It has been a week since the series finale of "How I Met Your Mother" (2005-2014) aired, but the contentious episode is still sparking debate among fans, many of whom are angry with the way the comedy concluded its lengthy run. While the CBS sitcom, affectionately dubbed "HIMYM," may have seen a decline in both viewership and quality the past several years, hopes were high for the show's final installment in which Ted (Josh Radnor) would finally meet the titular Mother (Cristin Milioti).
As it turns out, the happy ending many hoped for was not to be. (Beware, spoilers ahead.) In the show's final minutes, the Mother dies of an unnamed illness and Ted, with the blessing of his kids, asks out Robin (Cobie Smulders), with whom his romantic history has been long, tumultuous and often frustrating. This turn of events outraged fans and critics alike, and the Internet lit up with angry tweets and articles, that nearly drowned out the episodes defenders. In light of this furor, the Daily takes a look at where "HIMYM" went so wrong and the reasons that the series' devoted fans are so upset.
Barney and Robin's wedding
While much of the disapproval focused on the Ted-mother-Robin storyline, a significant amount of criticism was directed at the structure of season nine itself. Series creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas decided to set the entire final season at the Farhampton Inn on the weekend of Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) and Robin's wedding. Not only did this restricted time frame make for several poorly executed episodes and unrealistic plotting, it also further emphasized just how much the show wanted us to root for Barney and Robin to make it.
So fans were understandably frustrated when, mere minutes into the finale, Barney and Robin got divorced. This first twist of many in the hour was dumbfounding: Why ask viewers to invest in this relationship only to end it swiftly? It felt like a cheap move, a bait-and-switch that left fans reeling and confused.
Too much plot
The abruptness of Robin and Barney's divorce was felt elsewhere in the episode. Indeed, the whole hour-long installment was packed with information a rather startling change of pace in a season that was essentially an exercise in stalling tactics. In cramming so much into one episode, the writers rushed through pivotal moments. The Mother's death was restricted to a montage sequence, and Barney's fatherhood was left unexplored, except for a well acted if dreadfully written scene he shares with his newborn daughter. The events that unfold in the last hour could have and should have played out over an entire season, and it's a shame that the show went a different and less creative route.
What character development?
When the pilot for "HIMYM" aired, Barney's character was a shallow, misogynistic playboy and commitment-phobe. Ted was hopelessly in love with Robin, who owned lots of dogs and lived by herself in her New York City apartment. By the season finale, these facts remain more or less the same. Barney may be a father, but he still treats women in an appallingly patronizing way even bringing back the infamous "Playbook," which he uses to duplicitously seduce women. Ted seemingly hasn't learned from his marriage, returning at the end of the series to his infuriating relationship with Robin despite the show's emphatic insistence that was not the endgame. This is a relationship audiences had watched Ted get over again and again, as he finally came to accept Robin's romance with Barney. These moments of growth and adjustment reflected serious maturity for the perennially childish Ted and ultimately allowed him to find love with the Mother. To wipe away all this development and progress in a matter of minutes seemed both unwise and unfair to the characters themselves.
Planning for the sake of planning
The reason for this blind destruction of character development was due to Bays and Thomas' grand plan, set in stone long before the script for this finale was even written. They had known for years ever since they filmed (in 2005!) the scene in which Ted's children tell him to reunite with Robin that the show would end this way. What they did not know, however, was the organic growth and development that would make sticking to this initial plan so very inauthentic. The show invested heavily in the Barney-Robin relationship and in the Mother as a character; indeed, Milioti's role was one of the few highlights of season nine.
By sticking with this original ending, Bays and Thomas reduced the Mother to a convenient plot device and negated the years of change their show has seen. The choice may have upset fans, but the real misfortune is that Thomas and Bays failed to stay true to their own work. Having a plan is fine, so long as you know when to adapt and change it when necessary. Unfortunately, this is a memo Thomas and Bays missed altogether.
