A rant on \"How I Met Your Mother\"

By Josh Vogt

First, this is not a rant on how I personally met your mother, reader, but on the television show “How I Met Your Mother”, if there was any confusion. Second, the show was absolutely brilliant and entertaining and funny, until they threw it all away for absolutely no good reason. They managed to tarnish an otherwise perfect television finale.

To understand why the show deserved so much better than what it got for an ending, you have to realize just how perfectly unique it was as a whole, that set it apart from all other shows. One of the more unique things about the show was the way it was arranged, the entire thing being a flashback from in the future. The protagonist, Ted, is telling his two children the story of how he met their mother, which takes a hilariously long amount of time when you think about the fact that the show went nine seasons. Ted would narrate each episode, some more than others, adding in reflections that he has in retrospect about the things he did and things that happened to him. This added so much depth, character, and a sort of internal monologue that could make jokes or really give you that gut punch of emotion by adding another layer to a scene.

This wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for the spectacular cast attached to this long-running show that really made it all a lot more believable and fun to watch. Josh Radnor, as Ted, was able to bring excellent comedic timing and real, raw emotions to the role that made you relate to him on a spiritual level, or at least I did, at times hating Ted for how much I understood and felt like him. Neil Patrick Harris played Barney Stinson, a wildly entertaining character with a lot of money, a confusing job that nobody understood, and exceptional musical talents that were made use of very extensively on the show.

The songs in “How I Met Your Mother” were some of the most endearing parts of the entire thing that helped make it so memorable. The songs often came about from very real places, but the best ones truly shined a light on some of the character’s true feelings on things and what made them who they were. One particularly well-received song was shorter than all the others, but packed such a punch that someone looped it end to end for five minutes on Youtube simply to hear it more. It was based on “For the Longest Time” by Billy Joel, and though it only includes about the first 30 seconds of it, it’s the way they did it that makes it great. Ted and Barney end up “time traveling” (really, it is more of a fantasy in Ted’s head) twice so that they can have an ensemble of six to sing it acapella. This scene highlights that Ted feels very alone, and when viewed in a larger context than the apparent happiness it brings Ted, this is extremely sad. This level of heart in simply the soundtrack of the show truly reveals the dedication the crew had to making this a work of art.

Now, as to where it all went wrong, spoilers ahead, sorry if you already read the end and are upset. So in the last season of the show, there is a wonderful wedding betweentwo of the characters and the audience is left feeling complete and happy as Ted finally meets and begins to fall in love with his children’s mother. It ends on a happy note, leaving the audience with a warm feeling and a strong sense of closure and conclusion. So that’s where it should stop, right? Wrong, there are actually two more episodes: a two-part conclusion. In this conclusion, they throw away all character development that occurred in the final season as well as the entire series, ignoring the very purpose of the show. The audience is made to feel like fools with an unnecessary and obvious twist that left all feeling cheated and angry at the show for ruining what had felt so nice and complete. Basically, if you intend to watch this wonderful show, skip the last two episodes, as they might as well not exist.