Fans flocked to their silver screens Monday to see something they’ve been anticipating for eight long years: meeting the mother of Ted Mosby’s children. Despite the show being eight years old, it is just as fresh and entertaining as ever. More importantly, How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM) is resoundingly honest. It is one of the few shows which has believable and entertaining characters who change and grow over time. As “future Ted” says, this isn’t the story of how he met the mother, but how he became the man who was ready to meet the love of his life.
Over the last eight years, many things have changed. The character Barney begins as an entertaining yet repulsive womanizer who you love to hate and hate to love. Now, he has decided to settle down and commit. Robin, the woman whom he intends to marry was equally queasy about commitment eight years ago, mostly because she wanted to travel and become an award winning journalist. Lily and Marshall broke up, got back together, got married, had a baby together and may be moving to Rome. Ted designed a building, started a business, was left at the altar and has thrown himself at different women all of whom we know aren’t “the one.”
Every episode, the hope that we might get to know some small thing about the mother is dangled in front of us. Details, such as the color of her umbrella, her ankle, and what economics class she attended were all revealed seasons ago. Ted even went so far as to date the roommate of “the mother.” The season premiere not only showed the face of the mother, but she spoke with Lily. The entire series is a must see, but the two episodes which premiered Monday were a wonderful beginning of the end. While I have been desperate to meet the mother, I am sad that this is the last season and I would be willing to wait another eight years if it means that I don’t have to say goodbye. That being said, watching Ted constantly fail at love is pretty depressing and I am happy that he is only 55 hours away from meeting the love of his life.
I absolutely recommend this show and give it a 11 out of 10.