How I Met Your Mother may be one of the best sitcoms of all time, but it is one of many shows with a wildly disappointing finale. It’s been nearly 12 years since HIMYM's conclusion, but fans are still not quite over how it ended. The series is notorious for killing off the titular Mother not long after finally introducing her, with Ted running back to Robin. While it’s not unusual for those invovled to defend the episode, I still gotta give star Neil Patrick Harris credit sticking to his Barney-defending guns.
The CBS sitcom has one of the most disliked endings ever, and still to this day, the Internet is reminded of how terrible it is. I can’t say I blame them, because I, too, am not a fan of that finale, and wish so much it had ended with Ted and Tracy getting married, having their kids, and having that be that. Harris, however, does not feel that way.
While speaking with co-star Josh Radnor on the How We Made Your Mother podcast, Harris revealed why he likes the ending of the show so much, and it was in response to what Radnor was saying. Radnor recalled what an editor who had edited both of his movies told him when it comes to the difference between a show and movie. You have to transform a movie in two hours, and with a TV show, you have to “maintain stasis so people watch over and over,” so the characters have to transform “way slower.” And that’s exactly why Harris is defending the ending:
Article continues belowIt's why I'm a staunch supporter of the ending of the whole show. I get asked that a lot, like 'What do you think of the ending?' And I'm like a big proponent and an active fan of it.
I get where Harris is coming from. A lot had changed throughout HIMYM’s nine-season run, but some things stayed the same by the end. Whether that includes Ted and Robin’s relationship, after she divorced Barney, who eventually changes his lifestyle after having a daughter. It was definitely an unexpected ending, but it’s definitely true to how life is sometimes:
But because of what you say, Josh, is what I think; it's how I explain it. I think Barney, throughout that entire run of the show, has always been that guy. He's not gonna change. And I think that it was shortsighted, and like real TV-sitcom logic, to all of a sudden say, you know, 'And he winds up happily married.'
No matter how much time fans complain, it won’t change the ending of How I Met Your Mother. Not everything is wrapped up in a nice bow, and Harris definitely knows that. Hence why he defends it so strongly. Then again, HIMYM is supposed to be a sitcom, and killing off the love of Ted’s wife, who is the focus of the entire series, after fans just meet her, is pretty harsh, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this discourse continues until the end of time. No matter how much Harris and others like it.
As a HIMYM ending hater, I will continue to hate the ending for as long as I live, but I certainly give Neil Patrick Harris props for what he’s doing. Fans can see for themselves how they feel about the ending with all nine seasons streaming with a Hulu subscription.
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