Legendary Sitcom’s Hated Ending Is Not The Travesty Everyone Says
Though it may be difficult to believe, it has officially been over 10 years since the fan-favorite sitcom How I Met Your Mother aired its highly controversial series finale. The two-part final episode, titled “Last Forever,” closes the loop on beloved characters such as Marshall and Lilly, glimpses into the future of Barney Stinson as a reformed ladies man turned loving father, and finally answers the prompt posed by the series’ title, by showing Ted Mosby meeting the woman who would come to be the mother of his children. Despite the episode being widely hated by hardcore fans of the show, I personally think the How I Met Your Mother finale is much better than people give it credit for, especially with a decade of hindsight.
The Series Has Better Mileage In Hindsight
Admittedly, I wasn’t an avid viewer of How I Met Your Mother 10 years ago when the finale first aired, so I missed the initial wave of shock, awe, and horror that hardcore fans experienced after watching new episodes air weekly. In fact, I hadn’t seen much of the show at all until around 2 years ago when a friend commenced a shared binge experience of the series with me, walking me through the highs and lows of the long-running sitcom like a wingman walking a dork through a routine to pick up chicks at MacLaren’s.
A Full-Circle Story No Matter How You Look At It
I had already had most of How I Met Your Mother‘s finale spoiled for me long before starting the show, which meant that I was primed for a rough time from the very beginning. So imagine my surprise when I finally completed my binge and felt that the ending was not just competent and emotionally effective, but actually very good from a storytelling perspective. Personally, I felt that the finale perfectly closed the chapters of each main character in their respective pursuits, concluding the bar-fly era of endless dating and hookups and progressing each of the gang toward things like marriage, parenthood, and major career successes.
Binge-Watching Vs Weekly Appointment Viewing
I won’t go so far as to argue that the How I Met Your Mother finale was a perfect conclusion, but it seemed clear to me that “Last Forever” was designed to deliver on the show’s title, while also offering a comprehensive look into how Marshall, Lilly, Robin, Barney, and Ted each approached the reality of their middle age, and learned to settle into their roles within the world. Of course, my watch-through was heavily aided by the fact that I wasn’t waiting a full week in between each new episode, with year-long breaks between seasons.
The Disappointment Made Sense In 2014
The ability to binge-watch How I Met Your Mother in the streaming era makes the finale far more tolerable, as the cohesive narrative formed by the final episodes of the show flows smoothly when witnessed in rapid succession. Still, I can see why the fate of the mother, or the fate of Barney and Robin’s doomed marriage would be upsetting to viewers who had scheduled their entire week around watching the narrative unfold 22 minutes at a time back in 2014.
A Finale That Deserves A Second Chance
For those who watched How I Met Your Mother in weekly installments and felt disrespected and betrayed by the finale, I would advise going back and checking out at least the last season on streaming. Though the conclusion may not be perfect, you’ll surely come to appreciate a few things now that other shows, like Game of Thrones, have botched their own final episodes by such wide margins. How I Met Your Mother is streaming on Netflix for those interested in checking the series out.
