How I Met Your Mother - General Discussion

[rose313]

The only reason I don't think this was an option, was that Alyson Hannigan stated that there was not a dry eye in the room when they did the final episode script read. But I will entertain that theory, because I'd like to think Cristin was too good to be sucked into this awful rubbish of a finale.

Edited April 9, 2014 by rose313

[Kromm]

The only reason I don't think this was an option, was that Alyson Hannigan stated that there was not a dry eye in the room when they did the final episode script read. But I will entertain that theory, because I'd like to think Cristin was too good to be sucked into this awful rubbish of a finale.

Yeah, but if you think about it only two actors had to know about the ACTUAL final scene--Radnor and Smulders.  We have no idea what was in the general script, and it's not even very conspiracyish to suggest that the script for such a super-anticipated series finale was sectioned up, classified, had dummy scenes or scripted alternates--even if only one was actually shot, etc. (because we've heard those stories about the MAJORITY of big show finales in recent years).  We know there was an extra scene with Robin Sparkles which was not only scripted but shot.  The timing on that being IN the episode makes up for the extra time used in the last scene outside Robin's window.  The script they had could have ENDED with the Robin Sparkles scene, or possibly even had a slightly different order and transitioned back to the train station at the end.

[Happy to be here]

What's weird is there's a subset of people who feel that it's the best finale ever. (One of my friends, for whatever reason, REALLY seems to love this finale--which, of course, is her right, even though I feel she's totally wrong on this--and she's RTing a bunch of people who feel the same way, for whatever reason, hence how I know this.) One of my other friends, however, compared it to the Dexter finale, which seems about right, minus the whole lumberjack thing.

 

 

I think the hardcore Ted/Robin shippers like the ending.. The ones who always maintained that the story was about Ted and Robin anyway.  So yeah I can see how they would be happy.  I can see how they would be the only ones who would be.  

[Kromm]

I think the hardcore Ted/Robin shippers like the ending.. The ones who always maintained that the story was about Ted and Robin anyway.  So yeah I can see how they would be happy.  I can see how they would be the only ones who would be.  

It's weird, because I think Robin gets quite screwed over by the finale, if you think about it in terms of her actual happiness or unhappiness, her decision making abilities and displayed level of loyalty.  So I'd think a lot of big Robin fans would HATE the finale.

[Happy to be here]

It's weird, because I think Robin gets quite screwed over by the finale

 

And there is the rub that the shippers can't or won't see.  To accept the ending you need to accept that Robin is unable to be happy without a big strong Ted in her life.  Suddenly she was pining for Twuluv.  That goes directly against eight seasons of character development; but hey it sails a ship to its mighty destination so who cares if it makes no sense and tells all ye little girls with big reporter dreams the wrong message.  Life don't count without a big strong Ted in your life....oh and a blue french horn.  Can't forget that.

[Kromm]

And there is the rub that the shippers can't or won't see.  To accept the ending you need to accept that Robin is unable to be happy without a big strong Ted in her life.  Suddenly she was pining for Twuluv.  That goes directly against eight seasons of character development; but hey it sails a ship to its mighty destination so who cares if it makes no sense and tells all ye little girls with big reporter dreams the wrong message.  Life don't count without a big strong Ted in your life....oh and a blue french horn.  Can't forget that.

Even if a person is a shipper, the problem with the finale in terms of Robin is there in full force.  People coming back to each other in late life?  Okay, we can buy it. But Robin's character had to be scapegoated in terms of the happiness of her entire middle years, her loyalty to her friends, etc.  A better written finale (or better yet a better written last four or five years of the character--although especially the last year) would have better built and explained the reasons how and why Ted and Robin were a better eventual match, without making Robin into this total mess to accomplish that.

[Aussie Grrrl]

Even if a person is a shipper, the problem with the finale in terms of Robin is there in full force.  People coming back to each other in late life?  Okay, we can buy it. But Robin's character had to be scapegoated in terms of the happiness of her entire middle years, her loyalty to her friends, etc.  A better written finale (or better yet a better written last four or five years of the character--although especially the last year) would have better built and explained the reasons how and why Ted and Robin were a better eventual match, without making Robin into this total mess to accomplish that.

 

So are you saying that just because we didn't see every minute of Robins life, we just ignore the story that we have seen already.

