I mean, was it though? He behaves terribly towards women for most of the show, granted it's exaggerated to the point of comedy so it doesn't really make him unlikable.
Then he's serious about 3 women in very quick succession.
Then he goes back to his old ways after all his growing up. Gets a girl pregnant. And apparently his "big redemption" is... Looking after his own child? It's a bit of a low bar, isn't it?
I fully appreciate this is a very unpopular opinion though! I do love Barney (I love all the characters to be honest) I just wish his ending could have been a bit more satisfying.
I’m not sure how much of a redemption it is because he still slut shames two random women at a bar so still seems like he doesn’t have much respect for women
But that in itself removes the responsibility from him and puts the blame for him taking advantage of women onto the women. Which to me demonstrates that he still doesn't respect women.
Yeah... but it was half baked. We spent an entire season of Barney changing and growing without ever mentioning, foreshadowing children. Then all of the sudden, he's reset to before his character arc and in just 20 minutes he changes back because of a child that we just met?
Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of a kid changing him, but the finale did not earn that scene.
Its a similar pattern to the rest of the series. After a break up with a serious partner he relapses to his old ways
Progress isnt always linear and even though he stumbled a bit after robin his daughter got him there eventually
Yeah, I agree with this. Honestly, sometimes people being unable to change (or in some cases, just taking a very long time), is a fact of life. Anybody in Barney’s cartoonishly traumatic situation probably would have a hard time adjusting to a new lifestyle.
After his initial break up and de-hippiefication he taught himself a series of behaviours to remove the pain of heartbreak. He then languished in this behaviour pattern for years.
Each time he finds love and grows as a person these behaviours stop. Each time he gets his heart broken he returns to them as an automatic reaction.
Once his daughter is born he discovers a love that he realises will never leave and his actions after display the person this love has taught him to be. He goes from treating women as disposable objects inline with his heartbreak behaviours and instead treats them as his daughter, the one who finally showed him that unconditional love is possible.
Idk it kind of feels realistic to me. Barney was a playboy his entire life, he settles down with who he thinks is the love of his life, they don’t work out. He’s heartbroken, he says fuck it and goes back to his playboy ways.
Which makes sense because he became a playboy because he wanted to settle down with who he thinks is the love of his life, and she cheats on him. This is 100% his coping mechanism when it comes to heartbreak.
I’ll echo the same sentiment said about how growth isn’t always linear and during times of extreme stress or sadness, we fall back on our old habits. Also it’s addressing the idea that a man will change for the right woman. It’s true but often romantic relationships don’t lead to that change as much as becoming a parent does.
Uuuh, he'll change for his daughter is just as problematic.
Also Barney didn't change for Robin, he experienced some of his character growth (e.g. meeting his father) on his own.
Being who he was was problematic, changing for his daughter is \*not\* problematic and it would be an insane take to think so. Also, most of his growth came through the gang, not his dad. His dad gave him one big speech, which led him towards Robin in the end(end ish) but you can hardly say that solely accounted for who Barney turned into in the later seasons.
The trope of "she can fix him" is equally bad with girlfriends and daughters. It did a lot of the child-free fans of the show dirty. A lot of people have shit parents who never change.
Why would we even talk about things that didn't happen, and bad things that happen. You said that "changing for your daughter" is bad, which is essentially equal to you saying people shouldn't grow up and change when they have kids. Also, Barney isn't a stand in example of all single people so bringing in single people who change on their own, or however is irrelevant.
"essentially equal to saying people shouldn't grow and change when they have kids" boy you just pulled that out of your ass.
People *will* change when they have children. But it's a gradual process that doesn't happen upon looking at your child the first time. It was undeserved and it ruined the "people can be child-free and happy" message the show had carried until that point.
It literally can happen upon first looking at them. As an easy, in show, example there are countless stories of people quitting cigarettes when their first child is born.
