In Defense Of The ‘How I Met Your Mother’ Finale

Since Monday night at 10:01 PM millions (okay maybe not millions) of disappointed fans took to Twitter and Facebook expressing their hatred to the finale. They felt hurt and angry, thinking that the show’s creators had cheated them. It’s come to the point where people who don’t even watch the show know it inside out from all of the finale buzz on TV and the Internet. Even E! News lists the finale as the third worst series finale of all time. Harsh, right? Well, I’m here representing my client, the defendant in the case of Fans v. HIMYM. Let’s begin.

First of all, I really think fans are taking the show too literally. Yes, it’s called How I Met Your Mother but if you’ve been a long time fan you know the show has been way more than just that. It’s a show about friendship, love, and heartbreak. It showed its viewers that life is messy and things don’t go the way you plan but fate and time are always on your side. That’s what its main premise was. When you read a description on what the show is about, it always says something along the lines of “one man’s journey to find the woman of his dreams”. Journey. The show was all about journeys, not the final product. And if Ted’s journey just ended under the umbrella, would that be very Ted-like? We’ve been with this guy for nine years, and we know him pretty well to know that things don’t just end for him. There’s always another beginning. That’s why I thought it was even better that Ted and Robin didn’t kiss at the end, because it still leaves room for another journey.

Then there’s the argument about Robin and Barney. Yes, I was a fan when they first hooked up and my heart broke into pieces when Robin shook her head “no” in response to Barney’s proposal to leave Kevin and be with him. I was a Barney and Robin ‘shipper’ so to speak. But, I’m not upset that they didn’t end up together. Really look back at their relationship. Their relationship was solely based on a spark. There was never anything really deep or intimate between the two. They had great chemistry together and that was about it. Hell, Lily and Barney had a more intimate connection. Ted and Robin always had a deeper connection. Robin was just always scared to let herself be with someone who cared for her so much and whom she cared for. (Daddy issues?) It makes sense that they get together in the end.

A lot of people also argue that Barney’s “ character development and growth” were completely thrown in the garbage. Not true at all. Barney and Robin didn’t get divorced because Barney schmoozed with other women. They didn’t get divorced because he decided being married “was lame” and he wanted to be “awesome instead”. They didn’t get divorced because they didn’t love each other anymore for Barney tells Robin in Argentina that he does love her. They got divorced simply because it wasn’t working, one of the reasons why people in real life get divorced. And if you think about it, Barney didn’t really change much from the beginning. As Robin mentions to Ted before she walks down the aisle, Barney manipulated, lied, and schemed to get Robin to marry her and to plan her rehearsal dinner. Sure he was using his powers for good and not evil, but that’s not necessarily change. Minutes before the wedding, he was second guessing his actions, willing to flee and never look back. And if you still want to argue that Barney did change for Robin we can look at it that way, too. In that case, how many relationships work out when one person makes sacrifices while the other one doesn’t? How much can a person really change for someone else with little in return? I’m not saying that Barney didn’t love Robin and he was incapable of loving anyone for the entire series, he just never found a woman who could keep him grounded for long. A tiger can’t change it’s stripes in one night. It was going to take someone completely different and very special to get him to change completely, and that was Ellie.

Another argument is how Ted wastes 9 seasons to talk about a woman he couldn’t wait to get rid of just to bang the woman of his dreams. Woah, there. Ted never said he didn’t love the mother. He did and he always will, he makes sure to let his kids know that. You can have more than one love in your life. But his one true love was Robin, it was Robin from day one. Every one of Ted’s ex-girlfriends even knew that. If you recall, Tracy (the mother)’s one true love, Max, died and similarly to Ted, she couldn’t seem to let go of him. So in the end, everyone ended up with the one they were supposed to be with, even if it was in heaven.

Also, didn’t anyone else notice that both grooms saw their soon-to-be wives in their dress before the wedding? Both brides make sure to mention that it’s “bad luck”, too.

Season 9 was the weakest season of all, I’ll give you that. And they definitely could have shown more scenes in the finale of the mother and the future, especially her final days, but then the series finale would have to be 2 hours long. (But hey, imagine 2 hours of HIMYM?!) I actually remember when my friend first introduced me to the show and after I saw the pilot episode, I immediately thought that the mother was dead or they were divorced and he was going to run back to Robin. But more importantly, ever since my friend introduced me to the series, she and our tight knit group watched, laughed, cried, and fell in love with the characters. Its weird to say because it’s a TV show, but because of its authenticity and relatable characters, it made us realize how significant we are to one another and how important it is to have great people in your life for your own journeys, whatever they may be.

If you’re still disappointed about the finale, I really think you’re missing the premise of the show; life is a messy and complicated road and it will throw curve balls at you (along with goats and pineapples which by the way WHERE DID IT COME FROM?!), but in the end everything comes full circle.

Ladies and gentleman of the jury, you’ve just been LAWYERED.