How often do you watch television, and end up loving the series finale? Believe it or not, people often have a lot of negative things to say about the last-ever episode of a television program. The longer a show is on television, the more the audience grows to love it and then they end up with a number of expectations from the show. How I Met Your Mother is one of the few sitcoms in recent history that actually lasted nearly a decade. A few others come to mind, like F.R.I.E.N.D.S and Seinfeld. If you've been paying attention to the recent news, there has been quite a bit of hostility towards the last episode of the show starring the hopeless romantic Ted Mosby. But is that hostility viable, or is the feeling of unjust created simply by a number of fans that had unlikely expectations? It's hard to say. Let's look at the facts.
1. Barney and Robin Get Divorced
This one is a pretty big complaint from the fans. We have just spent a good three years watching these two get together, get engaged, and prepare a wedding. The final season was the weekend of the wedding. All of a sudden, Barney and Robin get a divorce in the finale, which is practically done without much reason at all. The grounds for divorce had something to do with a lack of WiFi and Robin's frequent flyer miles. After the divorce, Barney immediately reverts to his old ways. The response the audience gets at this point is confusion and betrayal. Three years is a long time to watch a person grow and transform, and have it all be for nothing.
What you have to understand, though, is that the wedding was never about the wedding or about their relationship. As humans, we often have a black and white way of seeing things, and a wedding does usually just mean that...a wedding. This time, however, it really was about Barney's transformation. For that messed up of a man it doesn't take much to believe it would take a few years to really change him. But he reverts to his old ways. No he doesn't. He just has no idea where to go at this point. So he goes to the only place he's ever known to give him comfort, but it's not quite the same anymore. So he knocks someone up.
2. Barney's love child.
Yes, Barney knocks up some random girl, and he's suddenly a father. This is actually very poetic and important. Barney's one and only "forever girl" was his daughter. His daughter changed not only his humanity, but his lifestyle. While he was with Robin, he still thought fondly of his older life, calling it awesome, his daughter changed everything to the point where he couldn't even pick up trashy looking girls. Not only that, but the baby mama was clearly not in the picture, because it wasn't ever about Barney's relationship status, it was about his character. The only thing he ever needed to be a true and honest man was his daughter, but before she was randomly thrown on him, he would have said he hated kids and never wanted them. Again, Robin couldn't have kids, he wouldn't have ever asked for one...therefore, being with Robin would have stolen him away from his destiny, of where he truly needed to be.
3. Death and Fate
This is one of the bigger complaints. After meeting the mother, Ted tells his kids that he loved her until the day she got sick and ultimately died. It was a sad, but sweet moment, and that's when he concludes with "and that, kids, is how I met your mother." After this, the kids call BS, and tell him to go date Aunt Robin, because that was clearly what this story was all about, that he had the hots for her. He gets their permission to date her, runs up to her apartment, and holds up that infamous blue french horn before the last title screen goes up. To sum it up: He meets the mother, she immediately dies, and he ends up with Robin anyways.
I wouldn't say she immediately dies. He's with her for a few years, Ted just skips through the years in his story. Here's what you have to realize...eight years ago, the actors playing the kids filmed the last-ever shot of the show, acknowledging that the mother was out of the picture, and ultimately Robin would be the one he would end up with. They shot that so long ago because the kids were growing up and going through puberty. This wasn't meant to be a story that literally went on for 9 years. So since season two, it was set in stone that he would end up with Robin, the kid actors were sworn to secrecy. At this point, everything should begin to make sense.
Several years ago, it was confirmed that the mother was not Robin, yet for some reason, Ted still found a way to fall in love with her over and over again. Through every relationship, through all the ups and downs, and even through Barney and Robin's own marriage, it was always about Ted's true love and devotion to Robin. It was never anyone else. This wasn't Clark fawning over Lana in Smallville for eight years for no reason, this was Ted fawning over Robin, his true girl of his dreams. This show is poetic.
How I Met Your Mother is about life. It's about love, family, and friendship. Through every up and every down, these characters were meld to be there for each other. That includes love and loss. This show is serious and dramatic when it needs to be, because it is infinitely complex. It was never a black and white show, it was a television show filled to the brim with vibrant mystery and amazingly lovable characters. Every choice they made in the finale was the correct one, and was made with great care. Those who didn't like the episode, but like the show in general should definitely reconsider to watch it once more, taking the things said in this article under consideration.
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