The episode was written by series creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas and directed by Pamela Fryman.

"Last Forever" received a negative response from television critics and fans of the show alike, primarily in regard to the final twist ending, the relationship between Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) and Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders), and the fate of the series's titular mother.

The next night, Ted surprises Marshall and Lily at MacLaren's, revealing he met the bass player from the wedding and they hit it off.

In 2030, Luke and Penny, Ted's children, realize his story is more about his feelings for Aunt Robin than meeting their mother.

Before writing the episode, Carter Bays and Craig Thomas decided to watch the series finales of other sitcoms for inspiration.

[2] Before the airing of the series finale, debates raged among fans concerning the fate of Ted and the Mother, fueled by scenes from various episodes through the ninth season which seemed to foreshadow a tragic ending.

[4] According to tweets from Alyson Hannigan, approximately 18 minutes of the original episode had to be cut to fit the broadcast time.

One cut sequence features Marshall paying Lily regarding a bet on whether Ted and Robin end up together, first referenced in the episode "No Pressure" (2012).

[7] The scene involving Ted's future children (Lyndsy Fonseca and David Henrie) was secretly shot in 2006 during the production of the second season.

[8] This was primarily done so the teenage characters would not age, since Fonseca and Henrie were adults by the time the final episode aired.

[9] The scene was filmed on a set closed to everyone except Bays, Thomas, executive producer/director Pamela Fryman, a camera operator, and Fonseca and Henrie, who signed non-disclosure agreements.

"[10][11] Josh Radnor was also told some parts of the finale from the start,[12] but neither he nor the rest of the cast were informed how the series would end.

[14] "Last Forever" stars Josh Radnor, Cobie Smulders, Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Segel, Alyson Hannigan, and Cristin Milioti, as Ted Mosby, Robin Scherbatsky, Barney Stinson, Marshall Eriksen, Lily Aldrin, and The Mother.

It's not The Matrix where Ted CGI's into a narrator of his voice that was done as a sweet way to tell his story from almost his conscience from the future of his own life".

[19] The episodes were watched by 13.13 million viewers in the United States in its original American broadcast and received a 5.4 rating/16% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49.

[24] Many viewers expressed considerable dissatisfaction regarding the resolution of Ted's story, his relationship to Robin, and the fate of the titular mother.

Club's Emily St. James felt that the episode, and the series as a whole, was poorly planned out and that it wasted the audience's time by investing them in Tracy.

[30] Alan Sepinwall of HitFix cited how the entire ninth season revolved around Barney and Robin's wedding and the chemistry between Harris and Smulders as a reason for the poor reception for the character's split.

"[33] Joyce Eng of TV Guide said that she'd have preferred Ted not to have ended up with Robin but believed that Carter Bays and Craig Thomas to be "romantics" with a desire to bring the plot back full-circle and reunite the Mother with Max, "her first true love".

Though the Mother served as a "cheap plot device" to a degree, Eng said that "Ted's time with her also taught him nothing lasts forever, nothing's perfect.

Cheeda felt that using the Mother's death as a framing device was one of the worst elements of the episode, stating that it was likely one of the main reasons why the finale was so poorly executed.

[35] On April 5, 2014, Carter Bays announced on Twitter that an alternative ending, from the same filmed material, would be included on the season 9 DVD.