How I Met Your Mother - Part 3

[Dark Raven]

And another little Smallville reference, I remember how Clark was in love with Lana, even after he was falling for Lois, and I always hated how they just phased out his love for Lana from one episode to the next just because Kruek wasn't going to be around anymore. I always wanted to see Clark get with Lois and then tell Lana that he's not in love with her anymore because he's happy with Lois. I hope they do something like that with Ted and Robin because I don't want to see it be another lightswitch thing.

I wanted that exact same thing too. It's like he never really made peace with that and got that closure he needed. And we as viewers never quite got it either. People could wonder if Clark were really truly over Lana or just that it's a case of out of sight, out of mind, and that if she were to come into the picture again all the old feelings will resurface. Being able to face up to her and realise he didn't have those feelings anymore would be much better.

And that's what I want to see with Ted. I don't want him to run away from Robin or live in denial. I want him to be finally at peace about it and realise that he's moved on, and that what he was seeking all along was not actually Robin, but that in Robin were elements of the girl who was truly right for him, which has been fulfilled in the mother. So Robin would only have been a partial unveiling, so to speak, whereas with the mother it's like a full unveiling, and now that he sees the bigger picture he sees that it was incomplete with Robin and that she wasn't right after all.

I like what I've seen of Milioti in the few glimpses I've seen in various videos either where she's being interviewed or singing. She has a natural, modest, down-to-earth beauty about her and seems like she could actually be the mother of the kids. I'm glad she's not a supermodel type. She's more someone I could see myself falling for, especially as she's musically talented and seems sweet and approachable. And since I identify with Ted, I think she seems potentially ideal for him.

 

[SpideyVille]

I wanted that exact same thing too. It's like he never really made peace with that and got that closure he needed. And we as viewers never quite got it either. People could wonder if Clark were really truly over Lana or just that it's a case of out of sight, out of mind, and that if she were to come into the picture again all the old feelings will resurface. Being able to face up to her and realise he didn't have those feelings anymore would be much better.

And that's what I want to see with Ted. I don't want him to run away from Robin or live in denial. I want him to be finally at peace about it and realise that he's moved on, and that what he was seeking all along was not actually Robin, but that in Robin were elements of the girl who was truly right for him, which has been fulfilled in the mother. So Robin would only have been a partial unveiling, so to speak, whereas with the mother it's like a full unveiling, and now that he sees the bigger picture he sees that it was incomplete with Robin and that she wasn't right after all.

I like what I've seen of Milioti in the few glimpses I've seen in various videos either where she's being interviewed or singing. She has a natural, modest, down-to-earth beauty about her and seems like she could actually be the mother of the kids. I'm glad she's not a supermodel type. She's more someone I could see myself falling for, especially as she's musically talented and seems sweet and approachable. And since I identify with Ted, I think she seems potentially ideal for him.

Exactly. People complain about Ted/Robin but Clark/Lana was much worse because it totally made Clark look bad and weak. Even in season 8, when Lana was finally out of the picture, Clark started to fall for Lois and was finally being proactive and being who he was supposed to be, yet the writers decided to erase all of that progress in the 5 episodes that Lana came back in. And to this day, I still hate how the only reason they didn't end up together was because something happened to her that would literally kill Clark if he was close to her for too long. It was such a copout.

I don't want to see Ted go through something similar where the only reason he doesn't end up with Robin is because she's married to one of his best friends. If that's the only reason for them getting married, to give Ted a reason to move on, then I don't even like that pairing because Ted should have wanted to move on on his own. That's why the episode where Barney proposed was supposed to be so great, because it was Ted giving his blessing to Barney.

And yeah, I think for the mother, you need a balance between attractiveness and personality. That's a big reason why I always liked Mary the Paralegal from season 1, because she was also a good balance of being attractive and having the kind of personality that Ted could click with, especially since she was a big Star Wars fan, as opposed to Stella who hated it and lied about it. I really do hope they give the mother a chance to showcase her personality and why she's a good fit for Ted because I'd hate to only like her because she ends up with Ted.

