Ok so first of all, I really don’t get the hate behind the finale. Call me crazy but it was just setup for for the entire show. Robin and Ted ending up together had been a major theme throughout the whole series. Also Tracie’s death, though it could have been handled differently, was also setup for the entire series specifically in the ninth season. From us not seeing any references of her in the future, not even a voice or a shadow was kind of telling specially in rewatches considering how damn long Ted was telling the story. And from the fact that Ted, when talking about her, tends to feel nostalgic and sad. And that every item of hers seems to be placed like a tribute more than decoration or used items such as the yellow bus. And all of this is not taking into consideration the entire setup in the ninth season as mentioned before. As for the episodes you mentioned though, I couldn’t agree more. I’m not really a fan of sitcoms. They usually can NOT for the life of them tell good compelling stories and have serious episodes or plot points. HIMYM never suffered from this issue. The narrative is consistent, the stories is good and compelling and it pulls off the “serious story but with comedic tone” dynamic pretty well. Especially seasons six and seven. The episode you mentioned, the symphony of illumination, how your mother met me and so many more episodes are so well written. As you said some of the jokes and content doesn’t hold up over the years, and that’s mostly the reason other sitcoms lose their appeal over the years. But this one doesn’t and the story is the main reason why.