How I Met Your Mother
I feel compelled to write this, as the rest of the internet does not seem to get the point. Life is not perfect, it does not go according to plan, and the ending is never how you expect it to be. Jobs get in the way, relationships fail, you fall in and out of love, and people die. You have to keep hoping things will get better, though, and you have to be grateful for what you have, and what you've had.
The sitcom "How I Met Your Mother" was a story about the storytelling of life. Yes, it was fantastical and outrageous, but that's what happens when you tell stories, especially from 25 years ago. How big was that fish you caught? How crazy was that party? What was that girl's name? Did your friend REALLY sleep with that many people? You invent caricatures over time, even of people you still know. You highlight their good traits, their fun traits, the things that made them unique.
When you look back on your own life and begin to tell the story, though, you recall who you once were. You recall your aspirations and dreams, and those are so starkly contrasted with what your reality has become. Nobody achieves everything they ever wanted to, especially in the timeframe they had hoped for. Even if you marry your high school sweetheart and get the job of your dreams, you come to realize that life can't be rainbows and roses. There are setbacks. There are hardships. Poverty. Miscarriages. Divorce. Layoffs. Death. How I Met Your Mother got that. It dealt with real relationship issues, struggles with careers and conscience, marriage, divorce, and death. Lilly moved to the west coast to pursue her dreams, but it wasn't what she thought it would be. Marshall lived through depression, as did nearly every other character. Ted was left at the altar. Barney abruptly lost his innocence. Robin dealt with infertility and working her way up her career path slowly and painfully.
The whole series portrayed life as it actually is, or how we remember it. The final episode did nothing less. Some say that the final season was all about Robin and Barney's wedding, and also getting to know Tracy, the Mother. It wasn't. It was about slowing down time in your memory when the biggest event of your life happens. It was about remembering all the little moments that came before that led up to it. Did you notice that the show didn't do a silly, clichéd montage of flashbacks a la Seinfeld? Instead they brought back everybody and every inside joke that had appeared in the past, but incorporated them into new scenes so you could remember them in your own memory and say goodbye to them. The entire final season was about that. And it was about love, coming together, and growing apart. I think those who only watched casually might have missed it.
How I Met Your Mother is the most emotionally relatable show that has been on television for this generation. It wasn't perfect nor inevitable. It wasn't a fairy tale. It was life's tale.
The sitcom "How I Met Your Mother" was a story about the storytelling of life. Yes, it was fantastical and outrageous, but that's what happens when you tell stories, especially from 25 years ago. How big was that fish you caught? How crazy was that party? What was that girl's name? Did your friend REALLY sleep with that many people? You invent caricatures over time, even of people you still know. You highlight their good traits, their fun traits, the things that made them unique.
When you look back on your own life and begin to tell the story, though, you recall who you once were. You recall your aspirations and dreams, and those are so starkly contrasted with what your reality has become. Nobody achieves everything they ever wanted to, especially in the timeframe they had hoped for. Even if you marry your high school sweetheart and get the job of your dreams, you come to realize that life can't be rainbows and roses. There are setbacks. There are hardships. Poverty. Miscarriages. Divorce. Layoffs. Death. How I Met Your Mother got that. It dealt with real relationship issues, struggles with careers and conscience, marriage, divorce, and death. Lilly moved to the west coast to pursue her dreams, but it wasn't what she thought it would be. Marshall lived through depression, as did nearly every other character. Ted was left at the altar. Barney abruptly lost his innocence. Robin dealt with infertility and working her way up her career path slowly and painfully.
The whole series portrayed life as it actually is, or how we remember it. The final episode did nothing less. Some say that the final season was all about Robin and Barney's wedding, and also getting to know Tracy, the Mother. It wasn't. It was about slowing down time in your memory when the biggest event of your life happens. It was about remembering all the little moments that came before that led up to it. Did you notice that the show didn't do a silly, clichéd montage of flashbacks a la Seinfeld? Instead they brought back everybody and every inside joke that had appeared in the past, but incorporated them into new scenes so you could remember them in your own memory and say goodbye to them. The entire final season was about that. And it was about love, coming together, and growing apart. I think those who only watched casually might have missed it.
How I Met Your Mother is the most emotionally relatable show that has been on television for this generation. It wasn't perfect nor inevitable. It wasn't a fairy tale. It was life's tale.