 

[Marvolo]

At the end of a long statement CBS put out this morning, Bays said, "Our ninth season will tell the epic story of the longest wedding weekend ever. We hope you like it. Next stop, Farhampton..."

http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-wa...our-mother-something-new-ive-just-seen-a-face

http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/after-how-i-met-your-mother-finale-what-comes-next

They are stretching the wedding out over the whole season! How is that even going to work?

 

[The Squirrel]

So the final season becomes 24? This is making me think I can just tune into the last episode and not really miss anything.

 

[Scarecrow_King]

I thought they might do something like that when I saw the "54 hours until the wedding." I didn't think it would be the whole season though, but just the first episode.

Guess we won't get to see much of the mother after all.

 

[Donut]

They are stretching the wedding out over the whole season! How is that even going to work?

I guess they really want the show to end with Ted meeting the mother

 

[The Apocalypse]

I can't see a whole season taking place over 56 hours. This isn't 24

We probably get to the wedding at least by the mid season finale.

 

[Prison Mike]

I had a feeling this would happen, the show ending with Ted meeting the mother. I'm not surprised since it was the original plan all along. I just can't believe they're really going to stretch the last season into 56 hours.

 

[Dark Raven]

If he only meets her at Farhampton station though, then either there will be several episodes of them just sitting there together in the rain, or there won't be much chance for her to interact with him if the show ends there. That will feel like a cheat.

Bays did say in that same statement that they look forward to getting to know the mother over the course of the season. I hope that is a qualifier for the other part of it which follows about the season being an epic long wedding weekend and that we will indeed get to know her and see her interact with others.

With a show like 24, they went to different places and did different things (eg raids on various compounds, tracking villains etc) over the course of 24 hours. In HIMYM, a lot of it is going to be set in one location of Farhampton, so how interesting can it possibly be? Didn't the creators learn anything this year about not stretching out storylines too long that the viewers get tired of it? Those first few episodes before the season of breakups and Barney finally proposing to Robin were extremely tedious to sit through. They need to allow this show to run like other shows which don't have an end point already and allow Ted and the mother to date and get to know each other over the course of a season which is equal to those 6 to 8 months that it takes to get through one. None of this "24" type business.

 

[Dark Raven]

I had a feeling this would happen, the show ending with Ted meeting the mother. I'm not surprised since it was the original plan all along. I just can't believe they're really going to stretch the last season into 56 hours.

Although it was the original plan, you have to take all of Bays and Thomas's statements together as a whole.

Remember they did say in that Entertainment Weekly interview from yesterday:

The pair revealed, among many other things, that we likely would have met the mother in May 2013 no matter what: The original plan was for the show to end after just eight seasons (meaning it would have been over…now), with the mother briefly introduced in the series finale. Only after HIMYM was extended to nine seasons did Bays and Thomas make the decision to reveal the mother before the final season ...


CARTER BAYS: One of our hard and fast rules [when we thought we were doing eight seasons] was that we didn’t want to meet her until the very end. We felt like, now that we’re doing another year, let’s find an interesting new twist...


... We didn’t want to do season 9 unless we had something that just got us really excited to write it. This concept got us very excited to write it and lent itself to a lot of great ideas that came out. The tipping point was when you have enough ideas that you’re going to be bummed if you don’t get to try these ideas, that’s when it became worth it for us to do season 9, and part of that is revealing the mother. The idea of getting to know her, getting to know where she’s coming from, it became too tantalizing to pass up.

But then there is this statement following right after that last sentence:

We always liked the poetic ending of you never really get to know her, you just see her face or something.

The question is whether Bays means that as what they originally intended - ie they always liked (past tense) the poetic ending but now in light of getting a new season they've modified their plans - or whether they still like that as an ongoing, continuous idea (but expressed in the past tense) and want to keep to that despite the reveal. I think in the context of the rest of what Bays is saying, and in order to be consistent with it, he means the former.

