# "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:** 20
**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, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/381 "2014-04-01T21:09:29Z")
> [@pbbth](#): > > Am I the only one that _loved_ that Ted and Tracy didn’t get married right away? The whole fricken series we saw nothing but whining from Ted about how every single woman he met could be “the one” and he truly planned to marry several of them, even getting left at the altar by a woman in love with another man. He was so desperate for the fairy tale wedding that I felt like his willingness to set that all aside and just be happy with the woman he loved showed a tremendous amount of growth on his part. I agree with you. It showed that Tracy really was that one person who was perfect for Ted. He was so happy with her that he literally didn’t worry about the perfect wedding (well, after Tracy revealed she was pregnant that is…). ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/382 "2014-04-01T21:46:56Z")
It was like _Six Feet Under_ for me. By the end I had grown tired of the show and sick of the characters and watching out of inertia. But then the finale was pretty cool. I liked the scene with Ted and Tracy under the umbrella, sparring over ownership of it and the thing with the initials. ---
**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, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/383 "2014-04-01T21:51:43Z")
Has anyone pointed out that “TM” could also stand for “The Mother?” ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/384 "2014-04-01T22:19:27Z")
> [@Moonlitherial](#): > > 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. Why did that man not get a vasectomy? C’mon. ---
**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, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/385 "2014-04-01T22:46:58Z")
The final season was amazingly well conceived and crafted, but here’s why the finale let me down. Robin doesn’t love Ted. Or, as the breakups say, she loves him, but she’s not IN LOVE with him. Whole episodes have been devoted to Robin not being in love with Ted. Hell, entire story arcs have been devoted to making it clear that Robin isn’t in love with Ted. Robin was in love with Barney. The result of that was that Ted finally let go of the dream of Robin and was able to fall in love with the perfect woman for him. Now it’s 2030 and Ted’s ready to date again. What does he do? One more try with Robin, who’s now back in her brownstone apartment instead of that fancy place in Central Park West where she lived after hitting it big with World Wide News. Maybe Robin’s career isn’t going so hot by 2030? One of two things are going to happen. Robin’s going to break Ted’s heart again, or maybe Robin’s willing to settle for the safe guy, but the guy she’s not really in love with. Either way, it’s going to suck when Ted figures out (again) that his dream girl never has, doesn’t, and never will feel as strongly about him as he does about her. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/386 "2014-04-01T22:49:47Z")
> [@Darth\_Sensitive](#): > > Why did that man not get a vasectomy? C’mon. Sitcom logic. He also managed to sleep with over 200 women, only get one pregnant (that we know of) and not pick up any STDs (that we know of). With those kind of odds, why bother. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/387 "2014-04-01T22:55:15Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#): > > Those who didn’t like the ending should start referring to the show as “Lilypad & Marshmallow”, a sitcom about college sweethearts who get marrried and live happily ever after. YES! Someone who gets it. ---
**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, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/388 "2014-04-01T22:57:56Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Sitcom logic. He also managed to sleep with over 200 women, only get one pregnant (that we know of) and not pick up any STDs (that we know of). With those kind of odds, why bother. Has to be an exaggeration by Ted. I’m actually almost more surprised that Marshall, Lily, and Barney didn’t sit down as soon as Ted got up and started telling their own story: “Here’s how it really happened…” ---
**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, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/389 "2014-04-01T23:00:28Z")
> [@Darth\_Sensitive](#): > > Why did that man not get a vasectomy? C’mon. It’s actually quite hard for a man (or woman) with no prior issue to get a vasectomy. Urologists don’t like doing them in case you have a change of heart and the process is irreversible. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/390 "2014-04-01T23:05:42Z")
I’m not usually one to say “you’re wrong” about your own opinions on tv shows, music, art, etc. But if you felt like Barney’s character growth was thrown out the window in the finale, you’re wrong. Barney regressed after losing the one woman he was able to truly fall in love with, because they couldn’t make things work despite the love they shared. And then when a huge accident in the form of a baby daughter happened, he re-became the decent human being he could be all along but had forgotten he could be (or refused to accept he could ever be again). If you are angry because you felt like the whole point of the show was just to get Ted and Robin together as revealed in the finale, you’re wrong. The point of Ted’s journey was not about any one particular woman but how he grew and learned and got burned and hurt in every imaginable way. Tracy was perfect for Ted and vice versa, at that point in their lives. And maybe present day Ted and Robin are perfect for each other, and maybe not. The finale is not evidence of Robin being “The One” for Ted the whole time. The finale is evidence that there is no “the one” or there are multiple “the ones” depending on where you are in your life. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/391 "2014-04-01T23:07:12Z")
