TV Review: How I Met Your Mother "Last Forever Parts 1 & 2" 9x23/24

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That was it? After watching for nine seasons...that was how it ended?

My reaction, as well as almost everyone else's reaction,to the final episode of How I Met Your Mother's legendary and, for the most part, entertaining run. Sure, people have been calling this ending for a while now and at a certain point I even started to believe it would happen but to actually see it...it left a bit of a sour and numbing taste in my mouth.

I started to try and rationalize what happened in my head and for the most part the ending doesn't bother me THAT much anymore.

Spoilers will clearly be had for these next several paragraphs so if you haven't watched the episode yet, turn back now.

Have you turned back? Good. I'll also say upfront, this may not be all that coherent as a lot goes on and I'm aiming to cover the main details of the episode.

Like for one -- what was the point of the wedding taking place for a span of 22 and a 1/4th of season nine when in a blink of an eye Barney and Robin are divorced? That was just a poor, poor decision.

Now knowing how it ends, Carter Bays and Craig Thomas could have found so many other ways to tell the stories of these characters.

This may not mean much right now but the best way to have gone about season nine -- spend about eight episodes focusing on the wedding, giving the show 16 episodes to focus on the future of the gang. Show us what happened with Barney and Robin and why their marriage wound up failing.

For the briefest of moments we only see that Robin's traveling is taking a toll on both Robin and Barney as she's becoming a famous news anchor all over the globe as Barney seems to be focused on his blog.

The episode just cuts so abruptly to them being divorced that it just felt forced as if Bays and Thomas knew, "Well for us to end it how we want we clearly can't focus on these two characters! CUT!" It's a damn shame since we grew to love these two only to see them ripped away.

Show us what happens with Marshall and Lily -- show us what their life was like in Rome as Lily works for The Captain. We've all grown to love Marshall and Lily yet throughout the whole finale it feels like they were both kind of pushed to the side to give more time to Barney, Robin, and of course Ted.

Marshall gets his position as a Judge Fudge and decides to try go for an open spot in the State Supreme Court, making him Supreme Fudge.

As for Lily...we see her pregnant and getting ready for a third child but after that...what happens to her? Is she working? Is she a stay at home mom? This is something that's so unclear since we know what happens with Marshall but we know nothing of what happens with Lily.

Most important -- show us more scenes with Ted and The Mother. Ted has spent nine long years telling this story and there's so few episodes with the two of them together. We briefly see how they meet, we briefly see them together throughout the whole episode.

Ted stays in New York for her and that's so very Ted-like but otherwise we maybe see The Mother for about five whole minutes throughout the whole episode.

Throughout the whole ninth season The Mother wound up being the most entertaining part as she gave the show some life and fresh air.

And then (BIG SPOILER HERE FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T SEEN AND ARE STILL READING FOR SOME REASON), for them to spend no time at all showing Ted struggle and support The Mother as she's dying from an unnamed sickness...it's a damn shame. We have stuck with Ted for nine seasons speaking about the journey to meet this woman and then, so swiftly, she's gone just as quickly as she came. The ninth season could have been an amazing journey focusing so much more on Ted and The Mother but instead throws that away far too quickly.

Throughout the whole ninth season, the amount of time we see Ted with The Mother maybe adds up to one full episode. The build up to this big moment in Ted's life, 208 episodes, is good for maybe one full episode.

To the actual storyline of the episode...it takes places from between the end of Barney and Robin's wedding until 2030 with Future Ted telling the story to his children. What it basically comes down to is Robin's story -- as she becomes bigger and has to travel more she finds herself distancing from the group.

With her divorce from Barney and her feelings for Ted seeming to be at an all-time high (as he's with The Mother and has a child), she finds herself on the outside looking in.

So she pretty much drifts away completely and while that's sad...well...it's life.

After divorcing Robin, Barney finds himself back with his womanizing ways. Seeing him revert back to his old ways is a bit disheartening but it leads to something so much bigger -- not the new playbook Barney creates as he attempts to do a perfect month but the fact that last woman of his perfect month (who they refer to as Number 31...which is a bit...weak) is pregnant. After all of these years Barney has gotten a woman pregnant and will be a father.

This leads up to one of the most powerful moments in the whole show -- Barney meeting his new daughter, Ellie, for the first time at the hospital.

That moment...played so perfectly by Neil Patrick Harris, may be the most beautiful moment throughout the whole series, bringing a tear not just to my eye but to millions of viewers.

After many speed bumps and roadblocks, Ted and The Mother finally find themselves getting married. It only took seven years and two kids (which is why it took seven years in the first place).

Meeting up at MacLaren's Pub before the wedding are the usual suspects -- Barney, Lily, Marshall, and Ted.

And in a surprise appearance...Robin, who received a call from Tracy convincing her to come after RSPing no.

The small wedding for Ted and Tracy isn't shown for long but it's beautiful and the whole sequence has the usual HIMYM heart that the show is so good at bringing consistently.

And then there's The Mother getting sick. All we get is one scene of Ted reading a story to The Mother and then the full moment where Ted and The Mother first met. It's both adorable and awkward and it's easy to see that these two are meant for each other as we all find out her name -- Tracy McConnell.

Tracy passed away in 2024, and back to Future Ted and his children in 2030, his daughter has a different perspective on the whole story. The story wasn't about Tracy...but it's about how Ted is into Aunt Robin and wants their blessing.

And, in good old Ted fashion...we find ourselves at Robin's apartment in Brooklyn with the buzzer ringing and she looks out her window to see Ted, in suit and tie, holding the blue french horn.

There are people who will be upset with the ending, there are people who will love it. But what you can't deny is this -- How I Met Your Mother entertained audiences for a legendary nine seasons. Many of us laughed, many of cried, but this wasn't just a journey for the gang...it was a journey for all of us. Thank you, Carter Bays and Craig Thomas. While I may not have always agreed with the direction of the show and some of the story arcs, I kept watching no matter what.

And while the finale may have, for the most part, been underwhelming, I'll be watching for many years to come. I'll also be watching the spin-off show -- How I Met Your Dad -- not so much since I think it'll be good, but since I know that it has the potential to be good.

While I have more thoughts on the finale, I'll end it here. And that's all for How I Met Your Mother.