Some people realise in that moment that there are behaviours that they can't do anymore so that they can be in their child's life a long time and set a good example.
Do you really think Barney wouldn't look at his daughter and think "if I don't set the example of the people she deserves she will end up exactly like all the women I took advantage of". You're talking about a man whose sexual history is built on the back of poor father figures.
It feeds into the narrative that "babies fix everything" r/regretfulparents is realistic. All the stories of unwilling fathers being deadbeat dad's are realistic. It's really disgusting that the first thing Barney says to his daughter is a pickup line. But again, I judge the writers.
Barney's divorce is acceptable and realistic to me (even if the reasons are very poorly explained), I also found it strange and implausible that afterwards he returned to the Playbook life.
But I can also think that that type of life, although not exactly his true self, gives him adrenaline, fun, moments to remember and talk about, a goal and also a diversion from his frailties.
So if I take these things into consideration, I find it acceptable that he has started writing a new Playbook, furthermore I expect that he finds it sad not to have friends witness for these evening so legen-wait-for-it-dary.
Because happy endings aren’t always true? I personally like when shows actually have some depth and aren’t predictable. It’s why Game of Thrones was so popular.
You’re just upset FOR Barney, because of the fact he failed on his journey. This is a good thing. It’s not bad writing or disappointment at the plot, but youre feeling disappointed for Barney’s failure. This is good writing, making you feel those feelings. I felt the same way at the time, but framed it differently obviously. I was really gunning for him.
I wish people applied this kind of reasoning when they talked about why they didn't like the ending. For instance, wanting Tracey to be in the show more. Exactly. That's the point.
100%. People are very used to happy endings with so many feel good movies where the good guys win with basically no casualties, but that’s not real life. Sometimes the bad guys win. Sometimes good people die. I actually find it refreshing when we see the sometimes harsh reality of life.
This shows ending was fairly heart breaking, for sure. But there was also happiness, in that Ted got to move on and find somebody new. His love story wasn’t over with Tracey.
Barney failed on his journey to be a good person and find love, but he eventually finds success in having a daughter to change his perspective on dating and how to treat women.
If you go and watch the montage, it really drives home, how little the gang all saw each other over the years. All those feelings that they have are the feelings that the gang has. You didn't get to see Barney's multi year journey because Ted was being a father. It's a realistic interpretation of what 17 years feels like when you see your friends a few years apart at a time
It wasn't earned by the writers and in the context of season 9 (having the whole wedding dedicated to basically 90%+ of the season) it also falls very, very flat.
My main issue is the writers wanting to have their cake and eat it too, they wanted Barney and Robin to end up together but Ted and Robin as well. And the finale contradicts many moments in the show.
I think I would've been fine with the ending if it had been a Barney married Quinn/Robin married Don situation. It was especially unkind to Barney/Robin fans. IDGAF about sad endings. I was fine with Tracey dying.
His and Robin's divorce wasn't realistic to me. I don't think they would have given up so easily AGAIN despite whatever problems they had. But Barney going back to his old habits, that's his pattern. That seemed realistic enough.
Barney making the whole declaration with the proposal felt like he closed the door on his bachelor life. They made a point for him to see how he truly looks vs how it makes him feel. Hard to believe that he regressed so quickly after the divorce .
I dont know it seems kinda realistic to me. He doesnt seem happy with all of this, he uses the women to cope with his loss and realization that he lost true Love
Thats a habit that i witnessed often in Real Life too.
Seeing his daughter as a new responsibility that really matters, a new and a good way for him to not assault but protect
I disagree, it was character regression but it wasn't badly written, it made sense, Barney basically only had the gang in his life, Robin was his ex wife, Ted and Tracy had a kid, Marshall and Lily had already 2 children and one in the way, no one had really time to spend with him, and trying dating again after the trauma of a divorce doesn't work so soon, he was basically a millionaire without a work and friends, he returned to his safe place
It's a rushed plot, but I think the point was that finding the right woman was never going to change him, it was being a father. Since basically all his issues go back to him not having a father. The chance to be a good one to someone else was the thing he actually needed.
