by EMILY SZPAK Staff Writer
After nine great seasons of “How I Met Your Mother”, the series came to an end on Sunday, March 30 on CBS.
The hour long finale left viewers stunned with countless plot twists. There was a large upset in how the show ended, and viewers have even created a petition to change the course of the ending. I personally thought the ending was clever and unexpected, just as the ending of such a great show should be.
“How I Met Your Mother” first aired on September 19, 2005 on CBS. The sitcom was instantly praised for its sarcastic comedy and structure.
Over the years, the show has been nominated for 28 Emmys and won nine. Actors on the show have also been awarded over the years, such as the immensely talented Neil Patrick Harris, who plays Barney.
“‘How I Met Your Mother’ is one of my favorite shows and I liked how it ended. It was clever,” says junior Michael Rohs.
The sitcom is set up as a story being told by Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) to his children, who are teenagers, about how he met their mother. The stories are about his group of best friends going through crazy events and standing by the idea that the universe guides the future.
The shenanigans between Marshal and Lily (the perfect couple), Barney (the lady killer), and Robin (the career lover) create a bond leading Ted to all the events to meeting his future wife. The entire series is told in past tense up until the final episode where we are finally caught up to the present Ted, sitting in his office telling his children the stories.
Up until the final episode, we are caught up with life-changing events. Barney and Robin are married, Marshal and Lily are parents, and Ted is leaving New York to pursue his architecture career.
Ted leaves the wedding, skeptical over whether or not he should have struck up conversation with a cute bass player at the wedding. Accepting his fate, he sits at the rainy bus stop, when the bass player appears holding the yellow umbrella (that Ted previously talked about belonging to the mother). This is where the story begins to unravel.
Soon, Robin and Barney are divorced, leaving Lily with a doubt surrounding the gang’s everlasting friendship. Ted and the mother are engaged, planning their wedding, when it is put on hold on account of the couple expecting.
Everyone’s lives are drastically changing and Robin finds herself not fitting in. For someone who focuses more on her career than her social life, she blocks out the gang and decides it is not the same anymore.
Barney finds himself being the same old Barney, hitting on women in bars. When his friends complain, he says he is never going to be the kind of guy that will look into a girl’s eyes and say, “You are the love of my life. Everything I have is yours.”
Soon, Barney finds himself in trouble with one of his one night stands, and learns there is a baby on the way. When his new daughter is born, he is weary and wants nothing to do with the child. But then he meets her and holds his baby girl in his arms. With tears in his eyes, he says, “You are the love of my life. Everything I have is yours.”
After that tear-jerking scene, Barney completely changes his womanizing ways and becomes a better man, taking care of his baby.
“The scene with Barney had me crying. It was such a perfect way to transform his character,” says an anonymous student.
Ted and the mother now have their two children and, after three years since their engagement, they finally decide to tie the knot with their small group of friends. To their surprise, Robin shows up, and the gang is finally back together at their table in their favorite pub. Ted spends some time describing the mother and his relationship.
Then Ted says those five words that changed the entire show: “Up until she got sick,” revealing the mother was gone and Ted was telling his children the long story of how he met her in remembrance.
By this point in the show, the tears were uncontrollable. His children then come to the conclusion that this whole story was told to make them realize he likes Robin, who they know as Aunt Robin. The children say it has been six years and it is time to move on.
The last scene is Ted standing outside Robin’s window, holding a blue trumpet (an inside joke between them) and Robin smiling and crying out the window.
I loved the ending of the show and thought it was so clever. I never would have expected the events to happen. As one of my favorite shows, it is an episode I will never forget.
Would you have changed the ending if you could have?