This article contains spoilers for “How I Met Your Mother.”
“How I Met Your Mother” ended in 2014, and I just got around to watching it. After nine seasons of a beautiful slow-burn, friendships for the ages and countless funny moments, the finale did one thing and one thing only: ruin it.
For those who have not seen the show, it follows five friends: Ted Mosby, Marshall Eriksen, Lily Aldrin, Robin Scherbatsky and Barney Stinson through their individual lives and group journey. The premise of the show is Mosby telling his children how he met their mother, with an infinite amount of side quests and stories incorporated.
Watchers don’t find out who the mother is until the final season, and Mosby goes through his fair share of romantic pursuits before settling down, one of whom was Scherbatsky herself. Their romantic relationship has its ups and downs, ultimately leading to their breakup at the end of season one.
Throughout the nine seasons, you become very invested in each character’s life and happiness, as you do with any situational comedy. With any sitcom I watch, I become somewhat unhealthily attached to at least one couple — in “How I Met Your Mother,” it was Stinson and Scherbatsky.
The pair first got together in season 3, though it only lasted one night and created a lot of drama between Stinson and Mosby. Through the next season, Stinson is overcome with love for Scherbatsky, an unprecedented feeling for him. They spend part of season five as a couple before deciding to break up, subsequently breaking thousands of viewers’ hearts, including mine.
In season seven, they end up cheating on their partners with each other, and Stinson breaks up with his girlfriend to be with Scherbatsky, who does not do the same, leaving Stinson heartbroken and thinking the relationship will never work out. Season eight, however, promptly mended both Stinson’s and my heart, with him performing an elaborate play from his coveted dating playbook, resulting in their engagement.
The majority of season nine is the days leading up to their wedding, with the wedding finally occurring toward the end of the season. Their wedding is where Mosby finally meets the mother and falls in love.
The final episodes of the show are composed of flashes forward and current moments — in the flash forward to three years later, Stinson and Scherbatsky reveal they are divorced. This was, in no uncertain terms, the worst thing that could have possibly occurred in regard to the romantic plotlines of the show.
Additionally, it didn’t make any sense. Stinson had quit his job and finally gotten the love of his life and would have done anything to keep their marriage strong. Him being upset about Scherbatsky needing to travel so much for her dream job was completely out of character. He would have followed her anywhere, and I will stand by that until the day I die.
As if the final episodes couldn’t get worse, now that we have finally met the mother, seen snippets of their relationship and are all rooting for them, once again, our dreams are crushed. Mosby, when speaking to his kids, shares a lesson he learned from his wife.
“I have to love this woman as much as I can, for as long as I can, and I can never stop loving her, not even for a second,” Mosby said. “…I carried that lesson with me. And I carried it with me when she got sick.”
At this point, I clicked pause, looked at my roommate and dissolved into tears as if my childhood pet had just died. I couldn’t believe it — there was no way I watched nine seasons, on the edge of my seat, waiting to find out who the mother is, only for her to die.
The last few episodes of this show are the epitome of the phrase “if you think it can’t get worse, think again.” I thought for sure my new favorite TV couple breaking up and Mosby’s wife dying had to be the end of the devastation. I was sorely mistaken.
Mosby is shown talking to his children at the end of the show, who then tell him it’s obvious he’s in love with “Aunt Robin” and should be with her. The show ends with Mosby stealing the famous blue french horn for Scherbatsky, ultimately professing his love to her.
Once again, there was no way I watched nine seasons waiting to find out who the mother was, all for Mosby to end up with Scherbatsky.
Overall, it was an incredible show and hooked me right off the cuff. I was invested in the characters, their relationships and their overall happiness. This investment went out the window when I watched the ending — after all, there really wasn’t all that much to remain invested in.
For those of you who share these sentiments, I have found one coping mechanism that has proven to be helpful: denial. In my mind, Scherbatsky and Stinson are married with 17 dogs, Mosby, the mother and their kids live happily ever after and the friend group is still going strong.
