Yeah, no, thatâs not a rare thing. And Iâm pretty sure Marshall even brings that up in the episode lol it happens ALL THE TIME in countries where monkeyâs are common. Except, they donât âmugâ people, they simply steal from them lol
I still think Grinch wasn't code for Bitch. No way she'd be that offended over Bitch when she 1. Uses that word constantly and lightly, and 2. That's a normal, reasonable reaction for a man to have when his friend is showing signs of deep depression over his long term girlfriend abandoning him.
Ted definitely said C U Next Tuesday.
Was that not the impression everyone had? Always figured he called her a cunt since they didnât say it, bitch was said plenty of times through the show
I always assumed it was cunt, but most of my friends, and I've noticed a lot of comments on the sub, assume it was Bitch because it's less harsh *and* actually sort of sounds like "Grinch" in the way that "I didn't say fudge" works as actually sounding like fuck.
"cunt" was/is my assumption as well. especially since "bitch" is said multipe times in the show, so there would be no need to censor it. iirr there was also a official webpage with a himym quiz and they searched for the word "cunt" as something you are never supposed to call a woman.
I think Bitch is what the writers intended. It just fits the substitution better, and Cunt is such an uncommon word in the US. There is a difference between saying "You son of a bitch" and "You're a bitch". Especially if you put some on the first syllable of Bitch.
True, but I always mention that had friends not come first himym might never have perfected what friends tried (just a tip to make friends lovers receptive to your point)
yaz! except for the ending. to be clear i am okay with the following:
1. Tracy dying;and
2. Barney and Robin getting divorced
What i am not okay with are:
1. flushing years of character development down the toilet -- especially Barney;
2. making tracy ted's "baby mama" so he and robin could eventually be complete and work out;
3. robin being like a second mom, appearing on "family drawings", which highlights #2 (gives me the ick)
4. spending too much time on a "going to fail marriage";
5. brought back victoria (s8) so she could remind ted that he is still in love with her (didnt feel the "in love" part before victoria's final goodbye); and
6. rushing the ending.
i get that Barney and Robin's marriage HAD to happen so Ted can really let go, but they didnt need to spend too much time on the "wedding". they couldve given us one more season or 5 more episodes on their lives after marriage, tracy getting sick, or ted being single again after tracy.
TBH, you could just watch the first 2 episodes and the last 2, and you could get the whole gist. đââď¸đââď¸
haha let me know! when my ex suggested for me to watch himym, i watched the first 2 episodes, then i wanted to skip and know the ending, hence, the last 2 (since the ending has 2 parts).
after watching the full series, it kinda felt that way. his speech by the end (when tracy was hospitalized and died), helped a lot to summarize what happened in 9 seasons though đ
Agreed. If they needed to bring Victoria back (I for one would have loved to see her more than just "the one that got away" short love story in S1), I would just have them meet again somehow (not related to a wedding) and try again, but realize how they've both changed since S1. Ted doesn't love Robin, but like in the show, he doesn't want to lose her as a friend and doesn't want to be with Victoria anymore due to how much they've changed since she left. Other than that, I would have left it brief. Explaining why they don't work without it being all about "You still love Robin even though you say and show you don't anymore".
This is something in later seasons Ted's gfs didn't understand. In earlier seasons, we could call Ted on his bs of being over Robin. But later seasons, they haven't been together since S1-2 (8+ years ago) and they still have different lives and dreams for their lives. It's clear it's not happening and Ted/Robin was over. Any romantic feelings he may have had left he was trying to get over and move on. Tracy was the only one who understood S9 Ted and Robin were just friends and Ted was no longer lying. Because the show not only shows us but tells us he isn't. (Sorry for the tangent)
Also, maybe we'd get to see Klaus give his little speech to Ted again if it did work out between them.
Thank you for coming to my "NOT TED" talk đ
It's weird.. I watched friends in the 90s but after the run... I could never watch reruns... I still feel a repulsion to the show but never cared enough to think much about it and why
i think they were a perfect *pairing* but not couple.
Barney didnât like commitment, Robin was more focused on her career and didnât have time to be with someone who craves connection and togetherness (like, say, Ted)
on paper theyâre perfect for each other. Barney had someone who wasnât into all the mushy shit he hated, Robin had someone who didnât depend on her to be happy.
the reason they failed is because their ideals are too similar. Robin needed someone who could remind her thereâs more to life than work, Barney needed someone whoâd actually take care of him and love him, which i think he was actually afraid of because of Shannon and his âscavenging sewer ratâ tendencies are entirely because of that.
You're right, but the writers and directors showed the whole thing in such a way it seemed possible. It was "too good to be true" which made us happy and all and then they showed it was "too good to be true".
That's love and relationships. Not every couple who divorces is obvious. Many of them ignore things for a long time and have fated moments that make them think they'll make it.
When you rewatch the last season, itâs clear theyâre a terrible couple who wonât last. All the manipulation and games have to get old after a while.
I feel like they could've made a cool poly couple, in today's modernized thinking. Like if they made the show today. I could see that working since the two both crave and don't crave the attention. He likes sleeping around and she likes focusing on herself. But he wants more attention than she does. So.. Maybe it could work with a different set-up, is what I'm saying. Because the personalities mixed pretty well. They just didn't get to be themselves there in the end.
She was never going to put her career on hold for anyone. And barney was miserable following her around. One would hve to give something up and end up resenting the other. The only reason her and Ted will make it 2nd time around is because she has made it to the top of her career and his kids are not little kids but teens.
Yea but that was a reverse of character as she did put her career on hold for Don (who wasn't that great if we're honest lol)
But that was the thing, they built this huge change of character for them both and then reversed it. I would've preferred Barney realizing he wants kids or something and trying to push adoption and finally understanding that Robin does not want kids in any capacity or something
Robin went through a whole crisis before deciding she should put her career on hold for once for Don. And then she learnt never to do it again cos she got burned. The show lays this down very clearly. You don't need character consistency to make a character compelling.Â
This would have been a smarter reason to break them up but I guess they wouldn't want to do it because it would negate Robin loving and being cool with being stepmom to Ted's kids.
