Just watched the end of Season 2 of "How I Met Your Mother." (More on my thoughts about this show later)

I just felt floored by the way Season 2 ended with Robin and Ted. I hated it. I know those two aren't meant to be, but damnit, did I think that was the worst season finale ever. It's very odd how I react to on-screen relationships (which I realize are nowhere near reality).

I recall watching "Good Will Hunting" when it first came out, and thinking the ending to be the most depressing ending I had ever seen (the emotional impact of that ending coupled with Eliot Smith's "Miss Misery" was the beginning of my love of Eliot Smith's music). In "Good Will Hunting", the protagonist leaves his life behind, spurred by his childhood friend's speech:

Every day I come by your house and I pick you up. And we go out. We have a few drinks, and a few laughs, and it's great. But you know what the best part of my day is? For about ten seconds, from when I pull up to the curb and when I get to your door, 'cause I think, maybe I'll get up there and I'll knock on the door and you won't be there. No goodbye. No see you later. No nothing. You just left. I don't know much, but I know that.

And he does. Looking back now, it really is interesting to frame how intensely I valued friendships over the riskiness of love - I don't find that ending depressing now, but there's a part of me that still has trouble dealing with personal change.