How he finally met the mother (Season 9)

To this day, my grandmother's fried chicken is the best I've ever tasted. She's been dead five years now.

 

The more I think about this, the more it points to (groan) Ted and Robin winding up together after all.

Maybe the point of the show is that Future Ted is telling his kids this story so they will understand why, after their mother is dead, he eventually wound up with Aunt Robin. Maybe that's why so many of his stories paint Robin in such a glowing light. And maybe the final shot of the series will be Marshall elbowing Lily and telling her to "pay up."

Not saying I like that direction at all. In fact as Sepinwall said, the revelation that the mother is dead/dying would violate the entire spirit of the series. But that does look like the direction the show is going and it will take a hell of a lot to walk it back from a teary-eyed Ted being comforted by his apparently dying wife who wants him to move on without her.

If that's where this thing is going, someone on Twitter wrapped up the series beautifully: "Hey kids, remember your dead mom? Let me tell you about all the women I banged before I met her."

 

I wondered about the Robin endgame too. But how do they write Barney out of the picture?

 

While I guess you can say if she does in fact die it's part of life and realistic and all that , but man it leaves an empty feeling about how the show has gone. We've spent all this time getting to her, we still don't completely know why she's worth this really long story, they've still spent just about as much time on Robin as her this season and now just as soon as we find out about her she's going to be gone? Which opens up any number of possibilities for the end that likely won't be satisfying. I hope it's just a twist, recognizing some fan theories or there is another explanation. I feel the past few weeks have been really strong, but not thrilled with that direction if it's true.

 

Like I said, I might be over thinking it.

 

Ted's speech to the mom from Time Travelers:

"Exactly 45 days from now, you and I are going to meet. We're going to fall in love and we're going to get married, and we're going to have two kids. We're going to love them and each other so much. All that is 45 days away, but I'm here now, I guess because I want those extra 45 days with you. I want each one of them…I am always going to love you. Until the end of my days and beyond."

 

Yuck. I forgot about that.

Maybe they really are going in this direction.

 

Spinoff series: How I Ended Up With Your Aunt Robin.

 

That's when I bought into the idea that she was dead in 2030.

 

Haven't we seen Ted in flash-forwards way in the future? Like retirement age? Did they explain his wife not being in the scene or was it just not mentioned that she wasn't there?

 

The one I remember is the porch scene, but that all hinged on the woman Ted was dating that Lily couldn't see fitting into the porch scene. There was no mother in that episode.

 

Wasn't there one when Ted, Marshall and Lily went to their college reunion and "ate a sandwich" even though Marshall was a judge?