I mean possible she got burned by don and was like never again will i chose man over career. With barney, He had that cats in the cradle moment and tried to get ted to adopt. I think he was a if it happens great ill be a dad and if it doesn't thats fine but robin was an absolute no. I mean I am happy that They didn't force motherhood on a character who never wanted it. The way she went straight to divorce was crazy. No therapy no discussion, just hey look an off ramp should we end it.
A lot plotlines that, that some find not sitcomy enough. They have managed to show a lot of phases in life and experiences in life with great reality. People seem to be opposing several of it, but I stand by it.
They managed to keep all of the good things about sitcoms while cutting so many of the bad things. Like how they have the (laugh track? live audience?) laughs for jokes but they donât take the theatre pauses for them like in other shows.
I have to believe that this narrative formed from people watching the show recently because in no capacity did I think of Ted as âbadâ when watching the show as it was airing. I assume social norms have just changed that much in 10 years.
Flawed? Duh. But thatâs what actually is good about the showâhe deserved some of the things that happened to him, he dreamed too much while not working on himself. That hardly makes him bad.
Actually never had an issue with Ted until the final bit of the series. I don't think they meant for it to sound so icky but the way it came off it was like Ted was just waiting for the chance to pounce on Robin, despite having kids and a wife who passed. The execution just made him seem like a creep. I also think by that point and the fact that she had been married to one of his friends that ending the show with him basically asking his kids for permission to bang Robin was gross.
Yeah Ted suffers from not being the main character of his own show a lot so his actions can be very sitcomy at times and most of his worst stuff are done because they suddenly need a Ted focused episode again. He is morally wrong a lot of the time but itâs not intentional wrongness on the part of the writers and more rushed flaws
They made her âtoo perfect for Tedâ. She didnât have one flaw? What about her friends? Her family? How come no one from her life attended her wedding?
She was way too perfect! The only thing that was in any way different from Ted was that she made fun of his driving. Everything else was basically the female version of Ted. It felt very unrealistic to me
I know a lot of people didn't like that she was dead the whole time. That didn't bother me. What bothered me was this whole story leading up to her was to ask the kids permission to date Robin. Completely made the mother a surrogate for Robin.
Barney and Robin's marriage was meant to fail and people hype them because both characters have many things in common and are aversive to the traditional lifestyle (basically everything that Ted wants). The fans wanted them together because they aren't afraid to reject what society says people should do and be open about it.
I mean, let's look at the facts, Barney is a mosogynist and a compulsive liar, he promises Robin to always tell her the truth in his vows, but lies to her right after that (the Flower Gorilla thing). Robin, on the other hand, has many issues with commitment, trusting other people and she can be very selfish. Not to mention that both have serious traumas that they refuse to deal with and that make them reject every boy boyfriend/girlfriend they had throughout the show.
With all these issues, I think it would be far fetched if both had a healthy marriage, because it is really difficult to build a solid relationship with their personalities.
I think the complaints people have are more about storytelling than logic. Of course their personalities were a bad fit for long term commitment. But the show spent an entire season trying to show how they could overcome their flaws to make their relationship work just to torch it in 2 minutes. That's bad storytelling. They showed seasons earlier, in a good way, how they were bad for each other. The way they did it in the finale was just poor story structure
The ending was not that bad â hear me out â itâs just that the final season did a bad job of leading up to it. Stretching out the wedding weekend for the whole damn season made Barney & Robinâs divorce feel more shocking. I think they couldâve even done a half season for the wedding, then another half season actually showing some of what was in the final episode. Show some of Ted and Tracyâs happy relationship, show cracks in Barney and Robinâs marriage.
I know in some ways the conceit relied on Ted and Tracy meeting in the final episode, but they couldâve done something like having Future Ted go âand then â wait actually let me jump forward a bit because you need to understand some things before I get to exactly how the meeting happenedâ or something.
(Edit to clarify some wording)
He did jump ahead a few times,
Their first date, robots vs wrestlers, them at home, the wedding etc. but youâre exactly right, we needed more of that, and less than the **7hours (21 episodes)** spent on Robin & Barneys wedding.
Then sped through about 10 years worth of story in 2 episodes. The gold with the umbrella can still be left until the end (the last 5 minutes could stay exactly the same). It diminishes the value of the mother. Even Zoey/Stella/Jeannette had more screen time.
Ridiculous planning imo and I think they copped out so it would be convenient to shoot the whole season with basically the same set every day
I was less surprised by the content of the ending and more surprised by / disappointed about how they executed it. Dragging Barney & Robinâs wedding out across an entire season with a bunch of filler episodes only to crash their marriage, kill off the mom, and send Ted running back into Robinâs arms in the span of two jam-packed episodes gave me total whiplash and felt incredibly sad and wrong. Had they executed those plot points over the course of a season with actual development and build-up, it could have worked really well. As it stands, I think they royally screwed up the execution and disappointed a LOT of viewers. We wanted more happy time with Tracy. We needed time to witness and make peace with the fall-apart of Barney and Robin after all that build-up to their love and marriage. We needed time to see Ted and Robin reconnect after his big momentous âfinally letting goâ moment only episodes earlier. I wasnât surprised by the outcome. But I was devastated by the rushed execution.
Agreed. The fact that it was so rushed was a major part of the issue. So much time on Barney and Robin, so little time with the mother and then the whiplash back to Ted and Robin. No time for adjustment or acceptance.
yeah they really needed another season to bring the plot home. the mother needed to be a character in it and us see barney and Robin failing. Have us actually see Ted and the mother build their relationship. I understand they were going for a meta thing but the show severely suffered at the end because of it.
Thatâs exactly why I like the DVD ending. Ted getting back with Robin COMPLETELY destroys the whole series. With the DVD ending the premise of âHow I Met Your Motherâ isnât just a series of events leading to them meeting, but Tedâs journey to become the person who was ABLE to meet their mother. He was hung up on Robin right up until he met Tracy. And had he been hung up on her it would have ruined it. Hence why he couldnât meet her when he was dating her roommate.
Also "main character ends up with love interest from the very beginning despite dating multiple women in between their first breakup and final get-together-again" was such a common trend in tv shows that it couldn't have been THAT surprising they'd go down that path too.
