re: Had never watched “How I Met Your Mother” until recently.

I really liked HIMYM. My main issue with it was how RUSHED the end was with the mother. And sure, I realize the show was called how I MET your mother, so they didn't owe us some fleshed out character of the mom. But it sure seems like it would've felt more complete had they done that.

But Ted and Robin ending up together after the absurdity of not only Barney getting with her being BFF with Ted...but then the turnaround of Ted doing it after she and Barney were married...just felt cheap and lazy. It was like they tried to throw a curveball to the audience when they should've just piped a fastball down the plate. Who cares if Ted/Robin was obvious. That's what the audience preferred anyway. And it would've felt much more organic.

However, I didn't catch onto the show until about S5 or so, and then I caught up and watched live from there. And I thought it was really good even through the last season and the finale. Sure, I thought pairing Robin with Barney was a cheap bait and switch and felt stupid. But I also wasn't as attached to the show/characters as people who had been around since the beginning, so I really enjoyed it a lot.