this this entire show leaves a sour taste in my mourn
You kinda leaving out waiting us 9 seasons just to fridge and kill the mother , the mother was actually likable and wonderful and killed it for a relationship that the show hammered our heads that they cannot work at all and gave Ted the relationship that matched him perfectly
It's also fucked up that the mother became an incubator for teds kids just so he could have kid kids and be with Robin , it's shitty
Built Barney growing and changing , he and Robin were less whiny and annoying than Ted and Robin
Even that I argue ultimately works in the context of the earlier seasons (let's say 1-6, maybe earlier).
The core theme of HIMYM, explored through Ted's journey, is whether or not our lives are planned or if we build our own happiness. Ted is constantly framing the story he tells his kids as the former. Always prattling on about how each random act brought him closer and closer to his happy ending with The Mother.
But even a glance at the actual content of the show demonstrates that's kinda crazy. All of the relationships that changed, the couples that broke up and got back together, the chance meetings, the random acts of happenstance, etc. The idea that was all preordained or destined is a little silly.
Which is the point. Because when Ted ends up in front of Robin's window again we as the audience have to ask ourselves. Was this a story of pre-destined love? Or a story of people trying to find happiness where they could in a world where none is guaranteed (as underscored by the mother's death).
Was everything Ted went through in the show cosmically designed so he could have a second chance with Robin? Or was none of it connected and the only thing that matters is Ted trying to find happiness here and now? We're left to decide for ourselves because it cuts to black at that moment.
That's the story of How I Met Your Mother.
That's what the writers were building towards since at least season 2, if not the start. But the Barney and Robin stuff dragged on for too long and the last 2/3 seasons really derailed everything.
