Indeed. I wrote a much longer post elsewhere. Here it is:
And kids, that's one of the worst finales (and final season) ever.
I was never invested in Barney and Robin's relationship but to spend 22 episodes telling the story of their wedding weekend and then breaking them up half way through the next episode was a giant middle finger to the fans.
Ted and Robin, on the other hand, were good with each other. But there are problems with them ending together:
1. Over the many seasons, they kept convincing us why Robin and Ted aren't compatible with each other although they kept revisiting it.
2. Secondly, Ted wanted kids and Robin didn't want kids. We later find out she can't have kids. But, it's as if they are saying now that Ted had kids with Tracy, it'd be fine for him to end up with Robin. What does that make of the mother.
3. Thirdly, the little we saw of the mother, lived up to the promise. She was a great character and it'd have been nice if Ted and Tracy lived happily ever after.
But, the creators had filmed the scene with the kids sometime during the second season. That doesn't mean they should have stuck to it. So, they decided to kill off the mother and spend a good part of the finale to focus on how Barney and Robin's marriage ended and how Robin still has unresolved feelings for Ted. That the mother will be dead in 2030 was revealed a few episodes ago. There was a flashforward scene when the mother tells Ted not to live in stories of the past but to have new stories in the future. Then, she also says that it's bad for Robin to have a wedding without her mother's presence and Ted gives a look to suggest that the mother will not be present for their children's wedding.
This was a horrible season. And the finale didn't salvage it. I mean the entire premise of the show is to reveal the identity of the mother. In the end, it didn't matter any way because, Ted and Robin are going to end up together. Just in the previous episode, Robin panicked and asks Ted to run away with her to live in Chicago. And Ted declines saying that he doesn't feel about her that way any more. I'm supposed to be happy and satisfied that Ted and Robin are finally together but they created a great mother character in the final season that her death and the endgame was very disappointing.
Between, Dexter and HIMYM, I cannot decide which is the worst of the two finales and final seasons. Like Dexter, Ted should probably have ended up as a lumberjack in the northwest after the mother died.
