HIMYM Season....um...what season is it?

I liked the episode, just hated that they did all of that with Barney and Quinn only to reveal the twist (trying not to spoil it for someone who hasn't seen it ...) at the end. That part pissed me off more than anything.

 

Spoilers coming. You've been warned.

What Bays and Thomas have done is, they've completely painted themselves into a corner with the hints they've given us about the mother's identity. Based on what we know about the mother, we know she's NOT Victoria. So it's tiresome to have Ted drive off into the sunset -- after already wrecking a wedding and pontificating about how much it sucked when it happened to him with Stella -- and know we're really no closer to the resolution of the titular premise than we were a year ago.

To me, that really comes across in Ted's character. Bays and Thomas want to have Ted grow into this magnificent man who is capable of and deserving of the mother's hand. But they don't appear to be doing so in a predetermined manner. They don't seem to know where they're going or -- especially -- how long it will take to get there. It's like they're playing Texas Hold 'Em with a 4 and a 6 in their hands with a 3 and a 7 on the flop, and they're reallyreallyREALLY hoping for that 5.

Not that I only watch the show for the exposition of the mother, though I would prefer at least a little progress toward that goal. I also hoped for more legitimate character development. Instead, we got another cheap reveal twist at the end -- which I saw coming a mile away, and which was further confirmed when Barney's proposal to Quinn came with a good 5 minutes left in the episode. Knowing how Bays and Thomas play the game, I knew Robin was going to be the bride. I just knew it.

So now we end this season with a clearly defined Point A (Barney engaged to Quinn) and a clearly defined Point B (Robin in the white dress). In between, it's plain as day that we're going to spend the 2012-13 season spinning the wheels for 22 episodes before we get some kind of resolution to the Barney-Quinn-Robin triangle -- and spinning the wheels until they find a way to write Ashley Williams off the show again.

My honest reaction probably wasn't what Bays and Thomas were going for. They probably thought they would unfold as these great cliffhanging twists when my gut reaction was, "Not this shit again."

We ended last season moments before Barney's wedding, and we ended this season ... moments before Barney's wedding. Sure, there were a few sweet moments this season -- most notably, the exploration of Robin's inability to have a baby. But for the most part, it was essentially a wasted full season with red herrings Kal Penn and Becki Newton, and lots of filler episodes as Bays and Thomas beefed up their syndication count.

 

Agreed with all of that, linotype.

Especially agreed with your first paragraph about Ted. I honestly CANNOT believe that he would do that to Victoria's fiance after what happened with him and Stella. I honestly cannot see what any of his friends see in him, because they should all take turns slapping him.

(That's another thing we have coming in Season 8...the final slap of the Slap Bet.)

I think the problem is (and lino touched on it) we've been hearing for seven years how wonderful this woman that Ted is going to marry is and when the reveal finally does come, she's not going to live up to our expectations. At all. I also don't get the point of bringing back Victoria. WE KNOW SHE'S NOT THE MOTHER. Why are we going down this road AGAIN?! Just another example of how they're spinning their wheels instead of moving us from Single!Ted to Married!Ted in an expedited manner.

 

Pretty much exactly what I expected (see above on predictions from yesterday).

I enjoyed the Marshall/Lilly/Marvin stuff. I thought that was all pretty true to their characters and I liked watching drunk Marshall and Barney trying to get back to NYC. Barney's speech about Marshall to the bus driver was very touching.

Everything after that was pretty lame. We now know Barney marries Robin but we just wasted a full season of episodes on people like Kevin and Quinn and honestly, I never felt much connection to the Barney/Robin pairing. They just never really had much of a love story to me and it's not much of a payoff for them to end up together.

Ted continues to spin his wheels while being painfully unfunny or entertaining.

 

The first episode was really awful. Not being able to get a cab? A bus from AC going to Buffalo? Not going to the hospital until it is too late? All just stupid.

The second half hour was only slightly better. Why build Quinn up for no reason? The actors have great chemistry and the Robin thing was a takeout for no reason. The Ted stuff also made no sense.

We may just drop the show next season.

 

If Victoria is willing to stop by a bar on her way to her wedding to give some other guy a chance at her, it wasn't that guy that ruined her wedding day. She ruined it.

I liked the episode. I still like all the characters (hell ... I still like Ted a lot, and like Robin the least). I'll still watch next season. But I hate the overall plot as much as anyone else. Just as I thought it was fucking worthless when they threw in the Robin curve ball in the middle of the season, it's fucking worthless to throw in the Victoria curve ball now. I was thrilled when they brought her back earlier this season, but they ended that tangent before it began because they're stupid fucking decision to re-launch the Robin tangent. If they'd done away with the "I love Robin" plot, we could have had an honest Victoria plot that wrapped up with this season's finale.

It's like the writers took the criticism that was "this seems like a road to nowhere" and said "Hmm.... tired of driving down a road to nowhere? Let's drive in circles instead."

Sigh. Oh well. Wait for it is an epic middle name, so at least there's that.

 

Is next season the last season, have they said? I can handle the wheel-spinning this one last time. But if they're jerking us around just to get as much out of syndication as they can ... eh, tell me when the series finale is and I'll tune back in for that. Did that with "Friends" and "Lost" and "ER" and I never felt like I missed anything.

 

This show's plotline is a mobius strip of being up its own ass. I can't wait until Ted cheats on Victoria with Robin again.

 

Hey, at least the delightful Ashley Willams got some screen time. It had been a while.

(Hey, it took me 17 whole hours to point out the delightful Ashley Williams got some screen time.)

 

Just watched it, then rewound to rewatch something. Could it be a misdirection? Could they be talking about two different weddings?
Ted had a boutineer at Barney's wedding scene, but did not at Robin's.

 

Or a double wedding?

 

Barney and Nora has always made the most sense to me.