Assorted, Rambly Thoughts on the How I Met Your Mother Finale

Obviously, I'm not holding back with any spoilers, so if you haven't seen it yet, and plan on watching it at some point, obviously skip this post. Or read it now. I'm not your real mom. OR AM I? You don't know, because THIS SHOW IS RIDICULOUS.

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen a few of my reactions. For the record, I thought we were off to a really great start. At about 8:40, I realized this might not end well. At 8:50 I was starting to get into some serious angry texting with my friends. At 8:59 I threw the remote control across the room.

HOW ARE YOU GONNA DO ME LIKE THAT, CARTER BAYS? WTF DID I DO TO YOU?

So let's get into it. My thoughts are all jumbly, so we're going to go at this in a listy kind of way. For clarity's sake, or something.

Ted seeing The Mother for the first time
Loved it. Love it. Can't get enough of it. I got chills. I teared up. They could have ended the series right then and I probably would have been happy with it. (I'm glad they showed more of their relationship because I really do love them together.

Ted and Tracy have a surprise baby!
I love that they get knocked up before their wedding, and I love that they don't take a traditional path to marriage. 2005 Ted would have pushed for traditional everything, and it was so amazing to see future Ted be so cool and laid back about marriage. So refreshing! I loved it. And their cute little Thursday wedding was perfect. I've never been the biggest Ted fan (go figure), but this made me forget all that. THIS is what character development is supposed to look like.

Barney's Baby
Okay, this surprised me a lot, but I think I'm okay with it. I mean, I still think he and Robin should have worked it out (and they still could have, Robin would be a great stepmom to anyone, just not Ted's kids), but it was pretty adorable to see Barney fall in love with a baby girl. THAT is some full-circle character development. We'll just ignore all the RIDICULOUSNESS that went on between the divorce and the baby. Barney deserves better than that weird regression.

Friendship as an adult... life really does go on
This was probably the part of the episode that made me the most emotional, because that is some real ish right there. Friendships change so much when you're grown up - we've all been the Robin, leaving our friends behind, and we've all been the Lily, mourning the loss of a friendship. As heart wrenching as this part was, I liked it, and I'm glad they did it.

The Swarkles Divorce
I think it's absolutely ridiculous that we spent the entire season at Barney and Robin's wedding weekend just to see them get divorced ten minutes into the next episode. Divorce happens to happy couples sometimes. It's disappointing and messy, but it happens. If a Barney/Robin divorce was the plan, they should have spent less time at their wedding, and more time showing the downfall. I don't think I'd be as upset about their relationship ending if I had a better understanding of why it happened, because I have a pretty hard time believing that traveling around the world with the love of your life is THAT draining on your relationship.

Ted and Robin. 
Ugh. UGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH. The reasonable part of me understands this pairing. Ted wanted kids, Robin wanted her career, so obviously they each end up with those things.. and then each other. But why should we believe it's going to work out this time? Robin is still a career woman, and Ted has the kids and the house in the suburbs. Who's making the changes here? Why does Robin say no to Ted for the better part of a decade, and then immediately fall for him as soon as he becomes unavailable? WHY IS THIS ALL THE WORST?

The Mother.... really is dead?
Are you kidding me?
For the record, I do "get" them killing the mother. Obviously, it's a dark ending, but that's what happens in life. Sometimes you lose people, way before you're ready. (Are you ever ready?)

But the real world is full of disappointment - do we really need it in our fictional lives too? Would it be so terrible to fall in love with a couple (or two, or three) and actually have them work out? Tracy is adorable, and may have deserved a happy ending even more than Ted. She loses her fiancé, spends the next five-ish years dealing with the grief associated with it, she finally meets the love of her life, and then she dies? Seriously? That's it? She said she always wanted to eradicate poverty... did she ever find a job in that field somewhere? What was the mysterious illness? Was it a short battle or a long one? How did Ted cope? How did it affect the rest of the gang? I would be much more okay with this ending if they didn't gloss over it so quickly, but it got a 30 second mention. A wedding that ended in divorce got an entire season. It just doesn't make sense, and quite frankly, I think it's lazy writing. She deserved more. We all deserved more.