Pictures of Aunt Robin drawn by the kids

Future Ted telling us that Robin was a successful journalist, business woman and was never alone.

Lily and Robin gettign together for drinks in Bad Crazy?

 

[MacGuffin]

There are a few brave souls on reddit and other places that have defended the ending and said they enjoyed it.

Anyone on here like that?

For me, most of what happened in the finale wasn't exactly wrong, just handled badly (with the exception of Barney's character, they screwed up terribly there and no adjustment was going to fix it). The tone and pacing was all off to get most of the audience to buy in.

Just curious if anyone wants to explain why they liked it. Oh, and were you in the Ted/Robin camp going into the finale?

[Aussie Grrrl]

Yep, I loved it.

[MacGuffin]

Yep, I loved it.

Why did you like it? Were you on the Robin/Ted team?

[Aussie Grrrl]

Why did you like it? Were you on the Robin/Ted team?

No, I was never on anyones team although I was a Ted and Robin fan, but I had resigned myself to Robin being 'Aunt Robin' I was even getting annoyed with the constant Ted and Robin letting go stories.

I always knew that The Mother was the love of Ted's life and always would be. The writers were always telling us that it wasn't about Teds life with the mother but about how he met her, I was never invested in this character. Tracey was fantastic and she was very good at convincing us all that this was the woman who would make Ted forget all about Robin. But the Universe was being a WAD to Ted again.

I hated the Robin and Barney pairing from the start,there was no way that early season Robin would have a bar of Barney, but slowly her character was destroyed until they supposedly made a good fit. I was happy about Barney and Robin because now i can actually enjoy the re-runs of the show.

The ending was unexpected, but I guess the signs were there about what happens to the Mother. Even though the finale never gave us details of Robins life I'm going to continue to believe the stories that Future Ted had been telling us through the entire series.

That Aunt Robin took Penny and Luke to the Zoo and too the beach and  the kids drew her pictures of them.

Robin was successful and never alone

They got together every thanksgiving at Lily and Marshalls

 

[BookWoman56]

 

So are you saying that just because we didn't see every minute of Robins life, we just ignore the story that we have seen already.

The problem for me isn't that they didn't show certain things that Ted said Robin did; it's that what they did show to the audience didn't match up with some of Ted's comments. Take, for example, his comment that Robin was never alone. Yet some of the scenes with Robin in the finale very  much implied that she was unhappy and alone, because she was supposedly pining for Ted after belatedly realizing that he was the one she "should" have married. The notion that Robin showed up every Thanksgiving for dinner with the gang? That does not match up with Ted's kids, when young, having no idea who this strange woman was. The issue for me is that a lot of what happened in the finale actually negated things Ted had said and in many ways negated Robin's previous character growth, not to mention Barney's.

And at this point, knowing that Ted intends to try to make things work with Robin for the umpteenth time, I have zero faith in his credibility as a narrator. Even the showrunners have said, essentially, that this wasn't really a show about how Ted met the mother; it was instead a story about how Ted finally gets together with Robin. So, their statement paints Ted's declaration from episode one, that he's going to tell the kids how he met their mother, as a lie. So, anything Ted said that the audience didn't actually see? Based on the precedent established by the show itself, if there's no scene showing that something did in fact happen, anything that Ted said is likely to be another big fat lie.

Yet the audience is supposed to believe that Robin, who in the finale still prefers dogs to kids, who in the finale still prefers living in a downtown apartment to living in the burbs, is going to want to suddenly change her entire life because Ted once again has the hots for her. Ted can talk all he wants to about the pictures of Aunt Robin that the kids supposedly drew, and how Robin had a great career and was never alone. But the show, and the showrunners, established Ted as a lying liar who lies. So, I for one don't buy it.

Edited April 14, 2014 by BookWoman56

[Aussie Grrrl]

 

The problem for me isn't that they didn't show certain things that Ted said Robin did; it's that what they did show to the audience didn't match up with some of Ted's comments. Take, for example, his comment that Robin was never alone. Yet some of the scenes with Robin in the finale very  much implied that she was unhappy and alone, because she was supposedly pining for Ted after belatedly realizing that he was the one she "should" have married. The notion that Robin showed up every Thanksgiving for dinner with the gang? That does not match up with Ted's kids, when young, having no idea who this strange woman was. The issue for me is that a lot of what happened in the finale actually negated things Ted had said and in many ways negated Robin's previous character growth, not to mention Barney's.

