So I recently finished binge watching How I Met Your Mother (which will henceforth be referred to as HIMYM), and as great as the journey was, it ended terribly. Yes, I had heard about the nightmarish final episode of this beloved show, but prior to this past summer, I was never as interested - let alone emotionally invested - in HIMYM as my friends were. I was one to watch an episode or two when it aired periodically on TV. I was far from the dedicated fan familiar with the plethora of long-running inside jokes. Fast forward to this summer and things changed. With less homework, and subsequently more time, I was able to catch up on HIMYM. It had me at the Pilot; days later, I was three seasons in and ready for more. As the episodes blew by, I found myself falling into that pit of emotional attachment to the characters, their friendship, and of course, their inside jokes. There was "aww"-ing when Robin realized that the only best friend she needed was Lily. There was satisfaction when Marshall delivered the last slap, ending the Slap Bet with Barney. There was relief when the Mother's identity was finally revealed, and the yellow umbrella, bass, and mysterious shoes finally matched up to somebody for Ted, the hopeless romantic. Then, the last episode killed it all.
First and foremost, the Mother literally gets killed off.
After all the trials and tribulations our protagonist had endured, he lost the person who we assumed would be his soulmate until the end. She checked off every box Ted had mentally listed (about Star Wars, being in a band, and so on), passing his "test" with flying colors. She was the one - both in his eyes and in the audience's. Cutting off the one character who the show was allegedly built up to diminished the suspense and any chance of a nice, resolved, normal happily-ever-after.
Marshall and Lily, the model couple who proved the concept that love can actually last, were sadly neglected in the episodes leading up to the end.
In the final one, they were pretty much shoved to the backburner After moving away from New York City, Marshall and Lily made far fewer appearances and their role as the caring couple in the group seemed to lose its significance. Marshmallow and Lilypad just became plain, old Marshall and Lily.
I, for one, felt a sense of fulfillment when Barney and Robin acknowledged their feelings for one another and got married over the course of the last season
The two most emotionally unavailable individuals in the group were able to grow together and find love. If that's not inspirational, I don't know what is. Barney put it best when he referenced the fact that they are the perfect couple because they were so broken before one another. It just felt right that Barney and Robin ended up together and could slowly, yet surely mend their hearts. And that is what made the divorce between the two so hard to swallow. Barney reverted back to The Playbook and fell back into his old, womanizing ways. Robin, went back to focusing solely on herself and putting her career above all else. The character development that was cultivated then nurtured season after season was thrown out the window without warning.
To put it simply, I was just as disappointed as other HIMYM fans across the nation were two years ago. Is "disappointed" even the right word? "Cheated"? "Betrayed"? "Outraged"? Exaggerations aside, the conclusion of what will go down as one of the most well thought-out sitcoms of our time was severely underwhelming, at best. Still, I do not regret taking up the show and am glad I can now consider myself a major fan who will be in the know for all those inside jokes I missed out on years before.
Major Fan -salute
