How I met your mother is more than just a Tv Show

The award-winning show, How I met your mother (HIMYM) featured countless laughs across its nine seasons. It's a brilliant show, consisting of empathetic writing, clever running gags, and unexpected celebrity guest features.

A personal favourite feature is Lin Manuel Miranda popping up in the episode “Bedtime stories” he doesn’t throw away his shot and spits some fire bars in his interactions with Marshall.

The show dealt with a range of adult issues, none more significant, than in season 6 when Marshall Erikson's dad suddenly dies.

Losing a parent has left me incredibly vulnerable to on-screen deaths. I become emotionally invested in the fallen fictional world.

Why?

I guess it has something to do with already living and breathing those experiences. I have this compassion, a need to reach out and let my fictional friends know we can do this together.

How I met your mother perfectly depicted the confusing narrative of loss.

In episode titled Last words, we see the gang travel to Icey cold grounds of Minnesota, the home of the Erikson clan, to pay their respects to Marvin Erikson.

The theme of the funeral is last words. In which the family go around sharing the intimate final moments they had with Marvin SR.

However, Marshall (Marvin’s son) found himself in a phase of panic when trying to remember those final words.

At first, he thinks that they were "plane food is an ass," Then he thinks it might have been one of his dads well-meaning racial stereotypes ("Koreans are a caring people"), but he settles on the sincere recommendation to "rent Crocodile Dundee 3".

Unsatisfied with his fathers last words. Mashall, attacks the cruelness of death.

“My dad was my hero, and he was my best friend.” “And now he’s just gone. He’ll never get to meet our kids, Lily. How is this fair? Entire human life and it just ends for no reason.”

Seeing Marshall attempting and struggling to hold onto his loss is something I can relate to way to well.

Loss doesn’t make sense, or at least we struggle to make sense of it.

The episode highlights the weird world of grief, and how we grab onto those last words with the firmest of grasps.

These words may offer very little value, and are totally random by nature, but they are the last moments, the last interactions we had with a loved one, and so we have no choice but to treasure them.

However, like in this episode, many people pass instantly, and we don’t get the opportunity at a proper goodbye.

But instead, we can find comfort in the lessons they taught and the dances we shared along the way.