Okay, I admit, I might be a little late with this one. I only started watching How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM) a few months ago on Netflix and for the most part, it was an incredible choice.
The friend group’s dynamic was playful, entertaining and lovable. Each member had their positive and negative sides, which is a sentiment to real life and the friends we all have. Ted (Josh Radnor), Marshall (Jason Segel), Barney (Neil Patrick Harris), Lily (Alyson Hannigan) and Robin (Cobie Smulders) graced us with many laughs and a few tears along this 9 season journey.
How I Met Your Mother followed the story of Ted recounting to his children the story of how he met their mother, and it was a long one. At the very end of season 8 we finally got to meet the mother, Tracy (Cristin Milioti) which might seem a bit late considering season 9 would be the last for the series.
The finale has been a topic of controversy ever since it aired and actually resulted in the show releasing an ‘alternate ending’ for fans to chose as canon instead.
The main reasons that the sitcoms finale was criticized was for the death of the mother after barely any on screentime with her, and the divorce of Barney and Robin which was followed by Ted and Robin getting back together.
A lot of people reviewed Tracy’s death as cheap and a way to give Ted the children he wanted before sticking him back with Robin, leaving the mother as nothing more than a baby maker. Perhaps if the mother had been introduced earlier, it wouldn’t have felt so rushed.
The Barney and Robin divorce came as a shock to many fans, especially considering the whole of season 9 was spent focusing on the weekend of their wedding. This was personally one of the things that left me disheartened. Barney and Robin had grown and developed so much as characters and clearly had chemistry. They were perfectly well suited in the end but that was tossed away for a controversial ending with Ted and Robin. Even though Ted spent the last season finally moving on…
However, there where some lovely moments of the finale such as witnessing some of Ted and Tracy’s relationship and Barney becoming a father which was incredibly sweet. Not to mention Marshmello and Lilypad being their perfectly adorable selves.
Though the finale leaves a bitter end to the show for a lot of fans, we can’t forget that HIMYM gave us some legen-wait for it-dary moments that we will never forget and we will always be able to turn to when we need to have a good laugh. True story.
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