 

[Webfoot Hero]

I had a feeling this would happen, the show ending with Ted meeting the mother. I'm not surprised since it was the original plan all along. I just can't believe they're really going to stretch the last season into 56 hours.

That's something I'm not looking forward to. Get the wedding and meeting out of the way sometime in the first 5 episodes and then make it about Ted dating and finally proposing.

 

[Dwarf lord]

Are we sure that he's not joking, making a tongue and cheek response to the criticism that they dragged this story out way too long?

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

I like what I've seen of Milioti in the few glimpses I've seen in various videos either where she's being interviewed or singing. She has a natural, modest, down-to-earth beauty about her and seems like she could actually be the mother of the kids. I'm glad she's not a supermodel type. She's more someone I could see myself falling for, especially as she's musically talented and seems sweet and approachable. And since I identify with Ted, I think she seems potentially ideal for him.

You hit the nail on the head, Dark.

 

[Donut]

You hit the nail on the head, Dark.

Her character also has to like The Original Star Wars Trilogy & not freak out if Ted does the I Love You Thing on their first date

 

[Dark Raven]

Her character also has to like The Original Star Wars Trilogy & not freak out if Ted does the I Love You Thing on their first date

But I hope that in fact Ted's experience with Robin was a kind of preparation for having that first date with the mother. Robin was like a training ground of everything not to do, so that when he does meet Milioti, he won't do that with her.

Remember what Ted said back in that episode about the St Patrick's Day party? He said if he had met her back then, she probably wouldn't have liked him. He also said to his kids that this story isn't just about his actual meeting with the mother but also the person he had to become before he could meet her.

So maybe Ted's failure with Robin isn't a total failure, because all those experiences have been like a furnace, refining him and preparing him to be the person he will be when he meets the mother. And maybe part of that is learning not to blurt out that he loves someone on the first date in case he scares them away, and doing the many other things that he has done with other girls. All of these women (including Robin) have maybe chipped away at the stone and made Ted more into a work of art fit for the mother.

 

[Visceral]

what if she says I love you to him on the first date.

 

[Nathan]

Didn't he date someone who did that? Completely scared him off.

 

[SpideyVille]

But I hope that in fact Ted's experience with Robin was a kind of preparation for having that first date with the mother. Robin was like a training ground of everything not to do, so that when he does meet Milioti, he won't do that with her.

Remember what Ted said back in that episode about the St Patrick's Day party? He said if he had met her back then, she probably wouldn't have liked him. He also said to his kids that this story isn't just about his actual meeting with the mother but also the person he had to become before he could meet her.

So maybe Ted's failure with Robin isn't a total failure, because all those experiences have been like a furnace, refining him and preparing him to be the person he will be when he meets the mother. And maybe part of that is learning not to blurt out that he loves someone on the first date in case he scares them away, and doing the many other things that he has done with other girls. All of these women (including Robin) have maybe chipped away at the stone and made Ted more into a work of art fit for the mother.

Absolutely. I've always related this to my own life and relationship experiences and I've always felt that with each experience I learn more about what I don't like in a partner as well as what I need to do better. I always feel like there is some lesson to learn from every situation, and the next experience always goes farther than the last, but not quite where I would have wanted it to go, and just like Ted, I realize that maybe I'm not who I'm supposed to be yet. Again, going by the whole Chemistry/Timing thing, I feel like the timing part is the biggest key.

Like you said, if Ted met the mother in the club that night, on a night where Marshall had to scold him because he was becoming more like Barney, then there's a good chance that he wouldn't have ever ended up with her. My only gripe is that they did make him stray away from who he was with Robin for far too long. In that episode as the Chemistry/Timing thing, he mentions that he lost hope and it was important to reveal that because he did become like Barney where he was just interested in "having fun" and not so much with meeting the woman that would be the mother of his children. Even in his last few relationships with Zoey, Victoria and Jeanette, Ted knew that those relationships weren't right, but he was at the point where he was just willing to settle for anything, and he really deserved better than that.

