# "How I Met Your Mother" \[final season\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 24, 2013, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560 "2013-09-24T03:06:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 18
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/341 "2014-04-01T13:23:31Z")
So what were the clues that we were supposed to pick up that Momma was dead? The only thing I can recall was Ted and Tracy talking about Robin’s mom coming up for the wedding and Ted saying “what kind of mother wouldn’t come to her daughter’s wedding?” and Tracy getting that pained look on her face. What were others? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/342 "2014-04-01T13:37:17Z")
As far as I know, that was the only scene that led people to think Tracy was dead. Plus the fact that she is absent as Future Ted is telling the story. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/343 "2014-04-01T13:38:12Z")
When they were at Farhampton for their anniversary and realized they were an “old married couple” because they’d heard all of each others’ stories, she told him that she didn’t want him “getting lost in [his] stories.” The pretty clear subtext was “after I’m gone.” ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/344 "2014-04-01T13:42:45Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > And while Barney and Robin’s breakup was sad, it was sadder to see Barney continue his playboy ways _far_ too long. But he explained why he did that. If he couldn’t make it work with Robin, he didn’t think he could make it work with anyone. And I agree that Barney’s antics were hugely exaggerated over the course of the story. Of course, I kinda think that’s how he would have wanted it. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/345 "2014-04-01T13:58:33Z")
Barney’s “Can’t you just let me be me?” felt much too contrived, like the writers were saying directly to the audience “Yeah, we’re taking a shortcut on this one; so sue us.” Otherwise, I kinda liked it. I think divorce for Barney and Robin was inevitable, neither of them had ever made the effort to develop any relationship skills. I would have liked a bit more info on Lily’s journey. Why were they back from Italy - or did they even go? And what was she doing other than being pregnant? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/346 "2014-04-01T14:04:21Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > I would have liked a bit more info on Lily’s journey. Why were they back from Italy - or did they even go? And what was she doing other than being pregnant? The Italy trip was always only planned for a year. They did go, we saw it part of the trip in “Daisy.” ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/347 "2014-04-01T14:13:28Z")
> [@well\_he\_s\_back](#): > > One last comment. I really do think the Barney character was given short shrift. Many in the audience cared about all the characters, including, Barney - not just Ted and Robin. It made no sense for Barney & Robin to not discuss her travel before their marriage; it made no sense for Barney to suddenly forget birth control. They probably did. Barney had no job tying him down so he probably believed that travel with Robin would be okay, and Robin had no idea that she would continue to be so successful and travel so much. That much made sense to me, people believe a lot of things about themselves that are sometimes untrue, and the world doesn’t always work out the way you planned. Birth control fails. The real miracle is that given Barney’s lifestyle it only failed once in all those years. I think the point was that Ted and Robin weren’t right for each other in their 20’s but maybe in their 40’s they are. ---
**Author:** ![Calatin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Calatin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calatin)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/348 "2014-04-01T14:19:28Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > So what were the clues that we were supposed to pick up that Momma was dead? The only thing I can recall was Ted and Tracy talking about Robin’s mom coming up for the wedding and Ted saying “what kind of mother wouldn’t come to her daughter’s wedding?” and Tracy getting that pained look on her face. What were others? Also, in “Time Travelers”, there is the end scene where imaginary-Ted rushes to her apartment door and talks about how, while he will meet her in 45 days, he’d rather that he met her now, so they could have that extra month-and-a-half together. Some people saw that as evidence that their time together was limited. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/349 "2014-04-01T14:25:29Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > When they were at Farhampton for their anniversary and realized they were an “old married couple” because they’d heard all of each others’ stories, she told him that she didn’t want him “getting lost in [his] stories.” The pretty clear subtext was “after I’m gone.” There was also the future-Ted episode last season where Future Ted imagines running over to the mom’s house to have an extra 25 days with her, and after the “What kind of mother isn’t at her daughter’s wedding” scene, it’s painfully obvious (though it wasn’t at the time) that it’s because she’s not around any more. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/350 "2014-04-01T14:29:55Z")
> [@well\_he\_s\_back](#): > > The ending made the whole Barney/Robin relationship even more contrived. And the Barney character described by unreliable narrator Ted prob was exaggerated to make Barney seem worse, if you see what I mean. Viewers never got to know the Barney that Robin wanted to marry because narrator Ted wouldn’t tell about him. So narrator Ted was Ted’s own version of The Wedding Bride? ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/351 "2014-04-01T14:36:43Z")
