So, Kids, Here's How Ted Met The Mother (And Everything Went Wrong)

Midway through the series finale of How I Met Your Mother, I realized something: there are only two still-on shows I’ve watched longer than the Adventures of Bob Saget’s voice, The Simpsons and South Park. I’ve been a How I Met fan since day one, back in 2005, never missing an episode, even during the fallow years. Tonight’s finale was written for people like me: long-time fans who could shrug off the mistakes.

And I REALLY didn’t like it. I still need some time to work through everything that happened, but my gut reaction: it made this season (and parts of the entire series) sort of meaningless. We spent all season anticipating two weddings that effectively collapsed in a matter of minutes, but don’t worry, Ted will get to bang his children’s “aunt” and Barney will find meaning in some random, nameless girl’s accidental baby! I’ll still always love How I Met, and believe that people who felt betrayed by the titular gimmick were sort of missing the point, but the finale betrayed our expectations then appreciation of the Mother. She was a pawn in Ted’s game to get his queen, Robin. Also, poor Lily, having to cry in a whale costume.

Yeah, a lot of bad stuff happened. Maybe I’ll come around to accepting that this was what How I Met Your Mother was always going to be (Craig Thomas and Carter Bay have known how the show was going to end the entire time), but right now, it felt like fan-service that no fan actually wanted. What did you guys think?

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