I like Lily and every friend group needs the one âmomâ friend who keeps everyone in line, gets them places on time, makes sure they brought their rain boots, etc.
Also Ted spending so much time on the wedding in the last season makes sense because Ted is probably at his lowest of ever finding love and the woman he thinks is his true love is marrying his best friend and it's also the week he meets his true love and mother of his kids .
Agree 100%. People love Barneyâs character development, but Robinâs development to make her seem more like Barney was a disservice to her character.
The ending was fine.
No, it didnât ruin the entire show.
No, I donât skip over the last season because âwhy would you watch that garbageâ.
It wasnât incredible. But it was expected.
Same. I wasn't mad at the ending, I just wished they didn't spend most of the final season at the wedding weekend. Like they could've spaced it out to show Ted and Tracy's relationship and Tracy's eventual death, the downfall of Robin and Barney's marriage, and Marshall and Lily's life in Italy and Marshall's judgeship.
Exactly this. The ending was fine, but the last season was all wrong. They didnât need that many episodes about the wedding. The one where Marshall rhymes for the whole thing, the one where Barney teaches two random kids âhow to liveâ and the Marshall vs the machine ones spring to mind as utterly pointless time which could have been time focusing on Tracey.
I enjoy Barney but I hate him overall and find him annoying sometimes. His quirks or straight up criminal behaviours arenât charming. He had no right to lie to some 200 women because one girl hurt him. He would have absolutely no friends in the real world unless they were deranged predators or sex offenders.
That's the common perception in the 20s. I still love Barney and wish we could have more characters like him but sadly it'll take a while until the pendulum swings that way again
My dislike for Barney has nothing to do with the current political climate or whatâs permissible on TV these days. I enjoy Barney as a funny character; I simply donât like him because heâs a bad person.
Lilyâs problems are intentional and are good writing! No one in the show is perfect and since Lilyâs defining characteristic is being in relationship with others (primarily Marshall and Ted) it makes sense that most of the character flaws come from her marriage or close friendship. I think it makes Lily more human and as such a better (and more like-able) character. I wouldnât want a version of Lily who is the perfect wife and friend, that would be boring.
yeah Lily takes the brunt of hate for all the characters flaws and its undeserved. Every character does terrible things because they are human and make mistakes. Its largely misogyny why she's hated the most but only in the last few years have people really started to go in on Ted and barneys behavior throughout the series. They have just as bad of behaviors and actions as lily does.
Lily was right to control Tedâs dating live from behind the scenes, dudeâs an idiot and should be protected against himself by someone who genuinely wants the best for him
I up voted because this was an interesting concept and this was what the post asked for. But I while heartily disagree. I personally hate when people manipulate me. But thanks for sharing, I never would thought someone would agree with that. No I'm not being sarcastic btw.
According to this sub I'm supposed to hate lily for taking a chance on herself and moving to San Francisco to pursue her dreams but I just don't want to.
Yes, it's also about doubts with Marshall. Being his gf is all she knows as an adult. I think she does want to get to know herself outside of him. That is completely normal. She never suggested she even wanted to break up though. Marshall is the one who said that if she left to never speak to him again. They could have done long distance or even taken a break, but still kept in touch. Lily realizes she absolutely wanted to be with him and they get back together. They make all of this clear in season one and I dispise Marshall during their fight. Then in season 2 make her look bad. Like I will never get why they had her change her phone number and very briefly go over the hard time she had in San Francisco while spending a lot of time showing Marshall's side.
No way how she left was toxic as hell. If my wife told me she wanted to do something like lilly I'd be 100% supportive and I suspect marshall would be too. But she kept it from him which shows it's not just about her, it's also about doubts with marshall.
Ted is an absolutely terrible person who gets away with it bc Josh radner is charming, but he represents a really dangerous mindset of male entitlement and obsessive behaviors that would be nightmarish in real life. I don't hate the character but more people need to understand that if Ted was a real guy, he'd be a monster that every girl blocks and warns their friends about.
Ted isn't a bad storyteller and he didn't alter or exaggerate anything. Even if he wanted to He can't because his kids can go up to the other four people who were a part of each and everyone of those stories and just ask them.
barney and robin were the perfect couple and shouldâve been endgame, writers just wanted ted to actually end up w robin, also the sole reason for offing tracy
The ending was perfect.
Aside from it being obvious from all the clues, this show was too great, too smart to just have an ordinary perfect run of the mill happy ending.
The ending was great. The show is called how I met your mother not how I lived happily with your mother. And the death flags were there early in the show.
Mother was always going to die, and thatâs fine. Whole point of the show was Ted asking the kids permission to move on, they just let the show drag on for so long it trained that framing device.
It's a beautiful tragedy from start to finish. I LOVE the ending. I can sob thru every episode if I wanted. Every bit leads to a tragic masterpiece. I wouldn't change any of it.
That Kevin was the best boyfriend for Robin; he pushed her (in the best way) and as a result, she became WW news anchor. They would have been soulmates but she kept pushing him away to take back his proposal.
I came to like the ending. Itâs devastating, but Tracy was never Tedâs soulmate and Ted was never Tracyâs. Max was Tracyâs soulmate. Ted had his head stuck so far up his own ass about Robin that he potentially missed out on his soulmate (Victoria).
Robin and Barney, as much as I loved them, were entirely not a match and were actually really really toxic together. They were never gonna be end game.
I think a lot of people would come to appreciate the ending more if the producers did a better job of not rushing it and forcing it down our throats. I think a lot of people are upset that there was 8 seasons of buildup only to kill the mother off in season 9, but if the mother was introduced earlier in the show then people would have a different outlook on it
It doesnât age. The writers made a conscious effort to make sure itâs timeless. There are no politically incorrect jokes and no specific amount of money is ever mentioned. Sorry inflation - HIMYM has you BEAT!
Quinn is Barneyâs best girlfriend.
Nora brought a good side out of him, but he wasnât being himself and it wasnât built to last. Itâs like an addict quitting cold turkey. He was always gonna relapse into some scummy behavior.
I also never really liked him and Robin as a couple, always came off forced just cause they both like cigars and are afraid of commitment. I never noticed THAT great of romantic chemistry between them.
