The problem wasn't that she died. The problem was that she felt like an afterthought and that him going back to Robin felt like a bad idea after they had demonstrated many times throughout the show that it was a bad idea.
Exactly. They spent a whole season on a wedding that they threw out the window in the finale and then reverted 10 years of character development for Ted, Robin, and Barney back to square one. Unforgiveable
Sometimes love with someone is a bad idea when you're younger but now she's older and divorced, he's older and widowed with teenage kids (not young kids she needs to take care of) so it can easily be possible for them to work out just fine... she may even be done traveling and stuff for work at that point in the future..
@@Ynot2711 Not exactly. They loved each other, but Ted wanted more out of life than Robin did. He wanted kids, a family, and a house with a picket fence. The whole shebang. Tracy gave him that. The life that he wanted. Now that he's experienced that life, he can be with Robin with no regrets. Everything that made them incompatible was now null and void. So they could be together. I would've preferred that she lived since it took basically the whole Show just to be introduced to that character and to kill her off that quick is crazy but I get it.
Real crime is naming the series as "How I met your mother" but the mother is hardly in the show.. Even in last season..I wasted 9 seasons to watch last 5 min of chat of Ted and tracy at the station with the yellow umbrella....Wasted an entire season in Barney and robin wedding and the very last episode they just got divorced and robin ended with Ted after tracy's death...Wtfffffff
@@Kmrvikash52For me the issue wasn't that the mother died but that it they obviously killed her off just to give the people that couldn't let go of the idea that Robin was endgame all along the ending they wanted. It was a cheap and disrespectful move especially after the show spent YEARS trying to get people to except that Ted and Robin wouldn't work.
@jasoncook7378 Not really if you think about it. It could be a misdirection, the writers love doing that in the show. I can think of many reasons why these moments still fit with the alternate ending, but the best is this: Everyone thought she would die (including the audience), but she survives and Future Ted is thankful for the long journey he had to go on to get there. And it's why he believes in miracles, even in his darkest times, he knew it would all work out in the end and he would meet his lebenslangerschicksalsschatz (which the creators even said was Tracy). He tried to force destiny with Robin multiple times (TED tried to make it rain, TED stole the blue french horn), but you can't force destiny, it just happens. With Tracy, it rained naturally and he didn't have to do anything to win Tracy's heart. He was being himself after all these years of losing hope and losing parts of himself. Why the hell can't we let the poor guy be happy with the mother of his kids? It was his dream and he got it, why end it so suddenly? He got beat up by a goat and got left at the alter for christ sake...
I'm not upset she died or that Barney and Robin divorced. I'm upset that the ending wasn't built up to properly. We didn't get to see Ted and Tracy as a couple, as a family, or be happy together. It's 9 seasons of Ted being alone and sad and looking for love, just for him to find it and have it ripped away again. Same thing with Barney and Robin. They spend 4 seasons building up the tension and relationship between them just to pull the rug out again and destroy it in an episode. We needed to experience them being happy. We needed to see those storylines closed
@michaelearwaker6521 I understand what you're saying and honestly what everyone is saying it is valid I don't know why I see it differently from the beginning when Ted met Robin it just felt that's the actual story and the storytelling to the kids was the father's way of telling them that life took a hard u-turn and it's time to move on, in addition to Tracy's blessing he is seeking theirs... life is unforgiving
@Trickyksa Robin and Ted for me just never felt right. Ted was madly in love with her and Robin kinda chose Ted simply because she didn't have better options.
It wasn't that they (or we) were angry, it was that we all saw these characters and the show grow up and evolve. The characters developed and learnt lessons, including Ted about not forcing destiny and chasing after something (Robin) when it isn't meant to be. But the writers saw their character development and the mother and tossed it all out the window, even though the show has been telling us this entire time Ted and Robin aren't meant to be. Ted was forcing destiny with making it rain and the grand romantic gestures for Robin, but you can't force destiny. It rained naturally when he met Tracy and he could be himself. No big gestures and no weird early proclamations of love. Ted, after all he's been through and the hope he's lost, finally let's destiny happen itself and it does.