> [@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. Note, I haven’t seen the episode yet, but accidentally got spoiled elsewhere, not realizing the last show had aired yet, thinking I was just reading about predictions. The problems I’ve seen people have with this seems to be how little time was spent with Tracey’s death. It’s something that should be really important to Ted’s journey, his rehabilitation so that it’s believable that he can actually be with Robin and not have it fail spectacularly. And if it’s important to his journey, it should be shown. Without seeing the death, a lot of people don’t feel they have the resolution necessary to agree with the kids that Ted needs to move on. They still feel like they are hanging on to Tracy.\* \*[Called it](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17162965&postcount=161), BTW. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/392 "2014-04-01T23:22:36Z")
Oh, yeah. They also say that the five minutes that pass between finding out about the death and it being six years later didn’t work. Basically, the best complaints seem to more be about the execution rather than the idea. Totally unrelated: > [@Darth\_Sensitive](#): > > Why did [Barney] not get a vasectomy? C’mon. Maybe he did, but it failed? Maybe he planned to, but couldn’t go through with it, feeling like his manhood was threatened? A lot of men feel that way, and it would fit Barney. And, of course, by the time he’s with Robin and finds out she can’t have kids, it becomes unimportant. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/393 "2014-04-01T23:29:51Z")
> [@Darth\_Sensitive](#): > > Why did that man not get a vasectomy? C’mon. Because Barney was never completely opposed to fatherhood; he just didn’t want them until he’s in his '50s (& presumably in an open marriage with a 25 yr old Franco-Swedish trophy wife, live-in nanny, & a soundproof nursery). He took it for granted that him & Robin would have kids until she told him she was barren. ---
**Author:** ![tripthicket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripthicket/32/297_2.png) [@tripthicket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tripthicket)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/394 "2014-04-02T00:01:00Z")
Barney: “Sleep with 200+ women and not get a single one of them pregnant or catch any diseases?” **"CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!"** ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/395 "2014-04-02T00:05:39Z")
> [@Calatin](#): > > Has anyone pointed out that “TM” could also stand for “The Mother?” That was her name in the scripts, according to a tweet from Cobie Smulders, which I now can’t find so I assume she deleted it. TM = The Mother, but also Ted Moseby initials, and also consistently let her be called Tracy, which was apparently hinted at in an early episode. Quite clever, or lucky, depending on how you look at it. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/396 "2014-04-02T00:08:55Z")
I think maybe I have to sit with it for a while. I can see how Barney hasn’t thrown all his growth away. I can see how Robin and Ted could be right for each other _now_. ---
**Author:** ![Wash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9dc877/32.png) [@Wash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wash)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/397 "2014-04-02T00:13:42Z")
I’m very thankful for this thread. My wife and another friend HAAAAATED the finale, but I wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about it. The more I read, though, the more I like it. Sure there are some quibbles about execution, such as Tracy’s off-screen, glossed-over death, (especially seeing how fantastically adorable Cristin Milioti was in the role), but this story really has never been about her. The kids had it exactly right - Ted was finally ready to move on from the love of his life, his perfect match, and begin dating again, and he was using this story to gauge their permission, whether he was willing to admit it or not. There’s a reason the very first tale he told was how he met Aunt Robin - not just not Tracy, but also not Marshall, Lily, or Barney. I also agree that Barney’s growth was not thrown out the window. The divorce from the one woman he felt he had a chance at loving killed him, but we’d seen before how much he loved kids (blessing James’ wedding when he found out there was a baby). The writers found a way to show that, while life can be incredibly messy, all the characters involved eventually found what they wanted. Thanks for helping me figure out where I stood, guys. Much appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/398 "2014-04-02T00:34:22Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > It’s actually quite hard for a man (or woman) with no prior issue to get a vasectomy. Urologists don’t like doing them in case you have a change of heart and the process is irreversible. 1. No it isn’t. 2. A woman can’t get a vasectomy. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/399 "2014-04-02T00:57:42Z")
The entire series was about how the Mother was his perfect match but that he was in love with Robin. Ted got his perfect match and all the things he wanted but the Universe took her away so he went to the woman he loved. I would have been happy if Ted and Tracy lived Happily Ever After but I am also happy with how it did ended given that Tracy had to pass away. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560/400 "2014-04-02T01:05:03Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > The final season was amazingly well conceived and crafted, but here’s why the finale let me down. > > Robin doesn’t love Ted. Or, as the breakups say, she loves him, but she’s not IN LOVE with him. … Remember that Robin referred to Ted as the man she probably should have ended up with as she left the apartment goodbye party. I say this as an old married (several more years of my life married to the same woman than other years alive) and with some reluctance but it really is true: relationships mature and marriages are more about love than being in love. “In love” is passion and passion is great but it is not so often what sustains a relationship through decades, through illnesses and stress and fights and mistakes and more fights, to joys and despair and back to each … “love” is. “Love” more than “in love” is what gets you growing old together. Maybe a failed marriage based on being in love (which they had even as they were deciding to get divorced …) and some of the rest of life has Robin at a point that she is ready for love more than in love. Or not. But I would not see that as “settling.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560.md?page=19) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-final-season/669560.md?page=21)