How I Met Your Mother: Discussion Thread

[jcar03]

I saw certain aspects of this coming. Going back to last year's episode where Ted runs to the mother's apartment to tell her that he wants those extra 45 days with her. People brought up her possible death than. The episode where it is the mother's story, there was no voice over from her and of course the episode a few weeks ago where Ted got emotional when the mother said "what mother would miss her own daughter's wedding" pretty much nailed it in for me.

I thought the mother would be dead and Ted would be alone yet again. I think most people deep down had to realize that Ted and Robin were always the end game for the show.

[P.J.]

I guess I wasn't cynical enough to believe TIIC would kill off the woman Ted was searching for through nine seasons. They did too good a job showing me Ted and Robin weren't right for each other---and wouldn't ever be. I've read that this was the ending they wrote nine years ago and they stuck to it. It shows. I never bought the Ted/Robin thing, I never wanted them back together, and I was continually frustrated as Ted pitifully hung on to a woman who didn't--couldn't--and wouldn't love him.

Only to have it shoved down my throat in the last moments of the series. And now it really threatens my enjoyment of the reruns.

[DRW50]

PJ you may like this.

http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/series-finale-review-how-i-met-your-mother-last-forever-how-they-conned-us-all

[P.J.]

That expresses it perfectly. It's just like on soaps when TPTB predetermine who should be a couple instead of looking and seeing who has chemistry. Can you imagine what ATWT would have looked like if the original plan for Jack had been adhered to and he and Molly were "the" couple...and he had never even looked at Carly? That's exactly what this is. TIIC overthought it. That ending made sense before Robin hooked up with Barney the first time. It didn't make sense after having invested much more time in Robin's feelings for Barney than they ever did with her feelings for Ted. And from their comments, I just don't think they get it---how much they [!@#$%^&*] all over their own narrative and history to force the ending they wanted to tell instead of the one that flowed organically from the series' progress itself.

I'll never understand the fascination with Robin. Not from Ted, not from Barney, not from TPTB. I have to wonder if they really watched their show at all---because they never saw how cold and selfish Robin came off in the later seasons. And anytime someone called her on her crap, she went into me-me-me mode and whined about how they should really be feeling sorry for her. She NEVER thought about anyone else's feelings. The season of her shrieking PATRICE! every five minutes is a prime example of such blindness. It's grating, not funny.

I do wonder if this dissatisfaction is going to rub off on the reruns and the new show. Because before yesterday, before I saw the finale, I was literally binging on reruns on FXX or wherever I could find them. Today I tried to watch one of my favorite episodes, False Positive, and my teeth clenched every time any little "I'm trying to find the love of my life after Robin" moment came up.

Thanks. That article really gave me some peace of mind.

[Khan]

They're thinking the same way most soap scribes and producers think today: "If they're THIS p.o.'ed, then that must mean they care and we have done our jobs!" They always assume that a negative reaction is better than none at all. They never give their audiences credit for being more sophisticated.

[P.J.]

True. I think part of the reason I hate it so much is that I thought better of HIMYM. They forged a trust for so long because they insisted that Robin was not the mother and it wasn't going to change. Apparently, that just meant we never saw the fine print.

The Washington Post also has a good critique by Alyssa Rosenberg, which I guess I can't link. It calls Tracey the Macguffin---and boy is that on point.

[Khan]

I don't think I ever watched more than an episode or two of HIMYM, but it seems to me that while Ted/Robin was a thread that ran throughout the entire series, that didn't necessarily mean they HAD to end up together. Unless, of course, the "kids" he was talking to were his and Robin's. In either case, if a series is called "How I Met Your Mother," then it is fair for the audience to assume that that is, in fact, what the show is about, rather than "How I Met Your Mother...Who Ended Up Being Another Detour on the Path to My REAL Love, Your Aunt," which is pretty much what the series has become.

But, you know, I had issues with this series from the start, which is why I avoided watching it for the most part. I never liked or even understood the show's premise -- or at least the part of it that suggested that we would not get to know the identity of The Mother until way, way down the line (if at all). To me, it's absurd to have a romantic comedy series -- and IMO, that's what HIMYM was -- where the object of our protagonist's affections isn't even a player on the stage! To me, the story began with that moment on the subway platform with Tracy's distinctive yellow umbrella, and everything that happened over the previous 7 or 8 or however many seasons is what SHOULD have happened as Ted and Tracy, who is there from the start, go through the requisite ups and downs (with their circle of friends) on their journey toward the big nuptials at the series' conclusion.

I mean, it isn't the most clever, out-of-the-box premise for a series, for sure, and it probably means you can't call it HIMYM either. But it's also simple and clean and it puts greater emphasis on the characters -- the only element about a TV series, IMO, that an audience gives a [!@#$%^&*] about.

[P.J.]

Honestly, I think I just kind of fell into watching it because was cushioned between King of Queens and Two and a Half Men. When you start, you don't know it's going to be eight seasons before you "meet" the mother. It started out episode one telling us Robin was not the mother. And in season one Ted had a serious girlfriend--Victoria--but by the end had declared his (obvious) feelings for Robin.

I stayed because it was funny---I loved Marshall and Lily, I wanted Ted to find his girl, Barney brought the smarm and Robin was likeable. And a couple of times a season you got a really significant clue about The Mother. It was like a mystery, and every season you'd wonder if this was the season. This entire season was a disappointment---ironically not because a new character didn't fit with the show, but because she fit perfectly, but was still only in a handful of episodes. (13 of 24)

[lovely_m]

Looking back the only thing that really irks me now is the time wasted on Barney's storylines with Quinn and Nora. Robin's storylines with Kevin and Micheal Turcco's character weren't great either.

I knew that Barney was the "breakout" character, but the more time they gave to him the worse the series go to me.