05/19 HIMYM

OK, they just sabotaged what was, for the most part, a terrific season, with 22 minutes of pure bullshit.

Ugh.

 

I thought all of Mashall's talk about miracles would make sense at the end when Ted met The Mother. Instead, it turns out it was all kind of pointless.

I thought the yellow umbrella that's been hinted at all season would come into play, but I guess now we'll have to wait until next season. Feels like a lost opportunity for the show.

 

I wonder if that episode wasn't done in case CBS didn't pick up the show for another season.

They could have easily gotten Saget to rerecord the VO. End with a freeze frame right after the proposal with old Ted saying "And that, kids, is how I met and married your mother."

 

very meh

 

Yet another show I feel like was thrown off by the strike. Coming back in early April, only to go away again by mid-May left a lot of these shows rushed to try to bring viewers up to speed from where they were pre-strike while still trying to build going forward. The results were shows that progressively felt more half-baked (if that makes sense) as time went on.

Don't get me wrong, I like Sarah Chalke. But this Stella storyline sucks. It was treading water as mostly uninteresting, but inoffensive until it got completely ridiculous tonight.

This show just seems to really come down a notch when Ted gets into any sort of relationship because you know it's not the mother, making the whole exercise feel like a waste of time (like just about all of season 2). Things are far more interesting when Ted is single and they can drop hints about the mother, like they did several times this year with the yellow umbrella.

I do kinda want to see where the Barney-Robin thing is going, tho. They are walking a tightrope by trying to give Barney some depth without completely destroying his character.

 

Finally caught up tonight.

I was expecting the stuff with Barney falling for Robin when they slept together rather than now. I just don't see where they can go with that.

I didn't think the episode ruined the season, but it wasn't a particularly good one, either.

 

I finally got a chance to watch tonight too. Not a strong way to finish the season in my mind.

They'll probably go with a will they/won't they with Barney and Robin, although it would explain Ted calling her "Aunt Robin" to the kids since Ted and Barney are "bros" again.

I think Stella will tell him no. I thought there was supposed to be some sort of payoff this season with the yellow umbrella.

 

I think the Stella thing is a red herring. Even if she says yes, and even if they start down the aisle, I still don't think she's the mom. I love Sarah Chalke. Love her. But they never really gave Ted and Stella a chance to make me care about their relationship outside the 2-minute date. Even when Ted was dating Ashley Williams in Season 1, I cared more about her and Ted that I did these two. As Sepinwall pointed out, it's ok if the show isn't as funny if the emotional stuff feels earned, but this did not.

To me, a big part of what messed up the second half of this season was Marshall stopped being funny. (Tiny hats? Really?) I didn't really understand what was going on with his character.

 

They have definitely gone for the over-the-top laughs with Marshall and Lilly far too often this season, and they usually don't get them. To be fair, the tiny hats thing was a set-up to the lice joke, which unfortunately did not pay off that well.

I agree that the relationship with Ashley Williams' character was better developed. I'm still waiting for her to make a comeback (though perhaps that is simply my desire to see of the lovely Ashley Williams). I always wondered if it was significant that Ted actually lied to the kids about part of the relationship with Victoria. We hear him tell them that they went out and did a bunch of stuff they had never gotten around to doing together, but we see that they spent the day in bed. Can anybody remember another time he actually lied to his kids about part of the story?

 

The Barney-Robin thing, despite the slow buildup over the seasons, will be a killer to the show.

 

The finale went into sitcom land, a place the producers and writers had avoided before.
Barney got hit by a bus.
I swear Harvey Birdman had the same storyline with Phil Ken Sebben.
But maybe they that's the way it needs to go to be ratings successful. Guest bits by rundown b-listers and maybe next season, we'll get a very special episode on Wendy the waitress getting married.