After nine seasons of laughs, hijinks and heart-warming moments, the CBS show “How I Met Your Mother” said goodbye to airwaves last Monday, March 31 with a special hour-long series finale episode. Like all series finales should, this episode tied up every loose end, but perhaps not in the way that fans were hoping for. If you have not yet seen the episode, stop reading now, as there are spoilers ahead.
The entirety of “How I Met Your Mother’s” ninth season took place during just one weekend: The weekend of Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris, “Doogie Howser, M.D.”) and Robin Sherbatsky’s (Cobie Smulders, “The Avengers”) long-awaited wedding. The result was a lot of build up to the big moment, which occurred in the episode two weeks before last week’s series finale.
Yet, the series finale episode, entitled “Last Forever: Part Two,” does the exact opposite of what fans have come to expect from season nine—it spans decades rather than days, with little explanation of each event that is shown. While this is a common practice in series finale episodes, the technique simply contrasts too much with the slow-paced development of the rest of the season, making it harder for viewers to take seriously.
One of the biggest points of contention in the finale is the depiction of Stinson and Sherbatsky’s divorce. The creators of the show spent an entire season convincing audiences that these two characters were meant to be together just to rip their relationship from our hands in a matter of minutes. The reasons for the divorce are never truly explained, either, other than a brief scene that depicts Stinson and Sherbatsky fighting over her demanding job. Plus there is the fact that this divorce conveniently leaves Sherbatsky open to once again wonder whether she should have married Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor, “Liberal Arts”) instead.
The makers of the show would have viewers believe that this is the case—yet has the couple’s previous track record not shown that Sherbatsky could never be what Mosby truly needs? Not to mention the issue of “The Mother” (Cristin Miloti, “The Wolf of Wall Street”) whom the entire series is centered around. In this finale episode, the audience is finally able to see that penultimate moment of their first meeting, but after this scene her role is reduced significantly. The Mother is present, yes, but the focus is not on her, but on Sherbatsky, and while the audience is led to believe that Mosby truly loves her, there are not nearly enough intimate moments depicted between them.
Even when it is revealed that The Mother passed away, her death is only given about thirty seconds of screen time and discussion before Mosby is rushing off to (you guessed it) win Sherbatsky back. He even steals the infamous blue french horn that he stole for her after scaring her off on their first date nine years ago. Perfect symmetry.
Which, in all honesty, is the fatal flaw of the episode. During these past nine seasons, Mosby has had to learn over and over again that Sherbatsky is not “The One.” It is true that after each heartbreak and set-back he has returned to the idea of “Ted and Robin,” but it never worked because it could not. By this season, viewers had accepted the fact that these two characters simply were not meant to end up together. Yet, in the final episode of the series, the writers decided to ignore all of that history and do the easy thing.
“How I Met Your Mother” could have been a series about the promise of the future and the idea that no matter how much distress and heart break one experiences, something better could be (and probably is) waiting just around the corner, but the series finale turns that concept on its head. In fact, while “The Mother” symbolizes that hope, Mosby’s final return to Sherbatsky does nothing but nullify it. He does not go back to her because she is his great love, he does so because she is familiar and comfortable. He does so because within these past nine seasons, he has apparently learned nothing.
“Last Forever: Part Two” fails to satisfy many viewers because the writers have chosen the convenient ending. It is not an ending that teaches us anything about life or even makes us happy about the life that Mosby has lived. And while the series itself provided nine worthwhile seasons, it is probably best to just pretend that the series finale never happened.
