We laughed, smiled and felt a gap filled as we sat in front of our televisions Monday night. This past week was the beginning of the end for devoted followers of “How I Met Your Mother,” as the ninth and final season aired.
As the episode set the stage for Robin and Barney’s wedding, a bigger event was at hand.
The end of last season revealed Ted’s future wife, cliff-hanging us on a summer of Googling her name to figure out what made her different from the rest. Well, it’s safe to say that we have jumped on board and calmed down a bit.
With the premiere airing two new episodes, we finally got a glimpse of who this “mother” is, played by Cristin Milioti.
“It was a pretty big umbrella to fill, casting the title role in a series that’s been on the air for eight years,” co-creator Carter Bays said. “And yet Milioti is, against all odds, exactly what we were looking for.”
As the revelation of Milioti’s character is unraveling in this episode, we are embracing the laughter that Barney and Robin are getting cold feet about their wedding when they find out they may share a distant cousin. At the same time, we are clenching our fists and hoping Marshall can correct his mother’s mistake to publicize his new career path.
Throughout the episode we witnessed many flash-forwards and flashbacks to help establish main points in the storyline. In the very last scene of the episode we saw a flash-forward of the lovely couple a year later, as Ted brings the “mother” back to the Farhampton Inn. And if that wasn’t enough to make you dance around your television, we discover that Milioti’s character is delightfully similar and as terribly dorky as Ted.
Though the time was short and two episodes did not answer all our questions, we can be satisfied knowing that these “mother” stories have a face we can now recognize.
