# "How I Met Your Mother" Season Finale (You bet there's spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 15, 2012, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-finale-you-bet-theres-spoilers/621965 "2012-05-15T04:08:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-finale-you-bet-theres-spoilers/621965/61 "2012-05-16T17:19:24Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > From what I’ve heard, they’ve had an ending planned all along from way way back at the beginning. It’s been filmed and is just sitting, waiting for the true end of the series before they cut to it. Presumably it’s another clip with the kids. Yeah, that’s what it is. They already have the kids’ reaction to the reveal/end of the story “in the can.” Clearly, Barney’s wedding will have a band that is made up of 5 bassists, all women, and all of whom at one point roomed with Rachel Bilson’s character, and are all businesswomen that were in that ECON class. Also, they all own matching yellow umbrellas. Actually, one of the best suggestions for the mother I’ve heard, is that regardless of who it is “in universe,” the character should be played by the same one who plays Ted’s Daughter. She’s several years older than she is in the “'flash-forwards,” and quite the hottie, to boot. [Imgur: The magic of the Internet](http://i.imgur.com/D6pyh.jpg) (quasi-NSFW…no nudity or even that much skin, but a little cleavage and a lot of sultry.) ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-finale-you-bet-theres-spoilers/621965/62 "2012-05-16T17:19:31Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > I cruised therough a HIMYM board yesterday and the fans are torturing all rules of storytelling (and logic) desperately trying to justify whatever conclusion they want. > > Barney and Robin are getting married, but not to each other. It’s a double wedding. > > Ted marries Robin. After all, it was never conclusively proven that Robin _wasn’t_ the roommate/present in the Econ class, etc. (Substitute Stella, Vicotria, the Slutty Pumpkin or any other of Ted’s dates.) > > Ted is only just getting married in the flashbacks, and the kids are actually his stepchildren. > > The “mother” Ted keeps talking about is a surrogate. He’s actually married to (Robin or Barney, depending on which way you want the story to end.) > > Ted is widowed in the flashbacks, telling the kids about their real mother. The stepmother they’re growing up with is actually “Aunt” Robin. > > EVERYTHING is a red herring. Ted will simply strike up a conversation with the bass player at the wedding reception – who won’t be Barney’s half-sister or anyone else anyone can imagine. > > Clearly, we are suffering from a severe lack of imagination on this Board. These aren’t bad guesses. Some are pretty close to the mark. But I won’t say which ones. Not here anyway, but if you guys want to know I’ll put it in a spoiler box for you [spoiler] Is there a two click rule for these things? Better safe than sorry. [spoiler] Wait, is this three clicks? Eh. Too late now. [spoiler] Oh hang on. That’s just for pr0n! Sorry about that. Click ahead [spoiler] Crap. I’m not doing something right here. Can I go backwards? No one needs this many spoiler boxes [spoiler] OK, maybe Jigsaw did. That guy sure racked up a death toll. [spoiler] I’m just kidding (I think). I never actually saw any of the Saw movies. [spoiler] Seriously. Not a single one. [spoiler] Because I was busy ok? People are allowed to have a life! [spoiler] Not me, though. My life now entirely consists of creating new spoiler boxes. [spoiler] And your life consists of clicking on them. [spoiler] Hey, this reminds me. Have you ever read the book “There’s a monster at the end of this book!” It was from Seseme Street and it was pretty funny. This kinda reminds me of that. Hey! There’s a monster at the end of these spoiler boxes! Don’t click the next one! [spoiler] You’re much stronger than you look. Did you know that?[spoiler] That book is now on an iPad app too. It’s still funny. [spoiler] I’m uncertain if it’s called “There’s a monster at the end of this App” or not. I think it probably should be. [spoiler] Oh. The mother. Yes. Sorry about that. OK, I think I’ve completely exhausted the joke potential of this setup anyway. I mean, you know how jokes can start going on for so long they just stop being funny? Yeah, I’ve pretty much hit the wall here. [spoiler] AND THEN THEY TOTALLY GET FUNNY AGAIN! [spoiler]Sorry. I’m better now. [spoiler] Won’t happen again. [spoiler] Kids, did I ever tell you about the time when I was putting spoilers on everything? My friends had to stage an intervention. [spoiler] And it totally worked! I’m not posting any more spoiler boxes besides this next one. [spoiler] Seriously! [spoiler] Why does no one believe me on that? [spoiler] OK fine. The answer is that we’ve actually had the answer to who the mother is all along. It’s been discussed here on the boards. I’ll even link to it. I won’t even spoiler it for you! Well. More than has been. Sheesh. It’s right here ["How I Met Your Mother" Season Finale (You bet there's spoilers) - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=651837) You’re welcome.[MONSTER!](http://cutearoo.