BY Camille Borodey

Orientation Editor

The popular dramedy “How I Met Your Mother” ended its nine-season run recently, and many viewers were shocked by the bittersweet ending in which we find out that the title character “the mother” (Cristin Milioti) has been dead for six years, while Ted is telling his daughter and son how he met her.

The last five minutes of the finale seemed to be what confused critics and viewers.

It is revealed that the real reason that Ted is telling his kids this long story is to seek permission from them to ask Robin, Ted’s old flame, out on a date.

The show ends with a grey-haired Ted standing outside of Robin’s apartment holding up the blue French horn he stole for her on their first date 25 years prior.

I am confused about why people are so surprised by the ending.

Why would Ted be telling his teenage kids the story about how he met their mother if the mother was still alive? Wouldn’t they already know the story by then?

At the end of the tale, Ted’s daughter points out, “You made us sit down and listen to a story of how you met mom, yet mom is hardly in the story.”

Remember this show is called “How I Met Your Mother,” not “How I Developed a Relationship with Your Mother.”

Unlike many viewers, I’m actually quite pleased with how the show ended, but I have some complaints.

The ending would have been a lot more satisfying if the show had ended two to three seasons ago.

Nine seasons of Ted chasing after Robin, who constantly rejected him, got really pathetic after a while.

I’m OK with the mother dying, and I’m OK with Robin and Ted ending up together, but I was not happy with how the writers executed the ninth season.

The entire season took place at Barney and Robin’s wedding, only to have the couple divorce three years later.

Their wedding should have lasted five to 10 episodes, and the rest of the season should have been dedicated to more screen time for Cristin Milioti as Tracy, “the mother.”

Milioti is charming, bubbly and she had amazing chemistry with Josh Radnor (Ted), which makes her death even more devastating.

The story was all about Robin, which I think frustrated fans. If Ted had not met Robin, Robin wouldn’t have met and eventually married Barney, and Ted would have not met Tracy at Barney and Robin’s wedding.

So the entire story starts with Ted meeting Robin, and it ends with Ted and Robin.

I know Barney and Robin’s wedding was an important plot point, but I hated that they married each other.

Neil Patrick Harris is great, but Barney was a jerk.

Over the course of his life, he lied and deceived hundreds of women in order to sleep with them and then proceeded to brag about it.

Just because Ted and Robin end up together does not make the mother a consolation prize.

When the show ends, it had been 20 years since Ted met Tracy, and she was his greatest love.

Six years after her death, Ted is deciding to move on and give it another go with Robin, with his kids’ eager approval, of course.

Clearly, “How I Met Your Mother” didn’t end as happily as many sitcoms do. How I wish life every love story was like Marshall and Lily’s.

How I wish every couple met before the age of 20 and spent their years only with each other, but love isn’t that kind.

Couples get divorced, people die and sometimes lost loves rekindle.

One of the main themes of “How I Met Your Mother” is timing.  Ted and Robin did love each other, but their timing was always off.

When they were in there 20s and 30s, Robin wanted to focus on their career and travel while Ted wanted to have a family and settle down.

By the end of the show, both characters are in their 50s, and Robin had a successful journalism career where she got to travel the world, while Ted met his great love and raised two kids.

Ted and Robin’s love story may not be the traditional one, but they both got to live the lives they wanted before coming together for one more go.

The journey may have not been ideal, but the results were legen…wait for it…dary.