"How I Met Your Mother" [final season]

[Happy_Lendervedder]

@Really_Not_All_That_Bright

I am against any whiff of it that reads as though the writers stuffed it in at the end. I am not opposed to Ted and Robin ending up together on principle.

I agree that the way it went down was “stuffed in” after Robin and Barney’s wedding. That’s why my alternative has the wedding over after episode 1 (maybe 2). Then the rest of the season shows Ted and the gang’s life over the next 15 years, culminating with Ted and Robin reconnecting. Spread, not stuffed.

I guess I’m not getting what you think is awful about the original conclusion, besides the “stuffed in” feeling.

[Fair_Rarity]

Had the last few seasons and episodes been done well, I could have been ok-ish with Robin and Ted again. But it was done so badly. Agonizing.

[epolo]

It feels like forever ago that I watched this but I really never got the hate for the ending. I understand the “rushed” complaint but I think no matter how it ended we would have felt like we wanted more time with these characters - that just means the characters were well drawn. Also I think the fact that I (and others here) watched it on streaming all in a rush adds to the rushed feeling. That’s on us for not being able to pace ourselves.

But the “fucked with” complaint I don’t get. You are supposed to feel fucked with. Like the smash to black at the end of the Sopranos, the writers are very clearly telling us “to hell with your expectations for what this narrative is supposed to be; this is the truth for these characters”. And I quite like the twist that Ted and Robin end up together but aren’t each others’ “the one”. In real life there isn’t a “the one”. I think it’s really quite a daring (for a network sitcom) celebration of the fact that love can take lots of different forms besides “happily ever after”.

[Fenris]

1. For me, Robin and Ted had…anti-chemistry. They had no goals, interests, opinions or even attitudes in common. They enjoyed fucking each other and that was about it. Even during the…what…half-season where they were an actual couple (and not just secret fuck-buddies) I don’t think they worked.

1a) “The One” or not, what’s gonna happen when old-Ted (after the final episode) does some typically mushy over-the-top romantic thing for old-Robin for their 6 months of dating? Answer? She’ll blow a gasket just like she does every time he does a typically Ted stupid, over-the-top romantic gesture. Now multiply that by “every day of their lives”. This is not the formula for a happy relationship.

2. Robin and Barney worked. Barney’s proposals, romantic gestures were what Robin wanted/needed.

3. Any ending where Robin and Ted end up together is just a bad one dooming two characters to a miserable lives

[oft_wears_hats]

Ted ending up with Robin at the end wasn’t really the problem, IMO. The problem was how they stretched Robin and Barney’s wedding into an entire season, and then dashed through the epilogue where everything changes dramatically. It seems like that plot was intended from the very beginning, but I suspect that the network insisted on a ninth season when the showrunners wanted to wrap it up in eight. That, or executive meddling was directly responsible for the extreme focus on the wedding, rather than pacing things more smoothly.

Since the wedding and epilogue were pretty much all that was left, they stretched the wedding to fill up the entire ninth season. Not to mention that Ted getting over Robin has been a major recurring theme throughout the series. They even shoehorned in another “Ted gets over Robin, again” episode in Season 9. All of that underscored the importance of Robin and Barney’s coupling, making their near-immediate divorce feel like a practical joke.

It could have been executed better, and given the major changes they were making in the final moments, it really should have been.

[Happy_Lendervedder]

@oft_wears_hats

Ted ending up with Robin at the end wasn’t really the problem, IMO. The problem was how they stretched Robin and Barney’s wedding into an entire season, and then dashed through the epilogue where everything changes dramatically. It seems like that plot was intended from the very beginning, but I suspect that the network insisted on a ninth season when the showrunners wanted to wrap it up in eight. That, or executive meddling was directly responsible for the extreme focus on the wedding, rather than pacing things more smoothly.

