Before you Go On (sorry, Matthew Perry), if you haven't watched the series finale, then it's up to you. :)
It's over. It took 9 years for a really talkative father to tell the tale to his children of how he met their mother. Alongside was a raucus of a gang of 5.
Crafted creatively, HIMYM veered slightly away from the regular telling of sitcoms. Working on a framework of memory and storytelling, the show was able to employ a lot of flashbacks and flashforwards and play around with it. It's not the usual linear storyline. Kudos to creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas. The sense of bending the timeline in storytelling is somewhat brave and fresh; and using that to make the story more creative and unpredictable is commendable. So is Pamela Fryman for directing most of the show's best episodes and for keeping the craziness of the creators alive.
Now that it is over, it's kinda hard to see the cast apart from each other. The catch in starring in a long-running TV series (especially sitcom) is that the TV character can't seemed to be separated from the actor. In Afternoon Delight, Josh Radnor is still Ted Mosby with slight deeper acting. Jason Segel is dirtier Marshall Eriksen in upcoming Sex Tape. Cobie Smulders successfully created an action-filled character in Captain America and Avengers, but will still be Robin Scherbatsky in my mind. Neil Patrick Harris is a different case. Having accomplished character roles on stage (Rent, Sweeney Todd, etc.) and on TV (Doogie Howser, MD), he may be the first to shed Barney Stinson (especially when everyone knows he's gay). And Alyson Hannigan became from "that girl in American Pie" to "Lilypad" Lily Aldrin.
Bays and Thomas were also successful in developing the characters (highlighted in an episode where Ted Mosby comforts Robin Scherbatsky and ends up saying that what they are now are the better dopplegangers of themselves) aided, of course, by the great acting. While Segel has a workable knack for comedy, I believe he would do better in serious roles (based from his performance in the episodes where his father died) so I'm pretty excited to see him play David Foster Wallace in biopic The End of the Tour. So is Radnor although I believe he and Smulders performed the least among the five, having some moments yet not consistent. Harris was quite the scene-stealer throughout the show. He can play a good support but he also knows how to take control of the scenes. Hannigan is ready for better serious roles, as well. All of the cast are actually honed, in one way or another, by the show to handle better roles - a feat that most sitcoms can't do. This is another deviation of the show from the mainstream sitcoms. They added the flavor of emotions and nostalgia in their storytelling model of plot. There are moments in the episodes when it gets reminiscing or heartwarming to stress emotions; these are the moments when serious acting comes in to play.
The show was able to make a lot of contributions to pop culture, mostly provided by Harris's character. Also, most parts hit closer to home as Bays and Thomas tackle day-to-day situations of friendship and romance - their perfect recipe that I think what made the show successful. Award-wise though, it would be expected the show won't get any nods. Acting, directing and writing pretty much focused on the storytelling for the benefit of the audience.
But acting-wise, Cristin Milioti stood out. With her brief appearances, she has the most natural acting, most adept comedic antics and never came second to the gang in group scenes.
It must be heartbreaking, but the show had to end the logical way it did and here's why. They had the ending material from the start where the children finally figured out why their father has sat them down to tell the story, meaning the creators had the ending in mind from the very beginning in case the show got cancelled. In an interview, the creators said that at the end of the first season, where Ted Mosby told his children "That's how I met your Aunt Robin", they made it such as to end the probable "will-they-or-won't-they" situation between Ted and Robin, like Ross and Rachel's in Friends. Sadly, it ended in the same situation. But the ending of the first season where it established the lost possibility of Robin as the mother paves the way that the plot will go with finding out who the mother was.
The creators did not expect the show to be successful and to last very long. This is proven by creating the character of Victoria, Ted's first girlfriend in the show, as a back-up mother in case the show got cancelled. But it went on for 9 seasons and the suspense for finding out the mother's identity built, making it very integral to the show than planned. So when they introduced the mother, it seemed harder to stick to the original ending. Having waiting for eight years to finally materialize the character of the mother but then having to make Ted and Robin end up together is really hard and I believe most of the fans of the show wouldn't appreciate it. Plus, Milioti and Radnor have this great chemistry, credit goes mostly to Milioti's acting. They have better chemistry than Radnor and Smulders. That supposed to be first kiss of Tracy and Ted in "Gary Blauman" was the sweetest kiss in the series. But all TV series has to end with a bang and series of twists always, or the show would be more disappointing.