> [@Gus\_Gusterson](#): > > What made the ending unsatisfying for me was that Cristin Milioti was so good as the mother that she redeemed Ted for being so pathetic for so much of the series. I had always said that they had to find someone amazing to play the mother because they needed us to fall in love with her immediately or there would be no reason to care about her and Ted. They succeeded. But she was so good that killing her off to have Ted be with Robin feels forced. The mother was so much better for Ted than Robin was. I know they planned it long ago, but they should have changed the ending when they saw how good the mother was. I think, though, that Ted needed Tracy to become a better person. If he ended up with Robin in the beginning, he would have still being douchey-Ted, but the Mother made him better and redeemed him. Yes, the mother was better for Ted than Robin and he loved Tracy as much as he possibly could, but life is also about moving on and not “living in your stories” or your memories. > [@TruCelt](#): > > Barney’s “Can’t you just let me be me?” felt much too contrived, like the writers were saying directly to the audience “Yeah, we’re taking a shortcut on this one; so sue us.” Also kind of a ‘take that’ to the fans who complained that Barney being in love wasn’t they Barney that they knew and loved - Barney is supposed to be a womanizer! That’s where he’s funny. The creators said, ok, you want to know how that looks like for a man in his 40s to still be a womanizer? Here you go… happy? No… well that was our point. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/352 "2014-04-01T14:37:08Z")
> [@Mithras](#): > > I thought it was terrible. An entire season on a wedding that doesn’t last. Nine years to tell the story of meeting a woman who dies after barely any screen times. And it all ends up being about a relationship I didn’t care about I don’t know how many times ago they made it look like it was absolutely over. Like the kids said at the end, the story was clearly not about the Mother in the first place since she was barely in it - it was a story about him and Robin. Put me down as someone that liked the finale, even though I pretty much checked out on the shot mid-way through this final season. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/353 "2014-04-01T14:48:32Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > I’ve said all along that Ted would end up with Robin, but \*\*after meeting The Mother (excuse me, Tracy), I didn’t want that anymore. \*\*It was a great finale, but wow, it was a lot to handle. This. Every time I saw Tracy during this season, I fell more and more in love with her, and wanted Ted to live happily ever after with her. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/354 "2014-04-01T15:13:07Z")
although Mithras did a fine job, this review sums up why I hated the ending so much [http://http://www.vulture.com/2014/03/how-i-met-your-mother-finale-review.html](http://http://www.vulture.com/2014/03/how-i-met-your-mother-finale-review.html) ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/355 "2014-04-01T15:14:29Z")
I wonder what the backup plan was if Cobie Smulders had left the show. Would the Mother have survived? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/356 "2014-04-01T15:28:36Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#): > > I wonder what the backup plan was if Cobie Smulders had left the show. Would the Mother have survived? Why would Cobie Smulders have left the show? It was never stated outright, but the creators and actors treated like a Friends situation, either everybody came back or they would have canceled the show. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/357 "2014-04-01T15:32:10Z")
> [@Gus\_Gusterson](#): > > I wonder how much they paid those kids to keep the secret. Maybe they just used the proverbial “You’ll never work in this town again” threat. Maybe. Or they could have shot multiple versions of the scene with the kids talking so they, the kids, didn’t know the truth either. An advantage of doing that is that, if Cobie Smulders had ever decided to leave the show, they, the producers, would have had other options to end it. ETA: > [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Why would Cobie Smulders have left the show? It was never stated outright, but the creators and actors treated like a Friends situation, either everybody came back or they would have canceled the show. Shit happens. She could have died suddenly; she could have gotten ill; something else uncontrollable and unpredictable could have happened. I hated the ending, by the way. It was a shoot-the-shaggy-dog story. I liked the Mother, and I liked Robin & Barney as a couple. Going through all these changes just to have Ted & Robin end up together felt like being jerked around. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/358 "2014-04-01T15:44:19Z")
I never watched the show and have probably the dumbest question ever asked about a TV show – do viewers know from the beginning that Ted is the dad? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/359 "2014-04-01T15:45:58Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > I never watched the show and have probably the dumbest question ever asked about a TV show – do viewers know from the beginning that Ted is the dad? Yes. I don’t think that’s a stupid question. Having Bob Saget be the narrator could easily cloud the issue for someone who only watches intermittently. ---
**Author:** ![Calatin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Calatin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calatin)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/360 "2014-04-01T15:46:07Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > I never watched the show and have probably the dumbest question ever asked about a TV show – do viewers know from the beginning that Ted is the dad? Yes, but what you asked could’ve been the best twist ever. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560.md?page=17) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560.md?page=19)