How I Met Your Mother

[GirlyGhoul]

I'm bummed my version didn't pan out:

Jan 23, 2014 11:25:40 GMT -4 GirlyGhoul said:

That would be a twist. The only thing is the way he's talked to the kids over the years, I've always gotten the impression that 'Aunt Robin' is just someone who comes in and out of their lives and not a steady fixture (as in live in girlfriend or even stepmom). There was an episode where Robin had a conversation with the kids she never had. What if Ted's been talking to imaginary kids all along and is really locked in a mental ward where everyone else in his click are also patients or even doctors. And Robin is his doctor which is why his relationship with her has always been so intimate and yet ultimately unfulfilling. And the mother is really HIS mother whom he has such unresolved issues with that it's taken the whole series for Dr. Robin to piece his sanity back together. But he always keeps looping back to things like the blue French horn and the yellow umbrella and never really uncovering the trauma that landed him in the psyche ward in the first place. Which is that his mother always forced him to practice his French horn at the exclusion of having any friendships or girlfriends until one day he snapped and beat her to death a yellow umbrella. Barney doesn't exist at all but is instead his Tyler Durden who lives the carefree life he's always longed for. The kids are the radiator and toilet in his cell and Marshall and Lily are two squirrels he sees outside his window now and again. Yeah.

And that's officially more thought than I've ever given to HIMYM during it's entire run.

Heh. But that said- I haven't kept up with the show in the past couple seasons, so really I'm not involved enough to be angry or feel like the entire series was ruined for me (I'll save that level of hate for Supernatural!) At the same time, I'm not digging how they blatantly said the viewers were wrong in guessing that the mother died... and then turned out to be lying liers who lie. Why not just say 'Wait and see.' and accept that the viewers are intelligent people who often can see a 'twist' coming from miles away.

The article Borokat linked above goes on about how they had locked themselves into this ending by filming the kids' reactions years ago... But really, why would they have to be locked into anything just because of that? Yeah, they filmed the kids so they wouldn't age... But let them age by golly. I mean that was a loooooooooong story Ted told in Bob Saget's voice. They could have had any ending they wanted, then had the kids sitting on the couch aged actors and all saying: 'Wow Dad. You couldn't have shortened that up a bit? I mean, I feel like we've aged 10 years just sitting here!' Problem solved.

Or go with Ted in a mental ward ;-)!

[jynni]

Or, you know, maybe they should've just filmed the kids' reactions for multiple possible endings. Wouldn't have been too hard for writers who fancy themselves so clever.

[scarlet]

I've never watched the show but am fascinated by the finale fallout. Honestly, saying "this was planned all along--psych!" is so lame. There is nothing to say they were locked into that ending at all. Shows evolve with time; chemistry between actors and/or characters develop and the direction can change. Hell, if someone had asked Kevin Williamson how Dawson's Creek would've ended in the first season he would've said "oh, for sure with Dawson and Joey together."

[kali]

The whole thing was just kind of gross to me. It came off like the mother was nothing but a placeholder. And even her own kids are eye rolling over having to hear about her and cheering their dad on to go hook up with their "aunt". Just uncomfortable and tone-deaf to me.

How I Settled For Your Mother While Pining Over Your Aunt.

[Laira]

I liked the Mother better than Robin, so I'm hoping she just faked her death and went underground to get away from the Jerk!Pack.

[prada]

I don't understand why people insist Ted kept pinning for Robin while he was with the mother. It was obvious to me that once she entered the picture he had eyes only for her. He truly did let Robin go and lived happy life with Tracy. When she passed away it took him 6 years to tell his kids the story about meeting their mom, which to me indicates it took him a long time to mourn. The kids mentioned Robin coming over for dinner a bit so it's not outside the realm of possibility that old feelings resurfaced. One of the main issues with T&R was timing and they had finally reached a point in their lives where they could work.

