There aren’t many series finales that divided fans as much as How I Met Your Mother’s. There were several choices that people had issues with, but the major one was the fact that Robin ended up with Ted. Some viewers would’ve preferred her to stay with Barney, whom she married in the episode before the two-part finale.
- Now that How I Met Your Mother’s spin-off How I Met Your Father has been renewed for a second season, fans of the shared universe are hoping to see more cameos of the original cast show up in the future, as Robin did in HIMYF’s season 1 finale. Given the backlash over How I Met Your Mother ended, new appearances could serve to help inform viewers about why certain decisions were made. Both shows are available to stream in their entirety on Hulu.
Fans of both relationships have fair reasons for why they believe their couple should have ended up together, and in the case of such a long-running show, there’s plenty of evidence to argue for both matches.
Ending Up With Barney
The Last Season Would Have Meant More
Aside from some flashbacks and flash-forwards, all of How I Met Your Mother’s final season took place during Barney and Robin’s wedding weekend, with plenty of episodes focusing on the couple and those closest to them. While this meant the season had many filler episodes, it did make the wedding feel monumental when it came.
More Believable That They’d Stay Together
One of the problems with Ted’s final romantic gesture in the show’s finale—besides the fact that the one scene ruined a well-written character—is that he’d made moves like that for Robin many times before, and the two of them never lasted as a couple. HIMYM’s audience was given no reason to believe that suddenly they’d be a perfect match, just because they were older and Ted already had kids.
On the other hand, Barney and Robin had already worked through many of their difficulties as a couple together. If their sudden divorce in the finale hadn’t happened, it would be much more believable that they could stay together forever.
The Mother Could Have Lived
Tracy’s quick death in the series finale made it one of How I Met Your Mother’s saddest episodes, and angered a significant number of fans. Despite only featuring in the final season (aside from one shot in season 8), the character was extremely likable, so much so that viewers couldn’t accept her being killed off to allow Ted and Robin to be together.
Additionally, viewers had waited years for Ted to meet the mother, so after all of that build-up, they wanted and expected a happy ending for the couple. Had Robin ended up with Barney, the mother could’ve lived, securing a happier future for all involved.
Barney’s Number One
Barney was with a lot of women throughout the series, although his only serious relationships were with Quinn, Nora, and Robin. He didn’t trust Quinn enough to marry her, and he gave up Nora because he chose Robin instead.
Better Ending For Barney
No matter the arguments fans have about him, everyone can agree that Barney’s fate in How I Met Your Mother was a strange one. After his marriage to Robin ended, he regressed back into being a womanizer, before accidentally getting one of his dalliances pregnant.
The moment he shared with his child after her birth was an emotional one, but the whole storyline felt forced and rushed. Barney grew significantly as a person when he was with Robin, and the perfect end to his character arc would have been to end up with the woman who helped him to grow.
Ending Up With Ted
A Point To The Story
Once Ted finally finished telling his kids the story of how he met their mother, his daughter Penny deduced that the real reason he told them the tale was to get their blessing to date Robin.
Without Ted wishing to pursue her again, the only point to the story would’ve been to explain how he’d met Tracy, and that wouldn’t have made much sense since, as Penny pointed out, Tracy was barely in the story at all.
The Better Couple
While Ted and Robin always struggled as a couple, they were arguably better together than she and Barney were. Robin’s relationship with Ted was the sweeter of the two, as it didn’t have the constant screaming matches nor the manipulation that the formerly married couple had.
It Was Surprising
Few on-again, off-again relationships have kept fans guessing as much as Ted and Robin’s. This is because viewers knew from the first episode that Ted would eventually meet the mother and have kids with her. Plus, Robin’s own on-and-off relationship with Barney also lasted throughout most of the series.
A lot of the predictability that usually comes with will-they-won’t-they couples wasn’t there for Ted and Robin. This continued into the final season, and though many suspected the mother’s death, it seemed Barney and Robin were together for the long haul. Thus, Ted ending up with Robin instead was a genuine surprise, even though some felt that she deserved a better ending.
Created Several Dramatic Moments In The Finale
For Ted and Robin to end up together, several dramatic moments had to occur in the finale, including a divorce, the mother’s death, and a big romantic gesture at the end.
It would’ve been harder for the show to create moments of significance if Robin ended up with Barney instead, as virtually everything would have been settled by the last episode. The wedding could have been moved to the finale, but that would mean adding yet another filler episode before it. Instead, the many revelations of the finale meant it was an unexpected experience.
It Was Always Ted And Robin
While the series might have been framed as a story about Ted meeting the mother of his children, HIMYM was really about Ted and Robin, as she was the woman he saw and immediately fell for in the pilot episode. Their on-and-off relationship was a major aspect of the show throughout its nine seasons, whereas Robin’s union with Barney only came later.
Given this, it would have been strange to ignore the Ted and Robin relationship in the sitcom’s final episode. Ted and Robin ending up together illustrated what the show had truly been about for its nine-year run.