I actually really like the resolution of the story being about Ted looking for acceptance from his kids to look for love again after his wife’s passing. The issue was just that they spent the entire season building up Barney and Robin’s wedding, before then abruptly breaking them apart in a last second time jump. Is it realistic? Probably. But does it kind of spit in the face of all their character development? Absolutely, and that’s why I personally struggled with it. The finale is basically “Barney suddenly went back to being who he was before falling in love with Robin”, and that’s pretty unjustifiable.
Nope having us sit through all that, giving us the perfect character that was Tracy then killing her off to make him end up with Robin will never stop being disappointing
The mother dying is not the problem, there are so many things wrong: - Barney's growth arc was flawless. - The love story between Barney and Robin was well made and believable. They know each other and fell for that person in front of them. - Ted was obsessed with a look. He saw Robin and decided they were meant to be. There is nothing there more than a physical attraction. Even when he met her and realized they were not compatible, he couldn't let go of his delusion. - Making Robin ending up with Ted is a betrayal to her character. They are forcing her to be who she is not for the sake of Ted's happy ending. - Ted going back to Robin makes you think that he only used Tracey for his idea of becoming a father, but was still into Robin all the time. He could have caused Tracey's death for all I know.
@@comfypeepo I really don't know how I can justify my point of view more. I agree that things are not black and white. That is why Ted deciding that he had to end up with Robin and never letting go, is a problem. Robin never really showed real romantic feelings for Ted. The closest is her recognizing that she should, but she doesn't.
I agree. I never felt Robin was attracted to Ted. They had different life goals. They were good friends but I don’t understand why they think getting with Robin was a good idea.
Other than Barney becoming playboy again I think the finale was believable BUT I don't think it was good for the series as it just kind of skipped through all the events.
The only part of the finale I don’t like is that Barney and Robin divorce, only for Ted to want to marry Robin in the end. Instead they could give Tracey a well deserved goodbye instead of just saying she died in 1 line of dialogue.
For me, I spent 9 years watching unbelievable stuff happen just to finally see the most basic, realistic and yet loving thing destroyed. Realism is one thing but when so much of the show was unrealistic, that end was brutal.
@romanarts6645 nah, it was badly done. Poor execution. I think most people could accepted everything that happened in the finale if it was fleshed out over a few more episodes instead of all squished together at the end. A whole season of a wedding we're told ends in divorce a few minutes later. Same thing for the mother. The whole series we've been there for the whole story, and in the end we just have to hear about these things and accept them so quickly. If they allowed us to be a part of the end of those journeys just a bit more, I think the majority would have accepted.
@@Raindropsundropgumdrop I think the execution could've been better as well, but most people just hate the fact that Ted ended up with Robin which I dont mind
I didn't mind the ending the second time I watched it. Throughout the entire show there was foreshadowing how the mother isn't alive in 2030 when Ted is telling the story to his kids, the biggest one being S8E20. Also like Penny points out in the end, that this isn't really a story about Tracy at all because Tracy is barely in that story, it's absolutely about how crazily Ted is in love with Robin. There is a theory that everybody has 'the one' and I believe for Tracy it was her first boyfriend Max like for Ted it was Robin. They both got to be with their 'one' and as the show suggests it always came down to the timing being right.
It makes people sad because the whole series is a lesson on letting the person go , who doesn't love you back strings you around forever, and finally meeting the person who truly loves you and wants to be with you. And then in the last few seconds the writes spit on the lesson we all were learning and really need to learn
It needed to be longer, but I loved the ending. Tracy was great, but him telling the story six years after her death as a means to tell his love of her but also the story of him and Robin to let the kids know and get their permission was great.