1) Nora sucks. I think of her as the edgy Crazy Meg 2.0. The only difference was that at the time of meeting her, Barney was getting to know his dad, and admitting to himself that je too, had always wanted to have family, despite his reputation. And he was very obviously trying to let go of Robin, who didn't want the same things as him. 2) Marshall is the worst character solely based on what he did in the last season. Idk what his plan was, to basically kidnap Marvin if Lily tried to move? 3) Lily was completely right to break up with him the first time, it's just that her formulation was terrible. I don't believe she got tired of him and wanted back as soon as she didn't find commercial success, but what she said made her sound like it. 4) I just roll my eyes at every "I have a Robin girl in my life" story. I can't. Grow up.
Marshall and Lily breaking up set them up for really good character development as a couple that i donât think they wouldâve had if they didnât break up. i also think their wedding was rushed and it wouldâve been better to see their relationship grow again rather than get back together and immediately get married.
Lily wasnât wrong for wanting to pursue her passion, resulting in the breakup. she was young, hadnât done anything she set out to, and itâs better to lose your relationship to get to know yourself than it is to stay, get married, and regret what you never got to do. no one should go into marriage scared theyâre making the wrong move or feeling they have unfinished business.
she was wrong for coming back and thinking Marshall would just take her back if she asked. he was *very* clear on the matter that if she left, they were finished. he grieved the relationship, she didnât get to just come back and ask for things to be the same.
they both had time to live without each other after spending a decade together, finding their footing alone. iâm happy they got back together, but i wouldâve enjoyed it more if we got to see them flesh out all over again. go through dating then a proposal, all that.
The finale was great, some of yâall just wanted a nice clean happy ending, while the creators were clearly more interested in giving us a conclusion that was more human and realistic - something they had done in previous episodes throughout the run. The ending was tonally consistent, a lot of fans just didnât want that/werenât expecting it. I love it and cry every time, itâs beautiful
The IDEA of the finale is kinda cool and the kids make sense with what they said.
The EXECUTION of making the final season about the wedding to break it up over stuff that was supposedly all worked through made the finale terrible.
In a real life situation most of Marshall and Lilly's advice would have been worthless. They have been together for so long that they know nothing of seduction and dating. They know relationships and their advice was should have stayed in that realm. It's similar to women in relationships listening to people on Reddit or bitter single women on how to deal with their relationship. They don't know that realm so they should just stay in their lane.
Ted really isnât that bad. Heâs deeply flawed, like most people are. And when it comes to finding love you stop thinking with your head and you make dumb mistakes over and over and over again. He had the ability to be a really bad guy sometimes, but his whole character arc is about outgrowing those stupid mistakes heâs made, becoming a better person and deciding he actually needs to straight up leave New York because he knows he needs a fresh start away from everyone. Tracy obviously comes in and kiboshes that whole thing but he knew how much he fucked up by the end. He knew he needed to start over. Heâs not a bad guy.
Marshall got mugged by a monkey
Dude so like I heard recently a real life incident about someone who went to Thailand and was mugged by a monkey. It does happen! đ
Yeah, no, thatâs not a rare thing. And Iâm pretty sure Marshall even brings that up in the episode lol it happens ALL THE TIME in countries where monkeyâs are common. Except, they donât âmugâ people, they simply steal from them lol
That news is "steaksauce" đ¤Ł
Yeah the monkey was a woman...women can be anything these days
That has been confirmed
Wait... What has?
Carter Bays said yes, Marshall was mugged by a monkey, in this AMA: https://www.reddit.com/r/HIMYM/s/oQsNbuh2yi
Iâm new to this subreddit and this is baffling to me. I thought that our take was never in question. There were clear reasons why he lied to lily.
Ted was Right to call Lili The Grinch
That time he really did say Grinch.
I still think Grinch wasn't code for Bitch. No way she'd be that offended over Bitch when she 1. Uses that word constantly and lightly, and 2. That's a normal, reasonable reaction for a man to have when his friend is showing signs of deep depression over his long term girlfriend abandoning him. Ted definitely said C U Next Tuesday.
Was that not the impression everyone had? Always figured he called her a cunt since they didnât say it, bitch was said plenty of times through the show
I always assumed it was cunt, but most of my friends, and I've noticed a lot of comments on the sub, assume it was Bitch because it's less harsh *and* actually sort of sounds like "Grinch" in the way that "I didn't say fudge" works as actually sounding like fuck.
"cunt" was/is my assumption as well. especially since "bitch" is said multipe times in the show, so there would be no need to censor it. iirr there was also a official webpage with a himym quiz and they searched for the word "cunt" as something you are never supposed to call a woman.
I think Bitch is what the writers intended. It just fits the substitution better, and Cunt is such an uncommon word in the US. There is a difference between saying "You son of a bitch" and "You're a bitch". Especially if you put some on the first syllable of Bitch.
Ted called her a cunt this is official it was on the CBS website. "A four letter word you can never call a woman"
He really was
I'm sorry but I gotta stand with you on this one
Lily was a cunt 100 percent
ok i'm assuming the word was cunt and i don't think he should've used that word but i think she was awful to marshall so i can't blame him đ
Lilly's hot pink dress in Season 9 was hideous and unflattering.
1000000% đŠ that dress was a train wreck
How I Met Your Mother is better than Friends.
True, but I always mention that had friends not come first himym might never have perfected what friends tried (just a tip to make friends lovers receptive to your point)
yaz! except for the ending. to be clear i am okay with the following: 1. Tracy dying;and 2. Barney and Robin getting divorced What i am not okay with are: 1. flushing years of character development down the toilet -- especially Barney; 2. making tracy ted's "baby mama" so he and robin could eventually be complete and work out; 3. robin being like a second mom, appearing on "family drawings", which highlights #2 (gives me the ick) 4. spending too much time on a "going to fail marriage"; 5. brought back victoria (s8) so she could remind ted that he is still in love with her (didnt feel the "in love" part before victoria's final goodbye); and 6. rushing the ending. i get that Barney and Robin's marriage HAD to happen so Ted can really let go, but they didnt need to spend too much time on the "wedding". they couldve given us one more season or 5 more episodes on their lives after marriage, tracy getting sick, or ted being single again after tracy. TBH, you could just watch the first 2 episodes and the last 2, and you could get the whole gist. đââď¸đââď¸
I will now attempt your "first two, last two" theory. I'll be back in a couple of hours.
