How I Met Your Mother

Rewatching the show on TV, in season 7 right now. Yeah . . . that ending just comes across as total Sitcom fairytale BS. They should have kept Ted single at the end of the show and let him take joy in his kids.

There has already been plenty of discussion on how it could have worked out better. But I think ONE 30 second scene could have fixed everything, or at least a lot. have Robin come to babysit the kids while Ted goes to visit Tracy in the hospital during her last days.

It's funny because I am in an editing class and my mind is racing with how you could take quotes from across the entire series to better explain the point. One that comes to mind is Robin's speech to Ted in "Shelter Island," about how feelings don't disappear and that this was not the epic conclusion Ted deserved.

An excellent point. Part of the issue with the finale was the fact that Robin's interaction with the kids was complete and utterly telling and not showing, and the mother's death was comically not poignant. Doesn't fix the Barney/Robin divorce, but it would've made the episode so much better.

The only problem with the divorce was the inordinate amount of time they wasted on the wedding, but even that could be excused given just how much external shit went down during it. Like the argument and us finding out what Barney does for a living. Sure, they could have done it better, but . . .

How much better do you think it would have been if Barney and Robin eloped at the end of Season 8 (giving the implication that they may have rushed things) while season 9 would have dealt with the marriage falling apart while Ted has a season's worth of development with Tracy?

edited 30th Apr '14 10:37:21 AM by Lionheart0

The first time Barney & Robin got together, they broke up because they fought all the time, and that appears to be the reason they broke up the second time. But what I didn't get was, what were they fighting about? The second time the only "fight" we saw was over the fact that the hotel they were staying in didn't have Wi-Fi, so Barney couldn't update his blog, which apparently became his new "career" after leaving GNB.

I think they were fighting about more Robin being so away all the time. When she's off just doing her thing alone, Barney missed her and ultimately working from a long distance perspective. When Barney went with her, there was tons of things he was giving up that he didn't want to.

Exactly. When Barney's talking to Ted during the marriage, he acts very bitter about Robin being away so much. Remember, she wasn't away very much while the two of them were courting. She didn't become a real traveler until after the wedding. In nine seasons, we only saw her go away twice. Once when she moved to Japan, for one summer, and the other when she went to Argentina after breaking up with Ted. I may have reversed the order, but you get the point.

It's funny how you sometimes don't realize something until you write a trope entry for it. I wrote down an extensive entry on the HIMYM page about how brutally the finale deconstructs sitcom tropes like "Happily Ever After" and everything connected to that (including Grand Finales in general).

But while writing the entry I realized that Barney gave up A LOT of himself to be with Robin, he was foremost a person addicted to deceit, lies and manipulation in every aspect of his life. That's why fans love him and Ted admits early on he stuck with Barney because he always lead to a good story. So his character arc in the show sounds great, The Casanova becomes a Ladykiller in Love. But that's not who he is, and however much he loves Robin he had nothing but his blog to keep him occupied once he gives up everything that made Barney... Barney. His personality didn't change on his own accord, he did it to win over Robin. If she's not in the equation of course he is going to regress.

On the other hand having a daughter from a recent one-night-stand is a much more natural consequence from his lifestyle, his personality remained the same but he had someone new to channel his "awesomeness" towards.

Barney was kind of like Robin's dogs. He really just didn't belong in the situation she put upon him.

....Barney shoulda stayed with Nora...

That still wouldn't have worked, for the same reason Barney and Robin would never have lasted anyway: Barney is a deceitful sleeparound artist. Nora's whole point was breaking him of the deceit. He would have been changing just as much for her as he was for Robin.

Let's face it, him having a daughter was the ONLY way to change him. And doing it by a one night stand who was little more to him than a womb was a much more Barney way of doing it than taming him for the sake of one full grown woman.

It's actually the same line of thought among other shows that made me propose "Character A is Character A" as a YKTTW. It's the prevailing idea that character development leads to a completely different individual. While people can change, grow, and overcome their negative traits, there is a reason the person was like that. In some tv shows, certain characters go through so much character development they might as well be different characters by the end. There is nothing inherently wrong with that from a narrative/writing perspective, but there is something to be said for allowing a character to grow while still having the same traits.

It's like the first Iron Man movie, Tony went through a harrowing, life changing experience that made him consider his actions in a new light. He becomes more responsible and uses his intelligence for better causes but had the exact same "charming douchebag" personality while doing it.

Real or not, as in, is this the alternate ending Bay and Thomas promised to deliver for the Complete Series DVD?

Did you watch the video? Silly joke referencing The Simpson's Poochie

Fake then? Before you ask, I just watched it.

edited 3rd May '14 2:30:21 PM by HallowHawk

You know what's baffling about the finale, they never bothered looking for Tracy's (The Mother's) doppelgänger?

I apologize for double-postng.

edited 7th May '14 12:22:44 AM by HallowHawk

To be fair, there's only so much you can fit in. That's something that should be really low on the list of priorities.

Agreed. I believe that should be reserved for supplementary novels.

Oh she was already running around in New York, I think:

edited 7th May '14 5:55:25 PM by BorneAgain

CBS passes on How I Met Your Dad◊

Damnit, I wanted to watch the dad get killed in a rage inducing fashion!

Edit: I misinterpreted. They haven't decided to pick this up yet

edited 9th May '14 7:11:33 PM by NoName999

They've already seen how these folks handle endings, and our reaction. They might not pass, but they'd better think hard about the decision no matter which way they go.

HIMYM managed to hold enough of an audience to be worthwhile for almost a decade, it's just the ending they botched. If CBS remembers and makes these creators sign off on NOT doing that again, they might be able to rebuild trust and an audience.

Of course, these are executives we're talking about. There's a fair chance they'll rush things no matter what they sign into contract.

Well I for one won't be watching either way. What's the point? They'll probably trot out some lame troll ending that makes the entire series worthless.

I would have waited until the end of the first season at the earliest to watch How I Met Your Dad if it had come out. From what I read, I thought it was pretty boring and not worth the time.