Well, it finally happened. The nine season hit sitcom “How I Met Your Mother” has ended with the series finale that aired on Monday, March 31st. And what a finale it was. As you know, I wrote an article the day before the episode aired making some predictions about the finale. In case you couldn’t tell, I was way off about everything maybe I was watching a different sitcom or something I don’t know but let’s get down to business.
(HUGE SPOILERS AHEAD)
I’m going to start with one of the things that took me by surprise the most and had me a bit confused until the end of the episode: Robin and Barney getting divorced. When they said they were getting divorced, I thought “Wow that was very…out of nowhere.” I really thought that Barney and Robin were going to stick together and have a happy family, but the ending showed why that couldn’t happen. Now that Barney is free he goes back to his old ways of picking up chicks like free burgers until a certain event changes his look on things. Barney has a daughter. This was probably the one part of the finale that I really didn’t like. It wasn’t the fact Barney had a baby, but it was how forced it felt. I like the fact that they gave Barney a real reason to change, I think in the end he did need it. I didn’t like how we never even saw the mother of Barney’s child, she is just “Number 31” and while I understand that it was a joke designed to fit in with Barney’s character, a name would have been nice and maybe some kind of explanation about what happens to her, and how Barney gets the baby, but I guess a perfect ending can’t happen. Let’s shift gears to Lily and Marshall. They didn’t really change a whole lot or go through anything crazy, except for a third kid, but I think that was a good idea in the end. Now I know what you guys are thinking: “Wait, Josh, isn’t character development really important?” You are correct, Uzers, but not EVERY character has to have change, Marshall and Lily’s relationship was always the kind of grounding unit in the show, they were the family that was always happy and together for the entire show, so letting them stay happy for the end with each other and a big family was a good idea.
What about the most important relationship of all, the one we all waited nine seasons for? The mother is revealed and what happens between her and Ted is finally brought into the light. We finally got the satisfaction of meeting her and even got to finally hear her name, Tracy McConnell. What do I think about Ted and Tracy’s relationship? It was amazing. Although our time with her was very short, Tracy did what we all wanted; she made Ted truly happy and gave him the family he wanted. The fact that it took them seven years and two kids to finally get married encompassed all that Ted’s character was, he wasn’t someone who wanted to rush into things or make giant changes in his life. He wanted to settle down in New York City and be happy, which is exactly what he got with Tracy. She stopped him from moving to Chicago, where he would have never been happy, and made him be with his friends like he wanted. It was a perfect round up for Ted’s life.
The shocking reveal at the end of the episode and what it did for Ted was possibly the best way to end the show. Like I had assumed, it was totally unexpected. Ted has been telling this story to his kids all about how he met their mother and what a great time it was. This show went on for nine seasons with the idea that the show was a love story but told in reverse, and we all believed that was indeed what “How I Met Your Mother” was: a sitcom with a backwards love story. It turns out that the writers are far more clever than we had realized. Ted’s daughter Penny reveals that Tracy has been dead for six years, meaning she has been dead since the very beginning of the show and we were none the wiser. Ted even says in his last monologue that he had to love Tracy for as long as he could and he did just that, but he couldn’t stop her from dying and when we find this out we see what the show really was. This show was not a love story in reverse about Ted and Tracy at all. This show, from the very start, was a story about Ted and Robin. Ted brings the famous blue horn from the first episode to Robin’s apartment and stands under her window holding it up, showing that Ted and Robin were always meant to be together. The whole time we wanted to meet the love of Ted’s life, but she was there in the show the whole time and we didn’t even notice. Ted did love Tracy with all his heart as the show said, but when she was gone Ted knew Robin was the one for him no matter what.
So, what did I think of this ending and the twists that occurred in it? It was absolutely genius! I never would have imagined that Robin was one in the end. This trickery was fantastic. You can say what you want about Tracy, but she was the key to keeping us all away from the real ending. I really loved this ending and think it was an excellent finale to an amazing sitcom and I don’t know about you guys, but I am satisfied. I hope this ending is remembered well and is seen as a lesson on how to make a good story to a sitcom, because let’s be honest, many sitcoms don’t have great stories like this one did. My last hope is that the creators make another comedy show and that it is just as great as “How I Met Your Mother”. What did you guys think? Leave a comment below or on our Facebook page telling us what you thought of the series finale.