anomynous

48 hours = 22 episodes


How ever many years = Less than a hour

PenguinJoe

"For some reason I thought Bob Saget would be Old Ted"

Apparently he wasn't?

Adboy151

I think there were a lot of good moments (Barney regressing and progressing, Robin struggling to keep fitting in, Ted and the Mother's very long engagement) that could have been told as stand-alone episodes across this last season instead of the season-long wedding build-up.

In the end it felt rushed, short-changed the Mother -- who had great chemistry with Ted -- and I'm indifferent to the ending as a result.

movieking

My initial response is I liked it. A lot of us were guessing right, with his wife dying and Ted ending up with Robin. It was also nice to see that this played out how it was originally envisioned, since the kids dialogue was obviously recorded when the series premiered. It was also good that the kids addressed the fact that their mother was hardly in the story since that was a popular complaint. It would have been nice to see Barney's number 31, but not completely necessary. Glad that Barney & Robin didn't work out since they really didn't seem right for each other and obviously it allowed Ted & Robin to end up together.

The ending really minimized the importance of the mother but since it was based on a story Ted was telling his kids essentially about wanting to be with Robin, it wasn't unexpected.

Not a Breaking Bad level of finale, but definitely well above average in my opinion.

aktick

I guess it was ok, if not a bit predictable. I haven't watched many shows for 9 seasons, and I always seemed to watch the night it aired, so it's more sad for me from that standpoint than what actually happened on the show.

Kind of annoying they didn't give the mother any lines after telling us she was sick.

dex14

In a way it's fitting. But it also feels like a cop out. Maybe the title of the show hinders the overall theme of the show. We put so much value in to "the mother" and the story of how he met her. Yet like the kids say...the story wasn't about the mother, as she was barely in it. So in a sense, the show is about the love of his life, who isn't the mother of his children? I just don't know how I feel about it. This ending obviously was planned, as the footage with the kids was shot years ago. But then I think...how would they have presented this if Season 9 didn't happen. Would we have found out The Mother dies in the same episode we meet her in the Season 8 finale...? It would've felt even more rushed... But the signs were there all along...they wouldn't stop pushing Robyn and Ted...

Goat3001

I'll have to sleep on the ending but I loved everything else. Yeah, this whole episode could have been a whole season but I like that it wasn't. HIMYM was a great show that hasn't been very good in the last few seasons. If they stretched this out into an entire season I don't trust that it would have been good. Having it condensed like that allowed them to focus on the best parts and that's what happened.

In the end, I'm happy it's over. It was spinning it's wheels for a few seasons. I won't say I'll miss it but I think it went out very well.

stingermck

Twitter is blowing up with a split of love and hate.

Gotta agree with Movieking. It is about Ted's journey with Robin but Tracy and the other women. Also second chances and moving on after you think you have found the one.

MrX

It was aggravating to spend the whole season at the wedding and then have them divorce a half hour into the episode.

I didn't mind the ending. It was better than it ending on the mother's death.

astrochimp

Yep.

I enjoyed it overall.

silentbob007

More than brief future interludes would probably have been awkward ... as it is, narration can summarize what is happening. If it were stretched out, then you have characters having to remind each other what has happened to lead to that point (ie, the material skipped).

onebyone

I didn't like the ending. At all. So mad. Must drink.

movieking

Current poll at TVLine has about 40% of votes giving the episode an F.

stingermck

The first episode was a swerve and people are surprised the last episode is also?

boogieman03

After sleeping on it, I've changed the way I feel. It was good closure. Really the only way way the story makes sense. The story really was all about Ted & Robin. They creators get by on a technicality, but...I guess it worked.

The finale is nowhere near the quality of the Original Scrubs finale good. Sad that we didn't get much more of the mother, but we saw that ending coming from a few weeks ago. Still, it feels cheap that they killed her off.

I am glad we finally saw the kids reactions. That was good. Loved the mother's initials and the saga of the umbrella was too cute.
I feel sad and happy for Barney.

Jackskeleton

Man, they really glossed over that whole courtship, parenthood, daily life, sickness and death of Tracy so hard and fast. For a season that was all about a single weekend, leaving only one hour to the next 16 or so years of their lives was a let down.

hdtv00

It was great and I am happy with it. It did feel rushed but come on , it's about the journey ...and we all took that journey with Ted and Robin, not the mother. It just felt right.

Barney / Daughter moment was nice.

I'm sorry others might not feel the same but with all the total SHIT finales we've seen last few years, this is a masterpiece.

Rypro 525

Question for those complaiing about the time jumping, wouldn't it feel odd if after every other episode the year changed? This is supposing they had all the events that happened in the finale, spread out over the season

scorpion

Meh, pretty disappointing finale in my opinion. Oh well. HIMYM hadn't been good in years, so how could I expect the finale to redeem itself?

Coral

They just couldn't let Robin go.

I never liked the idea of the mother dying because it felt like a slap in the face after 9 years of talking about the mother. But to have Robin be the love of his life after all this is a HUGE spit in the face to the mother character and pretty much made 9 seasons of telling the story almost worthless. Having them address it by making it about Ted wanting to ask Robin out as the purpose of the story is a cop out.

I agree that spending the whole season dedicated around Barney/Robins wedding only to have it end quickly in divorce is also a waste.

And Ted does come off as a spoiled bastard in all this. Gets whoever he wants, whenever he wants them. He gets to be with the mother and have kids while still being in love with Robin? And when the mother dies after all those years together, and adding another 6 years after her death - of course Robin is still available just for Ted. Ugh.

I don't care for fairytale endings, but the way this was done felt cheap.

Jackskeleton

It's not just the whole season spent on the wedding weekend. It's the past few seasons of turning Barney from a piece of shit womanizing player to a somewhat changed character who moved past having a playbook and hooking up with chicks... and then just flushing that down the shitter so that we could get good ol' barney back - and then have magic baby feels change him forever.

RichC2

Both episodes were pretty depressing, all they joy was gone, and getting older sucks. And you spend this entire season going over the relationship between Ted and his wife and yeah, they're perfect together, and then it's "Nope, Robin was always the one." which seemed weak.

It wasn't a terrible ending, but it seemed more like a swing and a miss. I don't regret watching the show like some people on tvline seem to, it was a really entertaining sitcom with mostly likable characters.

Double_Oh_7

This is the fail people should be talking about... he sounds like Saget all these years, then his voice suddenly changes? Why didn't they just have Radnor do the VOs all this time? Or dub in Saget for the final scene?

MrX

I knew the final scene with the kids had been filmed some time ago, but Sepinwell says in his review that they filmed that back during season 2 so this was the plan ever since then.

stingermck

But that's life. I know several people who partied all the time, who had their life changed by a child.