, in the ninth grade, excitedly watching this new show with Willow from Buffy. It made me feel like a kid again, and that hit me with so many emotions that I'm getting choked up just writing about it.
So, if you want to know my opinion overall, whether or not I liked the finale for How I Met Your Mother.... I'm generally okay with it. It was a good episode, a solid ending to the show... it just didn't end the way I wanted it to.
In any case, it was 500 times better than the ending to Dexter.
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