MAJOR JAW DROPPING END OF LIFE AS WE KNOW IT SPOILERS AHEAD.
So this was it. The last night. Ted finally manages to get through the 9 year story of How He Met Penny and Luke’s Mom.
And after an episode that simultaneously reminded me of Up, the time my friends drug me on Superman at Six Flags, and the obituary of the greatest friendship New York has ever seen, I feel safe in saying that this show will be remembered as one of the best written shows of all time. I would then like to add that it is probably one of the best written stories of all time.
Like real life, there’s no such thing as a happy ending on HIMYM, but rather a hopeful new beginning for every heartbreak and setback. Marshall finally became a judge. Barney found that his true calling in life wasn’t a playboy, or even Robin’s husband, but as a dad.
Robin had her chance to fly, and she took it. She never really settled down like Ted and the mother (Her name is Tracy!) or Marshmellow and Lillypad. I’m simultaneously disappointed that she and Barney didn’t work out, but it’s something that I understand, that feels real in the emotional heart of this show. The lives of all of these characters are ridiculously complex, even through the final episode, and it feels so real and right.
A moment of silence, though, for the mother. I really had a feeling it was coming, but as someone who has experienced the sting of cancer personally, I can only say that this show handled it beautifully. Ted and Tracy had a wonderful life together, and they raised two kids, who I am assuming are awesome, but wonderful things do not last. Mono no Aware.
But How I Met Your Mother, while fully exploring the tragedies of human life- the most ordinary, regular tragedies- has an optimism that life will continue. Because it does. And so it closes 9 seasons of friendship, love, broken hearts, and way too much alcohol consumption by showing how life comes full circle.
Ted finally gets his chance with Robin. And the reappearance of the blue French Horn garnered many a cheer. So it turns out that How I Met Your Mother wasn’t really about how Ted met the mother. It was Ted, asking for permission to move on. Or maybe he was just asking if he could finally have a chance. Thankfully, the kids said yes. This night, and this show were in one word, Legendary.
We don’t have to wait for it anymore.
scienceandstories 