10 Reasons Why How I Met Your Mother Season 9 Isn't As Bad As You Remember

We laughed with them, we cried with them, and then found ourselves completely divided by our favourite New Yorkers when it came to ending this hugely successful sitcom.

After nearly ten years on our screens, How I Met Your Mother came to its 9th and final season towards the end of 2013, and long-term fans of the series wanted answers. Would Lily and Marshall move to Rome? Would Barney and Robin make it to the altar? And of course, most importantly, who exactly was The Mother, and would Ted get his happy ending?

While these questions were certainly answered, the response from fans was highly polarized. While many agreed with the controversial and - quite frankly - realistic ending, others were disappointed, feeling let down after years of dedication to one of the biggest comedy hits this side of the millennium. But we'll come on to that.

On reflection though, the show's swansong actually had a lot of merit, and surprisingly for a sitcom full of subplots, managed to tie everything up neatly. Here's why Season 9 isn't as bad as you may remember...

The final moments of Season 8 showed the gang heading off to Barney and Robin's wedding, where it had been teased (for a couple of years at this point) that this was where Ted met The Mother. Fans were also treated to a shot of Cristin Milioti's titular character before the credits rolled. It was the perfect set-up for the finale.

Then it was announced the entirety of Season 9 would take place over one wedding weekend, denying hopeful fans a whole year of Ted developing his relationship with The Mother. While this was still shown through flash-forwards, the majority of their shared screentime was limited to the two-part finale.

However, that doesn't mean the wedding weekend on its own was a bad idea. There's a lot of great moments with Robin and Barney's families, some hilarious comedy with the staff at the Farhampton Inn, and some of the big emotional scenes in the latter half of the season do feel more earned as a result.

It also must be said that with the joys of streaming services these days, the ability to watch the season in full makes for much more pleasurable viewing than waiting each week for a new episode. It makes the season drag less and some of the 'filler' episodes are more enjoyable (although let's just not get into 'Bedtime Stories').