While the ending to How I Met Your Mother was indeed heartbreaking, I certainly wouldn't call it disappointing. In fact, it felt just right.
Yes it would have been nice for Tracy (aka The Mother) to beat her illness and live happily ever after with Ted and their two kids in the year 2030. But having Tracy live would have been a huge disservice to Ted's character. It would have made Future Ted look like a complete douchebag and a total weirdo (what kind of a father would tell his kids about all the other girls he hooked up with while their mother was still alive, even if she was out of town for a few days?). Having Tracy die makes Ted, especially Future Ted, a more sympathetic character than if she had lived.
It also makes Ted's 45 days speech more meaningful since we now know for sure that it's given by a widower who lost the love of his life too soon. If Tracy was alive in 2030 the whole speech would have been pointless since he would have had many more days to spend with her. Wanting those extra 45 days or even 45 seconds with Tracy because she's gone makes Ted and Tracy's relationship, as well as the speech, a lot more special.
Many fans have gone to Twitter to complain about the series finale because it didn't end perfectly. But I think the message creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas were trying to say, the whole point they were trying to make, is that life isn't perfect. Life doesn't always end up the way we want it to, and it can take us through many twists and turns, bringing us places we wouldn't have imagined. I also think Bays and Thomas wanted to send a message about accepting change. The entire series from start to finish is about accepting change and letting things go-Ted letting go of Robin and later Tracy, Tracy letting go of Max, Marshall letting go of his dead father and his dream of becoming a judge, etc.
The only thing I found wrong with the finale was its length. I felt that an hour (or 40 minutes without commercials) was not enough to give the series a satisfying conclusion. It should have been at least an hour and a half, maybe even two hours. That would have made it possible for the finale to go deeper into what happened to all the major characters. For example, while the scene with Barney and his newborn daughter was very touching (and arguably the most touching scene of the entire series) it would have been nice to see Barney raising his daughter and warning her to avoid boys that were just like him. It would have also made it possible to give Tracy a proper goodbye by showing her funeral and Ted grieving over her.
How I Met Your Mother has been one long giant puzzle during its entire nine-year run. Despite all the heartbreak and all the sadness and the unperfect ending I and other fans experienced, the pieces to the puzzle in the end fit absolutely perfectly.
Yes it would have been nice for Tracy (aka The Mother) to beat her illness and live happily ever after with Ted and their two kids in the year 2030. But having Tracy live would have been a huge disservice to Ted's character. It would have made Future Ted look like a complete douchebag and a total weirdo (what kind of a father would tell his kids about all the other girls he hooked up with while their mother was still alive, even if she was out of town for a few days?). Having Tracy die makes Ted, especially Future Ted, a more sympathetic character than if she had lived.
It also makes Ted's 45 days speech more meaningful since we now know for sure that it's given by a widower who lost the love of his life too soon. If Tracy was alive in 2030 the whole speech would have been pointless since he would have had many more days to spend with her. Wanting those extra 45 days or even 45 seconds with Tracy because she's gone makes Ted and Tracy's relationship, as well as the speech, a lot more special.
Many fans have gone to Twitter to complain about the series finale because it didn't end perfectly. But I think the message creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas were trying to say, the whole point they were trying to make, is that life isn't perfect. Life doesn't always end up the way we want it to, and it can take us through many twists and turns, bringing us places we wouldn't have imagined. I also think Bays and Thomas wanted to send a message about accepting change. The entire series from start to finish is about accepting change and letting things go-Ted letting go of Robin and later Tracy, Tracy letting go of Max, Marshall letting go of his dead father and his dream of becoming a judge, etc.
The only thing I found wrong with the finale was its length. I felt that an hour (or 40 minutes without commercials) was not enough to give the series a satisfying conclusion. It should have been at least an hour and a half, maybe even two hours. That would have made it possible for the finale to go deeper into what happened to all the major characters. For example, while the scene with Barney and his newborn daughter was very touching (and arguably the most touching scene of the entire series) it would have been nice to see Barney raising his daughter and warning her to avoid boys that were just like him. It would have also made it possible to give Tracy a proper goodbye by showing her funeral and Ted grieving over her.
How I Met Your Mother has been one long giant puzzle during its entire nine-year run. Despite all the heartbreak and all the sadness and the unperfect ending I and other fans experienced, the pieces to the puzzle in the end fit absolutely perfectly.
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