The amazing pilot episode of How I Met Your Mother makes us realize something rough about the series finale. When compared to other sitcoms about strong friendships and epic love stories, the 2000s series will always be a fan-favorite. The main group’s inside jokes, traditions, and the fun they have together stand the test of time.
When revisiting the beloved series, it’s easy to focus on numerous problems, especially in HIMYM’s first season. It’s hard to find anything wrong with the pilot, though. But while there’s a lot to love about the first episode, it also points out a flaw at the end of the show.
How I Met Your Mother Gave Us A Perfect Pilot And An Upsetting Finale
Jason Segel as Marshall and Alyson Hannigan as Lily smiling at each other in the pilot episode of How I Met Your Mother
The pilot of How I Met Your Mother is fantastic, but unfortunately, the series finale is disappointing, and there’s a huge contrast between the two episodes.
Nothing about Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) is that grating or frustrating in the first episode. Instead, we’re swept up in the smart storytelling format of Ted sharing his biggest love story with his kids. The episode feels like a complete, satisfying story with a great beginning and end.
After the sweet tale of his and Robin’s (Cobie Smulders) first date and Ted taking a restaurant’s blue French horn, it’s intriguing and surprising to hear him call her “Aunt Robin,” which proves she’s not the Mother.
It was smart to make this clear at the start of the show rather than dragging it out, and since we still want to know who this mythical figure is, How I Met Your Mother still has enough mystery to keep us invested.
In contrast, the How I Met Your Mother series finale ruins the flawless pilot by killing off The Mother, which felt like a huge twist simply for the sake of it. The finale didn’t need to be so devastating. Instead, Ted could have explained that he and Tracy McConnell (Cristin Milioti) went their separate ways, but were still co-parenting.
That way, Ted and Robin could still revisit their romance, which would have still allowed the finale to have some callbacks to the great pilot. Instead, the first episode is hopeful and the ending is depressing, and that’s a shame.
How I Met Your Mother Changed A Lot Between The Pilot And The Finale
Josh Radnor and Cristin Milioti standing and smiling at each other with a yellow umbrella on How I Met Your Mother’s finale
When rewatching the pilot and the series finale of How I Met Your Mother, it’s amazing how different the show feels and how much growth the characters experience. Most notable of all is the shift that Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) undergoes.
While he swore he would never fall in love, Barney and Robin get married, which we might not have thought would ever happen when tuning into season 1. That doesn’t undo the problematic parts of Barney’s character, but it does mark a big change for him.
The series also switches up its narrative structure for the final season. Season 9 also stands out since it revolves around the two days prior to that big life event, and each episode starts a few hours after the last one.
This is a fun break from the usual format that heightens the drama and emotions of this exciting moment in the friend group’s lives. Although it remains a beloved 2000s sitcom, it’s definitely clear that the tone of the start and end of How I Met Your Mother is wildly different.
Release Date
2005 – 2014-00-00
Showrunner
Craig Thomas