How I Met Your Mother: "Last Forever"

 Spoilers Below:

“Last Forever” was a bumpy episode. Though filled with some touching character moments, it was ultimately hindered by a choppy overall narrative, which attempted to squeeze a ton of plot in (leapfrogging around to a number of future events post-wedding) for a final setup that will likely frustrate and divide fans. 

We may have gotten the answer to this series’ title but it did feel like a little bit of a cheat. We do see that moment and the life Ted built with her, and Cristen Milioti’s palpable chemistry with Josh Radnor makes this ending feel slightly disappointing, as well as the fact that whatever feelings we may have had towards Robin and Ted as a couple are way, way back in the rearview mirror.

Had the series ended sooner, and had it had fewer seasons, this reveal, that the mother is dead in 2030 and that Ted is telling the story to find out if his kids don't mind if he asks Robin out (hinted at a few episodes back) might have felt rewarding and like a neat twist. It stays true to the narrative's heavy focus on the relationship of Ted with Robin. But too much character change regarding Ted, Robin and Barney over the series’ run doesn’t allow it the same oomph it might have had. 

The fact that the show focused so heavily on Barney and Robin’s wedding only for that marriage to dissolve only served to make this final season feel a little bit like a waste. 

And yet this finale was not devoid of goodness. 

What surprised me was how thoroughly the show embraced the deep pool of melancholy and disappointment it had accrued. Ted’s increasingly desperate efforts have made him a somewhat tragic figure. He’s a romantic Charlie Brown who had practically stopped trying even to kick the football from Lucy (Forgive the lousy metaphor). Here we see how that change from romantic idealism to something more grounded, even fatal, has made him who he is. He almost doesn’t go over to talk to the mother on the train platform, doubting his faith in destiny. 

More saddening still was Barney’s regression into his old ways after failing with the one woman he could see himself building a life with. Barney in this episode became the dark, pathetic core at the center of his womanizing throughout the series, and it was a strange direction that almost felt like a meta commentary on the character. 

That bitterness of life not working out exactly as the characters had planned gives the episode a few really touching and moving moments. Robin confronting Lily about the sorry state of the “gang”. Barney looking at his newly born child. Ted talking to the mother under that yellow umbrella. 

The series long-con didn’t work, but I also don’t feel let down. I’ve abandoned series before, but I stuck with How I Met Your Mother because its characters and its perspective and its humor, when firing on all cylinders, could create something really great. So few shows last nine seasons, and so few are any good when nine seasons deep. I don’t hold it against the show or Carter and Bays that it wasn’t what it was at its peak. It was a sitcom, and occasionally one that was quite funny and quite poignant. May be its longterm narrative was a mistake as it began to consume the show’s aims whole, but, hey, the world is still spinning and we have four really excellent seasons and lots of highlights besides after.