So Long And Thanks For All The Feels: HIMYM

**SPOILERS**

So first off:  GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.
Y'all know I feel strongly about HIMYM.

Right now I'm hating Carter Bays and Craig Thomas. I love HIMYM, but I hate what they did to it. There are two kinds of artists in this world: the Van Gogh's and the "insert name of milquetoast boy band du jour"s. One is driven by a passionate need for artistic expression independent of an audience, and the other is driven by a passionate need for an audience independent of artistic expression. I think most artists, certainly those who write for television, aim for somewhere in the middle.

Carter Bays and Craig Thomas crapped on nine years of storytelling so they could stick with their original plan. In the years that came between the pilot and the finale, they forget they were working for us, the fans. They forget that maybe over the course of nine years they could become better writers, better storytellers, and come up with a finale that married their original vision, their expanded vision and skill, and respected the people who paid their salaries for nine years. It's not like you have to like the finale of every series, any more than you have to like the ending of every book or movie. But however these works end, the end should respect the audience and not make them feel like they were the butt of a nine year practical joke. "Guess what? Obsession matters more than true love after all!"


I know some people were happy with the end, some people were rooting for Ted-Robin and are clapping themselves on the back saying they knew it all along. I am not one of those people.

In true Ted Mosby style, a pros-and-cons list regarding the finale.

(Source)

Pros:
"In the gang for good"
That moment. Quintessential Lily. The accepting, loving mother to, like, everyone. And in one sentence she captured the entire gang's ethos: No mater what you do, you will be loved and accepted.

The "High Infinity"
Was it just me or was that so them? The want to have the last thing be the best one ever.

The lady on the bench
"Just be cool, Lady. Damn."


Ted blowing off a job for a girl
That was so Ted. The hopeless romantic-ness of it all.

Breaking the "3-days" rule
They did a good-ish job tying up loose ends and making things line up. The 3-Days rule, the bet between Lily and Marshal that Ted would marry Robin, the yellow umbrella, etc.

That Lily knows it's different
We've waited nine seasons: IT BETTA BE DIFFERENT. So perfect.

That the Mother is basically girl-Ted
The ren-fest. The "One more and I'll believe you." She's Ted with boobs.

Barney's blog is a thing 
I wonder what Doogie Howser would think of the boner-joke-of-the-day.

Last appearances of old favorites
Oh, hello there cockamouse, Hanging Chad, Murder Train, Not A Father's Day, and Robots-Vs-Wrestlers.

The Play Book Two, Electric-Bang-A-Loo
I don't even need to say anything.

(Source)

The whole Baby thing
I cried. NPH is an amazing actor. He just looked so emotional. And when he said,

 "You are the love of my life. Everything I have and everything I am is yours. Forever."

Gah. #CryAllTheTears. And the way he changed too. It was lovely. And when he told those girls to get their lives together and call their parents: beautiful. And his last line. "Daddy's Home." It was my favorite part.

Their last picture together
It matched the first one in the opening credits almost perfectly.

That the kids called Ted on his crap
"Oh, yeah. He's telling us the story of how much he loves Aunt Robin with 'our Mother' undertones. Seems legit."

Cons:

Legen--wait for it--
They missed a huge opportunity to give one of the show's signature catchphrases a place of honor. I would have been happy if the last line of the show has been "Legen--wait for it--" and then the screen faded to black. 

That the Mother tells Ted she's pregnant in a bar
Granted the bar is a big deal but, still.  She's a hopeless romantic like Ted. They were renting a castle.  And she's all, "My dress ain't gon fit in September."

The split of Barney and Robin
 HIMYM didn't shy away from big issues, like death or infertility. So maybe they were trying to "be real" when they split up Barney and Robin. But at the same time, they could have ridden off into the sunset together. I think they split them up only so that Robin would be single. Then again, baby Ellie completed Barney in a way that nothing else ever had; she made him whole when Robin didn't, and if they had stayed together, Barney may never have become a father. So maybe their splitting up was, ultimately, OK. She didn't deserve Daddy Barney anyway.

Robin's bitterness
I'm just not happy with Robin. She was awful to all her "friends." Not to mention that horrible hair cut she was sporting at the end. When she broke up with Barney the first time, she stayed friends with everyone. When she broke up with Ted, she stayed friends with all of them. That she couldn't stay friends with everyone after breaking up with Barney speaks to just how deep her connection with Barney really was, and how it should not have been so blithely tossed aside.


Killling the Mother

Made by me, driven by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas

They shouldn't have killed off the mother. The point of the show was meeting the Mother. The Mother. Out of the entire last season, the Mother had the equivalent of less than one episode with Ted. Then wham--hospital bed. No death. No funeral or wake. No sad Ted, no sad kids. Nothing. We've been waiting for her for 9 years--9 years!--and she's a footnote in the whole Ted-Robin will-they-won't-they dance.

Lily as Incubator
We got to see Ted succeed as an architect, Marshall as a judge (Fudge Supreme!), Barney as a blogger, and Robin as an internationally known news anchor. All we saw of Lily's life was that she had another child after Daisy. 



I've read a number of posts about the HIMYM finale. Here are links to the two that I've liked the best. YMMV.

From Terribleminds: The HIMYM Finale: Or, "How An Audience Gets a Fist to the Crotch" (F*bomb warning)

E!: In Defense of the HIMYM Finale