They stuck to the ending they planned in season 2 and then spent seven years working against it and then used it anyway. I liked a lot of the finale, but they ended the entire show wrong.

I feel like they made so many narrative decisions that were lazy, trite and boring. Disappointing.

As I was just saying in Natter, I think it's ridiculous on the face of it that Ted and Robin are Meant To Be, especially so many years later. People actually can get over each other! And Robin and Barney were great together.

Agreed. The whole Destiny business annoys me SO MUCH

Linda Holmes' piece on Monkey See captures exactly how I feel about it.

That's a good piece, as is James Poniewozik's Time piece that she links to.

I was really, really hoping the show would stick the landing. I'm disappointed that it didn't, but goddamn if the actual scene where Ted meets the Mother wasn't wonderful.

That was very nice. I also liked the bit where Ted was talking to the Mother on the phone and Lily watches for a little bit and says "Not like this"

And her constant interruptions of his re-proposal. She was a delight, through and through.

I didn't hate the HIMYM finale. Sure, the ending felt a little tacked-on and unnecessary - it reminded me of the epilogue of Harry Potter that way - but it didn't upset me the way it appears to have upset many. I found it totally believable and not really a betrayal.

Of course, if they had left off the part I consider the epilogue, then there would be a fair bit of plot from the rest of the finale they could have left off as well, which would have provided more quality Ted-and-the-mother time for us to enjoy. But on the whole, I actually thought all of the character development and plot of the finale were pretty well-done and believable. Except for most of the Barney stuff; he went too far backwards then too far forwards, both too quickly, for that to work completely.

I kind of wish they had put more the flash-forward stuff earlier in this season, rather than trying to cram it all in the end. Their desire to stick with the surprise ending messed up the pacing there. But honestly, plot-wise, I'm okay with all of it.

And by God, the actual meeting was glorious.

I suppose they also could have had another alternative:

Ted & Robin end up together AND they have changed dramatically over the years. A former colleague's first wife died early in their marriage after they had 2 kids. A few years later, he met his wife and they were married for 20+ years.

At his 30th (40th?) high school reunion, he re-connected with his high school girlfriend, left his wife and married the reunion woman.

Think about the life course of this and how people have changed over decades. I can buy something like that occurring. But it seems the show couldn't pull that off either.