Carter Bays promises he’ll let us know when the end is coming. Hardcore fans of his series How I Met Your Mother have joked that the world won’t end in 2012 because Ted Mosby, telling his children the story of how he met his spouse, lives to 2031. But fans are also left to wonder if that’ll be how long we have to wait to find some closure on the series. “We’ve talked about it”, says showrunner Bays at the Television Critics Association Winter press tour, “It’s not a high priority for us… but we’ve gotten that question a lot.” Bays, accompanied by stars of the show Jason Segel and Allyson Hannigan, assured the audience at hand that they know what the final season will look like, they are aware of how that is going to play out, but they aren’t really looking to play beat the clock in terms of meeting her. “I would like to see the show come to its natural end, whether its 8 years or 9 years,” Hannigan said. “I was so relieved to hear there was a plan.” Even so, who would the mother be? E! was quoted Bays as saying, “There’s one school of thought where she turns around and it’s Jennifer Aniston, some huge star. Or you might want someone you’ve never seen before.”
So where does that leave the fan? How I Met Your Mother is one of my favorite shows, and I’ve found through my own blogging that there are a large amount of people that consider it one of their favorite shows (or at the very least, their favorite CBS show, not a terribly difficult title to win). But are we really itching to meet the mother? The show has been guaranteed up until the 8th season, and with celebrities involved that include Segel, Hannigan, Neil Patrick Harris, and now Kal Penn, why shut down a working factory? It’s worth arguing, however, that the show hasn’t always been worth keeping around. Season 5 saw Ted Mosby without a steady love interest, not entirely sure what he was doing, and a lot of fans were left asking if the track had run out before the train stopped. Though the writing staff has been incredible in seasons 6 and 7 shifting focus equally to all of the characters while keeping us interested, we all felt a bit of a drought in between Sarah Chalke’s Stella and Jennifer Morrison’s Zoe (and no, I don’t count Lauren Prepon of That 70’s Show fame as Karen. You shouldn’t either.) Even when Victoria returned in Season 7, and everyone got their hopes up she was the mother, it didn’t feel right and the writers did away with her quickly, leaving only a strange premonition about our future with Robin.
As it stands, Ted Mosby is single. He’s been single most of this season, but unlike the aforementioned seasons, no one is really complaining this time. Marshall and Lily are about to have a baby, Robin has just had a meltdown, and Barney is actually becoming a real human being with feelings and everything. No, we are in no hurry to figure out who the mother is, because the writing is so good and the episodes are so memorable. If every episode does leave you itching for a bit more closure to the answer, then you must remind yourself this isn’t “Lost” or “Heroes”, grab a glass of tea, and try to relax. For the moment, we won’t have an answer, and we won’t have some semblance of an answer. Yet the series is so strong so late in the game that you have to just enjoy it, and be pleasantly surprised when a love interest comes up that, shockingly enough, all of us extremely judgemental people love and feel that she is perfect for our front porch.