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I have it from a VERY reliable source that Marshall is not in the final episode. His last day on set was before it was shot.

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lolz at slickwilly107

I watched Season 1 on Netflix, then the finale. Do I even bother watching the other seasons?

The finale to me didn't seem too bad, but I didn't invest too much time in the series, and I haven't watched a single episode (besides the finale) of the final season.

Although, I kind of called it: he would end up getting Robin.

BAMATAB IS A WITCH! BURN HIM!

Yes

There are some dud episodes but it's an awesome series. My favorite show hands down.

I didn't have a problem with the finale.

The theme throughout the whole series was that Robin wanted her career, and Ted wanted to get married and have kids, so they basically agreed they couldn't be together.

After Ted's wife died, he had been able to get married and have kids, Robin had been able to have her career, and they could be together without having to sacrifice any of that.

If you're mad that they killed off Ted's wife so quickly...what else would you expect? They weren't going to introduce her in the very last season and then suddenly just forget about Ted and Robin.

I liked it.

I always figured from season 1 that Ted and Robin would somehow end up together. Didn't quite expect it to be this way.

hmmm. I wonder who called it first...

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AgMarauder04
03/25/13


We learned we meet the Mom in 45 days, and did I read that she dies kinda young?

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http://mobile.texags.com/Forums/13/Topics/2142154?page=13

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Clarkface9:06a, 10/21/09


Does anyone see the mother dying once she gives birth? I don't know if this has been discussed here before, but it would kind of tie into why it is only Ted telling the story to his children.

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I think the comparison to the mom losing the love of her life are a great example of why the finale failed. The mom's episode was well written, well paced, and Miloti knocked it out of the park. It was one of the best episodes of the show and in 22 minutes showed her complete journey of mourning someone, dealing with it and moving on. And then the finale...

"It's been 6 years dad, ask Robin out already!"

"Ok."

WTF??? It was horribly done in comparison.

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I watched Season 1 on Netflix, then the finale. Do I even bother watching the other seasons?

The finale to me didn't seem too bad, but I didn't invest too much time in the series, and I haven't watched a single episode (besides the finale) of the final season.

Although, I kind of called it: he would end up getting Robin.

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I actually told someone else that I would have been ok with this ending after season 2, but they spent 7 more years making me hate Ted and Robin's romantic relationship and making me want Ted to be happy instead of being with Robin.

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False. Because he wouldn't have been telling the story because he wouldn't have had any kids. He loved the mother and it's not like he dumped her to be with Robin. She had been dead for 6 years and he decided to move on.

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Not true.

As you stated:

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Everything was about Robin since Ted saw her across the bar.

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Hence no need to ever introduce the mother nor have Ted get married. He didn't marry the mother for 5 years, for a reason (which was completely out of character for Ted).

All he had to do was wait for Robin and Barney to get divorced and then crawl back to her for the thousandth time.

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The finale to me didn't seem too bad, but I didn't invest too much time in the series, and I haven't watched a single episode (besides the finale) of the final season.

Although, I kind of called it: he would end up getting Robin.

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Watch it only if you want to waste a good portion of your life. The whole series builds up to Ted meeting the mother. The writers drop tons of hints and events are tied back into a Mom that doesn't actually matter to the series.

Here are all 9 seasons for you:

Ted loves robin. Robin dumps ted. Robin falls for Teds best friend. Ted mopes around for 4-5 years. Robin and Teds best friend get married. Ted settles for a woman he never wanted. Robin gets divorced. Teds back-up dies. Ted crawls back to the woman that never really wanted him in the first place.

fin

Dang.

Except Ted and Robin break up because Ted wants to have kids, and Robin doesn't. And Ted didn't "settle" for Tracy, he loved her and they were perfect for each other.

When she died, Ted made a decision to move on, just like she had done before they got together.

SockAg makes it sounds much worse than it actually was.

For me Ted ending up with Robin wasn't nearly the biggest issue with the show. So much just felt forced into trying to fit into that predetermined storyline though and I just don't think it allowed for natural character development.

I also don't get why you would spend so much time on a wedding that ended up mattering little. The last season felt mostly pointless now. Speaking of which...the mother felt pointless to me outside of providing an origin for the two children Ted is telling the story to.

All in all I just felt like the writing the last few years was weak. I think the fact that they had an ending predetermined forced them into fitting puzzle pieces where they really didn't fit will instead of letting these characters develop in a more natural fashion.

Agree with Spilner. Sockag's synopsis is a little over the top.

