HIMYM Finale: How I Met Your Stepmother? Ugh!

It's Tuesday. Time for a tantrum!

Can I be the one millionth person to say that the How I Met Your Mother finale sucked? Because it did. I just feel lucky I didn’t actually watch this show until last year (Netflix marathon!) because if I’d waited 9 years for that… I’d probably be pretty irate.

Over the seasons there were some awesome episodes and some that weren’t so great. A couple of seasons drug on and on but overall HIMYM had become one of my favorite shows. Admittedly, this entire past season wasn’t one of the best. Some episodes were funny but overall I didn’t like the flow. Having the season focus around Barney and Robin’s wedding (Team Bobin btw) made the finale that much worse. Additionally, Ted seemed to be missing from most of the storylines this season and spent pretty much all of his screen time pining away after Robin. Again. Marshall and Lily’s stories were alright but nothing new.

The best parts where when we actually saw the mother. She was fabulous.

I felt like our characters had come so far: Barney and Robin worked out their issues, realized they were meant to be together and had an awesome wedding. Ted FINALLY let go of Robin (there was even that stupid scene on the beach where she floated away like his red balloon) for which almost all fans were glad, I’d bet.

All of that is thrown away in a total of five minutes.

The ending of the show made the rest of it feel so pointless. The journeys all of the characters had gone through “came full circle” but in a way that felt redundant and annoying. After 20 years and being married to an awesome lady, Ted is still obsessing about Robin? It’s not romantic, it’s pathetic.

Why even have episodes dedicated to finally moving on if he’s not really? And the way his kids were acting… I mean, I get that their mom has been dead for 6 years, but Ted just spent forever telling them about how much he always wanted Aunt Robin and they seem totally cool with it. It made his relationship with the mother seem like it was just a fling, a placeholder until Robin came back. How awful. If that were my dad, I’d be pretty pissed after that story.

Instead, why not make more of the last season about Ted’s future with Tracy (not just in a few flashbacks) and less about Barney and Robin? I do love Barney and Robin together and I was rooting for them both to finally settle down and make their relationship work. And they did and everything was good…until it wasn’t and they were completely over each other. I know the finale spanned years, but it was hard to come to terms with a year’s worth of change in 40 minutes. They picked the wrong approach to this. The worst part isn’t that Barney and Robin didn’t end up together (which they totally should have!!!!) or that the mother died (which was sooooo lame) but the WAY it all happened. There was not enough time for me to be over Barney and Robin and to get over the mother’s death to support the ending.

Some are criticizing fans who are outraged when a lot of people speculated that the mother would die and what not. My question is, how can you NOT be irritated that they changed the ENTIRE show in one long episode? I’m not ashamed to admit my fangirl status. I get into shows for the relationships and ripping not one but TWO away from me is not bound to inspire appreciation for nine great years of television. I haven’t forgotten all of the episodes I love but it’s going to take some time to get over this.

The finale wasn’t all bad. There were a few moments I loved: the epic infinity slap, Barney’s moment with his baby (so sweet I teared up a little), pretty much all scenes with the mother (aside from her death bed scene because ugh!).  But all in all, I wish I could forget it ever happened.

~Mallory

Here’s a related article I like: http://www.today.com/entertainment/how-i-met-your-mother-slaps-its-fans-series-finale-2D79463458