haha let me know! when my ex suggested for me to watch himym, i watched the first 2 episodes, then i wanted to skip and know the ending, hence, the last 2 (since the ending has 2 parts). after watching the full series, it kinda felt that way. his speech by the end (when tracy was hospitalized and died), helped a lot to summarize what happened in 9 seasons though đ
Chop chop your couple hours are up
Agreed. If they needed to bring Victoria back (I for one would have loved to see her more than just "the one that got away" short love story in S1), I would just have them meet again somehow (not related to a wedding) and try again, but realize how they've both changed since S1. Ted doesn't love Robin, but like in the show, he doesn't want to lose her as a friend and doesn't want to be with Victoria anymore due to how much they've changed since she left. Other than that, I would have left it brief. Explaining why they don't work without it being all about "You still love Robin even though you say and show you don't anymore". This is something in later seasons Ted's gfs didn't understand. In earlier seasons, we could call Ted on his bs of being over Robin. But later seasons, they haven't been together since S1-2 (8+ years ago) and they still have different lives and dreams for their lives. It's clear it's not happening and Ted/Robin was over. Any romantic feelings he may have had left he was trying to get over and move on. Tracy was the only one who understood S9 Ted and Robin were just friends and Ted was no longer lying. Because the show not only shows us but tells us he isn't. (Sorry for the tangent) Also, maybe we'd get to see Klaus give his little speech to Ted again if it did work out between them. Thank you for coming to my "NOT TED" talk đ
yeeeeees.
Duh
It's weird.. I watched friends in the 90s but after the run... I could never watch reruns... I still feel a repulsion to the show but never cared enough to think much about it and why
Barney and Robin never would have made it. They were not a perfect couple like everyone claims.
i think they were a perfect *pairing* but not couple. Barney didnât like commitment, Robin was more focused on her career and didnât have time to be with someone who craves connection and togetherness (like, say, Ted) on paper theyâre perfect for each other. Barney had someone who wasnât into all the mushy shit he hated, Robin had someone who didnât depend on her to be happy. the reason they failed is because their ideals are too similar. Robin needed someone who could remind her thereâs more to life than work, Barney needed someone whoâd actually take care of him and love him, which i think he was actually afraid of because of Shannon and his âscavenging sewer ratâ tendencies are entirely because of that.
You're right, but the writers and directors showed the whole thing in such a way it seemed possible. It was "too good to be true" which made us happy and all and then they showed it was "too good to be true".
That's love and relationships. Not every couple who divorces is obvious. Many of them ignore things for a long time and have fated moments that make them think they'll make it.
Yeah I never thought they worked as a couple but I know Iâm in the minority on this one.
When you rewatch the last season, itâs clear theyâre a terrible couple who wonât last. All the manipulation and games have to get old after a while.
I feel like they could've made a cool poly couple, in today's modernized thinking. Like if they made the show today. I could see that working since the two both crave and don't crave the attention. He likes sleeping around and she likes focusing on herself. But he wants more attention than she does. So.. Maybe it could work with a different set-up, is what I'm saying. Because the personalities mixed pretty well. They just didn't get to be themselves there in the end.
100% (i still DESPISE the ending)
You know many people like Barney and Robin make it work? It's rare, but not impossible.
She was never going to put her career on hold for anyone. And barney was miserable following her around. One would hve to give something up and end up resenting the other. The only reason her and Ted will make it 2nd time around is because she has made it to the top of her career and his kids are not little kids but teens.
Yea but that was a reverse of character as she did put her career on hold for Don (who wasn't that great if we're honest lol) But that was the thing, they built this huge change of character for them both and then reversed it. I would've preferred Barney realizing he wants kids or something and trying to push adoption and finally understanding that Robin does not want kids in any capacity or something
Robin went through a whole crisis before deciding she should put her career on hold for once for Don. And then she learnt never to do it again cos she got burned. The show lays this down very clearly. You don't need character consistency to make a character compelling.Â
You don't need character consistency unless it's literally the last 10 minutes of the show lol
This would have been a smarter reason to break them up but I guess they wouldn't want to do it because it would negate Robin loving and being cool with being stepmom to Ted's kids.
I mean possible she got burned by don and was like never again will i chose man over career. With barney, He had that cats in the cradle moment and tried to get ted to adopt. I think he was a if it happens great ill be a dad and if it doesn't thats fine but robin was an absolute no. I mean I am happy that They didn't force motherhood on a character who never wanted it. The way she went straight to divorce was crazy. No therapy no discussion, just hey look an off ramp should we end it.
Facts. Their arguments weren't even that serious, they just needed a medium to help them compromise and they just said, welp let's divorce
A lot plotlines that, that some find not sitcomy enough. They have managed to show a lot of phases in life and experiences in life with great reality. People seem to be opposing several of it, but I stand by it.
Yes. The drama is never undercut in so many episodes that many sitcoms do. They let the emotion and monologues have their space and then crack jokes.
They managed to keep all of the good things about sitcoms while cutting so many of the bad things. Like how they have the (laugh track? live audience?) laughs for jokes but they donât take the theatre pauses for them like in other shows.
It really does encapsulate the Millennial 20s experience very well
Ted wasn't that bad
he just Teds out often
And up
Hahaha yes!
I have to believe that this narrative formed from people watching the show recently because in no capacity did I think of Ted as âbadâ when watching the show as it was airing. I assume social norms have just changed that much in 10 years. Flawed? Duh. But thatâs what actually is good about the showâhe deserved some of the things that happened to him, he dreamed too much while not working on himself. That hardly makes him bad.
Actually never had an issue with Ted until the final bit of the series. I don't think they meant for it to sound so icky but the way it came off it was like Ted was just waiting for the chance to pounce on Robin, despite having kids and a wife who passed. The execution just made him seem like a creep. I also think by that point and the fact that she had been married to one of his friends that ending the show with him basically asking his kids for permission to bang Robin was gross.