The actual story isn't terrible, but to call the execution ham-fisted would be a compliment.

It was like watching a bull high five himself for being able to tiptoe through a china shop, completely ignoring the trail of broken glass and dead puppies.

I have no idea why there were puppies in the china shop, but thats how it played out.

Yeah somewhere in those 9 seasons there is a good story.

Post from reddit from a guy who I thought echoed my sentiments exactly.

The story that Ted tells across the entire series is inconsistent with its overall purpose, which comes across as extremely bad storytelling. The entire story is structured to imply that Tracy is the love of Ted's life, and that the series is about meeting her. So, you can basically choose between one of two scenarios. (1) The story is actually about meeting Tracy. All of the moments that propel Ted toward her (e.g., Lucky Penny, As Fast As She Can) are actually the most important moments in Ted's life, as Tracy is truly the love of his life. In order to be ready to meet her, Ted had to get over Robin (as was hammered in in Seasons 7-9). This makes Tracy's death tragic. Moreover, the finale misses the point of the series and instead focuses on Ted running to Robin. (2) The story is actually about Ted loving Robin. As such, him running to her at the end is appropriate. However, this makes all the vast majority of the series extremely bad storytelling. Episodes like Lucky Penny and As Fast as She Can were NOT, in fact, the most important moments of Ted's life, because Tracy was not the love of his life--Robin is. So, either the finale is bad, or the rest of the series is bad. But they don't work together.

The ending nullified all of the character growth we've seen since S2. Barney, Robin, and Ted all reverted to their former selves. Five seasons were wasted on Barney and Robin's relationship, which was unceremoniously discarded less than 20 minutes after they married. Barney, who finally learned to love, gained some character, and wrote "the last play he'd ever need" (the Robin), was reverted to a creepy 40-year-old version of the guy he was in seasons 1-3. Robin, who also finally learned to love and receive love, was reverted to the cautious, defensive workaholic she was in early seasons. In the past 3 seasons, the show explicitly and heavy-handedly told us that Ted's mission was to get over Robin in order to find his soul mate. The ending undid all of that progress. Just like the episodes that propelled Ted toward the mother, the episodes involving character growth for Barney, Robin, and Ted, were all meaningless. You could cut out the past 6 seasons, and the ending would be better.

The finale was dark and depressing. This was a comedy that spanned more than 200 episodes and had--what?--less than 10 sad episodes? Yet the finale was a depressing mess. Not only did the titular mother die. Robin's life for more than 15 years was a living nightmare---she picked the wrong man and ended up alone for most of her 30s and 40s. Barney slipped into a depressing, pathological life of hitting on women less than half of his age. The group that we had come to know as Aunts and Uncles became mostly estranged friends who rarely saw each other. Reading between the lines, most of the characters we've come to know were lonely 50-somethings with only their spouses are close friends by the series' end. Perhaps they had happy moments. But the finale highlighted all of their lows over 17 years of their lives. That's depressing and not an appropriate goodbye for a comedy.

And yet people complain when the producers of a show don't have it planned out to the minutiae.

I liked it. Was the reason Ted told the story hamfisted to get his kids' support, of course. Did he love Tracy with all of this heart, even more so. He moved on after she passed and wanted his kids' permission to do so. Doesn't really change the show for me, actually I appreciate some of the other scenes moreso now.

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hmmm. I wonder who called it first...

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AgMarauder04
03/25/13


We learned we meet the Mom in 45 days, and did I read that she dies kinda young?

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http://mobile.texags.com/Forums/13/Topics/2142154?page=13

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I went back and watched that episode where he said he'd spend 45 more days or even 45 more seconds with her if he could. After seeing that part again it is clear that he didn't settle for the mother and she was the one for him. I wish they would have found a way to remind us of that during the finale.

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After seeing that part again it is clear that he didn't settle for the mother and she was the one for him. I wish they would have found a way to remind us of that during the finale.

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Yep. This is why I keep saying, just one extra scene would've gone a long way. Maybe Tracy in her deathbed, making Ted promise to move on after her death, or Ted looking up at the sky and asking if it's ok to move on before knocking on Robin's door, or even a short funeral scene. Just...something.

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Except Ted and Robin break up because Ted wants to have kids, and Robin doesn't. And Ted didn't "settle" for Tracy, he loved her and they were perfect for each other.

When she died, Ted made a decision to move on, just like she had done before they got together.

SockAg makes it sounds much worse than it actually was.