I'm pretty sure that people don't watch sitcoms for storylines on death and depression, and the expectations that come with this genre made the finale a bit unfitting. Yeah, I know this wasn't the only moment in the show in which drama peaked, but I don't think the others were that good of an idea either (the episodes with Ted hallucinating alone at MacLaren's and Robin's imaginary kids nailed it, but Marshall's dad dying BEFORE even finding out that he'll have a grandkid also jumped the shark for a sitcom, imo).
Well, Ted's kids said so, Ted just wanted them to know how important was Robin to him. It took like 1-2 days to tell the story and then conclude. It was never to let them know how he met their mom. If he really wanted that, he could have told that story long before, even before Tracy died.
The final season should of been split into two and the first half being Barney and robins wedding with small nods to the mother. Only the cameos she had with other characters and then the rest of the season should have been Ted and Tracey’s love story. Either this or BARNEY AND NORA SHOULD OF BEENNENDGAME
He was so right though. I remember when the episode aired EVERYONE hated it, and people were so pissed. Now I have many friends who reviewed the series during the pandemic, and we all felt its a calm and good end, though not the end we would hoped for, but in its story it fits
Honestly I liked the ending, it felt true to life. Life has a way changing and almost rhyming with the past. Like mother used to live on street called stretch when she was a kid, she grew up poor and had me at a young age. Now almost 30 years later she’s a millionaire and bought a big house on a new deployment only 5 minutes away from where she grew up. Even though physically, she stayed at the same place, everything else has changed. And I feel the same way about Ted and Robin’s relationship.
I’ll say it: the ending where he runs back to Robin after Tracey’s death feels like a cop-out. Through the entire series, they thoroughly explained with he and Robin were not a match only to kill off his true love and stick those two back on the toxic train. This series’ finale is a perfect example of a writer’s room full of people eager to crap on an entire series’ due to their own need for iconoclasm.
I think most people were mad at him using this whole story as an excuse to try and date robin again, her dying was actually great, I mean I hated it because I wanted to see so much more of the mother cause the actress was amazing, but her dying was a great part of the story and very emotional
It wasn't the fact that Tracey dying was the problem it's the fact that they had finally had let ted getaway from robin and they spent 3 seasons building up Robin's and barneys relationship just to go full circle back to the same situation we started in
I remember being mad the first time i saw it, but then it all made sense in the end , Ted got the kids he has always wanted, and Robin ended up being one of the most famous reporter. Their was nothing holding them back this time .
Mothers death is not the problem. All these years, Ted narrating his love story to his kids and the mother not even once interfered had me ready. What I don't like was, all that build up for Barney and Robin go to vein. All these years they went back and forth and finale of 8th season was just 🤌 You ruined it creators, you ruined it.
Real ones understand that it wasn’t the ideal ending, but the right one. If by the end of the show you think the point of it was about Ted chasing love and living life to the fullest, I don’t think you quite understood HIMYM past surface level. Try to re-watch and think about what was the deeper meaning behind each character.
My only complaint is the pacing, not the story, itself. If Barney and Robin got married in season 8, and we had the entirety of season 9 to watch their flame burn out while Ted finds happiness, and it's ultimately taken away from him. The whole Ted goes back to Robin would've made sense. I mean, they did promise to be each other's consolation prizes if they were still single at 40 (even Ted eventually went back on that promise) Still, watching this at 26 makes the whole thing far more relatable than it would've been if I saw this show when I was 17 or 18 for example
I honestly understand why people hate the ending. Overall though after 10 years of the show finishing i really do understand the creators decision in ending it the way they did. They killed off the mother cause it was real. It was realistic which is something that show's writing was so good at doing... making the characters and situations feel real and not just TV characters. Sometimes that's what happens in real life. Sometimes the love of your life, the person you've tried and have been hoping to meet for years, the "one" as HIMYM calls it a lot of the time...dies. Sometimes life doesn't give you a happily ever after. Him ending up with Robin makes sense as well cause if you really think about it the one thing that stopped Robin and Ted from being prefect for each other was the whole marriage and kids thing but by the time Ted is telling the story that's not really an issue anymore you know? Ted already achieved his goal of finding "the one" and settling down and having kids so that's not really an issue for Ted and Robin anymore. Like I said i get why people hate the ending i really do but you can't deny that the ending was realistic to life which is what that show was so good at portraying.