So they stuck to the ending. They took less episodes for Milioti to appear in the final season (after all, the show stars the gang of 5) yet making each as romantic as possible to make it more like a reminiscing than a storytelling. In "Vesuvius", I think it was foreshadowed that the Mother will die when she said "What mother is going to miss her daughter's wedding?" which reduced Ted to tears. But as to not spoil the ending, they kept all revelations and the scenes leading to their original ending in the last episode and tried to make it as sensible as possible.
The ending is a series of flashforwards to make it not sudden. First step was to break Barney and Robin and the most sensible reason was their similarities, the same reason they broke up the first time. After all, Barney's character should end up with a girl with stronger personality (which is shown by his two longest relationships, Nora and Quinn) than him. They made Robin's character, after the divorce, travel a lot to give way for Ted and Tracy romance and so as to give a justified timeline for Ted and Robin's reunited romance. Then they gave Barney a love child with three-fold reasons: to evolve Barney's character, to have another big moment without Robin, and to lower possibilities of Barney and Robin. Yet, the mother of the child wasn't revealed to keep the story to the cast and to still have the possibility of Barney and Robin ending up together. Then finally reveal that the Mother has died to end up with the original ending.
The ending may not be appreciated by most fans but that's the logical way to end given the circumstances and without forcing the story more than it is. I particularly liked the part in "Gary Blauman" when they showed what happened to other guest characters. But so with the other sitcoms, the ending must have twists and "happy ending". Friends has Ross and Rachel's relationship tumble back and forth until the very last episode when they ended up together. Cheers reunited Sam and Diane in the last episode after the latter's absence in the show for 6 years and although they ended parting ways, the show hinted that they will come back to each other. Mad About You had a final twist where Paul and Jamie are actually related. Yet on the very last episode, all things ended well and they ended up happily ever after.
Nevertheless, looking at HIMYM in its entirety, it became a part of the history and our lives (for a frame of reference, I was just 2nd year high school student when the show started). Telling stories closer to our lives, the show reflected and guided everyday situations. I, myself, have picked up some from the show. Overall, it was a quite experience and I hope future sitcoms would pick the good things and improve the bad things on the show. And that's how I met How I Met Your Mother.
It's over. It took 9 years for a really talkative father to tell the tale to his children of how he met their mother. Alongside was a raucus of a gang of 5.
Crafted creatively, HIMYM veered slightly away from the regular telling of sitcoms. Working on a framework of memory and storytelling, the show was able to employ a lot of flashbacks and flashforwards and play around with it. It's not the usual linear storyline. Kudos to creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas. The sense of bending the timeline in storytelling is somewhat brave and fresh; and using that to make the story more creative and unpredictable is commendable. So is Pamela Fryman for directing most of the show's best episodes and for keeping the craziness of the creators alive.
Now that it is over, it's kinda hard to see the cast apart from each other. The catch in starring in a long-running TV series (especially sitcom) is that the TV character can't seemed to be separated from the actor. In Afternoon Delight, Josh Radnor is still Ted Mosby with slight deeper acting. Jason Segel is dirtier Marshall Eriksen in upcoming Sex Tape. Cobie Smulders successfully created an action-filled character in Captain America and Avengers, but will still be Robin Scherbatsky in my mind. Neil Patrick Harris is a different case. Having accomplished character roles on stage (Rent, Sweeney Todd, etc.) and on TV (Doogie Howser, MD), he may be the first to shed Barney Stinson (especially when everyone knows he's gay). And Alyson Hannigan became from "that girl in American Pie" to "Lilypad" Lily Aldrin.
Bays and Thomas were also successful in developing the characters (highlighted in an episode where Ted Mosby comforts Robin Scherbatsky and ends up saying that what they are now are the better dopplegangers of themselves) aided, of course, by the great acting. While Segel has a workable knack for comedy, I believe he would do better in serious roles (based from his performance in the episodes where his father died) so I'm pretty excited to see him play David Foster Wallace in biopic The End of the Tour. So is Radnor although I believe he and Smulders performed the least among the five, having some moments yet not consistent. Harris was quite the scene-stealer throughout the show. He can play a good support but he also knows how to take control of the scenes. Hannigan is ready for better serious roles, as well. All of the cast are actually honed, in one way or another, by the show to handle better roles - a feat that most sitcoms can't do. This is another deviation of the show from the mainstream sitcoms. They added the flavor of emotions and nostalgia in their storytelling model of plot. There are moments in the episodes when it gets reminiscing or heartwarming to stress emotions; these are the moments when serious acting comes in to play.
