There is something quite bittersweet about arriving at the end of an era. Like finishing the final book in the Harry Potter series the first time and realising that after so long waiting, a chapter has finally closed on that event in your life. Excitement, suspense and a little bit of sadness well up inside you and enhance the experience of devouring that final piece of what you've loved.
Tonight I finally got around to watching the final few episodes of How I Met Your Mother. What I thought of the close is really not important; but the message of love, friendship and making the most of what time you have is what should shine through the brightest. What I thought was poorly done by the writers, was the glossing over of the mother almost entirely. We got to see snippets here and there of her, and that made me love the character. I find that the title of the series was more a way to appeal to an audience of sentimentals and romantics, a more apt moniker would have been "How I Am Still In Love With Your Aunt" or "How to Trick Your Kids Into Insisting You Forget Your Dead Wife and Get Back With Your Ex". I know a lot of fans felt insulted by the ending, and I tend to agree with them. Cue the fan edited endings turning up on youtube.
I suppose a number of favourite television shows have endings that leave the fans upset, especially those shows which lied to them over the number of years about how their theories were incorrect. Of course I mean Lost when I say that, and although I stopped watching during the second or third season (it just got so damn repetitive and dragged out), I read about the ending and frankly it seemed confusing and contradictory of the earlier seasons. Clearly that was to keep viewers who had figured out the thinly veiled plot path. A show that I did stick with until the end was Dexter-- introduced to it by my boyfriend after we started our relationship long distance, during about season 3-- at first I thought I would surely hate a series about a serial killer who killed other serial killers/ bad guys, but after going back and watching the FIRST series, I was hooked. The secret is to start at the start, not on a third season finale! In fact that's something of a pattern with me- realising that I like a show when it is in its third season and having to go back to the start and re-watch. Dexter's ending was another extreme let down by the writers. Suddenly the psychopathic serial killer (who is given an ethical code by his adoptive policeman father to ease his own guilt and try to keep him closer to the right side of wrong) was able to feel love and so was not a true psychopath, he was merely the self-fulfilling prophecy of his father's and a psychologist's fears. Even more unnecessary was revealing that he survived and was working as a lumber-jack.
Now back to HIMYM: I really loved the show from the beginning, watching it on I think a Wednesday night at 7.30 or 8.30pm in my parents open plan lounge room; the year after I graduated high school. Eventually the show must have lost some of its ratings; not surprising after the timeslot, days and even channels were changed. Eventually to keep up to date on the new episodes, I had to resort to catching up online. Which brings us to tonight and the final episode. After almost 9 years, the characters are not the only ones who are almost unrecognisable from their first appearance in the show. Here I am having watched the series finale of How I Met Your Mother on my laptop; in my bed two states away from where I first started watching it in my parents lounge room. I have a lovely boyfriend, great friends, two degrees (one of which I have only recently graduated wtih) and hopefully a promising teaching career ahead.
Far from being the end of an era or a crossroads, I see myself at the early beginnings of a new chapter. And its definitely going to be a good read.
Luck of the Irish be with you xx
May you always walk in sunshine,
May you never want for more,
And may Irish angels rest their wings right beside your door.
Tonight I finally got around to watching the final few episodes of How I Met Your Mother. What I thought of the close is really not important; but the message of love, friendship and making the most of what time you have is what should shine through the brightest. What I thought was poorly done by the writers, was the glossing over of the mother almost entirely. We got to see snippets here and there of her, and that made me love the character. I find that the title of the series was more a way to appeal to an audience of sentimentals and romantics, a more apt moniker would have been "How I Am Still In Love With Your Aunt" or "How to Trick Your Kids Into Insisting You Forget Your Dead Wife and Get Back With Your Ex". I know a lot of fans felt insulted by the ending, and I tend to agree with them. Cue the fan edited endings turning up on youtube.
I suppose a number of favourite television shows have endings that leave the fans upset, especially those shows which lied to them over the number of years about how their theories were incorrect. Of course I mean Lost when I say that, and although I stopped watching during the second or third season (it just got so damn repetitive and dragged out), I read about the ending and frankly it seemed confusing and contradictory of the earlier seasons. Clearly that was to keep viewers who had figured out the thinly veiled plot path. A show that I did stick with until the end was Dexter-- introduced to it by my boyfriend after we started our relationship long distance, during about season 3-- at first I thought I would surely hate a series about a serial killer who killed other serial killers/ bad guys, but after going back and watching the FIRST series, I was hooked. The secret is to start at the start, not on a third season finale! In fact that's something of a pattern with me- realising that I like a show when it is in its third season and having to go back to the start and re-watch. Dexter's ending was another extreme let down by the writers. Suddenly the psychopathic serial killer (who is given an ethical code by his adoptive policeman father to ease his own guilt and try to keep him closer to the right side of wrong) was able to feel love and so was not a true psychopath, he was merely the self-fulfilling prophecy of his father's and a psychologist's fears. Even more unnecessary was revealing that he survived and was working as a lumber-jack.
Now back to HIMYM: I really loved the show from the beginning, watching it on I think a Wednesday night at 7.30 or 8.30pm in my parents open plan lounge room; the year after I graduated high school. Eventually the show must have lost some of its ratings; not surprising after the timeslot, days and even channels were changed. Eventually to keep up to date on the new episodes, I had to resort to catching up online. Which brings us to tonight and the final episode. After almost 9 years, the characters are not the only ones who are almost unrecognisable from their first appearance in the show. Here I am having watched the series finale of How I Met Your Mother on my laptop; in my bed two states away from where I first started watching it in my parents lounge room. I have a lovely boyfriend, great friends, two degrees (one of which I have only recently graduated wtih) and hopefully a promising teaching career ahead.
Far from being the end of an era or a crossroads, I see myself at the early beginnings of a new chapter. And its definitely going to be a good read.
Luck of the Irish be with you xx
May you always walk in sunshine,
May you never want for more,
And may Irish angels rest their wings right beside your door.
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