Ted says "that's why we go to Uncle Marshall and Aunt Lilys for Thanksgiving" which doesn't mean the gang it means the Mosby family. So the Barney that brough in the FBI at work just to screw Greg for stealing his girlfriend 15yrs ago, that growth?

 

 

And at this point, knowing that Ted intends to try to make things work with Robin for the umpteenth time, I have zero faith in his credibility as a narrator. Even the showrunners have said, essentially, that this wasn't really a show about how Ted met the mother; it was instead a story about how Ted finally gets together with Robin. So, their statement paints Ted's declaration from episode one, that he's going to tell the kids how he met their mother, as a lie. So, anything Ted said that the audience didn't actually see? Based on the precedent established by the show itself, if there's no scene showing that something did in fact happen, anything that Ted said is likely to be another big fat lie.

What about Bad Crazy; Lily and Robin having drinks together and talkign about Marvin right up to 2030..We saw that

 

Yet the audience is supposed to believe that Robin, who in the finale still prefers dogs to kids, who in the finale still prefers living in a downtown apartment to living in the burbs, is going to want to suddenly change her entire life because Ted once again has the hots for her. Ted can talk all he wants to about the pictures of Aunt Robin that the kids supposedly drew, and how Robin had a great career and was never alone. But the show, and the showrunners, established Ted as a lying liar who lies. So, I for one don't buy it.

She didn't look unhappy when she met Ted on the street. People can change

[Kromm]

She didn't look unhappy when she met Ted on the street. People can change

Yes, but how's it good writing that viewers have to force themselves to come to that conclusion?  The problem isn't that we can't think of scenarios where Robin has changed enough to be different, the problem is that we have to construct scenarios mostly in our heads to make it so.  Because the show failed to show us that change in her actually happening (as well as Ted's grieving process, Robin getting to know the kids, etc.)  The show only showed us the stuff consistent with Robin being horrible for Ted, with the kids barely knowing her, with Robin being woefully unhappy, jealous of The Mother and distant to the gang, etc.  And then bam, telling us in one talking bit that everything has changed.

[BookWoman56]

 

The problem isn't that we can't think of scenarios where Robin has changed enough to be different, the problem is that we have to construct scenarios mostly in our heads to make it so.  Because the show failed to show us that change in her actually happening (as well as Ted's grieving process, Robin getting to know the kids, etc.)

The show had an entire season to do those things, and instead showed mostly the trivia surrounding Barney and Robin getting married. And I understand that their wedding was a pivotal point for Ted, because that's how he actually met the mother. But if the showrunners wanted the big emotional payoff to be that Ted and Robin eventually reunite and have yet another chance to be a couple, then they needed to show the changes in a season-long arc and build to that moment, instead of doing the half-assed "Gotcha!" moment of reveal that they did at the end of the finale. Ted could have stated early this last season that the mother was dead, but that  he was grateful for the time he got to spend with her, and this last season could have shown him grieving and then moving on, while showing a more compelling reason for Barney and Robin to get divorced other than lack of wifi. Show Robin having a successful career but spending time with Ted and the kids after the mother's death.. Show both Ted and Robin compromising on some of the big issues that had plagued their previous relationships. Give the audience a reason to become emotionally invested in them becoming a couple again, instead of introducing a perfectly lovely and brilliantly cast mother only to kill her off and five seconds later have her children be nonchalantly telling their dad to hook up with Robin.

I still wouldn't have bought that storyline, because I truly do not believe that Robin ever loved Ted the same way he did her, but a last season that at least tried to make narrative sense would have been far less insulting to viewers. Whether Ted specifically said in an earlier episode or season that Robin was with the gang for Thanksgivings isn't the issue; the problem is that all the preceding seasons very much implied that Robin was a constant presence in their lives, but the finale showed her choosing not to hang out with the gang any more, all because the writers wanted to use that decision as code for "Robin loves Ted so much she can't stand to be around him while he's happy with another woman."  Sure, Robin looked happy to see Ted at the end, but being happy for a few minutes doesn't get them past all the other obstacles, up to and including that Robin has repeatedly said she doesn't want kids. Many women who don't want kids would hesitate to get involved with a man who has two adolescents for whom he is solely responsible, and Robin as her character has been established would most likley regard Ted being a single father as a dealbreaker. If the show wanted me to believe she'd be willing to become a stepmother, then they needed to show her bonding with the kids over time and having a discussion with Ted about the issue. Obviously, I can fanwank that she changed her mind about kids, but I shouldn't have to fanwank that sort of thing. It's not like there was insufficient time to show some changes in both Ted and Robin, but the writers were more interested in doing that final twist where the audience finds out the mother is dead but Ted's going to finally get to hook up with Robin again. Incredibly bad storytelling, to the point that the HIMYM finale will have a place in pop culture as how not to end a series.

