How I Met Your Mother

Last night How I Met Your Mother came to an end.

This is a show that has, more than any other show for me, been "the show". Everyone seems to have that one show that they watched religiously and never gave up on it. For a lot people that was Friends, Fraiser, Seinfeld, Cheers, The Office or, The Cosby show.

I think it's pretty clear that the final episode has been met with less than stellar reviews. You can go anywhere on the internet for that opinion. I'm not going to harp on that in this post but I would like to list a few of my "pros and cons" really quick.

Pros:
- The show didn't just give us a storybook ending. It was real and somewhat gritty.
- Ted did get his life in the suburbs and his 2 kids (1 boy, 1 girl).
- The show felt no need to have a huge twist in Lily and Marshall's story. They were the 1 consistent in the show and, outside of Marshall's slow but realistic career path they just were the average couple.
- The pineapple was never explained.
- We actually knew the mother's name all along. The tie-in being that the stripper who introduced herself to Ted in season 1 was named Tracy while Ted was "still Ted". I guess there was a hint of truth when he said "and that kids, is how I met your mother".
- The new plays.
- Jim Nance and the Cockamouse made a cameo.

Cons:
- Seeing as the show harped so hard on Robin and Ted being over and how Ted had moved on they shouldn't have ended up together.
- We didn't really get to see Ted and Tracy fall in love. We just figured out how they met and saw a few of their big moments in life. Part of what I was excited for (and it became increasingly obvious that it was not going to happen as season 9 continued on) was Ted continuing his path of calling a girl too fast and telling them he loved them too early but this girl actually enjoying that as opposed to being freaked out.
- I felt that Barney and Robin gave up too easily.
- How obvious the cut was for the interaction between Ted and his kids. I know the part for the kids was taped a long time ago as a backup plan in-case the show got cancelled but that was hard to suspend belief.
- I also don't really understand how Ted could have extremely strong feelings for Robin all along but he was going to marry Stella, considered marrying Victoria and, married Tracy. I mean for a guy who believes there is one woman out there for him that's quite a number of people to be willing to spend your life with.

All in all, I think the episode was an average episode of HIMYM but had a very disappointing end. I would have been fine with adding a scene of Ted and Tracy dating early on, even if she still died. I think that would have been better then the Robin hook up.

I wanted to write a little bit about what this show meant to me though, through all the negative being thrown at it today I will always look back fondly on this show.

I'm 28. That's only a few years younger than the characters on the show during it's run. So the story-lines about money issues and finding your way in the world hit home. The show was really funny at times, it was really emotional at times. The show was a source of a bunch of inside jokes between me and my friends and, it was a comfort when I was going through one of the hardest experiences I've been through, one that I still feel residual effects of today.
I relate to Ted because I do want to meet that special someone (though I don't want kids and I already live in the suburbs) and I am surrounded by friends who are engaged, married or, married with children. Most of whom met those significant others and built their lives together during this show's run.

To me, How I Met Your Mother reminds me that although sometimes life is tough or sometimes life is insane and fun, you will always have your best friends to be there for you. That's what I see when I watch this show back.