Everything Else
I'm glad Marshall and Lily had a third baby, but I wish we knew a name/gender.
I wish there was at least one scene with Ted/Tracy's kids + Marshall/Lily's kids playing together (or something).
I'm glad Robin ended up with a bunch of dogs.
Did Lily pay Marshall back after Ted and Robin really did end up together?
There's no way that How I Met Your Dad show will be successful now.
Why was Bob Saget part of this at all?
WHAT ABOUT THAT PINEAPPLE?

Mostly, I'm just frustrated with how rigid the completely fake rules of television seem to be. Originally, the creators wanted Ted was supposed to be with Robin. Fine. But situations, people, places evolve after nine years - the fans accepted Barney and Robin together, and fell completely in love with Tracy. So why ruin all that? Who said you had to stick with your original plan no matter what? Things change - this show taught us that - so why didn't the creators? I just don't get it.

And anyway, what's so wrong with people living happily ever after?

PS - a lot of people have compared this to the LOST finale... but I loved the LOST finale. I actually thought it was perfect. Does anyone else think the two compare?

PPS - did everyone love the blog reference? I did!

Five Favorites: How I Met Your Mother Edition

So, my beloved How I Met Your Mother ends... tonight. TONIGHT! Can you believe it? If you didn't read my blog last year, you missed how emotional I was about The Office ending. Well... this is no different. I'm really upset about it. What am I going to do now that it's over? What am I going to watch? How long will this episode live on my DVR? (Probably forever. Sorry, G$.)

Anyway, in honor of the finale tonight, I'm coming at you with all my favorites.

Five Favorite Episodes
The Bachelor Party 
"You just winked!" "No, I didn't!" *wink*
This is the first episode that we really get a glimpse of Barney Stinson, Nice Guy. You know Barney's spent his entire adult life Barney makes a real mess of Marshall's bachelor party, and Marshall threatens to dis-invite him from the wedding. Lily comes to Barney's defense, explaining to the group that Barney flew to San Francisco to convince Lily to come back to New York so she and Marshall can get back together.
How Your Mother Met Me.
"I like to believe in people. Besides, what are the chances we're both serial killers?"
I loved this episode.
Drumroll, Please
"A drum roll?! That's it? So what you just said good night, came home and performed a drum solo?"
Ted and Victoria meeting. Their almost kiss. Robin crying in the bathroom. Their actual kiss at the end. Perfection.
Something Borrowed
"It's for the bride!"
This is actually the first HIMYM episode I saw - it was a free download on iTunes or something, so I watched it one morning while I was waiting for one of my classes to start. I was instantly hooked. All the characters were so relatable and wonderful, and I knew immediately that this was a show I was going to love. Luckily, my friend Kelsey already had the first season on DVD, so I was able to catch up quickly.
Natural History
"Yeah, old stuff's great!"
In this episode, the characters see their past selves in museum exhibits. They realize that they're not the people they used to be - and that's okay. Great, even. We all need that lesson at some point in our lives.

Five Favorite Characters
Victoria. Still love her. I think she's adorable and charming and really good for Ted. If the mother wasn't actually The Mother, I would totally want Victoria to be the mother (which is cool, because apparently, if the show had ended after season 8, she would have been. That's why they brought her back).
Mickey Aldrin. I know he and Lily have had their issues, but I love the relationship that they have now. (And Chris Elliot is hilarious.)
The Blitz. Awwww, mannnnn. The Blitz addressed something we're all familiar with: FOMO, or Fear Of Missing Out. Also, I've loved Jorge Garcia since, well, forever.
Ranjit. Hellooooooooooo, he is the best. The end.
Patrice. I know, I know, no one asked me (LOL GET IT?), but there's just something about Patrice that is just HILARIOUS to me.

Five Favorite Jokes
The Slap Bet. I'm probably way more entertained by the slap bets than I should be, and I'm so glad that Marshall got in his last slap before the show ended.
Interventions. There are times where we want to do interventions on our friends, right?
Challenge Accepted. We should all go through life with Barney's outlook on challenges.
Lawyered. This one has made it into my vocabulary.
High Fives - specifically, Lily and Marshall's. I wish I was that in sync with anyone. Right?

