How I Met Your Mother Series Finale Last Forever

So I saw the series finale for How I Met Your Mother and I'm a mixed bag.  There are articles I have read on THR and CinemaBlend, prior to writing this blog, and other blogsites that illicit negative feedback to the finale.  I can understand why people may have certain expectations that were not met.

Here on down there may be major spoilers in case you didn't see it.



As a whole I think Season 9 dragged on way to long to before Ted met Tracy.  If he met Tracy and Barney married Robin earlier in the season I may have bought what they crammed in the last episode.  Basically Barney's and Robin's marriage falls apart due to her career and as a result she also grows apart from the group because of Barney and Tracy. Then at the end Ted is basically asking permission from his kids to date "Aunt Robin" because Tracy died to an illness.

In one of the articles I read, Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, the creators of the show, as early as season 2, had an ending in mind, which happened to be the one they used, where the mother died and Ted ends up with Robin or asks his kids for their blessings in going after Aunt Robin.  This does and doesn't work for several reasons.
The reason it worked is because Robin and Ted throughout this series have a unique and undeniable chemistry between each other.  Also, Ted throughout the series is hardheaded and went after Robin even when he shouldn't have.  A lot of the gags in this episode were nice homages to key points in the series such as the blue horn and catch phrases.
The main reason it didn't work is because of how season 9 played out. Just 22 episodes all of which lead to Barney's and Robin's wedding.  If that much time is spent leading up to a wedding I typically expect a happily ever after rather than a rough 3 year marriage, divorce, and relapse into bad actions.  Everything in the final episode seemed forced and the opposite of the direction the characters were headed.
By making the season lead up to the big moment, the divorce was a big let down.  More episodes should have been spent for after the wedding, particularly those events crammed into the final episode.  The split of events,Ted and Tracy after the wedding mixed in with events before the wedding, seemed erratic and therefore I couldn't appreciate it as much.  I didn't buy the divorce and didn't buy the ending.  However I could appreciate it because often times life doesn't turn out how you expect it.
Overall I give season 9 and it's finale a C.