People Hated the Finale of How I Met Your Mother. Those People are Wrong.
Beloved sitcom, How I Met Your Mother, ended it's legen-- wait for it-- dary, nine year run Monday night with a series finale that was… divisive, and that's putting it mildly. As soon as the show ended, people fucking lost their shit, you guys. Seriously, it was like series creators, Craig Thomas and Carter Bays, decided to air 45 minutes of people mercilessly slaughtering puppies. It was ridiculous. So much hate and vitriol spewed by people. So many cries of how this finale ruined the show for people who I assume, loved it before. I don't get it. I think this finale was almost perfect and really encapsulated the spirit of the show and why it worked so well for so many years. Read on as I explain to you why you are wrong about how awful the series finale of HIMYM was.
Barney and Robin got married… and divorced. So, one of the things that peeps were seriously pissed about is that after a season of getting them to the altar, Barney and Robin called it quits during the first hour. To be fair, they lasted three years. I get that there are "shippers" out there and they really wanted to see Barney and Robin end up together. I was not one of those people. It didn't make sense for them to stay together. It just seemed counter to who the characters were deep down inside. They did their best. Their hearts just weren't in it and I ALWAYS got that from them. It was in the writing, it was in their portrayals, it was in the show. No one should be shocked that their marriage only lasted three years, and the way they came to the decision to divorce is very Barney and Robin. Also, this divorce brings some of the best material of the finale, as Robin distances herself from the gang. That conversation between Lily and Robin was a gut punch, in the best way. Lily was her optimistic self, but Robin interjected some harsh reality. The gang for Robin is a married couple who is having their third baby, her horny ex-husband, and the love of her life with the pretty fabulous mother of his children. As a 31-year-old, I can tell you, this is the way it goes. Friendships change and things aren't the same as they were and I thought this was a really great way of illustrating that.
The Mother Dies and Ted ends up with Robin. Oh boy. People are probably the most pissed about this. I don't really understand why. First off, they basically tipped their hand that Tracy aka the Mother was going to die three episodes ago. So, why so mad? "They spent this whole year making us love her and then they kill her?" people shouted, enraged. My response? Duh. Isn't that what good television shows do? If you didn't care about Tracy because of this past season, then you wouldn't care about Ted's relationship with her. The writers and producers did their job. Just because she died and SIX YEARS LATER, Ted, with the blessing of his children, decides the time is right for him and Robin doesn't negate the relationship that Ted has with Tracy.
There are some criticisms that I can get behind. Barney reverting back to the womanizing man whore was a little disheartening, but it did lead to some great stuff like the Playbook 2 and his perfect month. It also led to the birth of his daughter Ellie and the moment where Barney declares her the love of his life. That scene was so beautifully acted that I'm hoping that it will finally net Neil Patrick Harris the Emmy that has eluded him these past nine years.
The bottom line is that this is not your story. It's not my story. It's the story that Craig Thomas and Carter Bays wanted to tell and they closed it the way that they wanted to from the beginning of the series, basically. That ending sequence with Ted's kids was filmed around season two or season three. This was always in the cards. You can feel betrayed or whatever, but that's ridiculous. For me, this wasn't the story of how Ted met the mother of his kids or her identity. Honestly, if that was the point of the show, they would have revealed her years ago. It wasn't about how Barney and Robin found lasting love together. This show was about a group of adult friends navigating life's changes together and growing and learning. It was a show about fate and ultimately, about how, in life, timing really is everything. When you look at the finale through that lens, it is reallly successful and one of the best series finales I have ever seen.
One last thing, if you are one of those people who went on social media and railed and raged about how this finale ruined the show for you and you wasted all this time watching it for no reason, then you weren't really a fan of the show in the first place. That kind of response is ridiculous. A bad episode, even if it's the last episode, should not sour your entire experience watching a show. Listen, the final episode of The X-Files was turrible. It was bloated and confusing and made almost no sense. Yet, I still enjoy watching the show. It hasn't dimmed any of my affection for the characters and the other fantastic episodes that the show produced. So, stop being so fucking melodramatic people. It's not like this finale was Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, for fuck's sake.
So, let me have it. Why am I wrong? Spew your rage at me. Or do you agree with me? Let me know in the comments.
No comments:
Post a Comment