How he finally met the mother (Season 9)

This is exactly how I feel.
I don't think it was a terrific ending, but it's far from the worst.
They did a good job of not making sure the audience was attached to the mother because if it was, killing her off would have been a huge mistake. Having her die is annoying because we all want the happy story, but that's not how life is - and that's what makes it an OK ending.
I don't know what the perfect ending would have been. I like that we didn't get the mother force-fed to us as a main character for a few seasons. I didn't like how Robin detatched herself from the group, then all of a sudden shows up at Ted's wedding and they somehow became best friends again.
There's a lot to like and dislike, but as an ending goes, I'll accept it. That splicing was pretty rough though (and I wasn't a fan of how Ted sounded like Bob Saget as an old dad and all of a sudden he sounds like Ted again).
But they seriously could have wrapped this up in 30 minutes.

 

The last part with the kids was choppy to the point that it was distracting. No doubt about that.

I had no problem with Robin just showing up and the friendships are right where they left them. I have a couple of friends from college like that. No matter how long we might fall out of touch, when we reconnect, it is as if no time passed at all.

But the ending itself just doesn't fit with where they were going most of this season.

 

I would have cracked up if the camera had spun around to Ted at the end and Bob Saget had been sitting there.

And I disagree with you, Rhody. We knew it was the Mother, it wasn't like every other red herring this show has thrown at us. And we saw how amazing she was with her interactions with everyone. I did grow attached to her because we all know that she was perfect for Ted. You understood why Ted was going to end up with this girl over the litany of other girls. But mostly, we all know how attached Ted is to the Mother. And that's what makes this (and his speech about wanting an extra 45 days with her) so heartbreaking.

 

Holy crap. Saget in the finale would have sold the show for me.
I get what you're saying. I'm just in the camp of I was never attached to the mother because all we heard were stories about her instead of actually interacting.

 

I wasn't all that attached to the mother either. I just hate Robin and Ted as a couple.

 

The writers clearly were struggling to give Barney (another - how many? I have lost track.) redemptive-ish story line. That part kinda clanked around the rest of what we were building to in the finale.

 

It was bad. I think getting attached to an idea early on, then sticking with it, was the ultimate downfall of the whole thing. What might have seemed clever (she dies! and he ends up with both!) on paper just didn't work on the screen.

But I'm patting myself on the back for more or less getting it 70 percent right months ago.

 

Those spots were filmed mostly -- if not all of them -- in 2005. It was done that way to keep the kids looking younger.

 

The moment when Barney looks into his daughter's eyes was beautiful though.

Question...what was the significance behind 31? I apparently completely missed it and haven't had a chance (or really felt like I wanted to) rewatch it yet.

 

I'm actually worried about how Versatile is going to take this.

 

They called her 31 because she was the 31st woman Barney slept with in his "perfect month."
And I don't want to say I teared up a little when Barney was talking to his newborn daughter, but I do have two daughters and I'm a huge pussy.

 

Not as bad as the finale of Lost, but pretty close.