Five Favorite Rules
You know how Barney always says "I only have ONE rule..." and then he says a different rule each time? These are my favorite rules:
Ask yourself, “What would Ted do?” Then do the opposite. This is pretty self explanatory, right?
Never order a “small” beer. I mean, it's boring. And probably not economical.
Black tie is never optional. You'll never regret dressing fancy, ever.
Never pass up a free sample. That's just common sense.
New is always better. Okay, this might not *always* be true. Sometimes, old is better. But SOMETIMES, new is definitely better. Okay, most of the time.

Five Favorite Predictions
Victoria is still actually The Mother. I know it's not going to happen. But WHAT IF she does the wedding cake, and Ted sees her there, and then they run off together? Don't rule it out, that's all I'm saying.
We find out that The Mother isn't dead like everyone is speculating. I'm not sure if you've heard all these 'The Mother Is Dead' theories, but I think they're ridiculous. I think that'd be way too dark for a show that's been so lighthearted and hilarious.
Lily finally makes Marshall Pay Up. Remember their bet about Ted and Robin ending up together? Hopefully at some point tonight they address that bet and Marshall finally pays her. I REALLY hope it doesn't end up with Marshall saying "not yet" again because if there is one more reference to Robin and Ted getting together again I will SERIOUSLY LOSE MY MIND. That would be the worst end to the series ever.
Ted's first interaction with The Mother will be incredibly weird. This isn't as much of a prediction as it is just a fact. Ted is the worst, and it wouldn't be surprising if he made a huge mess of this whole thing.
Ted's retelling the story because they're all super famous now and they're making a movie about Ted's life - that's why Bob Saget is narrating the story, instead of Ted. Okay, this one's probably pretty outlandish. BUT IT'D BE PRETTY COOL, RIGHT?

Birthdays.

I try really hard to live by this motto every single day. I think it's a good message - you know how wonderful and exciting EVERYTHING seems on your birthday? Having that positivity all year long is a great thing.

It just happens to be even more exciting today because it really is my birthday!

Celebrities: They're just like normal people, except $$$$$. Also, more Twitter followers.

So I was watching the Oscars on Sunday night (and loving every minute of it, in case you don't follow me on Twitter) when I realized that I could see myself being friends with 99% of the people that I was watching on TV. Maybe it's because I just love loving people, but everyone seemed like they were just having so much fun, you know? I want to be part of that! I want to get dressed up and throw on a million dollars worth of Lorraine Schwartz jewelry and eat pizza. That is literally my dream life.

And I mean, it could happen, right? Besides appearing in multimillion dollar films and living in really fancy houses, celebrities really aren't that different from us. Really.

Reason #1: They take selfies. If you didn't crack up when you saw Ellen get that whole A-List crew together for a selfie, you're a lying liar who lies. I've told you already I love a good selfie, but this just takes the cake. And it wasn't the only one - there were a ton of selfies on Sunday night. And they were all awesome.

Reason #2: They send group texts. You know you send group texts. Welllll guess what? Aziz Ansari does too? And while ours are about mundane stuff like where we're going to dinner, other people's are about the improv they're doing on their wildly successful sitcom.

http://azizisbored.tumblr.com/post/47159326421

Reason #3: They curse when they're surprised. Did anyone see Lupita Nyong'o drop an S bomb after she won on Sunday night? Hilarious. And everyone saw it. Everyone.

Reason #4: Okay, they just curse. 

Reason #5: They trip. And fall. We've all been there. You're super dressed up, going to a fancy party, and you trip. But it isn't just a teeny little fall, it's an epic fall in front of a whole room full of people, and EVERYONE saw you. In our case, it's just a room full of (hopefully) friends. But when you're Jennifer Lawrence, it's in a room full of 3000 people, plus the ten million or so watching at home. Either way, we've all felt that embarrassment.

Reason #6: PIZZAAAAAA. I have never felt more connected to a group of people I've never met, and I probably never will again. Sometimes, you just need pizza.

So really, there isn't that much of a difference between me and Ellen. Besides her impeccable comedic timing. And our bank accounts might differ slightly. And I've never broken Twitter. But seriously, we're basically identical.