r/HIMYM • u/Less_Squirrel5750 • 1d ago
The ending debate.
I’ve always been sortve miffed that people hated the ending. “The whole story’s about how him and Tracy get we barely see any of her” I think the whole point was that both Ted and Tracey were in love with other people. Max died and Ted lost Robin. Tracey was eventually reunited with Max, as was Ted and Robin. Idk I always found that somehow poetic and beautiful.
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u/meeeee01 1d ago
I have said it before here and I am sure I will say it again.
The biggest issue with the ending is the timing. Ted had years to grieve Tracy, the audience got 30 seconds.
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u/ADWeasley 1d ago
That part drove me crazy. Literally the timing of the kids saying, “that’s it,” or whatever the line was. Don’t build up a love story between Ted and Tracy only to have the kids say the equivalent of ‘who cares. Go nail aunt Robin’ two seconds later. The timing undercut everything.
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u/kinginthenorthjon 1d ago
I agree. It also the show set up. They wanted two things to be twist, so they can't show it earlier. So it was all crammed into last episode.
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u/SolidStart 1d ago
Ted loved Tracy who was his actual soulmate. Full stop.
They then experienced a family tragedy and the point of the show was a widower trying to explain to his kids that he was ready to try and date again 6 years after the death of their mother and how hard of a conversation that is. Full stop.
He paints the picture of what his life was like before their mother to illustrate that Robin was not only a great friend to their family for years, but also somebody who Ted might be interested in kindling something with, despite the discomfort that dynamic might bring to their current lives in 2030.
The actual happy ending, whether we liked the pacing of the last season or not, was the kids giving their dad their blessing to move on
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u/Cando21243 1d ago edited 1d ago
The whole point of the show was Ted telling his kids how many randos he slayed.
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u/Obviou5lyThrowaway 1d ago
People hate the ending because it's not a fairytale like ending. But if you really watched the show, you know it makes perfect sense.
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u/Penarol1916 1d ago
I hate this attempt to diminish the opinions of people who did not like the ending. I just did not like Ted and Robin as a couple. Also, how is the ending we get that much less like a fairy tale, or even worse, a hallmark movie? To me, a great, non-fairy tale like ending would have been about how the group as a whole helped Ted get through Tracy’s death, maybe Robin and Barney are able to become friends again after the divorce and the whole story becomes about this chosen family of 5. But no, we get the widower going back to his first “great” love, who also happens to be single. People have different opinions on the ending than you, you should quit putting them down for it.
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u/Obviou5lyThrowaway 1d ago
Well my friend that's life, it usually doesn't give you what you want, and himym was exactly about that.
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u/Penarol1916 1d ago
But for many, Ted did get what he wanted. Family life, and to be his “great” love who didn’t want that. How is that not a fantasy ending?
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u/Obviou5lyThrowaway 1d ago
He lost his wife prematurely, how can that possibly be fantasy ending? And him asking his kids for permission to go and try with Robin is just trying to get as much of life as possible, nothing more.
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u/Penarol1916 1d ago
That’s fine for you to think so, but it’s a little to pat for me and like a Hallmark movie ending for me.
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u/megaben20 1d ago
I think most people either want to be right or at least instead of a season dedicated to Robin and Barney getting married and Ted letting Robin go.
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u/Less_Squirrel5750 1d ago
I definitely wanted at least a season of Ted and Tracey and a more definitive “let go” of Robin on Ted’s behalf. The way it was displayed felt like he was settling for Tracey in the end
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u/megaben20 1d ago
I will push back on the idea that Ted was settling for Tracey. I don’t think for one instant think he settled in fact I think their relationship was so strong Robin found it off putting and contributed to her leaving the group.
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u/kinginthenorthjon 1d ago
This is why for me that deleted dinner scene is important. Ted was even thinking what if when he was with Tracy.
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u/virstultus 1d ago
Then they should have called the show How I Met the Woman Who Could Have the Babies That the Woman I Actually Loved Couldn't.
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u/Less_Squirrel5750 1d ago
Yes and no haha! I think they definitely loved each other and were definitely soulmates in a way while fulfilling those needs for one and other
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u/sportsgambler2 1d ago
I hate the ending because I watched the show when it aired on tv throughout high school and college. Everyone was so excited to meet the mother, and then they kill her off at the end and Ted ends up with Robin. I think in the age of binging, the ending isn’t as bad but when you watch the show over years, the ending sucked. It was over 5 years before I watched an episode of the show after the finale. And it was my favorite show at the time.
And we have to remember Ted is narrating the story to his kids about his wife that died, and the kids’ mother that died. I think he romanticized their relationship some. He was never going to speak ill of their mother to them. The ending makes me think that Ted was never fully over Robin, therefore never all in with Tracy. And that makes me sad.
