How I Feel About (HIFA) HIMYM Finale

WARNING: SEVERE SPOILERS – if you haven’t watched it and don’t want me to ruin it for you, don’t read this.

I feel like my title is pretty misleading because truthfully, I don’t actually know how I feel towards the finale… I’m pretty conflicted. I don’t love it, I don’t hate it… but it definitely left me feeling like this

SUMMARY

(once again, don’t read on if you don’t want to know yet)

The gang is still at Robin’s wedding but Ted decides to leave during the dinner (how rude) to catch his train so he can go to Chicago. He spots Tracy (aka the “mother”) but doesn’t bother doing anything about it b/c he’s like “screw this, I’m leaving for Chicago tomorrow so ain’t nobody got time for dat.” HOWEVER, this cute but kinda annoying old lady was sitting beside him waiting for the train urging him to talk to her because she could be “The One”. So he finally talks to her and they come to realize that she once attended his “econ” class and he had her umbrella when she lost it yaddi yadda… from then, they obviously hit it off cause she’s almost as weird as he, and they get married and have two babies.

Now, here comes the more important parts of the finale. 3 years after Robin and Barney’s wedding, they went to Argentina (?) and decided that the two of them should get a divorce because Robin became a super successful reporter so she was travelling 24/7. Barney, being the clingy guy he never thought he would be, was extremely upset so it took a toll on their marriage. The gang still hung out but Robin was mainly MIA due to the reasons that I just told you. During these years, Barney went back to being the horny guy he was and hit on every single walking female out there.

Eventually, he got a girl prego whilst doing his magical month (a girl every day for 31 days) and that girl gave birth to another girl (are you following still?) and he basically falls in love with her (his child). Meanwhile, Tracy gets sick for unknown reasons and she passes away. So at this point, you see the two kids on the couch again going like, “OMFG you’re not telling this story because you wanted to tell us how you met Mom, but rather, you’re trying to hint to us about how you have a thing for Robin because this entire story was basically revolved around her.” And he’s kinda like, “yeah…” (okay, he said no but if you understand sarcasm you would know he said yeah). ANYWAY, his kids tell him to call up Robin but instead he went over to her house with that darn blue French horn to woo her like Romeo to Juliet but in a more failed way (since this isn’t his first time). And… yeah. That’s it. The ending basically implied that he got back with Robin.

THOUGHTS

Getting on to my thoughts/feelings… (I haven’t written an opinionated blog post so I’m actually quite excited right now) I decided to just tell you what I like/don’t like. You might not agree with some (or even all) of what I have to say because we all like different things (as you should, or we would all be walking around with an iPhone and a pink scarf) so… don’t read if there’s a chance you’ll get highly emotional over a potential conflict of opinions.

WHAT I LIKED

I know most people hate this, but personally, I actually quite liked the fact that they made Ted’s wife pass away. It was definitely more realistic than “he found his true love and they lived happily ever after, YAY!!!!!” (cause let’s be real, even Cinderella didn’t live happily ever after. Have you seen Cinderella 3 where the prince forgets her identity and the godmother loses her wand?! #NotHappilyEverAfter) I also actually quite like that he found someone afterwards because realistically, when you lose someone you love, you’re lonely more than anything. I wasn’t even pissed off about the fact that “omg so the entire show wasn’t actually about the Mother but about Robin?!” It made complete sense for me. I mean, if he was really talking about just their mother, he wouldn’t have started the show about meeting Robin.

WHAT I DISLIKED

However, I think the reason why I was kind of disappointed with the finale was how they conducted the story and how they reasoned the demise of Robin & Barney’s relationship. To me, the entire finale (not the last season, just the finale) seemed extremely rushed. If you’ve only watched the finale and not the rest of the season, this might not have affected you. But the entire last season was basically talking about one weekend. Then, for the finale, there was this one point where they talked about the next 7 (?) years or so within the span of < 45 minutes. It made me feel like either the weekend didn’t matter that much or the “big events” that they talked about weren’t really that big.

Also, even though I wasn’t entirely disappointed at Robin & Barney’s break up, I felt like they should’ve chosen another reason for them to part. Their relationship issues mainly revolved around lack of trust. That issue, in my opinion, is bigger than a “long distance” which wasn’t even really long distance because Barney travelled with her (and vacationed with her, I might add #WTFRUComplainingAbout). The way they walked away from their relationship with no additional effort or tears made it seem like it wasn’t a relationship worth fighting for. This was extremely conflicting for me because Barney gave up so much for Robin (his playbook, his past bad habits, the fact that he could give up not having kids #DudeThatsABigFreakingDeal) and now he’s saying that travelling with her around the world is difficult?!?! Uh… okay… #MakesNoSense. Furthermore, Barney easily went back to his old self and said to Lily, “this is just who I am and I can’t change” (or something along those lines) implied that people cannot change fundamental elements about themselves (which I definitely don’t agree). The demise of their relationship seemed to normalize divorce for not only couples but for soul mates which contradicts with the whole theme of the show. 

If I were one of the writers (btw don’t shoot me for this idea cause it’s just an idea), I would actually have made Barney pass away too to justify Robin & Ted getting back together. I would’ve left Barney fatally injured from a stunt because he was planning yet another huge surprise for Robin on their anniversary (like what he did for the proposal and rehearsal dinner). This not only makes viewers extremely emotional but also they would be able to leave Barney with a well deserved  legend – wait for it – DARY end.

I also didn’t like how they underplayed Marshall and Lily’s relationship. I feel like they were a huge part of many of their (Ted’s, Robin’s, Barney’s) decisions and outlooks in relationships so their “ending” (if you could even call it that) was a big disappointment. Remember that time when Lily left Marshall to go to San Fran? And their fight over Rome vs. USA? All these were huge issues (bigger than Robin & Barney’s long d crisis, IMO) so they (R&B) should’ve really turned towards M&L for relationship advice. I feel like if they were going to do a plot twist with Ted and Robin, they should’ve at least given us the satisfaction of an epic happy ending with Marshmallow and Lilypad. But that’s just my opinion.

Anywhooooooo, like I said, this was really just my opinion. I know a lot of people would’ve preferred him and Tracy ending up happily ever after, but this is the 21st century, yo. Even freaking Disney movies don’t have happy endings anymore. I mean, did you watch Frozen?! That movie basically gave me bipolar disorder because I didn’t know how to feel about that guy with 12 brothers. Overall, I’m really borderline with how the finale went down. I definitely liked the realism of the ending but thought they should’ve conducted it better. Ted did get his true love, but the story was really him communicating with his kids and him finding his own happiness. I mean, if you really wanted a show about their mother… Do not fear! Another show is here! (I’m talking about another show revolving around Tracy)

Love,
Lisa

PS. Shout out to my bestie Theresa who got me addicted to this show <3