Tarcy's death wasn't the issue. That was foreshadowed. The problem was they rushed Ted and Tracy's relationship when THAT could have been the whole last season rather than a 3 day weekend taking up the entire season. I hated what they did to Barney and Robin, after years of character development and a whole season dedicated to their wedding just throwing that all out the window in the finale and reverting all of the characters back to square one
People are stupid. The telling and chemistry between Ted and Robin is clear throughout the series. He tells the story of how he meets the mother but starts it at where he meets Robin. It ends where it started. It makes sense the kids deduced that he wanted their permission to go after her again
I like the show as it is honestly. The ending is a bit disappointing but it would've been disappointing either way, I don't think you can end such an awesome show in a way that everybody is satisfied with it.
I think he misses the mark on why people didn’t like it. It’s not because they’re sad about the death, it’s that the death was after knowing the mother for just a few episodes and the whole thing being rushed
No, Ted! What we don't like is the idiocy of telling your children about the dozens of women you screwed right after their mother died. That is BEYOND dumb....
Putting Robin and Barney together absolutely fucking ruined the show. It should have always been Ted and Robin at the end. Yes, they didn’t “want” the same things but they should have made it their love was so strong it didn’t matter. Also after Ted found out about Robin and Barney I would have been longer than 3 episodes of him being angry.
The problem wasn't anything that happened in the episode. But it's the pacing. We don't really get to see Ted and Tracy do anything together even if the whole show is Ted's journey to meet Tracy. Plus the whole last season told the story of Barney and Robin's wedding. I don't mind them divorcing as it led to Barney becoming a dad. But if they were gonna divorce they could have showed more of them being a couple and maybe made the wedding a bit of a shorter arc. And of course, we didn't see enough of Barney being a dad.
@@proxy7362 no mate, it was awful. The ending undoes both Ted and Robin’s entire arc of going against the “will they/won’t they” dynamic just for the sake of misinterpreted fan service and a cliche ending. The ending turns it into just another generic romance story where the characters who were into each other in the first episode just so happen to be each other’s soulmates
@YodaOnABender They were a perfect match but the only reason they didn't work was bc Ted wanted Kids and Robin wanted to travel the world. That I'd why Ted got the locket for her as a wedding gift. Ted was able to have kids, Tracy got to be with her soul mate, max in heaven, and Ted was finally able to be with Ribin.
To answer his question, it’s 10 years later and the show’s ending still sucks. In my book, Tracey never died and Robin and Barney stayed together, end of story!
The death is not the problem here 😢 it's ted crawling back to robin. After her divorce with barney, it feels like the characters never grew because of that 😅
Brother, the show itself (it pains me to say it tho) allready aged very poorly, the end was just bad from the beginning. Spending a whole season selling us a wedding to break it up in 10 minutes and tell us a thousand times how Ted needs to get over Robin to get back with her it's just criminal.
I hate the original ending… the alternate ending is so much better. The symbol has always been the yellow umbrella not the damn blue horn… also Ted and Robin doesn’t have much in common. It was a kick to the face when Barney and Robin divorced. All that character development turned into nothing… only characters that had actual good development was Mallowpad. Barney went back to being a scum bag, Robin went back to a workaholic, and Ted went back to the toxic relationship that is with Robin
My wife and I just finished watching the series. It was the first time for her, and while she loved the series, she HATED the finale. For me, 10 years later, the finale still sucks.
I like Josh less for this comment. Sorry, can’t help it. Apparently not only the writer didn’t get why audiences were angry, Josh the Ted Mosby himself didn’t get it either. I guess this show is indeed a joke itself with this ending.