 

[Dark Raven]

Absolutely. I've always related this to my own life and relationship experiences and I've always felt that with each experience I learn more about what I don't like in a partner as well as what I need to do better. I always feel like there is some lesson to learn from every situation, and the next experience always goes farther than the last, but not quite where I would have wanted it to go, and just like Ted, I realize that maybe I'm not who I'm supposed to be yet. Again, going by the whole Chemistry/Timing thing, I feel like the timing part is the biggest key.

Like you said, if Ted met the mother in the club that night, on a night where Marshall had to scold him because he was becoming more like Barney, then there's a good chance that he wouldn't have ever ended up with her. My only gripe is that they did make him stray away from who he was with Robin for far too long. In that episode as the Chemistry/Timing thing, he mentions that he lost hope and it was important to reveal that because he did become like Barney where he was just interested in "having fun" and not so much with meeting the woman that would be the mother of his children. Even in his last few relationships with Zoey, Victoria and Jeanette, Ted knew that those relationships weren't right, but he was at the point where he was just willing to settle for anything, and he really deserved better than that.

Ted definitely was settling with those women. Whether he would be really happy was another matter. It would be more out of not wanting to be lonely than actually meeting someone who was right and deciding to build a life together from a position of wholeness than a position of incompleteness. Even Stella was settling I think.

I can totally relate to Ted losing hope though and then just trying to have a good time rather than evaluating if someone is actually suitable to be not only one's wife but the mother of one's kids. I think you can kind of tell with different women you meet if you could really see yourself settling down with them and whether she would be someone you see having your children.

On reflection I don't think that there have been too many women Ted has dated that could realistically seem like they could be the mother of his kids. Victoria didn't. She didn't really have that vibe about her. Robin didn't either, as she never wanted kids in the first place. And Zoey definitely didn't. She seemed too much about fighting for eco rights and wanting someone to join her in her cause than wanting a family life. And then crazy Jeanette - she definitely wasn't mother material. She shouldn't even be allowed near kids. Heck, she wasn't even wife material.

As for Stella, well there was a sense that she'd already been there and done that, and so Ted might be shortchanging himself because maybe she wanted a father figure in her child's life rather than wanting to start a new life together with Ted.

And many of the other women always had something about them too that made them seem not right. They might've been hot, but didn't seem to have that maternal caring quality. So just getting a supermodel for the part could've been no different to anyone who had gone before. She could've potentially filled the loneliness Ted felt in giving him someone, but might not really have been a soul mate and definitely might not have fulfilled the mother part.

With Cristin Milioti, I do get more of a motherly vibe, and not just because we're told she is the mother. It's not actually from the end of HIMYM itself but from watching her other videos. I think it's her cuteness, down-to-earthness and accessibility, plus the fact that she does seem very similar to Alyson Hannigan who already gives off a motherly vibe herself in the show.

 

[dark_b]

the writters think that by showing the mother noone will remember what the last episode was about?

Ted and Robin? again?

 

[Scarecrow_King]

Uh, they were banking on us remember what the last episode was about. Ted's entire plot this episode was because of the last episode.

 

[MadVillainy]

That whole thing about the last season being stretched over a season is a joke.

Unless the season is only a 10 episode order which I can...almost see that working. Almost

 

[Visceral]

The show has never been expertly written, but it is fun. By the end of this thing we will all have different opinions on which girlfriend should have been the mother.

Though it seems to me that by this point in the series Ted has become somewhat of a frazzled psychotic.

 

[JP]

Never thought Cristin Milioti would be the mother. So happy for her!!!

 

[Darkness Falls]

i'm glad they went with someone like milioti and not a supermodel type for the mother
she looks like a down to earth girl that would be easy to fall for

can't wait to see how she interacts with the group and when she meets ted