Bismillah,
I wasn’t planning to post something else on top of our Swiss travelog that are still sitting on my Drafts, but I recently started re-watching HIMYM on Netflix and am thinking to write about it.
A bit of background story if you are interested – back in 2005 when I was still a freshie back in NTU, I found a little sitcom sitting in mirc. It looked good and the title was so catchy: How I Met Your Mother. Intriguing! So I downloaded it and enjoyed it! It felt fresh compared to Friends. Sometime during season 3, I fell out of love. But I continued watching until the end. And hell even that ending was bloody annoying that even after 7 years, it still irks me.
What made me fell out of love and eventually hating the ending was about the pairings. I will get to them one by one.
Exhibit 1: Barney and Robin
Barney Stinson was legendary — and one of the reasons why so many people watched HIMYM. I admit that after a while, the humor was getting dry and even Neil Patrick Harris has his limit. Barney’s story needed to evolve. He needed to mature. And for that, he needed a partner.
But seriously, Robin? Out of all girls, it had to be Robin?
I found it hard to believe this pairing because from the start, there was no chemistry. Barney and Robin are best buds — at best. There was no hint of any romantic feeling and yet suddenly boom – one night after they watched Robin Sparkles’ old video, sparks (pun intended) were flying. Ain’t nobody buying that.
The whole Barney Robin saga felt more like the writers not wanting Barney to end up with someone else from outside the main characters — e.g Quinn which by the way made more sense to be Barney’s wife. Lily was out of question so of course, it only left Robin. Their dance continued for freaking six seasons, until they got married, only to get divorced in the last two episodes.
You made effort to have them being on and off for six years, and you killed it in just two episodes. Seriously, writers. What’s wrong with you?
Exhibit 2: Ted and Stella
I swear this pairing made me mad. Ted deserved someone better to marry. Stella didn’t deserve him.
I actually didn’t have any issue whatsoever when Stella entered the story. In fact, I think she could be the one for Ted. But once she said that she was expecting Ted to move with her and her daughter in New Jersey without even asking Ted first, it made my blood boil. Granted, Ted also did the same but eventually he relented. The big annoying part is that in the later episode, we found out that Stella actually didn’t mind moving to the city when she was with Tony instead of Ted. So, who’s the bad person here?
And don’t even get me started when her not wanting to have Robin in her wedding with Ted — to eventually left Ted in the altar.
Exhibit 3: Ted and Karen
Ted made some horrible, horrible mistakes along the series when it comes to finding the one. And Karen is definitely in my top 3 when it comes to the worst Ted’s ex-girlfriend in the history of HIMYM. She cheated on him so many times, and for some reasons, Ted always let her had her way and they got back together so many times after that. Not to mention her pretentious attitude with anything sounded classy. And she actually didn’t care!
Exhibit 4: Ted and Robin
Ted and Robin had their chance. It was that time during Season 3. And let’s face it, they didn’t have the same mindset or even vision when it comes to having a family. Robin wanted career, Ted wanted stability. They were just so different that when they got together, I actually rolled my eyes and threw a virtual celebration when they split up. Only to find out that the whole HIMYM plot was actually to have Ted getting back to Robin in the end.
After he had a very much of life that he wanted with Tracy. /flips table/
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You may be wondering why did I still watch the whole series (and even felt a bit heartbroken when it ended) even with so many pairings that I despised. The answer was more of a sentimental reason. A big chunk of my religious watching of HIMYM happened during my university days. When downloading tv series meant waiting for someone to have it in their server and using mirc to grab them. You can say that there were some efforts there (no, torrent doesn’t count as effort). And I did those for this series. No matter how bitter I am with the finale, I will still remember this series fondly.
