re: HIMYM The Final Season

I think the show deftly completed the arc of its problematic character. Barney is a funny character who, if he existed in the real world, would be a horrifying person. He's a degenerate liar who has possibly raped hundreds of women (I say possibly if you consider invalid consent to be rape -- I don't actually think he's a rapist, but I am pointing out some people would and the very least, his behavior is icky).

Now, the show has always dealt with this by always letting us see the wounded little boy underneath the posturing. It gave Barney some depth that a lesser actor than NPH might have fumbled. Barney could've easily been a cardboard character and not a real person. But the more you make him a real person, the more his elaborate lies actually ARE a dramatic problem. Robin's got a point. And while I like their relationship and always have (and my heart not so secretly fills with glee when douchey bros get pissed that Barney has been neutered by growing up), even his proposal was based on deceit.

For Barney to then see the best relationship he knows inspire him to form a marriage based on trust and honesty is a remarkable and terrific character arc. Barney didn't find the locket, but he doesn't need to lie anymore for things to be legendary. It doesn't clean up his past, but it made everything he did leading to this point when he found the person he was willing to change for. The final slap is the last piece of his old life. He starts fresh.