Why 'How I Met Your Mother' Has The Best Ending Of All Time
A little more than ten years after the enormously successful CBS sitcom came to a close, the ending still stands above the rest.
Endings are the most important things in our lives.
They don’t have to be. But they so often are. The way something ends defines the way we think about that thing. A relationship. A job. A life. Whatever it is, if it ended on a bad note, it’s all bad.
Think about Game of Thrones. I never liked the show, but for people who did, the ending permanently blackened their opinion of it. When you look at its user reviews on IMDb, here is the headline for the first one:
It could have been the best TV series ever made...
Followed swiftly by the succinct critique:
“Till season 7 very likely the best TV show ever made in terms of suspense, character development, plot, effects, acting.... 10/10 with no doubt! But S6E10 is probably the point where you should stop and imagine your own ending.”
This person thought it was the best show ever until the ending…similar to so many viewers of How I Met Your Mother. Here are the titles of its first three reviews:
A wonderful show with a bad ending
Love it but the end disappointed me :(
Will be remembered for it's wit, charm, one liners, slaps, and the bro code, not for it's bad ending.
However, unlike Game of Thrones, which I agree had an abominable ending, How I Met Your Mother’s ending was actually fantastic. It wasn’t what most people expected (excluding me, but “we’ll get to that”), but in reality, it was simply, wait for it…legendary, and here is why:
Massive spoilers for How I Met Your Mother are ahead:
Everyone meets their destiny
One of the most common critiques of the ending is disappointment vis-à-vis Robin and Barney’s divorce. Now, while I admit I did not see that coming, it was not a bad plot device. Yes, the show built up to their marriage across three entire seasons only for it to end, but there are two facts to address in that regard:
First, divorce is often abrupt to people on the outside. As much as this show discussed “destiny” and presented relationships as storybook fantasies, the storylines are also realistic.
Lily and Marshall are considered to have the perfect relationship, but the first season ends with their breakup and calling off the wedding. Then in the penultimate episode of the series, they discuss the fact that they have broken pretty much all their wedding vows.
As much as any couple may seem perfect, no one really knows what’s happening between them except them. Divorce is an incredibly private matter, and, frankly, it only concerns the married couple (and their kids if they had them which Robin and Barney didn’t).
That leads to my second point. Barney always wanted to be a father. Remember what made him come around to his brother, James, getting married? The fact that James and Tom were going to adopt a baby. Barney tells Marshall and Lily in an Estonian accent that, “Babies can be cute.” Barney was excited about sharing parenting duties with Ted when they fake-adopted James’ daughter Sadie for one afternoon. Then the next day, when Robin told Barney she was pregnant, Barney was excited. Finally, in the last season, Loretta, upon hearing that Robin was medically incapable of having children, said to Barney, “But you always wanted kids.”
Although, to that, Barney said, “No, I always liked kids,” Loretta was right. Barney wanted to be a father more than anything. That was his destiny, and Robin could not give that to him. Thus, their marriage ended. No, it didn’t end over the fact that she couldn’t give him kids, but in the end, Barney becomes a father and is overjoyed at the idea. So much so that he gives up his life of endless partying and promiscuity.
Do you know who else wanted children? Ted. And although Ted was in love with Robin, she couldn’t give him a family either. So, as much as he almost killed himself to be with her, the universe drew them apart time and time again…and the reason was so he could start his family.
After he meets Tracy, they have children long before they actually get married. It was his destiny to have a family…with Robin. She literally couldn’t give him one, but the universe, tragically took Tracy from him, only after they had two children who adore their “Aunt Robin.”
It was a long winding road, but 25 years after they met and Ted told Robin he was in love with her, they (presumably) had the chance to be together.
Consider it from Robin’s side. Every step of the way she put her career first. Yes, there was the moment with Don when she chose him over a job in Chicago, but if anything that was like electroshock therapy. All she wanted was to travel the world as a journalist. That did not work for Barney. It certainly would not have worked for Ted. But (again, presumably) after 15 years of being at the top of her field, Robin was ready to settle down with Ted (after all, she was apparently going to his house for dinner quite a bit).
The entire point of this show is that if you are true to yourself and have the courage to go after what you want, you will get it, even if there are bumps along the way. That’s what every character gets.
Marshall becomes a judge. Lily fulfills her dream of living in Italy as an art consultant. Barney becomes a dad. Robin becomes a famous journalist. Ted builds a skyscraper, has a family, and ends up with the love of his life.
All five of them go through distressing hurdles to get there, but none of them give up on their destiny.
So, if any one viewer was upset that Robin and Barney got divorced or that Tracy died, all the characters were upset, too. The difference is the characters recognize that, while awful in the moment, it was all part of the universe’s plan.
Turns out the ending of the show was part of the universe’s plan for me because…
I called it.
Everyone agrees that spoilers suck, but predicting an ending is the sine-wave opposite of spoilers. When you discover your theory is correct, that feeling of satisfaction and perspicacity wells up in your body like a warm, electric light. You knew what was going to happen without anyone telling you. You’re so fucking smart.
That’s how I felt when I first watched the final episode of How I Met Your Mother.
I 100% called the ending.
I remember talking to my friends a decade ago as the finale approached, laying out the facts. The fact is, in the first episode Ted met Robin. In the first episode, Ted told her he loved her. The climax of the show was Robin telling Ted, on her wedding day, that she should be with him instead of Barney. Not to mention the numerous moments and episodes throughout the nine seasons where Ted either tells Robin he loves her again, agrees to be her backup husband, or Marshall refuses to pay Lily after Lily bet Marshall that Ted and Robin wouldn’t end up together.
(They actually spoiled it in S07E19. Ted tells the three college kids meant to represent him, Marshall, and Lily: “That’s the story of me and Robin. 2005 to the present.”)
So when it was revealed that the story was actually about Ted and Robin the whole time, that feeling of satisfaction and perspicacity welled up in my body. I may have even launched out of my seat.
How I Met Your Mother is one of the sitcoms I comfort-watch in its entirety on a regular basis (along with Scrubs and Parks & Rec). Most of said comfort stems from the fact that it’s still funny ten years later and I know every line from every episode.
But I also find comfort in the theme of the show:
“If you are true to yourself and have the courage to go after what you want, you will get it, even if there are bumps along the way.”
Let’s just say, I don’t have everything I want, and I’ve experienced my fair share of bumps. Sometimes that fills me with blistering sorrow. Sometimes I feel like a complete failure (less than I ever have, but it happens).
At my lowest, I so often get fed algorithm Instagram posts about how things might work out better than I can imagine. That’s what this show reaffirms in me. It took 25 years, but Ted and Robin ended up together, and it feels like everything was worth it to both of them. I’d like to believe everything is worth it in the end, and no episode of How I Met Your Mother secures this feeling more than the ending.