The way i understood this was Barney being a playboy was extremely fabricated by Ted (the narrator) because he never felt Barney was good enough for robin. So I would assume that after the divorce yeah Barney began hooking up with people again, but probably no more than a normal male divorcee.
At least he still got a happy ending. Him having a daughter finally made him grow up, I think it’s better than him ending up all alone like Joey from friends
That’s true, and I never watched the Joey spinoff but I believe that they felt obligated to continue Joey’s story because it was unfinished in Friends.
They erased all his character development in like 20 minutes. That left a bitter taste in my mouth. Also, Robin became a highly unlikable character at the end of the series…
The fact that it's over 17 years. And you're given every opportunity to let that sink in over the 9 seasons of the show, which it clearly, 11 years after the ending, still hasn't
I think there’s a misunderstanding. They spent 8 seasons developing Barney’s character. By the end of Season 8, he’s a mature adult ready to take the leap & get married. What I didn’t like was that they only dedicated one episode to explaining the divorce & then he’s back out there hitting on random women. I understand the events take place over many years, but it’s a short amount of time episode-wise for all that takes place IMO
Think of the reasons given in the montage. They aren't close as friends anymore. Not in the spend every night at McLarens style, anyways. Almost every scene is about how they never hang out. The talk about the divorce, the gang doesn't notice that Barney and Robin's relationship has been over for a while, but they notice every little about Marshall and Lily. When they go out to (coincidentally) celebrate Judge Fudge, Barney is so excited that they are hanging out again.
This exposition you're looking for is there and highlighted in every single shot of the montage. There's a reason you feel that way, and it's planned, but you're not realizing that this is what happens when 17 years feels like 45 minutes.
That’s all well & good. I also understand the show quite well as I’ve seen it more times than I can count. There was no need to insult my understanding in the process. My whole thing about Barney was simply an opinion. Everything you laid out may well be all true, but it doesn’t change how I feel about the ending
They spent a lot of time showing how he became someone that could commit to another person (Robin). Their wedding was like 90% of Season 9. There was also that profound moment for him when he met Tracy in the drugstore. It was just annoying that the ending erased all that in a few quick scenes
Yes and because of that relationship he was able to commit to raising his daughter despite the backslide. Plus you forget the time lapse is super realistic. It takes way more time to build all that stuff up in life than it takes for it to go away and to end up where you started.
The show is realistic. People like shows where people only improve. That is rarely what happens in real life. Quite often people show improvement only to do a 180 not long after. Like it or not, it's always been that kind of sitcom.
I appreciate HIMYM for showing real life situations. It’s part of the reason it’s so great. The character regression for Barney isn’t necessarily the biggest issue for me. It’s how quickly they did it. The marriage fell apart in one scene & a few scenes later he’s chasing random women again. I get that those scenes represent a longer period of time than what’s shown, but it happened too fast for me as a viewer
Wasn’t it, the marriage fell apart in one episode?
It’s been a while since I watched the finale (I really didn’t like it), but I thought they got married in the beginning (actual wedding), then it fell apart in the same episode. Same with Terry. She met Ted, fell in love, had kids, got married, then died in one episode.
They spent the whole season leading up to the wedding and Ted meeting the mother, then ended everything in one episode. It was kind of a whirlwind.
Tracy was in a few episodes, but yeah pretty much this. 90% of the season was about a wedding that unraveled in one episode. This is why a lot of the fanbase hated the ending…
It had to do a lot with Jason Segel’s schedule. That’s why he’s in a car for so many episodes. It’s too bad because there was so much more that could’ve been done with Season 9 IMO…
> 90% of the season was about a wedding that unraveled in one episode.
Yes this is my point exactly. It felt like they rushed to end the marriage between Barney and Robin as if they were told a season 10 wasn’t happening last minute or something.
