How he finally met the mother (Season 9)

Probably should've been where the show ended.

 

Cut the kids talking that they shot in season 2. Add a few lines during Ted's final speech about how all those relationships, all those loves meant everything to him at the time but really couldn't measure up to what he eventually found, how it all led to him finding their mother, his one true love. He tells them all of those experiences taught him so much about who he was, and how those friends he had -- their "aunts" and "uncles" -- were still there for him all these years -- even if they weren't there all the time -- through joys like their births, and sorrow like their mothers' illness and death (a couple of shots of the hospital and a funeral with everyone there added to the sequence they went through). And without all those things that he went through, he never would've been there, on that platform, under a yellow umbrella, meeting the woman he had always been looking for even when he didn't even know it. Cue final scene and a pretty dang good version of "Downtown Train."

 

If that were the true ending, there would have been howls that they ended on such a downer. Maybe different people doing the howling, but as many howls.

There were always going to be howls, though, no matter what.

 

This is much worse than a simple "haters gonna hate."

Are you going to argue next that the title of the show doesn't really mean anything?

It's not unreasonable to expect a show called "How I Met Your Mother" to feature the titular character for more than 90 total minutes, and not kill her off so her soulmate could go fuck someone else and rekindle a relationship that has already failed a half-dozen times.

 

Honestly I think you're getting ridiculous with the literalism.

I've asked this before, but how much did the slap bet have to do with How He Met The Mother? What about the doppelgangers, did that help advance the story? Should those have not been in there because they were not related to how Ted met Tracy?

The big leap I guess is thinking Ted and Robin would have gotten to a place that they were right for each other. There's a lot of evidence based in the time period of 2005 to 2014 that that wasn't the case. But for people changing and growing, 2030 is a looooong time away.

I don't think the creators felt boxed in by that premise. They had plenty of outs along the way (including just not using the footage they had filmed of the kids saying go for Aunt Robin). I think that regardless of what Sepinwall says, this was their intention -- if not all along, ever since about Season 3 when they realized they had a hit.

 

Then they are fucking idiots and I'm pissed to have allowed myself to be suckered in for nine years.

There's a world of difference between a running, occasional gag and the end of the entire series. The slap bet, doppelgangers, etc., were fine, with the assumption that the story THE ENTIRE SHOW IS PREDICATED UPON would be told, too, and not given LESS time than most of those meaningless, diversionary running gags.

 

Again, the problem isn't with the idea, it's the execution. I really don't mind at all that Tracey died. But knowing that twist was coming for eight-plus years, they failed to set it up structurally. Give me a five-minute scene after Ted finishes the story where he's resigned to spending the rest of his life sad because Tracey died, and that his kids and friends are worried about him. Put more than 30 seconds between the meeting of Tracey and the idea that he needs to date Robin. Make it more explicit that it's the kids idea he should go after Robin, not that he was hinting all this time that he was telling this story because he wanted them to be ok with it. ("Who says you only get one true love, dad? Aren't you always saying love is illogical, but we do it anyway because it's the best thing we do?") Tracey had that scene where she went out on the porch and asked her dead fiancee if it was OK if she moved on, so thematically, I think it would have been easy to have him in a similar scene. Or Lilly saying "Do you think this is how Tracey wouldn't wanted you to live the rest of your life, Ted?" Then then the son and daughter convince him to go for it, he runs into the restaurant ("I can't believe this place is still open! I love New York!") and snatches the blue French horn off the wall, and ta-dah, there is Robin at the window again.

There are still problems with the whole ninth season. You can't ask the audience over and over and over to care about Robin and Barney being together, then kick that to the curb in 30 seconds with no real consequences and pretend like it didn't matter.

Saying "people would have complained either way" is a cop out. It absolves C&C of whatever choices they did make, because there can be no wrong answer then. Pacing and plotting matter. Because the way it played out, it made Tracey feel a bit like a brood mare.

 

Would it really have been that difficult to end the show with Ted telling this story because he's about to get married to Robin or because the entire gang is coming over to celebrate some important milestone?
Hell, I think it would have had a huge impact if we found out the mother died and they were getting together to mourn her loss because this gang of people are always there for each other. Then you close the show with a big group hug and a promise they'll help him through that. To me, that would have been more in line with the series' overall spirit and message.

 

The Mizzougrad96 Google allergy continues.

The actors all are nine years older than they were then.

 

But what about Tracy? (Who spells Tracey with an e?)