Erin Wooddell
There I was, enjoying a slice of pizza, settling into one of two pieces of furniture I have in my new apartment, excited to see how Ted really met their mother, and the show sucker-punched me.
I was dumbfounded. The finale did exactly what I was hoping it wouldn't do, forever ruining a beloved television show in my heart.
The divorce, the drifting apart of the friendships ... it made me feel as if I'd wasted all this time watching, getting to know the characters, hoping for Ted's happily ever after. It was like the show's creators were laughing in my face and telling me, "Just kidding! This show isn't happy after all!"
My mind is full of so many questions.
There I was, enjoying a slice of pizza, settling into one of two pieces of furniture I have in my new apartment, excited to see how Ted really met their mother, and the show sucker-punched me.
I was dumbfounded. The finale did exactly what I was hoping it wouldn't do, forever ruining a beloved television show in my heart.
The divorce, the drifting apart of the friendships ... it made me feel as if I'd wasted all this time watching, getting to know the characters, hoping for Ted's happily ever after. It was like the show's creators were laughing in my face and telling me, "Just kidding! This show isn't happy after all!"
My mind is full of so many questions.
1) What was the point of this entire last season? Why get us rooting for Robin and Barney if they're just gonna divorce in the blink of an eye, as if it's nothing?
2) Why make Ted and Tracy's lives so sad and unfair? (Oh yeah, that's the mom's name.) After all the time Ted spent searching for "the one," he finds her and then loses her at a young age. Tracy had a great love, lost him when they were young and then she died before she could see her children grow. It seems so wrong and I wish I could wipe the memory of the finale from my brain.
3) Why couldn't we have ended with Ted and Tracy's wedding and nixed the last half hour? No, you writers had to go and make Ted choose Robin. So what's the message here? That Robin was "the one" all along and "the mother" was just a filler until it was finally his time to be with Robin?
4) How long did the writers know? Watching the ending, I began to wonder when they chose this route for the story line. Clearly it was a long time ago because the children had responses and Boy Mosby (aka David Henrie) looks like a totally different person now. I did some internet sleuthing this evening, and I was right: the kids knew about this ending in season 1.
There are a lot of different reactions swirling around about this finale; some people loved it and some hated it. I'm with the latter group, because I'm so disappointed that a show that touted itself as a comedy took such a sad and dark route at the end. If you want sad endings, you watch dramas. Comedies are a form of entertainment that work as a happy escape. When the story turns grim, mirroring real-life missed opportunities and sadness, it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. And it begs the question--are happy endings a thing of the past?
2) Why make Ted and Tracy's lives so sad and unfair? (Oh yeah, that's the mom's name.) After all the time Ted spent searching for "the one," he finds her and then loses her at a young age. Tracy had a great love, lost him when they were young and then she died before she could see her children grow. It seems so wrong and I wish I could wipe the memory of the finale from my brain.
3) Why couldn't we have ended with Ted and Tracy's wedding and nixed the last half hour? No, you writers had to go and make Ted choose Robin. So what's the message here? That Robin was "the one" all along and "the mother" was just a filler until it was finally his time to be with Robin?
4) How long did the writers know? Watching the ending, I began to wonder when they chose this route for the story line. Clearly it was a long time ago because the children had responses and Boy Mosby (aka David Henrie) looks like a totally different person now. I did some internet sleuthing this evening, and I was right: the kids knew about this ending in season 1.
There are a lot of different reactions swirling around about this finale; some people loved it and some hated it. I'm with the latter group, because I'm so disappointed that a show that touted itself as a comedy took such a sad and dark route at the end. If you want sad endings, you watch dramas. Comedies are a form of entertainment that work as a happy escape. When the story turns grim, mirroring real-life missed opportunities and sadness, it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. And it begs the question--are happy endings a thing of the past?