How I Met Your Mother Finale

[shipperx]

Boring AND depressing.

Not funny.

And kind of demeaning to Moms...

Posted via m.livejournal.com.

Comments

[molly_may]

Yeah, I shouldn't get so pissed off about the ending that I forget that it was also boring as hell. At about the halfway point I was thinking that I hadn't laughed even once.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I had to run out to the store for dog food half way through... and went. And when watching the last half on dvr, I had multiple ff urges. Hard urges. Boring. Depressing. And ughhh.

And, yeah, not one laugh.

[rahirah]

Yeah, we're in the middle of it right now (I'm spoiled) and it's just... dull. I'm not even super invested in any of the ships. I think the problem is, there's no story here, it's just "And then this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened..."

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

It was dull, dull, dull.

And if this was the planned ending they really did not do well by it at all. Basically, he's telling his kids about how he's been obsessed with Robin the entire damn time and that their mother was a consolation prize.

Meanwhile Robin apparently travels the world... and has time for five dogs. But she and Ted will be just "perfect" together.

And Barney never grew up.

It was just depressing as hell all the way around. Poor Mother. (Idiot kids.)

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

I never watched this show, but read the spoilers. And "and has time for five dogs" made me laugh so hard. SERIOUSLY?

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Five dogs and a world-travelling workaholic.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I think their intent was to aim for something along the lines of the movie "Definitely, Maybe..."

But, the execution of this wasn't that good... and it's not like "Definitely, Maybe" was Oscar material to begin with.

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was depressing. I didn't like it, and I wanted to. I've enjoyed this season so much, this was a total letdown.

*sigh*

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

It was like watching a train wreck. You could see it coming but there's no way to avoid.

Plus, it wasn't remotely funny at any point.

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

Very true. And I really did have high hopes for it, because I've really enjoyed this season -- but after spending 21 episodes building up the whole Barney/Robin story, and making me finally really believe he meant it, it was reduced to "You work too much!" "It's not working" and "Oh, we got divorced" in the first five minutes of the finale. Seriously?

But I guess that's what happens when you plot out your whole story and then stretch it out far, far past its use-by date. :/

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

As I said to Barb, I think they were aiming for a "Definitely, Maybe..." vibe. And they bellyflopped.

[eilowyn.livejournal.com]

I didn't enjoy the finale. What I did enjoy was watching Twitter have a complete meltdown over the finale. I participated in said meltdown, and I think the mutual commiseration was beneficial.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I didn't think about Twitter. That would've been more entertaining. As it was, I was so damn bored I went ahead and left half way through to buy dog food and watched the last half on DVR (itching to FF)

[ww1614.livejournal.com]

OMG, I didn't even have to watch it. Watching the meltdowns was pretty damned entertaining.

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

All I want to know is if the mother died. I didn't watch until I heard that rumor, so I watched the last few eps and taped tonight's just out of curiosity.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

She died. Barney and Robin divorced and he went back to being a poon hound. Ted's daughter told him his long ass story wasn't about their mother but how much he wanted Robin.


And all as unfunny as possible.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

he went back to being a poon hound

Until he had a daughter of his own and learned to slutshame women instead. Yay?

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

::shudder:

I mean, they made Barney toxic years ago, but still. ::shudder::

The writers were determined to the bitter end that Barney never, ever grow up from their juvenile poon-hound humor.

Sad because, NPH is capable of greater range than that.

(They also weren't kind to Robin characterization either.)

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

When the rumour first broke a few weeks ago, I remember the Mother's actress denied it, saying there's no way you end a comedy series like that because it would be totally morbid and depressing.

Yeah.

ETA: I will say this: In terms of giving the viewers closure, not leaving us clamoring for more, disappointed with all the things we never got to see... it certainly managed that. I've rarely seen a show limp across the finish line this utterly exhausted. I'm glad it's out of its misery.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Sometimes closure is overrated. They would've been better off open ended.

As it was, it feels like the series should've been named "How I obsessed over Robin and used your mother and you're 100% okay with that, right, kids?"

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

What I don't get is how amateurish it looked. It looked like the sort of ending you shoot when you find out that you've been cancelled and you get exactly two episodes to wrap everything up. "Quick, kill that one, divorce those two, put a bad wig on him, edit this 8-year-old scene into something else, QUICK, ROLL CAMERA, THE LAWYERS ARE COMING TO SHUT US DOWN!" I guess the lesson here is, if you plan the ending of a story years in advance, you need to plan the story as well and not just retcon everything in the last 10 minutes.

[usedtobeljs]

It's not a show I've followed regularly, but I watched the finale for some reason, and... yeah. The tone and pacing were just really off.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Slow. Dull. And the pacing for the last year seems bizarre for this ending.

[local-max.livejournal.com]

I normally try not to have opinions about things I haven't actually watched, but everything I've read about the finale in the last hour or two makes me shocked and wonder what they could possibly have been thinking.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Frankly, when you stop to think about it, it's ugly.

So it turns out he's been telling his kids (9YEARS worth of story) about "how I met your mother" except, that makes up three minutes of the story, followed by " And I didn't marry her until after both you kids were born. And then she died." With the kids saying "you know this story isn't about mom AT ALL, it's about how you've been obsessed with Robin from the day you met, and we're so happy about that!"

Ugh.

I don't know that I would particularly like a story that told me that my mother was a consolation prize who died and now you want to high tail it back to your on-again, off-again ex who didn't want children.

[local-max.livejournal.com]

"lol, shut up about our boring dead mother already. Go get Aunt Robin!" is, I mean, what? Sorry, WHAT.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

I don't know that I would particularly like a story that told me that my mother was a consolation prize who died and now you want to high tail it back to your on-again, off-again ex who didn't want children.

I'm halfway tempted to write a deconstruction fic that has the kids' reaction be "OMG our dad totally used to date this celebrity who I once saw on the side of a bus and it's SO ROMANTIC..." But it's not worth it. This episode pretty much ruined every character, no need to pile it on.

Also, remember that episode where Robin found out she couldn't have kids, when Ted tells his kids "Aunt Robin was never alone" - "...except for those 15-odd years where we only saw her once a year, I guess, but that doesn't count."

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Well, apparently during her vast world travels of never being around or home, she also managed to keep five dogs (because they don't need constant attention and care or anything!)

As I said above, I think they were hoping for a "Definitely, Maybe..." vibe.

Except in "Definitely, Maybe" they were not so stupid as to KILL the mother and the kid be all, "okay, whatevs. It's not like she's my MOM or anything."

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Honestly, this is an ending that would have worked in s1, s2... possibly s3. Then it would have been "I once dated this girl, then I fell in love with your mom, and years after her death I met my ex again." But to stretch it to NINE SEASONS they had to keep Ted obsessed with Robin and falling in love with her again and again and again and again and the result is... eeeeesh. Not pleasant.

As usual, I like Alan Sepinwall's review.

[treadingthedark.livejournal.com]

I've enjoyed this show for years, although the Barney character for the last couple of seasons became an obnoxious caricature.
This season has been tedious and unfunny and last nights ending was just the beyond disappointing. What a downer. I like the character of Robin but never liked them as a couple. Still thought she deserved better than Barney. I can't believe they spent a whole year on the stupid wedding which was a stupid choice anyway, just to negate it in ten minutes. Awful awful awful.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

If this was the ending they were aiming for, they went about it alll wrong.

And they've made me dislike everyone somewhere along in the process.

[treadingthedark.livejournal.com]

On the plus side, I doubt if anyone was sad to see it end after this year!

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Thank god it's over.