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To each their own. I am happy for the people that enjoyed it and liked the ending because you can keep enjoying the show. I honestly think that is great.

I do, however, disagree with everything you said because at the end of the day, the mother never had to enter the picture. It never mattered the Ted got married.

The showrunners tried to turn Ted/Robin into Ross/Rachel and it just never worked. It would have worked, as many have pointed out, if this had ended after 4-5 seasons.

But all of the character development that occured for Barney, Robin and Ted was basically erased with the finale. That is what is most dissapointing for me. That, again, everythign that the show put forward simply didn't matter because the first episode could have easily been the very last episode.

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I went back and watched that episode where he said he'd spend 45 more days or even 45 more seconds with her if he could. After seeing that part again it is clear that he didn't settle for the mother and she was the one for him. I wish they would have found a way to remind us of that during the finale.

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If this would have happened a year or two after she died and he was still mourning her or something similar, it would have been good. The way it came off though, was it was a more of a love story about Robin. All they had to do was cut the blue horn and Robin part out and the finale gets WAY better.

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And yet people complain when the producers of a show don't have it planned out to the minutiae.

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Some people think different things while some people are hypocritical. Not sure this should be surprising.

I think having an idea where you want to go is great. It gives direction. However when you it becomes absolute and everything has to fit in with the ending you've already created it can get messy especially in a show as long as this one has gone on.

Look at Breaking Bad. They had a rough idea where they wanted it to go but were willing to modify to fit the progression of the characters. They even admitted they weren't sure what they wanted to do with the machine gun when they first showed it.

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I wish they would have found a way to remind us of that during the finale.

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Would have made the mother feel like she had more of a reason for existing to me for sure.

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But all of the character development that occured for Barney, Robin and Ted was basically erased with the finale.

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Absolutely agreed.

[This message has been edited by Fenrir (edited 4/1/2014 3:26p).]

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All they had to do was cut the blue horn and Robin part out and the finale gets WAY better.

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all they had to do was:

-keep bob sagat voice
-cut the robin and barney crap
-keep mom alive
-"kids, that's how I met your mother"
-credits

That's it. 99% of the viewers would have been happy.

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That's it. 99% of the viewers would have been happy.

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Disagree. The words "safe" and "predictable" would likely have been thrown around quite a bit on this thread.

we're the 1%

I never really "bought" Robin and Barney. I liked that the one woman Barney could really fall in love with was his daughter.

I have no idea why they had ted not marry the mother for five years. That was stupid.

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I went back and watched that episode where he said he'd spend 45 more days or even 45 more seconds with her if he could. After seeing that part again it is clear that he didn't settle for the mother and she was the one for him. I wish they would have found a way to remind us of that during the finale.

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I'm having a hard time remembering when this was. What episode was this?

It was a few episodes before the season finale last year.

The thing I hated about the finale is that Robin and Ted were the close, but never gonna work couple. They were compatible on 97% of things but the remaining 3% were deal breakers. And so much of the show dealt with the fact that Ted was grappling to find someone who had that extra 3% because it'd be worth the wait. For those of you saying the story was more about his relationship with Robin, to me that was always close but no cigar.

If I'd been his kid, I'd have said, "Dad, she's great, but you can do better. You have done better. Robin's not for you."

The last episode felt so enormously rushed so that they could get us to this payout that really just wasn't that good anyway. Frankly, you look into his future with Robin, and they're gonna probably gonna call it off in a couple months anyway, because Robin has more attachment issues than teflon.

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That's it. 99% of the viewers would have been happy.

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Disagree. The words "safe" and "predictable" would likely have been thrown around quite a bit on this thread.

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It's a freakin' sitcom, a word synonymous with safe and predictable.

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Does anyone see the mother dying once she gives birth? I don't know if this has been discussed here before, but it would kind of tie into why it is only Ted telling the story to his children.

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um, huh? the 18 - 20ish girl said she'd been dead for six years. she'd at least been a pre-teen or abouts.

edit: oh, maybe that quote was from before the finale...

[This message has been edited by annie88 (edited 4/1/2014 4:40p).]

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Does anyone see the mother dying once she gives birth? I don't know if this has been discussed here before, but it would kind of tie into why it is only Ted telling the story to his children.

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um, huh? the 18 - 20ish girl said she'd been dead for six years. she'd at least been a pre-teen or abouts.

edit: oh, maybe that quote was from before the finale...

[This message has been edited by annie88 (edited 4/1/2014 4:40p).]

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that quote was from five years ago, anne.