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Recycled-Rascal.jpg) [/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler] [/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-finale-you-bet-theres-spoilers/621965/63 "2012-05-16T17:48:37Z")
That…is one hell of a ziggurat. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-finale-you-bet-theres-spoilers/621965/64 "2012-05-16T17:49:59Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > I think that Barney’s sister makes the most sense at this point, though I agree all the pieces don’t fit together. For instance, at the point when Barney went to have dinner with his family, Ted’s kids would have interrupted and said “and was mom there? Is that where you met her?” > Or would have, if they didn’t stop showing new clips of the kids around season 2. > > From what I’ve heard, they’ve had an ending planned all along from way way back at the beginning. It’s been filmed and is just sitting, waiting for the true end of the series before they cut to it. Presumably it’s another clip with the kids. Oh, I hope so, since I would have a hard time buying [this](https://www.google.com/search?q=Lyndsy+Fonseca&hl=en&newwindow=1&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvnso&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=KOizT_DiHKTl6QGLspGJCQ&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&ved=0CA0Q_AUoAQ&biw=1043&bih=851) as a fifteen year-old. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-finale-you-bet-theres-spoilers/621965/65 "2012-05-16T17:56:12Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > It’s been thrown around (jokingly) that those aren’t his kids. Ted’s just picking someone up for a date, waiting for her to get ready and those are her kids and this is the story of how he met her. > > But I’m firmly of the opinion that those are his and his future wife’s biological kids. Remember, they need to be able to keep this running in syndication. Right now, IMHO, it’s got Seinfeld potential. I think the reruns will stick around forever. If they pull some stupid stunt right at the end, that might make the syndication rights a bit less valuable. > If you had never watched it, only heard about it, would you want to start it from the beginning if you knew, all along that at the end it would turn out that the kids weren’t his? Some would (it is still a good show) but some may be less interested. It’s Ted, he’s sappy, we’ll get a happy ending. If I were trying to make the argument that a show could thrive in syndication despite a finale so bad, so twisted, and so ridiculously inapropos that it nearly ruined the good will every fan had toward the show, Seinfeld would be the first, best example I could provide. I still can’t understand how we get past the “Robin doesn’t want/can’t have children” vs “Barney desperately wants to be a Dad” conflict. If that’s not resolved, this should be yet another interrupted wedding. :: roll eyes :: ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-finale-you-bet-theres-spoilers/621965/66 "2012-05-16T18:13:10Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > If I were trying to make the argument that a show could thrive in syndication despite a finale so bad, so twisted, and so ridiculously inapropos that it nearly ruined the good will every fan had toward the show, Seinfeld would be the first, best example I could provide. But Seinfeld didn’t spend years and years building up towards anything in particular. It was annoying but it didn’t take anything away from watching the reruns. Finding out that those aren’t his kids would take something away from watching the reruns. Especially for viewers watching the reruns for the first time knowing that he’s telling the story to some random kids about some random person and the tales he’s telling don’t really carry any weight. ---
**Author:** ![sachertorte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sachertorte/32/3727_2.png) [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-finale-you-bet-theres-spoilers/621965/67 "2012-05-16T18:17:28Z")
I don’t think anyone takes Barney’s desire to be a Dad seriously. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-finale-you-bet-theres-spoilers/621965/68 "2012-05-16T18:30:16Z")
> [@sachertorte](#): > > I don’t think anyone takes Barney’s desire to be a Dad seriously. I don’t know. I think Barney wants kids, and to obsessively be the father he wished he’d had. I wouldn’t put the rest of the usually associated family life in the same category though. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-finale-you-bet-theres-spoilers/621965/69 "2012-05-16T18:41:43Z")
