How I Met Your Mother

Of course it did. They did fuck up the ending, even if it was just by rushing it.

You can't lay waste to an entire season's story in ten minutes flat and not suffer the consequences.

Now, moving away from the (well-deserved) negativity train for a bit...

For a lark (haha!) I started the series over again and noticed some pretty cool Fridge Brilliance in the first episode. When they flashback to Barney's first meeting with Ted, there's a cigarette burning noticeably in the foreground... cigarettes have been banned in NYC bars since 2003. This is a neat little way of establishing that the scene is taking place at least two years before the show.

Anyway, I thought it was a cool, subtle little detail.

With semester done, I started watching the series again, season 6 and on.

I feel sorry for the Captain. Then again, considering how Zoey turns out, maybe it's better for him.

Also, Nora is pretty cute...but...haha, ha.....

I also thought Wendy the waitress was really nice. :/

I finished up to season 7 now.

....Okay, romantic arcs are becoming more and more frustrating.

On the other hand, personal character arcs, such as Lily and Marshall's parenting, Ted's architect career, Robin's career, they tend to be far more intriguing.

Thinking back on it, we probably should have predicted the kids' calmly infuriating reaction at the end. They heard the horrible story of what their dad did to that woman on her birthday, twice, and the only thing they got out of it was that their dad was beaten up by a woman.

Yeah...I haven't seen the ending yet, but if I were the kids, I would have been...pretty disappointed in Ted.

...You know, I should call my dad.

I think another main problem in later seasons in general is that the kids had something of a presence in the first two seasons because they filmed actual footage of them reacting to the situation every fourth episode or so. While having grand finale footage filmed in the second season was ingenious foresight to prevent the actors aging in real time, they should have also filmed at least a dozen or so mini-scenes and vague commentary/actions they could use sporadically in later seasons. Even something simple like glancing back at the shelf behind them so the production could use it in the 100th episode when pointing out the presence of the tiny bus. Because the kids had no impact on the story for some 6 years and we had all forgotten just how miserable they were with the whole story, only to be harshly reminded of that fact in the finale.

I would think that more than the problem of the Mother finale, HIMYD would risk being just a recycled series. That's why I never could warm up to the idea. I would not "not watch it" out of spite. I'm not that petty.

So I was watching The Avengers again the other day. I (very belatedly) noticed that the actor of Robin also played Agent Maria Hill.

Oh man...cannot...unsee. XD

"Kids, in the summer of 2012, your aunt Robin was working for a secret organization called SHIELD..."

"You mean those neo-Nazis that tried to nuke the country?"

There's already fic, if you're curious. None of it spectacular and I'm still waiting for a 3 way crossover with HIMYM, Avengers, and Dr Horrible.

And Buffy. Can't forget that "You're dead to me" glare.

Ted: "Am I the only one here that doesn't have some big secret past involving super science or magic?!"

Marshall slowly raises his hand

Ted: "Thank you!"

edited 20th May '14 8:38:14 PM by odafangirl

Marshall: "Wait, does Kermit the Frog count as magic?"

edited 21st May '14 11:13:52 AM by stingerbrg

And I finally finished the show.

You know what could have improved this show, at least in my eyes?

1. Introduce the Mother earlier and show more interactions between her and the gang, particularly Ted.

2. Make the wedding between Barney and Robin happen at the middle of the season, and the whole divorce and Mother dying and other things take up the remaining season 9.

I have to say, initially when I saw the pic of the Mother (yeah, couldn't resist the spoiler), I thought she looked pretty...well, not so pretty, but the more I looked at her, the more utterly adorable I found her.

Oh, she's cute. She's more adorable when you actually see her in action.

Which makes things all the more annoying that the writers decided to kill her off so unceremoniously. :/

They botched the show by misplacing emphasis in a couple of places. The whole show is titled How I Met Your Mother, and everything's supposedly geared for that meeting, but it isn't really. It's mostly about Robin. Right up til the end.

Then they did the season long wedding, and threw that under the bus as soon as they could. I mean, ultimately, they should have just made Robin the mother and stuck with it. How I Met Your Mother could have meant "How your mother grew from a career oriented, selfish woman into someone who could balance her career and a family and became the woman I love to this day" and they could just as easily have stretched the story out the way they had to for years.

I have to say, I think I stuck with the whole show because of Barney. He had the funniest moments.

Also, he had the most powerful moments, like when the end of the episode where he finally meets his biological father, and when he meets his newborn daughter.

They didn't have to work hard for those moments. His backstory built itself to make them.

That was the thing about Barney: he was pretty much the only one who had a fairly compelling backstory.

In another note, Marshall during earlier seasons reminded me of Eugene Sledge, a WWII vet.◊

They look a little alike.

Given the title, would Heather (Ted's younger sister) be the protagonist of How I Met Your Dad?