After Friends concluded, it was How I Met Your Mother that took the sitcom landscape by storm. Following the huge impact of the NBC show, like other sitcoms at the time, HIMYM borrowed several tropes, popularized by Friends, and some characters even shared similar traits.
Arguably some of the biggest examples are Cobie Smulders’ Robin and Jennifer Aniston’s Rachel, who are also the most polarizing characters from their respective sitcoms. But certain factors make Robin even more unlikeable than her Friends counterpart among fans.
One Factor Makes Cobie Smulders’ Robin Even More Unlikeable Than Rachel
Jennifer Aniston in Friends (image credit: NBC)
Despite being at the center of many storylines throughout the sitcom’s run, Jennifer Aniston‘s Rachel garnered a hate following among fans due to the character’s negative attributes. From her indecisive nature in terms of relationships to her lack of personal growth throughout Friends‘ 10-season run, Rachel is perceived as selfish and entitled by many viewers. But while these traits make her one of the most disliked characters in Friends, there are other factors that contribute to making Rachel’s How I Met Your Mother counterpart even a bigger disliked figure.
Cobie Smulders in How I Met Your Mother | CBS
Although many complaints against Cobie Smulders‘ Robin are similar to those of Rachel, in general, Smulders’ character hasn’t aged gracefully since HIMYM concluded back in 2010. Moreover, while it is revealed Robin was never in a serious relationship before Ted, one Reddit user pointed out the complications with it. Considering that Robin once had five dogs, which were later revealed to be gifts from her ex-boyfriends, the user stressed:
A pet is a serious gift. You don’t gift just anyone a whole living being. And the person has to have the time to take care of it and be responsible for it. If Robin has never had a serious relationship before then how did these people trust her with a dog?
This further adds to the consensus that Robin might have had serious relationships before, which makes it worse, as she never opened up about them and even proceeded to get rid of the dogs. On top of that, the infamous ending, which has been criticized to death for undoing the characters’ arcs and reuniting Ted with Robin, hasn’t done any favor to ameliorate things for the character.
Cobie Smulders Spoke in Defense of HIMYM Ending
A still from How I Met Your Mother | CBS
While seeing Ted end up with his on-off girlfriend ruffled fans’ feathers pretty bad, which led to many even refusing to acknowledge its existence, the Robin actor did come to its defense. Although most of the fans were rooting for Barney and Robin to end up together, she stressed that watching it as a streaming show has given her a new perspective, as in the beginning, “it was Robin and Ted.”
She said:
I think at the end of the series between Robin and Barney, that was sort of the relationship everyone was rooting for. But when you go back to the very beginning of the show, it was Robin and Ted… Watching it as a streaming show now, you get a little bit more of a connection for other relationships. So, I think that it’s a different way to watch the show now when you see it in its entirety.
However, Smoulders’ explanation did little to salvage the situation and the consensus towards the finale still remains less-than-stellar.