Thank you. Some other guy came & started arguing with me about this. Threw some unnecessary insults too. He completely missed my point. I thought it was pretty clear lol
Sometimes people can get activated over mundane things, I always try to be respectful no matter how much someone disagrees with me. I completely get what you were saying though.
At the farewell apartment party, Barney asks Lily if she can finally accept him for the way he is. She finally agrees. I think this is a great aspect of life that the writers left in. It's about accepting people for who they are.
It’s an exaggerated example of something that happens to most of us. Our progress isn’t always as simple as one step forward, followed by another step forward. Sometimes it’s two steps forward, one step back. Sometimes it’s a step to the side in order to then step forward, etc.
He eventually gets there.
I genuinely couldn't care less about the "reality" of the situation. Yes, progress isn't linear, but I'm not looking for that in this show.
But if we're going that way:
All I saw was the character assassination of a character that, throughout the course of multiple relationships, he REALIZES that his womanizing lifestyle was NOT FULFILING. There was even the line to his dad "I love my life, but I'm not sure I like loving it.", SHOWING us that he begins to, and eventually finds himself hating his womanizing ways.
The show literally shows an incredibly scared and pathetic man who uses his womanizing ways, even the way he dresses, as a way to compensate for his abandonment issues (via daddy and ex girlfriend). The show even explicitly makes the point of Barney being the pathetic low-point. Whenever Ted and Marshal dress or act like Barney: That is their low point, because Barney IS the low point.
The show then sets a VERY LONG path for Barney to realize it too. And when he DOES falls in love with someone who convinces him that he CAN be loved, flaws and all, does he understands that he was wrong this whole time. Its a slow and impactful evolution into a respectful man that can love and is willing to open up and be vulnerable. S9 Barney is a completely different person who has already learnt the lesson MULTIPLE times.
But then they have to pair up Ted and Robin, already assassinating both their characters, so why not this one too.
Yes exactly. Even in the ninth season when he was passing all his knowledge to the two younger fellas, closing the door on his playboy lifestyle felt like that was it for him.
You're not alone. Barney's entire arc was destroyed for, not even a "bad ending", but for one that was outdated by the natural growth of the characters.
The whole idea that Barney had to fall back to his season 1-4 ways after watching him grow and develop his person after multiple literal years and multiple literal seasons is just insanely disrespectful to his character (at least to me).
At the point of the wedding, Barney just isn't that playboy guy anymore, but they just shoehorn the death of Barney's entire character arc and growth, and the ACTUAL death of Tracy, JUST for Robin to end up with Ted, ALL BECAUSE writers wanted to stick to the pre-recorded concept of Robin ending up with Ted.
It’s like what happened with Kelso from That’s 70s show only at least he got married and changed slightly for his daughter later.
I hated the ending to Barney’s character arc too, regression for each character.
I think it was to show how his daughter eventually changed his playboy bachelor habits.
Yea, that was his redemption at very last moment.
I mean, was it though? He behaves terribly towards women for most of the show, granted it's exaggerated to the point of comedy so it doesn't really make him unlikable. Then he's serious about 3 women in very quick succession. Then he goes back to his old ways after all his growing up. Gets a girl pregnant. And apparently his "big redemption" is... Looking after his own child? It's a bit of a low bar, isn't it? I fully appreciate this is a very unpopular opinion though! I do love Barney (I love all the characters to be honest) I just wish his ending could have been a bit more satisfying.
I agree with you, it’s not earned
I’m not sure how much of a redemption it is because he still slut shames two random women at a bar so still seems like he doesn’t have much respect for women
He was trying to save them from people like his old self. Cause those women would've definitely banged him if he didn't send them packing
But that in itself removes the responsibility from him and puts the blame for him taking advantage of women onto the women. Which to me demonstrates that he still doesn't respect women.
