Let's just say I have never been so emotionally distraught from a TV episode in my whole life (other than the Friends finale). I was first elated, then disappointed, then annoyed, and then outraged.
Now the amount of speculation that revolved around the finale has been apparent for a while, such as the whole mother-is-dead thing, which I totally bought and rightfully so when the finale revealed that the mother was indeed dead (hence, Ted's use of past tense in almost everything he says).
I would have assumed, however, that the writers would change it up to throw off fans from this theory. They didn't.
This was unfortunate since I was incredibly sad when they did show the mother got ill and died, confirming everyone's fears.
However, this did not even come close to what outraged me the most from the episode.
Perhaps the biggest offense of the episode was the writers' decision to divorce Barney and Robin after three years of marriage. When they announced their divorce, I kept on hoping that this was all some sick joke and that they would end up together. There was no way, Barney and Robin, who I've shipped since the season they got together, who the writers have developed so much, would throw away their marriage like that. What the HIMYM writers spend a whole season on was thrown away within the first 30 minutes of the episode.
But it was obvious from all the signs that Ted and Robin were better matched. Yet there was something about Barney and Robin that meshed, that made me a fan of them and a majority of the fan base a fan of them. The writers developed Barney into a man who has changed for the better, for the woman that he loved, for the woman he burned the playbook for, for the woman he would end his sleazy lifestyle for. And by divorcing them two and allowing Barney to make a new playbook and go back to his sleazy lifestyle...the writers threw away nine years of character development.
It is not just Barney that the writers tarnished, but Robin as well. They made her seem like the coldest bitch around when she yelled at Lilly and never wanting to hang out with the gang. The gang even started mocking her, calling her the yeti, as if she was some alien. This really angered me because the twist was just so unbelievable.
Probably the only thing I actually liked from this episode was Barney becoming a father. I teared up. Although I hoped #31 would be Nora or Quinn (after Robin, of course), I'm slightly happy that he had a lovechild with an unimportant woman, especially since he's always wanted to become a dad, something that Robin could not give him.
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| Is somebody cutting onions around here? |
Nevertheless, the double plot twist at the end when Ted's kids tell him to ask out Aunt Robin confirmed my worst fear. Not only was it such a stretch, the way it was done was so stupid. Ted ran to Robin's apartment with her gazillions of dogs and when she opens the window, she sees old Ted holding up the blue french horn from season one. The episode ends.
Yeah, I get it, it's the exact same scene from season one except 20-30 years later. Cute.
No. Not cute at all. Barf. Worst way to end ten years of a show ever.
Barney and Robin were meant to be! Robin wasn't supposed to turn into the cold bitch that she did near the end and Barney was supposed to give up his slutty ways to be with her. They worked and the writers ruined everything.
The overall tone of the episode digressed from the usual light tone of the show. It was way too somber (I mean I get it's the series finale but it was just too different to work). The characters also morphed into characters that were so unlike from what the actual characters are that the plot became unbelievable.
I'm still suffering from shock and will probably be emotionally distraught for the rest of the week.
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| If only |
What did you think of the finale?