[mathewt]

Overall, I enjoyed it.  I wish they'd spent the last season with Tracey as Ted's girlfriend though.  It would have been even nicer if this one episode could have been spread over a season or two.  I didn't love this ending, but I at least enjoyed it. 

I think Robin and Barney's endings (before the Ted/Robin thing) were really true to their original characters.  How long had it been since we really saw the Robin whose career trumps everything else?  Quite a while I think.  And yeah, realistically Barney was never going to manage a long term relationship given his personality.  So I was good with all of that.

Lilly and Marshall basically went on how we'd expect...judge, more kids, etc.

[MacGuffin]

I think Robin and Barney's endings (before the Ted/Robin thing) were really true to their original characters.  How long had it been since we really saw the Robin whose career trumps everything else?  Quite a while I think.  And yeah, realistically Barney was never going to manage a long term relationship given his personality.  So I was good with all of that.

I think a lot of us thought that those "original" characters we saw was backtracking on a lot of character development we saw over the last 4-5 seasons. That's why people were mad the show spent a season on a wedding that turned out to be pretty meaningless because the characters just reverted to what they were years ago in a few short scenes.

[mathewt]

I get that.  That makes a lot of sense to me for Barney, since he seemed like he really was tired of who he had been.  But I can also see that when he failed (and think...he failed with Nora, then Quinn, then Robin), I could see him giving up....though I'd expect him to self-destruct, not snap back to being happy with that life.

Robin bothers me less because I never really felt like she evolved, more like she just got bad writing from around the time she started dating Barney the first time. ;)  It didn't feel like character development with her for the last several seasons, but like they grafted a new personality onto her.

[BizBuzz]

Ted and Barney try to convince Marshall that his new girlfriend is crazy. Barney gets a new nickname. (Description via Netflix)

[BizBuzz]

Since my comment is episode specific, I made a topic for it.

I didn't watch HIMYM when it was live, in fact, my daughter suggested it about 3 weeks ago to start from the beginning since it's on Netflix. She had never seen it either. I know, I live under a rock.

I said I would give it three episodes, and if I wasn't pulled in by the third, that it wasn't in the cards for me. Needless to say, I was hooked from the Pilot.

We are in the second season now, and just got done with this episode, and I gotta say, this was some dang fine writing and totally hilarious. By far, my favorite episode so far.

I about busted a gut with the ending, playing the Cheers theme, and having the credits run in the Cheer's font. I was like, how brilliant was that?

And the set up of the hunchback guy creeping the girlfriend out, and the breaking of the picture, totally didn't expect it to be Lily. Really, they had me.

I am enjoying this show, and although I am spoiled, it doesn't matter because the show is good. Really good.

[Subrookie]

The creators apparently knew the ending in S2 and just "forgot" about everything else to try and shoehorn their original idea into the finale. 

And, if you go back and watch the episode in Season 4 or 5 where Barney and Marshall find Lilly's doppleganger at a strip club they've used nearly the same ending before. Marshall tells Barney he has to imagine Lilly dead before he could fantasize about another woman so he develops a backstory in his dreams where Lilly dies, he waits an appropriate amount of time and then makes out with the UPS woman. 

Barney long ago went from funny to skeevy (sleeping with a different woman every day for a month?  that is just gross). 

Barney has always been this character from nearly the beginning of the show. In nearly every episode he hits on someone. "The Playbook" happened early in season 5 if I remember right, but even before then I can't remember an episode where they all were at McClarins where he didn't hit on a woman. 

I never really bought the Barney/Robin love story, which is why I hated that it took up all of Season 9. When they broke up the first time, in that episode with Robin Thick, Lilly trying to break them up and Barney in a fat suit, it was obvious they didn't work. 

