HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER Reaction: So…Are They Really Going There?
March 4, 2014 by Marisa Roffman
[This post contains spoilers for the HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER episode “Vesuvius.” And, I suppose, potentially spoilers on the series finale, but it’s pure speculation at this point.]
I resisted writing this as long as possible, but I’m really frustrated with tonight’s episode of HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER.
Once again, the show hinted pretty heavily — with the Mother asking Ted if he was really surprised a mother would make it to her daughter’s wedding (after Robin’s mother showed up on Robin’s wedding day), and then Ted basically losing it over that — that this is leading towards the Mother being dead by the time Ted tells this story.
Of course, this isn’t the first time the show has hinted they’d be going down this road: a little under a year ago, Narrator!Ted told his kids that if he could go back and change a night, he’d spend it with their mother, and he’d tell her, “I want those extra 45 days. With you. I want each one of them. And if I can’t have them, I’ll take the 45 seconds before your boyfriend shows up and punches me in the face. Because I love you. I’m always going to love you. Until the end of my days. And beyond.” Which, still, even now, doesn’t sound like something someone would say to someone who is actively a part of their life. And I’m sure other fans have been speculating a similar ending for years, too.
What concerns me is that we’re weeks away from the series finale. Nothing the show has done since last year has reassured me that the Mother is alive past 2030. Arguably — and unfortunately — it’s seemed more and more plausible that this is where the show is heading. Last year could have been chalked up to awkward writing. Tonight’s episode? Ted absolutely thinks his wife won’t be around for their daughter’s wedding. (They could be pulling a long con on us and this is another misdirection, and she is sick, but she’ll recover. If that’s the case, I welcome that. I don’t say that normally, but my goodness, that is highly preferable to the alternative.)
There’s also the fact that the show has never been quite able to let go of the Ted/Robin thread. Even after Ted let Robin go in order for Barney to propose, Ted’s held on to Robin. Time and time and time again, even when you’d think they’d be done for good, the show has played this card. Ted let Robin go again a few episodes ago. And that was truly needed for him to be able to have a relationship with the Mother. But if the Mother ends up dead and Ted ends up back with Robin, it would explain why Ted is telling this story to his children by starting it from his first meeting with Robin.
(And if the first time we see the Mother’s name is on a gravesite, I might lose it.)
I don’t know. I hated this theory last year before we had the chance to meet — and fall in love with — the Mother. After getting these glimpses of her? How brutal would it be to lose her? We know the Mother’s first love died tragically. It just feels like this would be wildly cruel to make it so she doesn’t even get the chance to experience the lives of her children, too. And yes, the title of the show references how Ted MET the Mother, but…how long did he spend looking for her? How atrocious would it be for him to lose her like that so soon into their journey? Ugh.
But I’m curious what you guys will think if the show goes this way. Will it change the way you view the entire series? Will you feel betrayed? Will it make you less likely to watch the potential “spinoff” HOW I MET YOUR DAD? Or would you be OK with it? (And honestly, if you’d be fine with it, I’d really love to hear from you. No view about any show is universal, so I’m sure some fans would be OK if the Mother dies.) Or do you think there’s no way in heck they’ll kill off the Mother?
Sound off, guys…
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Filed under HIMYM, How I Met Your Mother
For me, How I Met Your Mother has always felt like a tall tale about a man’s life the way he wanted it to be, but at times wasn’t. There is always things you can change in a story to make it better, more exciting, or just give a different perspective of events. There are always going to be parts of stories we wish we could change, but impossible to do so. This is where I think we have, “The Tragic Life of Ted Mosby”. I can count on one hand the good things that have happened to Ted, but I would need more than 2 hands to count all of Ted’s tragedies, heartbreaks, etc..
I had a feeling around season 4 or 5 this story Ted was telling wasn’t going to be a happy ending. Back then I wanted him to meet the Mother already, but have the show continue on. Looking back, I know now how stupid that would have been. Seeing the mother on screen for the first time last season gave me goosebumps, even thinking about it right now brings those same goosebumps back. It was one of my favorite moments in TV… and I watch a lot of TV. That earlier episode when Ted basically confessed his love to this women and wanting to spend those few extra days with her and the rest of the viewers and myself found out that maybe the reason Ted tells this story to his kids is because their mother is no longer with them. Its very deep, no just for a sitcom, but as a story medium in general and something I won’t forget.
I don’t know if they will actually go this route, but I am happy they at least prepared me for it. This kind of curveball would of broken my spirit in so many ways. One thing the writers have always done is guide us through Ted’s life in a way that has felt real, true and unapologetic. We have a handful of episodes left and I want to enjoy them. Its not my story to tell, its theirs and I have a lot to thank them for. I never think I or any viewers are owed anything from the creators/writers when it comes to how they end a series. Its not fair to them because they can’t make all of us happy. They need to have their creative freedom and be allowed to tell the story they want to tell.
So no, I won’t feel betrayed, I don’t think it will change my view of the series. I know I’ll be watching these 208 episodes for the rest of my life and will probably be begging for more for years to come as I did for the rest of my beloved shows. I hate when stories come to an end, I’m selfish and greedy in that way. HIMYD is going to be a new experience that I hope I will enjoy, but nothing HIMYM had done or will do in this last few episodes will determine any prejudgements towards HIMYD. If its something entertaining I’ll watch it, if not I won’t.
I posted this response to the old story. Doh.
You know this is breaking my heart. But I had to go back and thoroughly sour my Tuesday by watching it again, and this time, I heard the end song.
And I think it was pretty clear that she IS dying, even before it, but the song clenches it for me. It’s Bob Dylan’s If You See Her, Say Hello. And the part they played to close the episode is:
If you see her, say hello, she might be in Tangier
She left here last early Spring, is livin’ there, I hear
Say for me that I’m all right though things get kind of slow
She might think that I’ve forgotten her, don’t tell her it isn’t so
And since they were in the Winter of 2024– it’s probably an indication she doesn’t live much longer than that scene last night. *weeps*
I do think it is a heartbreaking for the series to end with the death of the mother. it would be clever, given the title of the series, to, as you mentioned, tell the story of how Ted met both the mother of his children and their (maybe) stepmom, Robin. I will be heartbroken in a new way, if this is how the series turns out, because I love Barney and Robin together and it feels sort of like what is the value of that journey, if Ted and Robin were destined all along?
So, in conclusion, so. many. feelings.
🙂
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