How he finally met the mother (Season 9)

I didn't take it that way either, but for someone who put her job in front of her marriage, she seemed annoyed that Barney moved on quickly.

 

Get divorced, watch your ex hit on or date someone else, and then tell me whether you think Robin's response to that was normal or not.

 

Wouldn't her job have made her "leaving the gang" decision for her?

Also, that final scene. She had three or four dogs and an apartment. So I guess she wasn't a globetrotting reporter any longer?

 

I assumed that based on the fact she was being called "Aunt Robin" and the fact that the kids were able to refer to the many times Ted and her hung out that she's heavily involved in their lives or, at the least, around enough to suggest she's settled down.
I am interested to see how knowing how this all plays out changes my interpretation of the finale. Now that we know this was all a long story to get Ted and Robin together, perhaps it will work better. I doubt it but, hey, I can hope right?

 

That's straight from the Cuse-Lindelof School of Television Writing.

"Every question will be answered." Even if the answer is, "We just felt like it," or "Because we said so."

 

I thought it was that she needed to get away from both Ted and Barney, but I need to watch that scene over again. Little OOP wanted something and she gets priority, so I missed part of what Robin said.

 

Also, I have to agree with the others regarding the spin-off. I will never watch another series with those creators. Not after what I saw last night. Not because I assume I'll hate it, but because I'm afraid they would get me to like it an then just fuck the whole thing up at the end again.

 

She said something about watching Ted with the mother of his children and how she should have been with him all along.

 

I'll further this by saying, quite honestly, that I don't know if I could get behind another high concept show again. Not after being burned by both this AND Lost. And that's a real shame because I think, if done right, a show like this could actually be both original and creatively satisfying.
But now I'd be hesitant to really invest in a show that asks me to wait until the end for the real payoff.

 

How the ‘How I Met Your Mother’ finale betrayed the series’ ideals:

The person Robin becomes after she and Barney divorce, though, is less appealing in reality than in Ted’s imagination. She fades away from the group rather than doing the work of building friendships with Ted and Barney, or adjusting her friendship with Lily to the way that both of their lives have changed. The sequence is a reminder that Robin has always been someone who ducked out of emotionally difficult situations, that she could be blunt and not particularly considerate, that she preferred her own convenience to other characters’ comfort and emotional needs. That “How I Met Your Mother” brought Ted back to Robin underscores the show’s commitment to schtick over character on the level of both running jokes and big emotions.

 

The neat thing about "Everyone goes to heaven" and "Eh, life is imperfect, just like the show" is that they can serve as the catch-all out card to whatever corner you've boxed yourself into over multiple seasons. It makes it seem like you're saying something profound (HIMYM is teaching us about sadness! That the journey is important, but endings are imperfect!) when really it's just bad writing.

 

I find it interesting how much people hate that Ted and Robin end up together. I don't really care either way, everyone entitled to their opinions but I remember discussions here entering the last season about how any ending that DOESN'T have Ted and Robin end up together would come off as ridiculous because the show has spent so much time banging us over the head with the idea that Robin will always stand at the top of Ted's podium. I suppose the argument is that the show used the final two seasons to take that away from us but I would argue that there was never really any closure to that idea. Robin as the balloon floating away from Ted was as close as we came and then the very next episode she is telling him that he should be with her after the locket situation.

I completely agree that the writers did an awful job of executing this plan and could have played the whole thing out much better. But I would have needed a heck of a lot more than the mother's few cameos (as good as she was) to believe that he ever loved anyone more than Robin. Only speaking from my own experiences, I know that a lot of relationships succeeding or failing is timing. One of my big takeaways from the show is that the timing never worked until the end. Robin always loved Ted but she knew she wasn't in position to be with him in the early stages of life. Later on, after she'd done all she wanted, it made more sense. They just did a piss poor job of getting that message across.