Edited April 18, 2014 by Subrookie

[WendyCR72]

Quote

I never really bought the Barney/Robin love story, which is why I hated that it took up all of Season 9. When they broke up the first time, in that episode with Robin Thick, Lilly trying to break them up and Barney in a fat suit, it was obvious they didn't work.

I liked Barney/Robin but wouldn't claim to be a 'shipper, per se. But I think it could easily be argued Barney/Robin didn't work the first time because of that stupid planned ending of Thomas and Bays'. They were doomed to fail, so T/B wrote them to do just that.

Had they wanted them to succeed, they could have let them not marry and travel the world, or play laser tag, or jaunt to the cigar bars, etc. Barney/Robin in S1/2 were shown to be a bro and his female bro, for lack of a better term, and obviously, some responded to it. I imagine that it surprised T/B, and it later became a problem for their predetermined ending, so Barney amped up the sleaze factor and Robin became an unlikable shrew.

Too bad it still didn't make Ted/Robin anymore palatable by the finale, especially with Tracy in the mix.

[bosawks]

So, this is how the ending of MASH would've felt if everyone reenlisted.

[yeswedo]

'How I Met Your Mother' Shocker: 'Heart-Wrenching' Funeral Scene Cut From Finale

 

From the Huffington Post

[Kromm]

'How I Met Your Mother' Shocker: 'Heart-Wrenching' Funeral Scene Cut From Finale

 

From the Huffington Post

Okay, so take out the one thing that might have made that ending make emotional sense, and not have everyone involved seem like either douchebags or sociopaths?

 

Good job showrunners!

[BoogieBurns]

CBS did not pick up How I Met Your Dad

 

Carter and Craig (along with Emily Spivey) were not willing to revamp their original pilot to appease CBS ptb. So, the show is trying to find another network to pick it up. Interesting how their egos may have ruined another good show...

[Kromm]

CBS did not pick up How I Met Your Dad

 

Carter and Craig (along with Emily Spivey) were not willing to revamp their original pilot to appease CBS ptb. So, the show is trying to find another network to pick it up. Interesting how their egos may have ruined another good show...

Also, CBS may have been sensitive to the continuing backlash over the HIMYM finale, and decided that the risk of a huge flop sequel wasn't worth it.

[Rinaldo]

It's a delicate point. Networks are constantly trying to soften (or ruin) creators' visions, so it's not simply a matter of "ego." Sometimes show creators should resist.

 

On the other hand, this is Bays & Thomas, who will never get the benefit of the doubt from me ever again, so the hell with 'em.

[yeswedo]

In case anyone missed this on the front page of PTV a few days ago: the imagined show pitch for How I met your dad

[JayInChicago]

So, uh...has this ending gotten any more or less palatable for anyone else since it was shown?

I hated it, then I warmed a little...now I'm back to hating it, with a vengeance.

[Kromm]

So, uh...has this ending gotten any more or less palatable for anyone else since it was shown?

I hated it, then I warmed a little...now I'm back to hating it, with a vengeance.

IMO that ending will never NOT suck. The only thing is that we may get less angry simply because we are most distant from feeling invested in the show.

[random chance]

Going by my post-Lost stages of recovery, I agree - you'll become less angry with time. Just avoid articles with titles like "Top Ten Worst Finales of All Time" because they'll make you spitting mad all over again. 

[BoogieBurns]

I have re-watched the ending but skipped the Penny and Robin parts at the end. I decided to live in denial from here on out. Ted ends up with Tracy... happily ever after.

 

So, I guess I am less upset with the way it ended, because in my head, it ended perfectly.

[Eolivet]

GoldDerby is saying Carter Bays & Craig Thomas have submitted "Last Forever" for Emmy consideration.

 

They still don't get it. Why am I not surprised?

[arc]

It makes a certain demented sense... Why submit anything else from the final season when everything leading up to the last five minutes of this season was a total stall/misdirect?

[Rinaldo]

And what are they supposed to do, announce "we're not going to submit anything this year"?

[MacGuffin]

I'd have thought they'd submit the Mother-centric episode as that was the best one of the entire. year.

[Rinaldo]

I'd certainly prefer that one. Good idea. I had momentarily forgotten that there were any good episodes at all this last season, such was the lingering stench of the finale.