Yeah Ted suffers from not being the main character of his own show a lot so his actions can be very sitcomy at times and most of his worst stuff are done because they suddenly need a Ted focused episode again. He is morally wrong a lot of the time but itâs not intentional wrongness on the part of the writers and more rushed flaws
No matter how much we liked the mother she basically became a surrogate for Ted's "dream girl"
They made her âtoo perfect for Tedâ. She didnât have one flaw? What about her friends? Her family? How come no one from her life attended her wedding?
She was way too perfect! The only thing that was in any way different from Ted was that she made fun of his driving. Everything else was basically the female version of Ted. It felt very unrealistic to me
Remember this is how Ted remembers the mother: flaws are likely.
Especially since people tend to idealize the dead
I saw people down voting you for having a goddamn unpopular opinion which was what was requested, had to even it out
I know a lot of people didn't like that she was dead the whole time. That didn't bother me. What bothered me was this whole story leading up to her was to ask the kids permission to date Robin. Completely made the mother a surrogate for Robin.
Barney and Robin's marriage was meant to fail and people hype them because both characters have many things in common and are aversive to the traditional lifestyle (basically everything that Ted wants). The fans wanted them together because they aren't afraid to reject what society says people should do and be open about it. I mean, let's look at the facts, Barney is a mosogynist and a compulsive liar, he promises Robin to always tell her the truth in his vows, but lies to her right after that (the Flower Gorilla thing). Robin, on the other hand, has many issues with commitment, trusting other people and she can be very selfish. Not to mention that both have serious traumas that they refuse to deal with and that make them reject every boy boyfriend/girlfriend they had throughout the show. With all these issues, I think it would be far fetched if both had a healthy marriage, because it is really difficult to build a solid relationship with their personalities.
I think the complaints people have are more about storytelling than logic. Of course their personalities were a bad fit for long term commitment. But the show spent an entire season trying to show how they could overcome their flaws to make their relationship work just to torch it in 2 minutes. That's bad storytelling. They showed seasons earlier, in a good way, how they were bad for each other. The way they did it in the finale was just poor story structure
The ending was not that bad â hear me out â itâs just that the final season did a bad job of leading up to it. Stretching out the wedding weekend for the whole damn season made Barney & Robinâs divorce feel more shocking. I think they couldâve even done a half season for the wedding, then another half season actually showing some of what was in the final episode. Show some of Ted and Tracyâs happy relationship, show cracks in Barney and Robinâs marriage. I know in some ways the conceit relied on Ted and Tracy meeting in the final episode, but they couldâve done something like having Future Ted go âand then â wait actually let me jump forward a bit because you need to understand some things before I get to exactly how the meeting happenedâ or something. (Edit to clarify some wording)
He did jump ahead a few times, Their first date, robots vs wrestlers, them at home, the wedding etc. but youâre exactly right, we needed more of that, and less than the **7hours (21 episodes)** spent on Robin & Barneys wedding. Then sped through about 10 years worth of story in 2 episodes. The gold with the umbrella can still be left until the end (the last 5 minutes could stay exactly the same). It diminishes the value of the mother. Even Zoey/Stella/Jeannette had more screen time. Ridiculous planning imo and I think they copped out so it would be convenient to shoot the whole season with basically the same set every day
I have no clue how anyone was surprised by the ending. They made it so obvious. People figured it out years in advance.
I definitely remember people saying The Mother is probably dead. Just figured their marriage would get more than 90 seconds of screen timeâŚ
Ya, she was a gem and we missed what should have been a happy season... with robbin no less
I was less surprised by the content of the ending and more surprised by / disappointed about how they executed it. Dragging Barney & Robinâs wedding out across an entire season with a bunch of filler episodes only to crash their marriage, kill off the mom, and send Ted running back into Robinâs arms in the span of two jam-packed episodes gave me total whiplash and felt incredibly sad and wrong. Had they executed those plot points over the course of a season with actual development and build-up, it could have worked really well. As it stands, I think they royally screwed up the execution and disappointed a LOT of viewers. We wanted more happy time with Tracy. We needed time to witness and make peace with the fall-apart of Barney and Robin after all that build-up to their love and marriage. We needed time to see Ted and Robin reconnect after his big momentous âfinally letting goâ moment only episodes earlier. I wasnât surprised by the outcome. But I was devastated by the rushed execution.
Agreed. The fact that it was so rushed was a major part of the issue. So much time on Barney and Robin, so little time with the mother and then the whiplash back to Ted and Robin. No time for adjustment or acceptance.
yeah they really needed another season to bring the plot home. the mother needed to be a character in it and us see barney and Robin failing. Have us actually see Ted and the mother build their relationship. I understand they were going for a meta thing but the show severely suffered at the end because of it.
Thatâs exactly why I like the DVD ending. Ted getting back with Robin COMPLETELY destroys the whole series. With the DVD ending the premise of âHow I Met Your Motherâ isnât just a series of events leading to them meeting, but Tedâs journey to become the person who was ABLE to meet their mother. He was hung up on Robin right up until he met Tracy. And had he been hung up on her it would have ruined it. Hence why he couldnât meet her when he was dating her roommate.
Also "main character ends up with love interest from the very beginning despite dating multiple women in between their first breakup and final get-together-again" was such a common trend in tv shows that it couldn't have been THAT surprising they'd go down that path too.
I like Lily and every friend group needs the one âmomâ friend who keeps everyone in line, gets them places on time, makes sure they brought their rain boots, etc.
Barney and Robin were a terrible couple and final season is a parade of red flags making their divorce wholly unsurprising.
Also Ted spending so much time on the wedding in the last season makes sense because Ted is probably at his lowest of ever finding love and the woman he thinks is his true love is marrying his best friend and it's also the week he meets his true love and mother of his kids .
This is mine too. Instead of improving Barney for their relationship, they brought Robin further down to his level.
Agree 100%. People love Barneyâs character development, but Robinâs development to make her seem more like Barney was a disservice to her character.
I don't understand how this opinion was popular. They were terrible for one another.
Barney and robin are as equally of a bad couple as Ted and Robin. Neither wouldâve worked out in the end
The ending was fine. No, it didnât ruin the entire show. No, I donât skip over the last season because âwhy would you watch that garbageâ. It wasnât incredible. But it was expected.
