How I Met Your Mother is really ending. We've all known it had an end date for quite awhile now, but until Monday, it was easy to forget. We've been trapped in Long Island all season waiting for Barney and Robin's wedding while whole episodes were devoted to fluff. Remember that one time the whole show was done in rhyme? Yeah. So it was all too easy to get sucked into the doldrums of the slowly passing time and forget that this series is coming to a close in two weeks.
HIMYM gave us a stark reminder of that fact Monday when it summed up several minor characters' stories in a matter of minutes. The quick wrap-up took fans by surprise, as a majority of the episode was spent learning about very minor character Gary Blauman. (Cobie Smulders real-life husband, Taran Killam!) We thought that this episode was going to be like all the others: just another day of prep in the never-ending story that is this wedding weekend. But no, HIMYM's writers decided to save all the overly emotional stuff for a few minutes before the end of the episode, leaving us feeling empty, even though they gave everyone funny, happy endings. Barney's brother gets back together with his ex, Ranjit gets rich and becomes the owner of a limo company, Patrice gets a radio show, and Blah Blah gets a name. (It's Carol.)
It was hokey, and, honestly, kind of an unjustly quick ending for HIMYM's characters, however minor they might be. (The montage panned from one character to the next in a long line as Bob Saget told us what happened to them in rapid-fire speed.) Though the moment managed to get fans' attention, it also seemed a bit unfair. This is a show that just took 20 other episodes to drag us painfully slowly through Barney and Robin's nuptial process. Sure, not all of these side characters needed full fleshed-out endings, but they didn't all deserve this quick treatment either. We've been with these characters for nine years — is it so wrong that we wanted some of them to be written off with a little more nuance?
I can't muster up much else for this episode other than sadness at the show ending and the abrupt way we were reminded of its finality. I'm not the only one feeling this way.
"You'll be shocked how easy it is to part ways with people," wise Ted says at the end of the episode. "That's why when you find someone you want to keep around, you do something about it."
And though we probably don't want to keep HIMYM around forever, it's not going to be easy to part ways. This season has illustrated that it's time for it to go, but I just hope it goes out right. They may be able write off minor characters quickly, but let's hope they do the main characters a little more justice.
Image: CBS