 

It'd be nice (though unlikely) if Cristin Milioti got at least a nomination out of all this too. She signs on at the tail end to fulfill the impossible task of living up to all  the foreshadowing, actually does the impossible and reveals talent and charisma to burn, and then she's thoroughly trashed and thrown away by the show. Sentimentalist that I am under all the curmudegeonry, I want her to have something to show for it.

[java82]

Haha. For real, BoogieBurns. I don't care if this is what C&C had in mind from the get-go. If that was the ending they were so hell-bent on, they should've structured the series a whole lot differently.

Speaking of which, I was actually wondering: would've it been better if Ted shared from the pilot episode that Tracy was dead? Maybe in a, "Kids, it's been six years since your mom's been gone. I miss her as much as you two do, every day. So I thought I'd share with you an amazing story: the story of how I met her."

I feel that if that was shared in the beginning, the whole show would've had a bittersweet tone, and while the viewer would be anticipating the eventual meet-up between the two, they would've known already, sadly, that they'd only have a short amount of time together. But I feel, in that instance, the viewers would've been rooting for Ted to find love again, and him getting back together with Robin (ugh) wouldn't have been such a hard pill to swallow. (Of course, they would also have to have not made Barney and Robin such a convincing couple in the process, as well.)

Anyway, I was just thinking about it, and the whole ending just made me sad. So I wanted to vent a bit, and share my thoughts. (This is wounded from TWOP, btw, whoever's out there.)

Edited June 21, 2014 by java82

[Lazlo]

I think the thing that ruined the ending for me was the reaction of the kids. We got no sense of their attatchment to their mother.

 

I get that it has been six years since Tracy died and I get that they (for some reason) love Aunt Robin, but they don't seem emotionally affected at all by Ted's story of the death of their mother and his obvious grief. A line or two like "we miss Mom too, Dad but she'd want you to be happy" would have added so much to that scene.

 

I really think when the kids reactions were filmed there was no intention to cast the mother, except maybe literally as a last scene extra. But since we got to know her as a person it came across as a lot more callous than intended.

[random chance]

I think you nailed it - they never intended to show us the mother, it was supposed to end with the twist.  "And that's how I met your mother - but by now you know this isn't about mom," and on to the real ending, that he's going to be with Robin. Which wouldn't have been quite so jarring if the show ended in S8.

 

I bet they weren't going to foreshadow her dying either until they came up with the idea for the 9th season, and then they really had no choice - once they showed her to us, they had to put the idea out there so that people could brace themselves. 

[yeswedo]

A place to discuss particular episodes (that do not have specific episode threads), arcs and moments from the show's run. Please remember this isn't a complete catch-all topic -- check out the forum for character topics and other places for show-related talk. 

[BizBuzz]

Thanks @yeswedo for making a Past Season topic!

 

Like I have mentioned elsewhere in this forum ... my daughter (14) and I are binge watching this series, we started sometime in April.  Neither one of us watched this show while it was on the air, so we went into this blind.  Ok, so not so blind.  We both kind of know what is going to happen, so we are kind of tainted watching as things transpire.

 

I have to say however, that with the exception of a few musical numbers (I didn't like, but my daughter did), I have enjoyed this series immensely.  There have been some dry moments (we are in season six), but it has been fun.

 

However, we just finished Bad News and Last Words, and although my daughter was spoiled (and didn't say a word), I wasn't, and I about lost it. 

 

I caught on to the countdown around #48, when Robin lifted up the sauce and it said #48, and I said to my daughter, oh, isn't that cute, instead of 57, they put 48 (for Heinz 57) so they wouldn't get in trouble.  It was at that point I noticed that they were counting down.  I thought the bad news was going to be they wouldn't be able to conceive, so I thought the countdown was going to be a twist that made the announcement that Lily was pregnant.

 

Totally didn't see that coming.  At all.

[MacGuffin]

Thanks @yeswedo However, we just finished Bad News and Last Words, and although my daughter was spoiled (and didn't say a word), I wasn't, and I about lost it. 

 

I caught on to the countdown around #48, when Robin lifted up the sauce and it said #48, and I said to my daughter, oh, isn't that cute, instead of 57, they put 48 (for Heinz 57) so they wouldn't get in trouble.  It was at that point I noticed that they were counting down.  I thought the bad news was going to be they wouldn't be able to conceive, so I thought the countdown was going to be a twist that made the announcement that Lily was pregnant.

