Motherfucking goddammit argh.

So many little things piss me off about it, but there are three big things.

First, Barney. I thought the show's treatment of Barney Stinson as a character was possibly one of the best examples of taking a joke character, building him up, adding layers, and actually maturing him while staying true to the character.

Barney's character development took place over YEARS- complete with false starts, regressions, and finally real, true growth.

Then, we spent essentially the entire last two seasons seeing Barney and Robin's relationship. We spent an entire season just on the WEDDING. And all of it reinforced the ideas that Barney and Robin loved each other, and Ted was letting go of Robin.

So to spend all this time building up the relationship, and then tear it down to "Oh, btw, we're getting divorced" in three minutes just pisses me off. Then, to add insult to idiot plot, Barney turns back into how he was in the beginning, complete with a new playbook. And this is treated as him "being who he is." Ugh.

And THEN, he has a Magic Growing Up moment when he knocks up some barfly offscreen, and has a baby daughter. He is thus turned from Playboy Caricature to "Ha, New Parents Sure Are Overprotective and Sleepy!" cliche. And that's a wrap on Barney Stinson.

So, my first problem was with the show's treatment of Barney and his relationship with Robin. My second problem is how they dealt with the Mother.

I actually didn't really give a damn about the mother before this season. Despite people whining "But the show is about how Ted met the mother!" that's only ever been an excuse for a framework. But this season, Cristin Milioti (actress who played the Mother) did really well. Part of it was the show setting her up to be a saint who was perfect for Ted in every way, but she had great chemistry with the cast.

Which was more or less wasted, as she wasn't in many scenes. And then she was killed off, so Ted could go try to date Robin some more.

Which brings me to my third main problem- going back to Robin.

Listen, I like Cobie Smulders- I think she's got underrated comedy chops, and she's had great chemistry with a lot of people on the show. I also like the character of Robin- she was a strong, career-focused woman who managed to be independent without coming off as a bitch.

But even though the show kept coming back to Ted's crush, it also kept coming back to the fact that they weren't right for each other. Robin wanted to travel the world while smoking cigars, Ted wanted to settle down and raise kids while collecting coins. That was the main one, but there were tons of little examples sprinkled throughout the show.

So it's a good thing he found some other nerd to knock up a few times, pump out his kids, and then have the decency to die so that he could show up on Robin's doorstep with that fucking blue french horn again.

What's especially annoying about all of this is that there's a clear reason this all happened- the finale was more or less decided upon back at the end of season 2 (possibly 3, I forget). They filmed the scenes with the kids so they would still look young. This was before there was the Barney/Robin relationship, this was before Barney's character growth, this was before they decided that all of season 9 would focus on Barney and Robin's wedding. this was before the Mother would have so many appearances and interactions with the cast.

So they committed themselves to an ending that would have been fine (more or less) in 2008, not realizing that stuff they wrote over the next 6 years might change matters.

So, yeah. I hated how they dealt with Barney and his marriage, I hate how they dealt with the Mother, and I hate how Ted went back to Robin. And all three are related- Barney and Robin had to break up (and in a casual, who cares? way), so Ted could could pursue her. Same with the Mother dying.