HIMYM Season 7 Finale : No Magic there!

*******Spoiler Alert********


Let me start out by saying that I am one of those people who doesn't get what the big deal is about how bad this season was. I am no review snob nor am I knowledgeable on the technical aspects of acting, writing, direction etc. etc. But I have always felt that How I Met Your Mother entertains me. I do not particularly relate to the general storyline or feel that any of the stuff they go through is realistic in any sense. Give me Friends for that any day.

But I had to write about how bad the season finale was. Folks all over the world have been waiting for The Magician's Code to air -- wondering if at least the last episode will redeem everything that happened during this season. You see, as inane as I find HIMYM, I thought this season was not particularly worse. I do however, believer that the finale was a complete disaster!

I have read reviews on how Part 1 was better than Part 2. But I beg to differ -- both of them sucked. 

 

Part 1 basically dealt with Lily's labor and Marshall's attempt to reach NYC from Atlantic City to be by her side. As it happens in sitcom world, this is obviously a herculean task. Not only does Marshall seem unconvincing as drunk enough to talk Yoda but also his complete inability to do/think anything even after hearing that his wife is in labor was just.... Barney, on the other hand, was the only character who responded to the gravity/emotional connect of the situation by showing a softer, more concerned side of him. Oh, and the motorcycle bit was well done.

In NYC, Ted and Robin's stories to take Lily's mind off the pain were not interesting in the least and if I were in labor, I would have found them doubly irritating.

So, Part 1 just goes by in a blur of random activities carried out by the various characters and my problem with the whole episode was that I did not feel a tug when Marvin Waitfoit Eriksen was surrounded by the gang. I did not feel like I belonged with them. 

All over the place, this episode be

Part 2 was all over the place. The Barney-Quinn arc was introduced very abruptly in the season and it became very serious very fast, highly uncharacteristic of the show and its characters. C'mon, how many times have we been around Ted & Robin or Barney & Robin? What is so awesome about Quinn anyway, other than the fact that she is a stripper! So, Barney takes her on a conciliatory trip to Hawaii, thereby getting caught in a stream of events that gives the episode its name. Barney's proposal was mind-numbingly endless. And did he propose because he found out that she had quit? 

Back in NYC, Robin is asking Ted to go after Victoria because clearly just because she passed all of Ted's basic hygiene factors, she is The One. What follows is random conversation between Ted and Victoria, followed by a random supposed drive into the sunset, briefly interspersed with Ted trying to be a nice guy, and ending with eh-not such a nice guy after all! Bleh!

And don't even get me started on how TV shows portray new parents and their struggles! I am not getting into each and every point of this, but the writers could have at least withheld Lily from downing a Tequila shot while holding a newborn in her arms -- clearly, it is okay for a breastfeeding woman to not even give it a thought!!

The only reason I was excited about this finale was to figure who Barney's bride would be -- and I am super happy that it's Robin. I loved Barney and Robin together -- they just made sense. This entire fast-forward romance with Quinn was probably meant to be a red herring all along. Or maybe not. God knows what random events will take place next season in order to explain the randomness that was The Magician's Code!