It’s taken me a while to fully gather my thoughts about the How I Met Your Mother finale. Was it the greatest ending to a TV show I’ve ever seen? Not by a long shot. But it also wasn’t anywhere near the worst. However, it does seem that a lot of people thought it was the worst thing their eyes have ever seen. A lot of people had a problem with the fact that they built up the meeting with the mother only to have her killed off. But let’s be real, this show was never about the mother. Nine seasons and we only get to see the mother in the final one. She was the excuse for Ted to tell this story, but she was never the reason.

Most people who had a problem with the finale, were unhappy that we didn’t truly get a happy ending. The mother dies. Robin and Barney get divorced. Barney reverts back to his old, womanizing ways. Only Lily and Marshall get their happy ending, but we always knew that was going to happen. While we didn’t necessarily get our happy ending, here’s the reasons why I’m in the minority and didn’t hate the ending and thought everything made sense and was true to life.

• The Barney and Robin divorce was inevitable and played out perfectly. Barney loved Robin as much as he could possibly ever love one woman. However, it always felt unrealistic to me and forced that Barney would ever settle down, no matter who the girl was. The same thing with Robin. Her career was taking off, which is the number one thing she always wanted. When it came down to it, she’d choose her career over anything else. It doesn’t take away from the build up throughout the seasons growing the Barney and Robin relationship. They truly loved each other but marriage was never really in the cards.
• It makes sense that Barney would go back to his old Playbook days once his marriage with Robin fell apart. It doesn’t change the character development he had throughout the years. Barney even said it: if it wasn’t going to work with Robin, it wasn’t going to work with anyone.
• The Ted, Robin, and Mother triangle is depressing but realistic. Everyone went through life settling for second best. The mother had her first true love taken away from her. If he would have lived, there was a good chance she’d be marrying him and there never would have been a chance meeting with Ted. Ted was always in love with Robin. No matter how hard the show tried to push the mother on me, I never really bought it. Robin was and always would be the love of his life. Robin cares for Ted but never really loved him. The love she felt for Barney was real but when that ultimately didn’t work out Ted seemed to be her next best option.
• The ending was a lot more depressing than we even realize. It may seem like Ted got his happy ending but he probably didn’t, and did he really deserve one anyway? The show may have centered around Ted but he was never really that great of a character. He was self-absorbed and obsessed with the idea of love. How many times did Ted become completely infatuated with a woman the second he met her? Robin, Victoria, Stella, the Mother. Then, with the exception of the mother, he gets disappointed when it turns out this woman doesn’t fit this ideal he’s built in his mind about how she should be. He may have gotten his children (something poor Robin could never give him) but he’ll never really get the girl. To Robin, Ted is just a good option: he’s dependable, she’s comfortable with him, and she knows he loves her. However, she doesn’t truly love him. She may be able to fake it for awhile but there’s is a relationship that will most likely never last. In the end, the man who was in love with the idea of falling in love will probably never get his happy ending.

Love is messy and complicated. Sadly, it doesn’t always work out like a Nicholas Sparks novel. While you may love someone, life will more than likely get in the away. That’s what we saw happen with Barney and Robin. Your heart may be capable of loving more than one person but it’s hard to give up on someone if you’ve never fully got over them. I do believe Ted loved the mother as much as he possibly could. However, his heart always really belonged to Robin even if she was never able to fully return the feelings.