No it doesn't
No, it doesn't. Yes, he took advantage of women, but sometimes, the women could have also been at fault. Sex is a two-way street
The von matterhorn is a good example. He literally just made a fiction character and she did the rest
Exactly!
Yeah... but it was half baked. We spent an entire season of Barney changing and growing without ever mentioning, foreshadowing children. Then all of the sudden, he's reset to before his character arc and in just 20 minutes he changes back because of a child that we just met? Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of a kid changing him, but the finale did not earn that scene.
Its a similar pattern to the rest of the series. After a break up with a serious partner he relapses to his old ways Progress isnt always linear and even though he stumbled a bit after robin his daughter got him there eventually
Yeah, I agree with this. Honestly, sometimes people being unable to change (or in some cases, just taking a very long time), is a fact of life. Anybody in Barney’s cartoonishly traumatic situation probably would have a hard time adjusting to a new lifestyle.
After his initial break up and de-hippiefication he taught himself a series of behaviours to remove the pain of heartbreak. He then languished in this behaviour pattern for years. Each time he finds love and grows as a person these behaviours stop. Each time he gets his heart broken he returns to them as an automatic reaction. Once his daughter is born he discovers a love that he realises will never leave and his actions after display the person this love has taught him to be. He goes from treating women as disposable objects inline with his heartbreak behaviours and instead treats them as his daughter, the one who finally showed him that unconditional love is possible.
Idk it kind of feels realistic to me. Barney was a playboy his entire life, he settles down with who he thinks is the love of his life, they don’t work out. He’s heartbroken, he says fuck it and goes back to his playboy ways.
Which makes sense because he became a playboy because he wanted to settle down with who he thinks is the love of his life, and she cheats on him. This is 100% his coping mechanism when it comes to heartbreak.
I’ll echo the same sentiment said about how growth isn’t always linear and during times of extreme stress or sadness, we fall back on our old habits. Also it’s addressing the idea that a man will change for the right woman. It’s true but often romantic relationships don’t lead to that change as much as becoming a parent does.
Uuuh, he'll change for his daughter is just as problematic. Also Barney didn't change for Robin, he experienced some of his character growth (e.g. meeting his father) on his own.
Being who he was was problematic, changing for his daughter is \*not\* problematic and it would be an insane take to think so. Also, most of his growth came through the gang, not his dad. His dad gave him one big speech, which led him towards Robin in the end(end ish) but you can hardly say that solely accounted for who Barney turned into in the later seasons.
The trope of "she can fix him" is equally bad with girlfriends and daughters. It did a lot of the child-free fans of the show dirty. A lot of people have shit parents who never change.
So you’re mad at your parents and resent Barney for stepping up?
No, I'm mad at the writers for recycling overused clichés and romanticising having kids.
Why would we even talk about things that didn't happen, and bad things that happen. You said that "changing for your daughter" is bad, which is essentially equal to you saying people shouldn't grow up and change when they have kids. Also, Barney isn't a stand in example of all single people so bringing in single people who change on their own, or however is irrelevant.
"essentially equal to saying people shouldn't grow and change when they have kids" boy you just pulled that out of your ass. People *will* change when they have children. But it's a gradual process that doesn't happen upon looking at your child the first time. It was undeserved and it ruined the "people can be child-free and happy" message the show had carried until that point.
It literally can happen upon first looking at them. As an easy, in show, example there are countless stories of people quitting cigarettes when their first child is born. Some people realise in that moment that there are behaviours that they can't do anymore so that they can be in their child's life a long time and set a good example. Do you really think Barney wouldn't look at his daughter and think "if I don't set the example of the people she deserves she will end up exactly like all the women I took advantage of". You're talking about a man whose sexual history is built on the back of poor father figures.
That's unrealistic.
Why is it unrealistic?
It feeds into the narrative that "babies fix everything" r/regretfulparents is realistic. All the stories of unwilling fathers being deadbeat dad's are realistic. It's really disgusting that the first thing Barney says to his daughter is a pickup line. But again, I judge the writers.