> [@atlantic](#): > > \ > > Edited to add: The daughter refers to Ted as Dad in the season 2 premiere - “Dad, can’t you just skip ahead to the part where you meet Mom? I feel like you’ve been talking for, like, a year.” Thanks, IMDB! According to Lily at one point, too, Ted does go on about a bitch. 😃 > [@Enderw24](#): > > These aren’t bad guesses. Some are pretty close to the mark. But I won’t say which ones. Not here anyway, but if you guys want to know I’ll put it in a spoiler box for you > \ So, if I understand you right, _I’m_ the mother?!? > [@TruCelt](#): > > \ > I still can’t understand how we get past the “Robin doesn’t want/can’t have children” vs “Barney desperately wants to be a Dad” conflict. If that’s not resolved, this should be yet another interrupted wedding. :: roll eyes :: If there’s anything we’ve learned about Barney, it’s that he’s a guy who knows how to…get things. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-finale-you-bet-theres-spoilers/621965/70 "2012-05-16T18:53:59Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > If there’s anything we’ve learned about Barney, it’s that he’s a guy who knows how to…get things. He’s got a gut for _that_? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-finale-you-bet-theres-spoilers/621965/71 "2012-05-16T19:06:49Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > He’s got a gut for _that_? Now there’s a sentence that came out wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-finale-you-bet-theres-spoilers/621965/72 "2012-05-17T02:56:56Z")
Barney’s got a guy for everything - he’s got a gut for pretty much everything, too. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-finale-you-bet-theres-spoilers/621965/73 "2012-05-17T13:20:17Z")
Except Phantom Menace. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-finale-you-bet-theres-spoilers/621965/74 "2012-05-17T13:22:54Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > Except Phantom Menace. It ages well, that’s the thing. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-finale-you-bet-theres-spoilers/621965/75 "2012-05-17T14:42:16Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > [Snip] Clearly, we are suffering from a severe lack of imagination on this Board. How about this: Barney and Quinn do get married, but she dies in a tragic accident in the bedroom involving a pineapple and the ducky tie. Robin comforts him and their relationship restarts. At the wedding Robin’s long lost half sister who had been locked in the basement during her childhood but escaped at the age of 7 and was presumed dead shows up. She had been taken in by a commune of Canadian hippies and moved to NYC to get a degree in business and roomed with a girl named Rachel Bilson. After becoming a successful businesswoman she used her vast resources to track down her father, the recently deceased Marvin Eriksen Sr. Months later she saw the name “Scherbatsky” in the paper and, deciding it is time to reunite with her family, crashed the wedding. She not only makes a big scene but also catches the eye of Ted. Thus the “Aunt” and “Uncle” titles are all correct. Or maybe I’m channeling too much “Desperate Housewives.” ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-finale-you-bet-theres-spoilers/621965/76 "2012-05-17T14:56:23Z")
I like the cut of your jib, sir. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-finale-you-bet-theres-spoilers/621965/77 "2012-05-17T15:14:10Z")
Oh frack. Please don’t let poor Victoria be his date at the wedding when he meets the true love of his life. Ohferpete’s sake, now I’m gonna worry all year! ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-finale-you-bet-theres-spoilers/621965/78 "2012-05-17T15:30:43Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Oh frack. Please don’t let poor Victoria be his date at the wedding when he meets the true love of his life. Ohferpete’s sake, now I’m gonna worry all year! The bad news: we have to watch Ted and Victoria destroy their relationship. The good news: More Victoria! ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-finale-you-bet-theres-spoilers/621965/79 "2012-05-17T15:37:09Z")
If we were willing to accept the whole Zooey storyline, I don’t see anything outrageous about **Gedd’s** scenario. Oh wait. If Marvin, Sr. were revealed to have another family, Marshall would undergo another existential crisis. Haven’t we have enough of that with Lily’s breakup and his father’s death? In the last flash forward (the one that revealed Robin) didn’t future Ted say something like “a wedding where everything went wrong”? It’s entirely possible the actual wedding never takes place. Barney ends up with Ted’s sister (“Uncle Barney”) and Aunt Robin ends up married to the real mother’s brother? There have been worse resolutions in sitcoms. Here’s the real question. Do the producers want to end things so that we all say “awww, it all wrapped up so nicely,” or do they want to leave us wide-eyed and jaws agape? ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-finale-you-bet-theres-spoilers/621965/80 "2012-05-17T15:40:51Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > But Seinfeld didn’t spend years and years building up towards anything in particular. It was annoying but it didn’t take anything away from watching the reruns. Finding out that those aren’t his kids would take something away from watching the reruns. Especially for viewers watching the reruns for the first time knowing that he’s telling the story to some random kids about some random person and the tales he’s telling don’t really carry any weight. Except the emotional weight that his kids have to carry after learn that much about the sex lives of thier father and his friends. 😃 Seriously, I would go full on murder/suicide if either of my parents tried to tell me that much about the sex they had. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-finale-you-bet-theres-spoilers/621965.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-met-your-mother-season-finale-you-bet-theres-spoilers/621965.md?page=5)