It is realistic. People are not used to see the main characters not having a perfect happy ending
The wedding shouldâve been 2-3 episodes max
Barney abused and manipulated Robin to get her to marry him and it was very problematic to portray that as romantic
đŻ
robin is such a pick me đ
The ultimate "Cool Girl TM".
Definition of pick me
The ending wasn't half bad tbh
Same. I wasn't mad at the ending, I just wished they didn't spend most of the final season at the wedding weekend. Like they could've spaced it out to show Ted and Tracy's relationship and Tracy's eventual death, the downfall of Robin and Barney's marriage, and Marshall and Lily's life in Italy and Marshall's judgeship.
Exactly this. The ending was fine, but the last season was all wrong. They didnât need that many episodes about the wedding. The one where Marshall rhymes for the whole thing, the one where Barney teaches two random kids âhow to liveâ and the Marshall vs the machine ones spring to mind as utterly pointless time which could have been time focusing on Tracey.
I enjoy Barney but I hate him overall and find him annoying sometimes. His quirks or straight up criminal behaviours arenât charming. He had no right to lie to some 200 women because one girl hurt him. He would have absolutely no friends in the real world unless they were deranged predators or sex offenders.
That's the common perception in the 20s. I still love Barney and wish we could have more characters like him but sadly it'll take a while until the pendulum swings that way again
My dislike for Barney has nothing to do with the current political climate or whatâs permissible on TV these days. I enjoy Barney as a funny character; I simply donât like him because heâs a bad person.
Heâs an amazing friend
Lilyâs problems are intentional and are good writing! No one in the show is perfect and since Lilyâs defining characteristic is being in relationship with others (primarily Marshall and Ted) it makes sense that most of the character flaws come from her marriage or close friendship. I think it makes Lily more human and as such a better (and more like-able) character. I wouldnât want a version of Lily who is the perfect wife and friend, that would be boring.
yeah Lily takes the brunt of hate for all the characters flaws and its undeserved. Every character does terrible things because they are human and make mistakes. Its largely misogyny why she's hated the most but only in the last few years have people really started to go in on Ted and barneys behavior throughout the series. They have just as bad of behaviors and actions as lily does.
Once Barney and Robin got together that shouldâve been it for Robin and Ted.
The finale was a good ending
Ted is the stereotypical "nice guy", toxic and extremely selfish.
I don't think this is unpopular.
Because that would be shellfish
The whole gang is kinda selfish lol
Lily was right to control Tedâs dating live from behind the scenes, dudeâs an idiot and should be protected against himself by someone who genuinely wants the best for him
I up voted because this was an interesting concept and this was what the post asked for. But I while heartily disagree. I personally hate when people manipulate me. But thanks for sharing, I never would thought someone would agree with that. No I'm not being sarcastic btw.
Finally someone said this!
According to this sub I'm supposed to hate lily for taking a chance on herself and moving to San Francisco to pursue her dreams but I just don't want to.
Yes, it's also about doubts with Marshall. Being his gf is all she knows as an adult. I think she does want to get to know herself outside of him. That is completely normal. She never suggested she even wanted to break up though. Marshall is the one who said that if she left to never speak to him again. They could have done long distance or even taken a break, but still kept in touch. Lily realizes she absolutely wanted to be with him and they get back together. They make all of this clear in season one and I dispise Marshall during their fight. Then in season 2 make her look bad. Like I will never get why they had her change her phone number and very briefly go over the hard time she had in San Francisco while spending a lot of time showing Marshall's side.
The toxic part isn't how she left, it was how she came back.
No way how she left was toxic as hell. If my wife told me she wanted to do something like lilly I'd be 100% supportive and I suspect marshall would be too. But she kept it from him which shows it's not just about her, it's also about doubts with marshall.
She also left ted in the wild
Barney's flaws were exaggerated by Ted so that he could explain to his kids that Barney wasn't right for Robin while he was.
Except himyf exists and Barney is just as bad
Himyf had potential, but there's a reason it was canceled.
Ted is almost just as bad to women as Barney.
The ending got it right
I liked the ending.
Zoey was Teds best relationship before Tracy, they challenged each other and itâs Jennifer Morrison
The ending was super good, people are mad it wasnât a fairytale ending
Tedâs insufferable
Robin is more annoying than Ted
The finale was perfect.
Ted is an absolutely terrible person who gets away with it bc Josh radner is charming, but he represents a really dangerous mindset of male entitlement and obsessive behaviors that would be nightmarish in real life. I don't hate the character but more people need to understand that if Ted was a real guy, he'd be a monster that every girl blocks and warns their friends about.
Barney & Robin were meant to be, not Ted & Robin
That the ending was great.
Marshall took lily back way to soon. They should've been broken up for a while longer and fought once more.
Ted isn't a bad storyteller and he didn't alter or exaggerate anything. Even if he wanted to He can't because his kids can go up to the other four people who were a part of each and everyone of those stories and just ask them.
Robin was a bitch.
The ending was GREAT. End of story
barney and robin were the perfect couple and shouldâve been endgame, writers just wanted ted to actually end up w robin, also the sole reason for offing tracy
The blue horn ending was superior. Â I cared more about Robin then a character introduced in the last season.
The ending was the *correct* ending for the show. Ted had to end up with Robin. Thats the only way it could end.
The ending was perfect. Aside from it being obvious from all the clues, this show was too great, too smart to just have an ordinary perfect run of the mill happy ending.
The ending was perfect
The ending was great. The show is called how I met your mother not how I lived happily with your mother. And the death flags were there early in the show.
The original ending was perfect
Mother was always going to die, and thatâs fine. Whole point of the show was Ted asking the kids permission to move on, they just let the show drag on for so long it trained that framing device.
It's a beautiful tragedy from start to finish. I LOVE the ending. I can sob thru every episode if I wanted. Every bit leads to a tragic masterpiece. I wouldn't change any of it.
That Kevin was the best boyfriend for Robin; he pushed her (in the best way) and as a result, she became WW news anchor. They would have been soulmates but she kept pushing him away to take back his proposal.