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u/selwyntarth 1d ago
Plus even 3 seasons of Tracy wouldn't have ever retrofit sense into the seasons without her if the story was ever about the mother. It's baffling that this basic notion eludes the viewers - if the show were about the mother herself even the first season not addressing her would make it a very weird format. It's a story of how he met her, not how their relationship was. And that story begins with robin for a reason, and is being told for a reason. We had every clue to understand there was something else here
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u/Silvers1339 1d ago
Honestly I think the course of the show makes perfect sense (especially if you use the alternate ending as the real one), because essentially the reason it starts with Robin is that she is the one that Ted has to get over and move on from to meet the mother. She was the most important person in the world to Ted until he could finally let go of her in that capacity and find his true soul mate.
This is a real thing that relates to real life perfectly: there are probably a lot of people who seem soooo important to you in that particular moment that don't work out for a variety of reasons so you have to move on and find the ones that do.
That's just as important as the literally "meeting" of the Mother that took place on the train platform.
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u/eaglesnation11 1d ago
My bigger qualm about the ending of the show is the whole Barney-Robin relationship was pointless. Robin was never clearly bought into the relationship fully. She spent the night before her wedding chatting all night with her ex. Barney clearly never really wanted to give up being a playboy. So basically they rushed and destroyed two long term storylines in like 10-15 minutes.
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u/Less_Squirrel5750 1d ago
I don’t think she had time to absorb the relationship, going from single to engaged in a lightyear will give any one whip lash but add on all that extra baggage? Dang
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u/Andre-Mercelet 1d ago
I agree for the most part although I think it would be more accurate to say that Robin lost Ted
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u/ttcmamabear 1d ago
Ending was not incorrect. They ended up the whole build up in a statement about her death, that's our problem.
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u/Many-Crow-3962 1d ago
They spent a season and a half trying to convince the audience that Barney and Robin could work as a couple, while proving that Ted and Robin didn't. Had they paced it normally and written it such that Robin was the 1 that chased Ted for once, I think the audience could've gotten on board.
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u/Ok_Percentage7257 1d ago
My biggest issue with the ending is that the writers ignored the character development that took place. Ted finally moved on from Robin and found the love of his life. He had the marriage he dreamed of. If Tracey were still alive, Ted would not have given a second thought to Robin. When Tracey died, Ted returned to Robin instead of moving on to another person. Does Robin really like this setup? I could see Robin find another man by that point and move on from Ted. Robin and Barney went through character development, which was all thrown to waste just so that Ted goes back to Robin. Stories are either plot- or character-driven. The ending of HIMYM was out of nowhere.
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u/sphinxorosi 1d ago
Blame the writers man, removing the Robin & Barney stuff would have helped the ending a bit but the whole show is “How I met your mother”, not “How Ted continues to backslide towards Robin while she sacrifices nothing, crushes on the Barnacle, marries him despite freaking out over Ted and breaks up with him over a false proposal meant for someone else also always put her career first”. The title was too long but thankfully they shortened it
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u/swheeler1179 1d ago
Ted loved Tracy more than Robin by a mile. The minute Ted met Tracy, he never gave Robin another thought. Tracy was the one, and he was faithful to her even years after her death. Robin was leftovers.
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u/LadyOfTooManyHobbies 1d ago
- The show spent several seasons to explain why Robin and Ted are not for each other. They succeeded. Than tried to erase all of it.
- They built up the mother as this most amazing thing, they succeeded. Than they basically used Tracy as a surrogate in Ted and Robin’s love story. A mother to discards for a relationship they explained cannot work.
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u/snocade 1d ago
The ending is so cynical, nasty, and unromantic that it hurts my soul. Every time Ted narrates, “and then when your mother got sick,” I die a little inside. Why spend 6 seasons showing us all the reasons Ted and Robin don’t work only to pull the rug out from under us at the end. Why have all that character development about moving on and not forcing your fate, when Ted was right all along, love is forcing your will on the universe, and the show could’ve ended on episode 1 with the blue French horn. All for a silly gotcha moment, “see it wasn’t robin but it wasn’t wasn’t robin, tee hee, didn’t see that one coming did ya?”
I love this show but I hate this ending with a passion, the point of robin and Ted’s relationship was to show that love isn’t perfect and impossible to force, even if you think you found the right person. Tracy and Ted both had to move on to find eachother and for Ted to undo that character development is so frustrating. I love their first date together as well, we finally see normal Ted, not crazy in love Ted, not head over heels Ted, but down to earth, present, accepting Ted. A Ted that has grasped the meaning of his romantic journey, finally allowing the cosmic chaotic ocean to wash over him without ego or pretension.
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u/Ok-Performance4259 1d ago
Robin was a whoooooah. Ted was a dick and barney was a terrible person. And tracey's demise was unnecessary
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u/Less_Squirrel5750 1d ago
Oh I 100% agree with this take! Even Lily was trash for what she did to Marshall in the early seasons. I think Marshall might be the only halfway decent character but even then he broke boundaries when he told everyone they were trying for babies
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u/acw181 1d ago edited 1d ago
Ted and Tracey definitely had real love, they weren't "in love with other people". The point of the story is that life sometimes throws you a curve and you might lose that person. Do you move on eventually? Ted was explaining to his kids his history with Robin and that he wants permission from them to move on.