Since the wedding and epilogue were pretty much all that was left, they stretched the wedding to fill up the entire ninth season. Not to mention that Ted getting over Robin has been a major recurring theme throughout the series. They even shoehorned in another “Ted gets over Robin, again” episode in Season 9. All of that underscored the importance of Robin and Barney’s coupling, making their near-immediate divorce feel like a practical joke.

It could have been executed better, and given the major changes they were making in the final moments, it really should have been.

So I bumped this thread with a proposed re-do of the final season that addressed this issue.

In my re-write, my season 9 gimmick would be to have the season premiere be a two-parter consisting of the wedding and Ted’s titular meeting of Tracey, concluding with Ted’s line “And that, kids is how I met your mother.” Basically, close the first episode with the alternate ending. Then the remaining 20-odd episodes of the season would be an epilogue (there’s my gimmick). Each episode would cover a different year-- then we get to experience Robin and Barney’s struggles, divorce and aftermath (not rushed); Ted’s and Tracey’s birth of their kids, wedding and life together (gives us a glimpse at how perfect they are together); Tracey’s diagnosis and death (not glossed over, gives us the audience some closure); and finally a little of Ted’s life without Tracey (to make us appreciate Ted’s and the kids’ motivation for him going back after Robin).

Then the series finale: Cut back to Ted saying “And that, kids, is how I met your mother.” Then the camera goes to the kids on the couch saying "Dad, this has been the story about you being in love with Aunt Robin, etc. The rest of the episode is about Ted tracking her down and the two of them reconnecting. Will they become an item after all these years? Maybe, maybe not. And scene. Blue horn optional.

Basically, they shouldn’t have spread out the wedding weekend so much, and then rushed through Ted’s and Tracey’s life together. They should have done one (or two) episodes of the wedding weekend, and then done a season-long look into Ted’s (and the gang’s) life after meeting The Mother. A season-long epilogue. They could’ve even had episodes dedicated to fleshing out the other characters’ lives in the ensuing years (Marshall’s run for office, Robin’s globetrotting and love life, Barney’s fatherhood, etc).

Would this have been better? Basically, Ted stops narrating the story after the two meet in the season premiere, and every other episode is just a glimpse into their lives over the next 15 years (“Epilogue: 2016,” “Epilogue: 2021,” “Epilogue: 2024 Pt 1 & 2),” etc.). So instead of 15 years crammed into what seemed like 15 minutes, it would be spread out over 22 episodes.

[Fenris]

@Happy_Lendervedder

So I bumped this thread with a proposed re-do of the final season that addressed this issue.

Would this have been better? Basically, Ted stops narrating the story after the two meet in the season premiere, and every other episode is just a glimpse into their lives over the next 15 years (“Epilogue: 2016,” “Epilogue: 2021,” “Epilogue: 2024 Pt 1 & 2),” etc.). So instead of 15 years crammed into what seemed like 15 minutes, it would be spread out over 22 episodes.

You still end up with Ted and Robin together…two people who have never sustained a relationship more than about…what…8 or so consecutive episodes (summer breaks don’t count)? And who can’t stand each other’s ideas of romance/caring/etc. She thinks that romantically, he’s a mushy wimp and he thinks she’s a semi-emotionless bitch (and they’re both kinda right).

Ted would be better off with Zoe (and I hated Zoe) because at least he wouldn’t feel obligated to be nice to her.

[oft_wears_hats]

@Happy_Lendervedder

So I bumped this thread with a proposed re-do of the final season that addressed this issue.
Would this have been better? Basically, Ted stops narrating the story after the two meet in the season premiere, and every other episode is just a glimpse into their lives over the next 15 years (“Epilogue: 2016,” “Epilogue: 2021,” “Epilogue: 2024 Pt 1 & 2),” etc.). So instead of 15 years crammed into what seemed like 15 minutes, it would be spread out over 22 episodes.

I was mainly replying to those who said that the ending wasn’t jerking the viewer around. I don’t know if I would have liked your idea more or less, but I probably wouldn’t have thought it was screwing around as much as I felt the canonical ending was.