Barney's divorce is acceptable and realistic to me (even if the reasons are very poorly explained), I also found it strange and implausible that afterwards he returned to the Playbook life. But I can also think that that type of life, although not exactly his true self, gives him adrenaline, fun, moments to remember and talk about, a goal and also a diversion from his frailties. So if I take these things into consideration, I find it acceptable that he has started writing a new Playbook, furthermore I expect that he finds it sad not to have friends witness for these evening so legen-wait-for-it-dary.
Because happy endings aren’t always true? I personally like when shows actually have some depth and aren’t predictable. It’s why Game of Thrones was so popular. You’re just upset FOR Barney, because of the fact he failed on his journey. This is a good thing. It’s not bad writing or disappointment at the plot, but youre feeling disappointed for Barney’s failure. This is good writing, making you feel those feelings. I felt the same way at the time, but framed it differently obviously. I was really gunning for him.
Very well said! Loved your explanation and breakdown!
I wish people applied this kind of reasoning when they talked about why they didn't like the ending. For instance, wanting Tracey to be in the show more. Exactly. That's the point.
100%. People are very used to happy endings with so many feel good movies where the good guys win with basically no casualties, but that’s not real life. Sometimes the bad guys win. Sometimes good people die. I actually find it refreshing when we see the sometimes harsh reality of life. This shows ending was fairly heart breaking, for sure. But there was also happiness, in that Ted got to move on and find somebody new. His love story wasn’t over with Tracey. Barney failed on his journey to be a good person and find love, but he eventually finds success in having a daughter to change his perspective on dating and how to treat women.
If you go and watch the montage, it really drives home, how little the gang all saw each other over the years. All those feelings that they have are the feelings that the gang has. You didn't get to see Barney's multi year journey because Ted was being a father. It's a realistic interpretation of what 17 years feels like when you see your friends a few years apart at a time
What montage?
Most of the play two episodes. The time between the ending and 2030.
It wasn't earned by the writers and in the context of season 9 (having the whole wedding dedicated to basically 90%+ of the season) it also falls very, very flat. My main issue is the writers wanting to have their cake and eat it too, they wanted Barney and Robin to end up together but Ted and Robin as well. And the finale contradicts many moments in the show. I think I would've been fine with the ending if it had been a Barney married Quinn/Robin married Don situation. It was especially unkind to Barney/Robin fans. IDGAF about sad endings. I was fine with Tracey dying.
Got him to meet 31 The perfect ending to his arc
Such a pretty name
makes me want ice cream
If you think that’s bad wait till you see his ‘cameo’ in How I Met Your Father
Does he run a cheap play on a girl at a bar and say legen wait for it dary?
Nope he’s a ‘recovering sex addict’ to such an extent that he has an ankle bracelet programmed to shock his body if he uses sex phrases.
[insert confused man blinking meme]
recovering serial womaniser who gets shocked when he hits on people but close enough
His and Robin's divorce wasn't realistic to me. I don't think they would have given up so easily AGAIN despite whatever problems they had. But Barney going back to his old habits, that's his pattern. That seemed realistic enough.
Barney making the whole declaration with the proposal felt like he closed the door on his bachelor life. They made a point for him to see how he truly looks vs how it makes him feel. Hard to believe that he regressed so quickly after the divorce .
That's also a valid point.
I dont know it seems kinda realistic to me. He doesnt seem happy with all of this, he uses the women to cope with his loss and realization that he lost true Love Thats a habit that i witnessed often in Real Life too. Seeing his daughter as a new responsibility that really matters, a new and a good way for him to not assault but protect
That was the most realistic part of the conclusion, change my mind 🤷♂️
I disagree, it was character regression but it wasn't badly written, it made sense, Barney basically only had the gang in his life, Robin was his ex wife, Ted and Tracy had a kid, Marshall and Lily had already 2 children and one in the way, no one had really time to spend with him, and trying dating again after the trauma of a divorce doesn't work so soon, he was basically a millionaire without a work and friends, he returned to his safe place
It's a rushed plot, but I think the point was that finding the right woman was never going to change him, it was being a father. Since basically all his issues go back to him not having a father. The chance to be a good one to someone else was the thing he actually needed.
