How I Met Your Mother - Part 4

[SpideyFan866]

Yes it was.

Up until the 7th season, it was always more about Ted and Robin's love story, with him meeting the mother taking a backseat.

But in the last 3 seasons, they really started pushing his road to meeting the mother, and the Robin/Barney love story.

And that's where the problem lies.

 

[bullets]

She isn't literally their aunt.

Thanks guys. I'm only eight episodes into the show so that clears things up.

 

[Erzengel]

And the worst part is we never found out what was up with that pineapple.

 

[Dark Raven]

And the worst part is we never found out what was up with that pineapple.

I don't remember if Ted ever said that they would follow up on that plot point.

 

[souvlaki]

You know, with them pushing off the wedding so long I was starting to think the entire episode was leading up to Ted and the mother getting married in 2030 and he was telling his kids the story right before the wedding. That would have been a good ending. The Barney and Robin stuff didn't really bother me. Basically the last 5 minutes was my only issue.

 

[Erzengel]

You know this is reminding me of the recent quote by J.K. Rowling about in hindsight, she should have had Harry get together with Hermoine instead of her with Ron.

And even in the movies, you felt they were a better fit.

I know they had plans for Ted and Robin to eventually get (back) together since the 1st and 2nd seasons which is why they filmed those scenes. That doesn't necessarily mean that it was the right choice after everything played out.

 

[souvlaki]

Thanks guys. I'm only eight episodes into the show so that clears things up.

Yeah, I didn't pick up on that at first either but you'll start noticing he starts saying Uncle Barney, Aunt Lily and Uncle Marshall as well.

 

[Superman Earth1]

Like Dark Raven said, it's really rare for a finale to pretty much ruin the entire series. Rewatching episodes is going to be really hard.

As bad as Smallville's finale was, it didn't completely invalidate the entire series. It just cheaped out on a lot of things (having a CGI Superman from a distance, or filming Welling only from the neck upwards). It was more a case of it simply not living up to its hype, and not that it made everything pointless that went before and changed the premise of the show so you felt cheated.

HIMYM is always going to leave a bitter aftertaste or you'll feel its sting when watching any scenes again because you'll reinterpret it through a new lens.

Agreed after seeing this I can not re-watch this show. IMO they ruined it for me.

 

[souvlaki]

You know this is reminding me of the recent quote by J.K. Rowling about in hindsight, she should have had Harry get together with Hermoine instead of her with Ron.

And even in the movies, you felt they were a better fit.

I know they had plans for Ted and Robin to eventually get (back) together since the 1st and 2nd seasons which is why they filmed those scenes. That doesn't necessarily mean that it was the right choice after everything played out.

It would have made sense back in the 1st and 2nd season to end the series this way. This is the clearest example of why you should never write the ending of a show early on unless you have a clear end game and set number of seasons when you wrote it. The problem is the show got too popular and the show went for too long for the ending to work. They should have just gone with the happy ending and put the Robin ending as an extra on the box set and told people that's how they envisioned the show ending but it didn't work within the context of everything that has happened since. They basically shoehorned the last 5 minutes in to make the original ending they shot with the kids work.

 

[The Apocalypse]

You know this is reminding me of the recent quote by J.K. Rowling about in hindsight, she should have had Harry get together with Hermoine instead of her with Ron.

And even in the movies, you felt they were a better fit.

I know they had plans for Ted and Robin to eventually get (back) together since the 1st and 2nd seasons which is why they filmed those scenes. That doesn't necessarily mean that it was the right choice after everything played out.

It just kind of sucks they killed off the mother just to make that happen though.

 

[DyeLorean]

Remember in Friends when Monica used to joke about having kids? There were many gags and situations between her and Chandler about being pregnant and stuff, and then later in the series it turns out they couldn't have biological children? You re-watch those earlier jokes and it's a little bittersweet. Same thing with HIMYM, but on a much, much higher level.

 

[Dark Raven]

It would have made sense back in the 1st and 2nd season to end the series this way. This is the clearest example of why you should never write the ending of a show early on unless you have a clear end game and set number of seasons when you wrote it. The problem is the show got too popular and the show went for too long for the ending to work. They should have just gone with the happy ending and put the Robin ending as an extra on the box set and told people that's how they envisioned the show ending but it didn't work within the context of everything that has happened since. They basically shoehorned the last 5 minutes in to make the original ending they shot with the kids work.

This completely. Directors often film footage that they feel doesn't work later on and is discarded. That's why they have several people editing. Here they stubbornly ploughed on ahead with what they filmed regardless of whether it actually worked anymore.

If they really wanted to use the footage they could have gotten Lyndsy Fonseca to redub some of her lines which would've played when the camera was focused on Ted. That way they would've looked the right age but they would have had more flexibility with the dialogue.

 

[weezerspider]

It would have made sense back in the 1st and 2nd season to end the series this way. This is the clearest example of why you should never write the ending of a show early on unless you have a clear end game and set number of seasons when you wrote it. The problem is the show got too popular and the show went for too long for the ending to work. They should have just gone with the happy ending and put the Robin ending as an extra on the box set and told people that's how they envisioned the show ending but it didn't work within the context of everything that has happened since. They basically shoehorned the last 5 minutes in to make the original ending they shot with the kids work.