If ONLY Barney had gotten the locket instead of Ted by asking him (or other ex's of Ted) about its whereabouts, and Ted had ended up with Tracy (if Tracy was alive) or single (if Tracy died), the show would have been perfect...... I don't know how i feel about the ending, I had some amazing laughs whilst watching the show, but the ending kinda..... make my mood go meh
The show was perfectly fine, and the ending… not what is “ideal” to tie things in a nice little bow, but that’s the point…life is messy, the good, the bad, the serendipitous, the things we have to fall back on when bad things happen, the choices we make for ourselves daily lead us to very different places. And having dealt with a lot of family death myself, seeing how others handle grief in many different ways, how they cope, what their soft place was to start a new growth, maybe from their past, maybe something or someone new. This show is true to life. It’s not all about “happy endings” sometimes there’s the happy ending that does end, as with every thing… there is an end. And in a show all about choices,fate, true love and what one does when life gives you what it gives everyone…. The ending makes perfect sense. He did have his fairy tale, he did find her, but life happens and while it was great and wonderful for him and her for obviously yrs enough to have their kids, life did what it does… that’s reality…. And in reality he needs to move on, in some way, as his nature he doesn’t fair well alone. So what would others want vs what makes the most sense in that situation….. again it’s about life and life is messy, it’s funny, it’s sad, it’s both fair and unfair from situation to situation, always has been always will be, it’s complicated and is usually not cookie cutter neat little bows. It’s about how we get through even when we’ve lost our win. I wouldn’t want this show any other way then the way it is.
This is how we can tell the ending was bad.... Nobody, and I mean nobody, wants a reboot of this show. In a time when fans are demanding reboots in order to catch up with old favorite characters, no one is asking for this reboot. No one cares, nor do they want to know where Ted and Robin are today. And, Barney, Lily, and Marshall don't generate enough interest to launch a reboot.
Absolutely worse ending possible for a series!!! Total stupidity a writer could make. HIMYM wins the title for having the MOST blunderous ending possible!
Sorry, this is condescending.. I'm not disappointed due to preferring to be angry than sad. I'm not unwilling to grieve. I'm just capable of seeing character development being flushed down the toilet.
Actually many of us didn't care about mother The problem was that you showed us a wonderful love throughour the series and you ended it with a divorce !!!! Banrney fell for robin in season 3 It took us 2 seasons to see them together And then again season 7,8 and 9 were all about barney and Robin's love so that makes half of the show just about robin and barney And the writers split them due to Robin's busy schedule ?!! Is that a joke?? ?!! A
Well... I don't like end. But... If you look at that, it's real life. You can found Mother of your kids, but... Don't give up for love if you have death of your husband/wife. Do you remember end of Rachel/Ross in Friends? I think writers wants to have Ted and Robin together. C'est la vie!
It was the biggest piece of dogshit on earth.. they managed to create decent characters.. with mediocre humour but they just murdered it with the finale.. and I heard there's a spin off, I wonder how many people watch that.
There are a lot of Spider-Man parallels with HIMYM Ted: Peter Parker Barney: Harry Osborn Robin: Mary Jane Tracy: Gwen Stacy Peter starts dating Mary Jane, they don't work out in the end, then Harry and her have something and while it's great, they're either too similar or too different (like Barney and Robin) meanwhile Peter is dating someone, and falls in love with someone who eventually dies, who is Gwen (Ted and Tracy) and then after a long mourning period, he finally decides to find someone new and it's his ex. (Ted and Robin) The ending is fine because Ted and Robin both grew as people from the beginning. The Robin in the beginning in the show is not the same as the one at the end. People saying it's a betrayal to Robin's character is just not true. She's grown as a person, she has been married before something she claimed before to never want to happen for her. Characters do not stay consistent from the beginning, it's called growth. Also, Barney and Robin never should've dated in the first place
The ending is fantastic. It's the not the shows fault that it inherited the audience from Friends when it always was a way more mature and creative show than friends. People who watched it as their comfort show was never going to get that finale and I think it was a brave choice of the writers to write the ending to their story without pandering to people who wanted happily ever after.
