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deird1The dvd-makers, in their infinite wisdom, have given me the option of watching the final episode with the "alternate ending", thereby ensuring that I will not hate them for the rest of eternity. In my reality, Ted and the mother lived happily ever after, and that whole Ted/Robin endgame thing was just a horrible dream.
On the other hand, even though I heard about the broadcast ending, and even though I'm still annoyed by Barney and Robin splitting up, it was never really going to ruin the show for me, because it wasn't at all why I was watching. Emotional arcs weren't the point; the point was the most spectacular use of unreliable narrator I've ever seen.
So, for those of you who haven't seen it, those who care, and those who are just that bored, here's what I mean:
Forgetting
HIMYM is a show about Ted's life, as told to Ted's kids twenty years later. And, even with Ted's eye for detail (more on that later), twenty years is a long time. He's forgotten some stuff.
Which means you get these beautiful touches like Ted forgetting his ex-girlfriend's name, saying "I'll just call her Blah Blah", and every other character referring to her as 'Blah Blah' for the rest of the episode. The story's all in Ted's head, you see, and the show never quite lets you forget it.
Making Mistakes
Not only does he forget things, he sometimes won't realise for a while. So you'll get things like the goat incident - which appears to be part of Ted's 30th birthday, until the end of the episode, when Ted suddenly remembers that it happened on his 31st birthday. So half the episode happened in one year, and half in another year, and the dividing line between them always stays a little... fuzzy.
Not all of his mistakes are accidental, though. There is also...
Censoring
He's talking to his kids. And even though they're teenagers, they're still his kids.
His friends get together and smoke ma... um... marinated beef sandwiches. Which make them high and give them the munchies. They're good sandwiches.
Ted calls Lily a grinch. Or... a bad word. That was... uh... grinch. Because what else would it possibly be?
This also works in less adult-themed directions. Such as when Marshall is talking about his constipated baby, and pleas from his squeamish friends cause him to start talking about... um... confetti. And how the baby used to produce one pile of confetti every morning, regular as clockwork, and has now been uncomfortable and confettiless for three whole days. Cue the end of the episode, where Marshall is sprayed from head to toe in confetti.
Retcon
Some censorship goes on for longer than the rest.
As for example, smoking. Apparently the whole gang spent the first few seasons constantly smoking - only, Ted didn't want to be a bad influence, so he left that out.
Or characters. People who've apparently been around for years will be new to us, because Ted never thought to mention them earlier.
Exaggerating
The thing is, Ted exaggerates. Not always intentionally, but he, like all of us, remembers people mainly as caricatures. As exaggerated versions of the real people. Events, too, will be larger than life: Marshall will jump three storeys down and land, catlike, on his feet; Barney will always have a crazy new costume, a sexy new conquest, and a ridiculous new scheme; Robin's on-air antics will get progressively more insane.
It's the one show where I don't mind the characters being Flanderised, because the Flanderised versions are how Ted remembers them - and we're seeing what Ted remembers, rather than whatever actually was.
It is, like I said, the perfect example of the unreliable narrator - and for that, I love it.
On the other hand, even though I heard about the broadcast ending, and even though I'm still annoyed by Barney and Robin splitting up, it was never really going to ruin the show for me, because it wasn't at all why I was watching. Emotional arcs weren't the point; the point was the most spectacular use of unreliable narrator I've ever seen.
So, for those of you who haven't seen it, those who care, and those who are just that bored, here's what I mean:
Forgetting
HIMYM is a show about Ted's life, as told to Ted's kids twenty years later. And, even with Ted's eye for detail (more on that later), twenty years is a long time. He's forgotten some stuff.
Which means you get these beautiful touches like Ted forgetting his ex-girlfriend's name, saying "I'll just call her Blah Blah", and every other character referring to her as 'Blah Blah' for the rest of the episode. The story's all in Ted's head, you see, and the show never quite lets you forget it.
Making Mistakes
Not only does he forget things, he sometimes won't realise for a while. So you'll get things like the goat incident - which appears to be part of Ted's 30th birthday, until the end of the episode, when Ted suddenly remembers that it happened on his 31st birthday. So half the episode happened in one year, and half in another year, and the dividing line between them always stays a little... fuzzy.
Not all of his mistakes are accidental, though. There is also...
Censoring
He's talking to his kids. And even though they're teenagers, they're still his kids.
His friends get together and smoke ma... um... marinated beef sandwiches. Which make them high and give them the munchies. They're good sandwiches.
Ted calls Lily a grinch. Or... a bad word. That was... uh... grinch. Because what else would it possibly be?
This also works in less adult-themed directions. Such as when Marshall is talking about his constipated baby, and pleas from his squeamish friends cause him to start talking about... um... confetti. And how the baby used to produce one pile of confetti every morning, regular as clockwork, and has now been uncomfortable and confettiless for three whole days. Cue the end of the episode, where Marshall is sprayed from head to toe in confetti.
Retcon
Some censorship goes on for longer than the rest.
As for example, smoking. Apparently the whole gang spent the first few seasons constantly smoking - only, Ted didn't want to be a bad influence, so he left that out.
Or characters. People who've apparently been around for years will be new to us, because Ted never thought to mention them earlier.
Exaggerating
The thing is, Ted exaggerates. Not always intentionally, but he, like all of us, remembers people mainly as caricatures. As exaggerated versions of the real people. Events, too, will be larger than life: Marshall will jump three storeys down and land, catlike, on his feet; Barney will always have a crazy new costume, a sexy new conquest, and a ridiculous new scheme; Robin's on-air antics will get progressively more insane.
It's the one show where I don't mind the characters being Flanderised, because the Flanderised versions are how Ted remembers them - and we're seeing what Ted remembers, rather than whatever actually was.
It is, like I said, the perfect example of the unreliable narrator - and for that, I love it.
no subject
Date: 2015-03-31 10:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-04-01 04:31 am (UTC)But the early years? Glorious.