yup, and spent the hour with the wedding reception, letting the gang exist for one last night and allow the show to ultimately be a metamorphosis out of the early adult years

Here's how I choose to take the finale.

Ted and Tracy had 10 good years together, she was the love of his life.
Ted has 6 years on his own raising the kids, with Aunt Robin occasionally dropping by; she's a beloved friend, the kids like her, he doesn't want to start from scratch so why not? At that age, starting over with your best friend wouldn't be so bad.
I'd like to think they've both grown from their life experiences and will now make a good couple.

This is a sitcom, right?

i think it's a doogie howser spin-off

I actually liked the finale, but like a lot of people have said, it probably should have ended under the umbrella on the train platform.

Except for a few episodes, this season was a disaster as I thought it would be when they announced that it would take place over a weekend before the wedding. The entire season should have been like the finale. There were plenty of stories there to stretch out into an entire season.

I never liked Robin and Barney as a couple (it didn't seem believable, like Monica and Chandler on Friends), so I wasn't surprised or upset they divorced so quickly, but was pissed that they spent so much time on the wedding and they divorced 5 minutes later.

Yeah, this was my take too.

I do not understand this television show.

For a show that leaned so heavily on Ted's quest to find "the one", I kind of like that its end message was that destiny and fate are illusory; you just have to grasp onto whatever happiness you can and hope for the best.

Shut up

Good idea.

I thought the ending was fine. I think it was the A/V club analysis that said the writers have to "stick the landing," which is a good metaphor. It's tough to bring something like this to a smooth close. One thing that's been overlooked everywhere (that I've read) is that the writers were prepared to end the show a season ago, but Jason Seigal (sp?) relented, paving the way for one more season. The dragged out lead up to the wedding was partially born of that.

All in all, it was a great run, especially the first five seasons. That's a pretty long string of good TV. The last four? Eh, not so great, but still enjoyable for the most part. Barney Stinson is an iconic character, which aren't easy to create. He was indeed legen . . . wait for it.

PS - This was genius.

As was already said, it should have ended at the train station.

I hear they used The Walkmen's song Heaven in the final episode. Fucking fantastic song and probably quite apropos.

Recent and a fun watch if you're a fan.

oh, honey

For a show that leaned so heavily on the idea that the journey is more important than the destination, I kind of like that they decided to end it by focusing on an already-visited destination

I came here to see people cry because of the ending.
Was not dissapointed.


Still, I LOVED the ending. Everything was perfect for me.

I never rooted for Robin + Ted. I found it to be the most vexing part of the story.