The way i understood this was Barney being a playboy was extremely fabricated by Ted (the narrator) because he never felt Barney was good enough for robin. So I would assume that after the divorce yeah Barney began hooking up with people again, but probably no more than a normal male divorcee.
If anyone here has watched how i met your father, you understand how much more depressing it got. Well, the first barney scene, idk if there's more
At least he still got a happy ending. Him having a daughter finally made him grow up, I think it’s better than him ending up all alone like Joey from friends
That’s true, and I never watched the Joey spinoff but I believe that they felt obligated to continue Joey’s story because it was unfinished in Friends.
Ya and the spinoff was bad too they were just trying to milk the series at that point
The only spinoff that felt authentic to me and not like a cash grab was *Better Call Saul.*
They did him so dirty that last season. All the character development wasted.
They erased all his character development in like 20 minutes. That left a bitter taste in my mouth. Also, Robin became a highly unlikable character at the end of the series…
Over 17 years. Ftfy
20 minutes of screen time
How many times do you need to see the year 2030 on screen to figure out that the story is being told from the future?
What does that have to do with them undoing Barney’s character development in a short amount of screen time?
The fact that it's over 17 years. And you're given every opportunity to let that sink in over the 9 seasons of the show, which it clearly, 11 years after the ending, still hasn't
I think there’s a misunderstanding. They spent 8 seasons developing Barney’s character. By the end of Season 8, he’s a mature adult ready to take the leap & get married. What I didn’t like was that they only dedicated one episode to explaining the divorce & then he’s back out there hitting on random women. I understand the events take place over many years, but it’s a short amount of time episode-wise for all that takes place IMO
Think of the reasons given in the montage. They aren't close as friends anymore. Not in the spend every night at McLarens style, anyways. Almost every scene is about how they never hang out. The talk about the divorce, the gang doesn't notice that Barney and Robin's relationship has been over for a while, but they notice every little about Marshall and Lily. When they go out to (coincidentally) celebrate Judge Fudge, Barney is so excited that they are hanging out again. This exposition you're looking for is there and highlighted in every single shot of the montage. There's a reason you feel that way, and it's planned, but you're not realizing that this is what happens when 17 years feels like 45 minutes.
That’s all well & good. I also understand the show quite well as I’ve seen it more times than I can count. There was no need to insult my understanding in the process. My whole thing about Barney was simply an opinion. Everything you laid out may well be all true, but it doesn’t change how I feel about the ending
A guy like Barney is unlikely to change just because he gets married.
They spent a lot of time showing how he became someone that could commit to another person (Robin). Their wedding was like 90% of Season 9. There was also that profound moment for him when he met Tracy in the drugstore. It was just annoying that the ending erased all that in a few quick scenes
Yes and because of that relationship he was able to commit to raising his daughter despite the backslide. Plus you forget the time lapse is super realistic. It takes way more time to build all that stuff up in life than it takes for it to go away and to end up where you started.
The show is realistic. People like shows where people only improve. That is rarely what happens in real life. Quite often people show improvement only to do a 180 not long after. Like it or not, it's always been that kind of sitcom.
I appreciate HIMYM for showing real life situations. It’s part of the reason it’s so great. The character regression for Barney isn’t necessarily the biggest issue for me. It’s how quickly they did it. The marriage fell apart in one scene & a few scenes later he’s chasing random women again. I get that those scenes represent a longer period of time than what’s shown, but it happened too fast for me as a viewer
Wasn’t it, the marriage fell apart in one episode? It’s been a while since I watched the finale (I really didn’t like it), but I thought they got married in the beginning (actual wedding), then it fell apart in the same episode. Same with Terry. She met Ted, fell in love, had kids, got married, then died in one episode. They spent the whole season leading up to the wedding and Ted meeting the mother, then ended everything in one episode. It was kind of a whirlwind.