The show was able to make a lot of contributions to pop culture, mostly provided by Harris's character. Also, most parts hit closer to home as Bays and Thomas tackle day-to-day situations of friendship and romance - their perfect recipe that I think what made the show successful. Award-wise though, it would be expected the show won't get any nods. Acting, directing and writing pretty much focused on the storytelling for the benefit of the audience.
But acting-wise, Cristin Milioti stood out. With her brief appearances, she has the most natural acting, most adept comedic antics and never came second to the gang in group scenes.
It must be heartbreaking, but the show had to end the logical way it did and here's why. They had the ending material from the start where the children finally figured out why their father has sat them down to tell the story, meaning the creators had the ending in mind from the very beginning in case the show got cancelled. In an interview, the creators said that at the end of the first season, where Ted Mosby told his children "That's how I met your Aunt Robin", they made it such as to end the probable "will-they-or-won't-they" situation between Ted and Robin, like Ross and Rachel's in Friends. Sadly, it ended in the same situation. But the ending of the first season where it established the lost possibility of Robin as the mother paves the way that the plot will go with finding out who the mother was.
The creators did not expect the show to be successful and to last very long. This is proven by creating the character of Victoria, Ted's first girlfriend in the show, as a back-up mother in case the show got cancelled. But it went on for 9 seasons and the suspense for finding out the mother's identity built, making it very integral to the show than planned. So when they introduced the mother, it seemed harder to stick to the original ending. Having waiting for eight years to finally materialize the character of the mother but then having to make Ted and Robin end up together is really hard and I believe most of the fans of the show wouldn't appreciate it. Plus, Milioti and Radnor have this great chemistry, credit goes mostly to Milioti's acting. They have better chemistry than Radnor and Smulders. That supposed to be first kiss of Tracy and Ted in "Gary Blauman" was the sweetest kiss in the series. But all TV series has to end with a bang and series of twists always, or the show would be more disappointing.
So they stuck to the ending. They took less episodes for Milioti to appear in the final season (after all, the show stars the gang of 5) yet making each as romantic as possible to make it more like a reminiscing than a storytelling. In "Vesuvius", I think it was foreshadowed that the Mother will die when she said "What mother is going to miss her daughter's wedding?" which reduced Ted to tears. But as to not spoil the ending, they kept all revelations and the scenes leading to their original ending in the last episode and tried to make it as sensible as possible.
The ending is a series of flashforwards to make it not sudden. First step was to break Barney and Robin and the most sensible reason was their similarities, the same reason they broke up the first time. After all, Barney's character should end up with a girl with stronger personality (which is shown by his two longest relationships, Nora and Quinn) than him. They made Robin's character, after the divorce, travel a lot to give way for Ted and Tracy romance and so as to give a justified timeline for Ted and Robin's reunited romance. Then they gave Barney a love child with three-fold reasons: to evolve Barney's character, to have another big moment without Robin, and to lower possibilities of Barney and Robin. Yet, the mother of the child wasn't revealed to keep the story to the cast and to still have the possibility of Barney and Robin ending up together. Then finally reveal that the Mother has died to end up with the original ending.
The ending may not be appreciated by most fans but that's the logical way to end given the circumstances and without forcing the story more than it is. I particularly liked the part in "Gary Blauman" when they showed what happened to other guest characters. But so with the other sitcoms, the ending must have twists and "happy ending". Friends has Ross and Rachel's relationship tumble back and forth until the very last episode when they ended up together. Cheers reunited Sam and Diane in the last episode after the latter's absence in the show for 6 years and although they ended parting ways, the show hinted that they will come back to each other. Mad About You had a final twist where Paul and Jamie are actually related. Yet on the very last episode, all things ended well and they ended up happily ever after.
Nevertheless, looking at HIMYM in its entirety, it became a part of the history and our lives (for a frame of reference, I was just 2nd year high school student when the show started). Telling stories closer to our lives, the show reflected and guided everyday situations. I, myself, have picked up some from the show. Overall, it was a quite experience and I hope future sitcoms would pick the good things and improve the bad things on the show. And that's how I met How I Met Your Mother.