Yeah this.

Ultimately though, at the end of the day, Ted could have simply told the kids The Pilot and we could have easily had the same end game. EASILY. The kids could have easily had the same reaction about 'its obvious Ted likes Robin' from The Pilot and the french horn scene at the end would have made sense to everyone. SO yeah, the ending essentially cut the whole series down to the Pilot and the last 5 minutes of the Finale as essential viewing. If someone watched both of those, they would overall get the series.

 

[Superman Earth1]

Yeah this.

Ultimately though, at the end of the day, Ted could have simply told the kids The Pilot and we could have easily had the same end game. EASILY. The kids could have easily had the same reaction about 'its obvious Ted likes Robin' from The Pilot and the french horn scene at the end would have made sense to everyone. SO yeah, the ending essentially cut the whole series down to the Pilot and the last 5 minutes of the Finale as essential viewing. If someone watched both of those, they would overall get the series.

After reading this I'm going to have to leave this thread for a while this show has made me mad.

 

[Fizicks]

It would have made sense back in the 1st and 2nd season to end the series this way. This is the clearest example of why you should never write the ending of a show early on unless you have a clear end game and set number of seasons when you wrote it. The problem is the show got too popular and the show went for too long for the ending to work. They should have just gone with the happy ending and put the Robin ending as an extra on the box set and told people that's how they envisioned the show ending but it didn't work within the context of everything that has happened since. They basically shoehorned the last 5 minutes in to make the original ending they shot with the kids work.

Very well said, Souvlaki.

 

[BatLobster]

That recut ending...

That is exactly what I always hoped the ending would NOT be. I'm genuinely sorry for the fans of the show who feel burned and deceived, but I think this was always going to leave some segment of the audience feeling betrayed. As an old school Ted/Robin shipper I'd feel betrayed for all the times they flirted with my hopes if the ending was just like the fan-edit.

Can't win. But can't lie, I selfishly am happy to have gotten the ending I wanted all along.

 

[weezerspider]

After reading this I'm going to have to leave this thread for a while this show has made me mad.

I know, right? This is the main reason I, sadly, may never be able to watch this series again.

 

[Lily Adler]

Just imagine we could have saved an immense amount of time if they had moved on to the Barney/Robin engagement back in Season 5 and had a Season 6 where Barney/Robin plan their wedding while Ted tries to get over Robin by dating Zoey and focus solely on the Arcadian and Marshall and Lily try to have a baby and Marshall's dad dies making everyone reevaluate their lives and priorities. Then Season 7 would be a the wedding and all the events in the finale spread out for the back nine.

 

[Webfoot Hero]

Just imagine we could have saved an immense amount of time if they had moved on to the Barney/Robin engagement back in Season 5 and had a Season 6 where Barney/Robin plan their wedding while Ted tries to get over Robin by dating Zoey and focus solely on the Arcadian and Marshall and Lily try to have a baby and Marshall's dad dies making everyone reevaluate their lives and priorities. Then Season 7 would be a the wedding and all the events in the finale spread out for the back nine.

This is something I wouldn't have minded. I'm fine with where everyone ends up but the only major problem I have with the season finale is they crammed so much time into such a small window of time on-screen. If they had actually let most of the this season play out in the future parts of the group's lives, I think it would have gone down much easier for everyone.

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

At worst, I have mixed emotions on the ending. I certainly feel all the doom and gloom "the series is ruined" talk is huge over reaction.

I don't know how I feel about killing off the mother, but there was always that part of me that wanted Ted to get with Robin. For me, the Marshall and Lily bet is what gave it away that Ted and Robin would end up together, and I wish we saw more of that bet resolved .

But where I am happy to see Ted get his Robin, I also think that Robin kind of sucks. So I feel like he didn't get the right girl at the end of it all.

Either way, the ending ruined nothing for me. I'm fine with the execution, I just have mixed feelings about the idea in general. But I don't think it's inherently bad or wrong.

 

[#root]

I'm so gutted about the finale I can't believe they did that!

 

[JP]

Remember in Friends when Monica used to joke about having kids? There were many gags and situations between her and Chandler about being pregnant and stuff, and then later in the series it turns out they couldn't have biological children? You re-watch those earlier jokes and it's a little bittersweet. Same thing with HIMYM, but on a much, much higher level.

But imagine if Friends ended on that note of Monica and Chandler finding out they can't have kids. That, plus end with Rachel and Joey together. It's just depressing all around.

 

[Sawyer]

But imagine if Friends ended on that note of Monica and Chandler finding out they can't have kids. That, plus end with Rachel and Joey together. It's just depressing all around.

In fairness, the HIMYM finale broke their Rachel and Joey up after three years of marriage.

 

[Chewy]

In fairness, the HIMYM finale broke their Rachel and Joey up after three years of marriage.

After spending the entire season at their wedding

 

[Matt]

I find myself going back and forth on the finale.

On one hand, I can't shake the feeling that either the Mother or Robin were consolation prizes (but I can't quite figure out which). On the other, I feel like it was fitting for Ted. But then I think about how it basically undid Barney's progress, gave him a new arc that was far too short for all the growth and maybe destroyed his relationship with the gang. I dunno...still feeling mixed.