How I Met Your Mother Finale

image courtesy EW

Monday night was the final episode of How I Met Your Mother.  Social Media is full of reactions and mixed reviews.  I needed a few days to think about it.  Overall I thought it was fine, but it could have been so much better, and of course I will share my thoughts:

 - It was sad that The Mother (Tracy) died and that she and Ted were only together for about 11 years.  Of course their life together and her death took place in mere minutes on the screen, so I found it jolting.  The writers did allude to the death in the episode "Vesuvius" when Ted & Tracy visit the Farhampton Inn in 2024.  It's just that we spent the whole season falling in love with The Mother, and investing in her character, and then they took her away.  Part of me feels cheated, part of me thinks that the writers could have still had the death, but they needed to play it out differently.

 - I also think that Ted and his kids in 2030 should be a little sadder about losing Tracy.  They seem to brush her off too quickly.  They could have had a 10 to 15 sec scene of Ted & kids & gang at her funeral showing support.  They could have also just added a line about how much he loved her and how lucky he was to have had 11 wonderful years together.  How about showing the gang supporting Ted and helping him raise the kids?

 - The moment Ted & Tracy meet and stand under the yellow umbrella was perfect.  They had such chemistry and it was so sweet and funny.  That was a great job by the writers and the actors.

 - I also loved the moment Barney held his daughter Ellie for the first time.  That is the Barney that I love.  Tough womanizing guy with a heart of gold underneath.  I do wish they had a scene with him and Ellie when she was older.  Maybe buying her her first party dress (the equivalent of a suit). 

 - I am sort of ok with Ted & Robin ending up together.  It's true that the whole story of "How I Met Your Mother" was mostly about Ted living life in New York before he met Tracy.  Again, I just think they needed to segue better from Ted telling the story to him being under Robin's window.  Maybe it was Tracy's birthday or Ted & Tracy's anniversary - so that is why he began the story.  Maybe a line about how he was ready to meet her and be with her after everything he went through for the past 8 years.  Then show how he was alone for 6 years, not just a flippant remark by his daughter that does not respect his wife and her mother. 

 - There was a point that I thought the ending was going to be the wedding between Ted & Tracy.  They actually could have had this running gag where he keeps proposing to her, but them something comes up to prevent the actual wedding.  Wedding #2 could have been interrupted by her pregnancy with Luke.  Wedding #3 by renovations needed on the house.  Wedding #4 by a death in the family (his or hers).  Maybe in the end she proposes to him and lets him know everything is set up for the wedding to take place on Thursday.

 - I watched the episode twice.  I think it was better the second time, and it actually did make me want to go back and watch the previous seasons again.  I became a regular watcher during season 5 and would watch previous episodes in reruns.  Then I bought seasons 1-4, but I have only watched part of season one.  Too much other television to watch.

 - I was reading all the blogs and posts about the episode, and in that process I found this video - someone edited the episode to erase the death of the mother and Ted & Robin ending up together.

(I would have had a link to the video, but Twentieth Century Fox got the video pulled.  I really liked it too - it started with Ted & Tracy's wedding, went through the photos of their life, but then erased her death and jumped to the scene where they meet at the train station.  Then they show Ted saying "that's how I met your mother" and then the ending credits.  They also erased Ted with the blue horn under Robin's window)


 - Really I just wanted to see the gang in their 60's, hanging out on the porch and watching their kids play together.  Lily kept talking about 'The Front Porch Test", and I can see Tracy there with Ted.

image courtesy http://www.buzzsugar.com