re: HIMYM The Final Season

1 hr finale.........

Sure, it's a comedy that has also asked to invest emotionally in its characters. And I think its perfectly valid to ask "what are we laughing at?" There's an old comedy rule about never punching down. You make fun of the powerful, not the powerless, otherwise, you're just an a-hole.* The show has always been real good, if we deconstruct the joke, at making Barney ultimately powerless. He's a mass of fake posturing to hide the massive insecurities of a truly unhappy childhood. His conquests have always been able to cast as comedy because, ultimately, Barney is harmless.

But this show is about growing up. If Barney stays in the same place and doesn't grow up, he's the Fonz. And a show like HIMYM doesn't have place for the Fonz.

*ETA - This is why a show about truly mean and evil people like Always Sunny makes sure to keep its characters rooted in failure. That show is hysterical, but it has a totally different vibe if they are all rich and successful.

I'm pretty surprised we aren't getting a clipshow before the finale. Instead, we're just getting bombarded with ads for the shitty show coming on after.

9 years and no retrospective? I bet when they eventually end the Chuck Lorre shows, they'll give them monthlong send offs.

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I don't know if this has been said here, but where in the crap was Robin's sister for the wedding?

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she was there playing hockey with her. isn't the pretty little liar chick robins sister?

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From the look ahead to next week from after this weeks ep it looked like there was going to be a clip show. Im glad there isnt.

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I didn't want a clip show taking up half of the hourlong finale. I wanted one in addition to it. It's a tradition.

Trey I did look ahead in my guide and HIMYM is listed as a one hour block instead of two 30 mins, so it looks like for sure it will be a 1 hour finale with maybe a special later

The two shows next week are called:

Last Forever - Part 1
Last Forever - Part 2

Neither is a clip show, but may have flashbacks/forwards as usual.

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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.

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Everything you just said is spot on. Wow.