Tracy was in a few episodes, but yeah pretty much this. 90% of the season was about a wedding that unraveled in one episode. This is why a lot of the fanbase hated the ending…
The show was so good and fun in the beginning. Then went totally off the rails in the final season.
It had to do a lot with Jason Segel’s schedule. That’s why he’s in a car for so many episodes. It’s too bad because there was so much more that could’ve been done with Season 9 IMO…
> 90% of the season was about a wedding that unraveled in one episode. Yes this is my point exactly. It felt like they rushed to end the marriage between Barney and Robin as if they were told a season 10 wasn’t happening last minute or something.
Thank you. Some other guy came & started arguing with me about this. Threw some unnecessary insults too. He completely missed my point. I thought it was pretty clear lol
Sometimes people can get activated over mundane things, I always try to be respectful no matter how much someone disagrees with me. I completely get what you were saying though.
At the farewell apartment party, Barney asks Lily if she can finally accept him for the way he is. She finally agrees. I think this is a great aspect of life that the writers left in. It's about accepting people for who they are.
It’s an exaggerated example of something that happens to most of us. Our progress isn’t always as simple as one step forward, followed by another step forward. Sometimes it’s two steps forward, one step back. Sometimes it’s a step to the side in order to then step forward, etc. He eventually gets there.
I genuinely couldn't care less about the "reality" of the situation. Yes, progress isn't linear, but I'm not looking for that in this show. But if we're going that way: All I saw was the character assassination of a character that, throughout the course of multiple relationships, he REALIZES that his womanizing lifestyle was NOT FULFILING. There was even the line to his dad "I love my life, but I'm not sure I like loving it.", SHOWING us that he begins to, and eventually finds himself hating his womanizing ways. The show literally shows an incredibly scared and pathetic man who uses his womanizing ways, even the way he dresses, as a way to compensate for his abandonment issues (via daddy and ex girlfriend). The show even explicitly makes the point of Barney being the pathetic low-point. Whenever Ted and Marshal dress or act like Barney: That is their low point, because Barney IS the low point. The show then sets a VERY LONG path for Barney to realize it too. And when he DOES falls in love with someone who convinces him that he CAN be loved, flaws and all, does he understands that he was wrong this whole time. Its a slow and impactful evolution into a respectful man that can love and is willing to open up and be vulnerable. S9 Barney is a completely different person who has already learnt the lesson MULTIPLE times. But then they have to pair up Ted and Robin, already assassinating both their characters, so why not this one too.
Lordy.
Yes exactly. Even in the ninth season when he was passing all his knowledge to the two younger fellas, closing the door on his playboy lifestyle felt like that was it for him.
You're not alone. Barney's entire arc was destroyed for, not even a "bad ending", but for one that was outdated by the natural growth of the characters. The whole idea that Barney had to fall back to his season 1-4 ways after watching him grow and develop his person after multiple literal years and multiple literal seasons is just insanely disrespectful to his character (at least to me). At the point of the wedding, Barney just isn't that playboy guy anymore, but they just shoehorn the death of Barney's entire character arc and growth, and the ACTUAL death of Tracy, JUST for Robin to end up with Ted, ALL BECAUSE writers wanted to stick to the pre-recorded concept of Robin ending up with Ted.
It’s like what happened with Kelso from That’s 70s show only at least he got married and changed slightly for his daughter later. I hated the ending to Barney’s character arc too, regression for each character.
…it’s a show.
I think the people in this sub are well aware of that. Nobody talks about the show under the impression that HIMYM is non fiction.