I liked it and understood why it ended the way it did. The kids didn't need to hear much about the mother because I am sure Ted had 6 years to reminisce with them about her and they were present for a while and saw how much he loved her and vice versa. Tracy and Robin were Ted's great loves just like Max and Ted were Tracy's. The last show to me was that you can totally have more than one love of your life.

[Ella]

That's the way I felt but you said it perfectly said Prada.

[bitca]

Apr 1, 2014 1:54:21 GMT -4 ratscabies said:

ETA: I was actually disappointed that fake gray-haired Ted wasn't lip-synching to a Saget Voiceover.

ME TOO! When they showed the final shot with the kids and Ted paused for a sec, I was waiting for iiiiiiiiiit. That was a waste.

I also didn't really even care for The Mother until this last episode. (Probably because we didn't even SEE much of her.) And then they kill her. And then Ted goes back to Robin. Again. How I Met Your Egg Donor. I could have just watched the pilot and the finale, not wasted nine years, and have been fine. You sonsabitches.

Yes. I'm glad we wasted an entire season on Barney and Robin's wedding only for it to be nothing in a couple years time. I would have rather we got a season with The Mother. Granted, yes, it was "How I Met..." but it would have been nice for us viewers to see them, I don't know, happy for a while, instead of it being stuffed into a one hour episode.

I stopped loving this show a while ago, but still watched it when I'd watched everything else on my DVR. I wanted to see how it ended. It ended with how it started. Ted being a dipshit. haha. (And what the hell even happened to Robin's hair at the end? That was an atrocity. But she did look great in that aqua dress.)

[kali]

Apr 1, 2014 18:46:18 GMT -4 prada said:

I don't understand why people insist Ted kept pinning for Robin while he was with the mother.

For me, the show started with Ted/Robin, ended with Ted/Robin, and we even had the kids saying that the story wasn't about their mother, but about how he was majorly hot for their Aunt Robin. It's hard not to see Tracy as a placeholder when even the writers are telling us this series was actually about Ted and Robin.

[cabbagekid]

I wasn't an avid viewer of HIMYM, I binge-watched the first 3 seasons on Netflix, then kind of got tired of the Ted/Robin relationship, but I always figured, they'd somehow end up together at the very end. The only issue I had with the finale was the fact that Robin/Barney's relationship literally ended in the same episode as Ted/Robin getting back together. I get it, Ted/Robin didn't get back together until MANY years later, but the change in years was told to us. The reunion of Ted/Robin was about ten (?) years after Robin/Barney's relationship ended, this was "show reality," but in viewers reality, this was actually a matter of minutes.

Other shows have partnered the significant other with another main character, like Friends with Joey/Rachel (and Dawson's Creek with Pacey/Joey). I knew the show wasn't going to pull a DC and pull a switch to who the main character ends up with, but I did have hopes they would have handled it as well or better than Friends did. The difference being, Joey/Rachel's relationship was dealt with early on in the final season which paved the way for the inevitable ending of Ross/Rachel so by the time that Ross/Rachel ending happened, viewers already had time to get over Joey/Rachel. The other thing Friends did better than HIMYM, Ross/Rachel never felt one-sided (except for maybe Season 1), but the first 3 seasons of HIMYM were filled with Ted obsessing about Robin, it felt very one-sided. I just never saw that Robin was as into Ted as he was with her.

This series was really great, but maybe it went on tad too long for it to be able to sustain it's quality? This is why I've always been a strong advocate (with my friends) for shows, especially dramas, to work within a time frame. I know "show writing" is a lot different than writing a novel, but knowing the beginning and ending of a show, and trying to fill in the middle based off of how many seasons a network gives you, just throws the story off it's axis. And sometimes, depending on how the middle was done, it affects your ending. I feel like this is what should have happened with this show, but it didn't. Maybe they should have spent half the season with ted ending up with the "mom" and the other half with them working it back towards Robin? Putting Ted with Robin just felt so rushed.