Ehh, you hit it on the head when you compared this finale with Lost. Very disappointed in how this episode was put together and the ending, I'm just not buying it. You spend all this time in building up the reveal of the mother and then she winds up being a throw-away character in the grand scheme of things. Such a tease and ultimate waste of time. They should've called the show something else if they were going to go with the Ted-Robin ending, and revealed the mother several years ago and actually developed that storyline.
You could still have her die, and imagine what a season-ender that would've been for her to succumb to an illness and then we're along with Ted on his journey to try and move forward in his life after looking so long for his true love and then losing her. That would've been a great story to tell.
Instead, it was thrown away in 30 seconds.
I'm not buying that crap with the kids, either. Felt really forced and they really wouldn't have any emotion to their dad telling the story about meeting their mother and how she passed away? Shoot, I still get emotional when my family tells stories about my grandparents passing away. I'm sure I'll be a bigger mess when my parents go.
In the end I feel like the show went for shock value and talking points over solid storytelling.
This ending also killed the replay value of this series for me. Granted, I was pretty much done after Season 7 anyway, but don't think I can go back and watch this knowing how it all ends.
Friday Night Lights was one of the few shows to actually put together a solid ending. Writers/executives from other shows should watch that finale and take some notes.
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