 

Totally didn't see that coming.  At all.

"Bad News" is one of the great episodes that made HIMYM into more than just a sitcom.

 

That last scene was especially impressive:

 

 

Segel and Hannigan themselves were kept in the dark about the final scene. Segel said the original script had Lily saying she was pregnant, but on the scene's actual shooting day, the producers revealed that the scene will turn out differently. He and Hannigan worked out a plan wherein Segel would only know that his cue to react would be on Hannigan finishing her line with the word "it". The scene was done in only one take.

[BizBuzz]

I said to my daughter when that happened, and I made her play it for me again, that he was NOT acting, that was real.  He didn't know it was coming, and sure enough, that is exactly what happened.

[tribeca]

A bit late on this.  I could not figure out for a while what made me hate the finale so much.  I have read so many posts about it.   I was seriously upset about it for a week LOL

   Never a big Robyn/Ted fan.  Robyn I think ended up alone not because of her work but because she really wasn't a very nice person.   When she was upset seeing Ted with Tracy.  She said " The man I should of chose" not the man I love the man I care about.  And she looked at Ted her good friend who had been sad so long.  Saw him happy but never showed any happiness for him.   Not sure how or why the audience should be happy they end up back together? 

   Also narrator Ted throughout the serious really spoke so lovingly about  his wife.  I totally believed that was the love of his life.  That was erased a lot in this one episode.

[random chance]

I happened to catch a rerun of The Three Days Rule last night because I was busy doing something and too lazy to stop and look for the remote, and one of the lines in it was Robin suggesting this as a revenge text to Barney and Marshall: "I haven't told anyone this, but I have three months to live." And I thought well that's that, I am going to need to hunt for the remote from now on, because absolutely every episode of this show will end up being tainted by the finale.

[Bees]

Is this where we can do a Season by Season breakdown?

 

Personally, I loved Seasons 1-4. Season 1 did begin a little slowly but it found its hook around "Okay, Awesome" and really took off with "The Pineapple Incident" and didn't look back for those first four seasons. I think Seasons 3-4 were the strongest. It seemed as if there was no way to go but up. 

 

Then came Season 5. 

 

I couldn't stand Season 5. There were some enjoyable episodes here and there, but all in all it just felt like a bunch of filler with a few exceptions. Their handling of the first go-round of the Barney/Robin relationship was terrible and it seemed like they really wasted a potential goldmine. My theory is that the executives wanted them to break up so they could be more "Hilarious Barney Antics" because that's what they thought people watched the show for. In reality, they watched it for multiple reasons including Barney but mostly for Barney's character arc which took a serious detour in Season 5. 

 

However, Season 6 and the first half of Season 7 were much better. The heart was back in the show and there were a lot of lovely moments. It wasn't as great as the first four seasons, but it was definitely better than Season 5. More storylines and a lot more character development ensued and they had some of the best episodes in Season 6. The first half of Season 7 was very good, at least from what I remember. The second half (everything post Symphony of Illumination) was terrible or subpar at best. It just didn't work for me. 

 

Season 8 was pretty bad but there was a small stretch of great episodes between The Autumn of Breakups and PS I Love You that was really solid. Then it kind of fell apart after that stretch. And Season 9? Well this isn't the time or place to really talk about that. But needless to say it wasn't that good with a couple exceptions.  

[Rinaldo]

I think I would agree with all of that (though I'm not yet in the mood to go back and rewatch seasons to verify my memories)... except that for me Season 2 is the best. That's when they did their best playing with structure and time and audience expectations, and I would put that season up against any season of any sitcom ever aired, for consistent high quality.

[BoogieBurns]

Since I watched the entire series in 2 months, I can't split the seasons apart very well. I guess I remember the story arcs as opposed to season numbers.

 

The pilot until Ted and Robin got together was awesome. 

Lily and Marshall being split up had some good episodes due to the tension, but they are meant to be together. I didn't love this, but it was needed.

After Lily and Marshall get married and up until Cobie and Alyson got (real life) pregnant was the best stretch of the series.

Marshall's dad dying brought some good layers to the characters. 

The last episodes before Barney/Robin's wedding weekend were so sad. Ted was full-on depressed. 

 

I only like to re-watch the middle seasons when it was a comedy. The first and last seasons were dramedy, in my opinion.