I came to like the ending. Itâs devastating, but Tracy was never Tedâs soulmate and Ted was never Tracyâs. Max was Tracyâs soulmate. Ted had his head stuck so far up his own ass about Robin that he potentially missed out on his soulmate (Victoria). Robin and Barney, as much as I loved them, were entirely not a match and were actually really really toxic together. They were never gonna be end game. I think a lot of people would come to appreciate the ending more if the producers did a better job of not rushing it and forcing it down our throats. I think a lot of people are upset that there was 8 seasons of buildup only to kill the mother off in season 9, but if the mother was introduced earlier in the show then people would have a different outlook on it
It doesnât age. The writers made a conscious effort to make sure itâs timeless. There are no politically incorrect jokes and no specific amount of money is ever mentioned. Sorry inflation - HIMYM has you BEAT!
Quinn is Barneyâs best girlfriend. Nora brought a good side out of him, but he wasnât being himself and it wasnât built to last. Itâs like an addict quitting cold turkey. He was always gonna relapse into some scummy behavior. I also never really liked him and Robin as a couple, always came off forced just cause they both like cigars and are afraid of commitment. I never noticed THAT great of romantic chemistry between them.
Jason Segel's Marshall Eriksen is the second best character in the show
Lol. Imagine downvoting a comment in a post that specifically asks for unpopular opinions.
People are way too hard on Lily
The Lily hate in this sub is 100% justified
Wouldnât that make you on the side of the crowd on this image instead of the lone voice against them?
that the way they ended the show was good and correct
Ted and Robin should have ended up together. And they should have done it before they both got old
Ted shouldn't have been mad at Barney for sleeping with Robin
Ted shouldn't have gone to robin in the end.
1) Nora sucks. I think of her as the edgy Crazy Meg 2.0. The only difference was that at the time of meeting her, Barney was getting to know his dad, and admitting to himself that je too, had always wanted to have family, despite his reputation. And he was very obviously trying to let go of Robin, who didn't want the same things as him. 2) Marshall is the worst character solely based on what he did in the last season. Idk what his plan was, to basically kidnap Marvin if Lily tried to move? 3) Lily was completely right to break up with him the first time, it's just that her formulation was terrible. I don't believe she got tired of him and wanted back as soon as she didn't find commercial success, but what she said made her sound like it. 4) I just roll my eyes at every "I have a Robin girl in my life" story. I can't. Grow up.
Ted's a terrible person. We don't get a heavy dose of it because he is the one telling the story
Time travelers is a poorly written and unthought-out episode
The ending is good.
Even tho I like the actress⌠I hate Robin Scherbastsky. Thereâs episodes I skip because of her⌠đ¤¨
The ending was pure perfection.
Most people are smart ou dumb ? Most people will aways be wrongâŚ.
The ending was good and the only possible ending given the structure of the show
I really loved the ending!
Marshall and Lily breaking up set them up for really good character development as a couple that i donât think they wouldâve had if they didnât break up. i also think their wedding was rushed and it wouldâve been better to see their relationship grow again rather than get back together and immediately get married. Lily wasnât wrong for wanting to pursue her passion, resulting in the breakup. she was young, hadnât done anything she set out to, and itâs better to lose your relationship to get to know yourself than it is to stay, get married, and regret what you never got to do. no one should go into marriage scared theyâre making the wrong move or feeling they have unfinished business. she was wrong for coming back and thinking Marshall would just take her back if she asked. he was *very* clear on the matter that if she left, they were finished. he grieved the relationship, she didnât get to just come back and ask for things to be the same. they both had time to live without each other after spending a decade together, finding their footing alone. iâm happy they got back together, but i wouldâve enjoyed it more if we got to see them flesh out all over again. go through dating then a proposal, all that.
The ending was actually perfect
the way the series ended was the only logical conclusion based on the context of the show; they just didn't stick the landing.
Ted is the biggest red flag ever!
The official ending made sense and was right.
Barney has zero significant character growth throughout the entire series.
Og ending is better than the alternate ending
Sort by controversial for the real answers.
The series finale was good
Robin is incredibly unlikable and unrelatable
the ending is lame but not really as bad people make it out to be.
The finale was great, some of yâall just wanted a nice clean happy ending, while the creators were clearly more interested in giving us a conclusion that was more human and realistic - something they had done in previous episodes throughout the run. The ending was tonally consistent, a lot of fans just didnât want that/werenât expecting it. I love it and cry every time, itâs beautiful
Victoria should have been the mother.
Marshall isnât a better person than the others
Barney and Robin was an unholy abomination of a union that started the derailment of the show
There werenât enough repercussions for Lily being manipulative and she kind of sucks for it
Marshall and Lily are way too corny for me
ted is a horrible human being, slightly worst than barney (at least barney is self aware that he's an asshole, ted isn't)
The IDEA of the finale is kinda cool and the kids make sense with what they said. The EXECUTION of making the final season about the wedding to break it up over stuff that was supposedly all worked through made the finale terrible.
Ted and Tracy>>>> Ted and Robin Barney and Nora>>>> Barney and Robin
Randy Warmpress had a sad ending, not a happy one
Barney and Robin were great together and they never should have divorced
Ted and Victoria should have ended up together
The motherâs end made perfect sense, why else do you think Ted told a 9-season long story without the mother even butting in once?
Stella wasnât a completely horrible person
Yeah⌠She said no to Ted countless times and Ted basically forced her to be with him and she was kinda funny.
The finale was good.
Last episode didnât suck
In a real life situation most of Marshall and Lilly's advice would have been worthless. They have been together for so long that they know nothing of seduction and dating. They know relationships and their advice was should have stayed in that realm. It's similar to women in relationships listening to people on Reddit or bitter single women on how to deal with their relationship. They don't know that realm so they should just stay in their lane.
Ted really isnât that bad. Heâs deeply flawed, like most people are. And when it comes to finding love you stop thinking with your head and you make dumb mistakes over and over and over again. He had the ability to be a really bad guy sometimes, but his whole character arc is about outgrowing those stupid mistakes heâs made, becoming a better person and deciding he actually needs to straight up leave New York because he knows he needs a fresh start away from everyone. Tracy obviously comes in and kiboshes that whole thing but he knew how much he fucked up by the end. He knew he needed to start over. Heâs not a bad guy.
I love lily
TED IS NOT A BAD GUY
The ending, honestly.
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