The thing that got me the most is the fact that Barney and Robin got divorced. A whole season dedicated to their wedding, and it's all gone in one episode!? That's ridiculous! I felt like this season as a whole was a disappointment, and that just made me question why they took an entire season to display the wedding.
Another thing... "How I Met Your Mother" at the end turns into "kids, can I date Robin?" It kind of strays away from the entire topic of the show, but in the end I'm weirdly okay with it.
Yep, totally agree with you on these two points. An entire season for Robin and Barney's wedding and then they're divorced in the first 10-15 minutes of the finale?!
The "kids can I date Aunt Robin?" conversation was a little weird to me.
Actually, I'm not sure what my take on the ending is. I'm so... I don't even know how to describe it.
Also, think of the two actors who filmed the ending 9 YEARS AGO!!! The non-disclosure agreement behind that...
I, too, don't totally know what I think yet (though I'm leaning toward disappointed based on my novella below
). I was definitely impressed that they had it planned out though - filming the ending 9 years ago was crazy!
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Overall, this morning, I'm disappointed with how it ended. I did really like that they had all of the flash-forwards in the finale, but I wish that they would have had those spread out over the entire final season instead of cramming them into one episode - it just felt really rushed. Have Barney and Robin's wedding weekend be just an episode or two - heck, just the first half of the season, and spend the rest on the other stuff.
Lily and Marshall were barely in it...I know the story is (Robin &) Ted's story, but Marshall was my favorite character, so I didn't love that his only lines were "BTW, I'm a judge now!"..."BTW, baby #3" etc.
REALLY didn't like Barney's story arc at all. I've never been a Robin/Barney fan (always felt a little forced to me and like they turned Robin into female Barney when they were together), but after the whole season building up to their wedding I hated that they got divorced right away and Barney just reverted back to his old ways. And the only way that he settled down was when he had a baby...with some random woman that he got pregnant. I appreciate that he has always had absentee-father issues and now he IS one so he gets the chance to be the good dad he never had...but still, just didn't love how it played out.
I thought they did relatively well with Robin's future - they stayed true to her character. She was always career-driven, wanted to travel the world, didn't want kids, and they stuck to that. I thought it was ballsy of them to present a female character who didn't want kids and have that be okay.
I'd read theories that the Mother was going to die and could see the hints that they were dropping, but I was still surprised and disappointed that they went there. They spent this season letting us to get to know here and then *poof* she's gone. And to do that to Ted - this character that we have come to care about so much...he finally finds his soulmate, she dies, and then he goes back to the woman that broke his heart over and over. I guess we are to assume that the prime of her career has passed and she has settled down in New York (and won't have the same distance issues with Ted as she did with Barney)? I did really like Robin and Ted in the earlier seasons but I really liked the Mother too.
Having said all that...favorite parts of the episode:
- "Be cool, lady, DAMN."
- Ted first seeing the Mother at the wedding
- The return of Ted's Hanging Chad costume with the Mother dressed as a Florida voter
- Robots vs. Wrestlers, and them playing "Murder Train" in the background
- NPH's scene with the baby - I think he overacts a LOT but he was great here
- Robin meeting Penny, who is a budding architecture nerd
- Ted and the Mother finally meeting under the yellow umbrella - I thought that part was perfect
- The fact that they filmed the ending 9 years ago with Penny and Lucas
I'm sad the show's over, but I agree that it was more than past its prime. When it was great, it was a REALLY great show. So yeah, there were parts I didn't like and parts I liked. It still doesn't top Lost and Dexter in the "most disappointing finales" department for me.
