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"How I Met Your Mother" Season 7 Trailer And 13 Things I Learned About HIMYM From Carter Bays and Craig Thomas

By Rob Payne | Posted Under Trailers | Comments (21)



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If you’re like me, you tend to watch more than one television show on a regular basis, because unfortunately “Community” isn’t on all the time. For those of you, also like me, who enjoy the comedic highs and lows of CBS’s “How I Met Your Mother,” you probably have both excitement and a wee bit trepidation about the show’s one-hour (two-episode) return next Monday. Here’s a look at 1/6 of that two-parter in the form of a teaser, which, like “Community,” also contains dancing.


Being a fan of Barney+Robin, I would classify myself as a little more excited after that. And this picture from CBS’s gallery for Punchy’s wedding in the premiere doesn’t hurt, either.

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Now that you’re properly enthused about “HIMYM’s” September 19th return, fill your mindhole with these 13 sorta spoilery true facts I learned from Vulture’s recent interview with series creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas. (My ultra-professional analysis can be found — or ignored — below them.)

  • The hour-long season premiere will flash forward to Barney’s wedding teased in the season six finale, and his bride-to-be will be revealed before this season ends.
  • Punchy’s wedding (which Ted will describe as the Worst Wedding Ever) occurs a week after Marshall and Lily find out they’re pregnant — effectively removing the event from the possibility of being the location where Ted meets the Mother.
  • This season’s Halloween episode will see the return of the Slutty Pumpkin, Ted’s mystery crush dating all the way back to season one (‘bout damn time).
  • As the series enters its “endgame” dangling threads will be tied up, but the culmination of Slapsgiving seems will likely be a holdover for season eight.
  • Season eight will, more than likely, be the series’ last.
  • Google will be an uncredited guest star in the second episode of premiere night.
  • Barney will continue his maturation as he actively seeks a real relationship with Robin’s British friend Nora, whom he half-assedly pursued in season six.
  • Robin’s feelings for Barney will come to the surface, of course, but apparently so will Ted’s feelings for Robin.
  • While that might entail some sort of “love square” (unfortunately, probably not in the literal sense), it will be couched in response to the question of, Why did Ted start telling this story to his kids with his meeting their “aunt?”
  • Martin Short will not be playing Dave Foley’s character from the season six finale, as Marshall officially bombed that interview, but Marshall will look up to his new boss because he is a legen… wait for it… dary environmental lawyer.
  • A legendary envinronmental lawyer with a “dark secret.”
  • Season seven will be filled with arcs and be less episodic than previous ones, like seasons one and two (the show’s best).
  • The series finale, probably in 2013, will definitely contain a scene shot (when season two was wrapping) with Ted’s kids that relates directly to the identity of their mother.

No confirmation on whether audiences will have to wait until that very last shot of that very last scene of that very last episode of HIMYM to find out who is the Mother of Teddy Boy’s kids, or if she will be revealed before then but be given new meaning based on that last episode.

I’ve long held the theory that whoever the kids’ biological Mother is, “aunt” Robin would actually be the woman Ted raised them with. However, with some of the events from the previous seasons, I’m now almost positive that Robin and Barney end up together, and they get the familiar (and official) titles of Aunt and Uncle due to Ted marrying and having his two kids with Barney’s long lost sister, whom we’ll likely meet at his wedding at the end of this upcoming season. And that last shot? I have no proof — this is just a gut feeling, and I have a decent gut — but it will be the Mother’s grave, or some such image to imply that Ted has been a single dad… the whole time.

While that may seem like a downer to end on, this last line of questioning in the Vulture interview with Bays and Thomas implies that it wouldn’t necessarily have to be a “happy ending” to finish on an uplifting note:

Does everyone have to be happy and together at the end of the series? Carter Bays: No! That’s one of the big messages of this show. We began this series with Ted, twenty years later, his life perfect. But our message is: You really don’t ever hit this point. That moment rarely comes, even twenty years from now. Craig Thomas: You’re always baking. You’re never done. You never feel ready for any of it, but you have to take the leap anyway.

And before any Swarleys out there tell me I’m watching the show wrong, to them I say: Nuh-uh. I like thinking about the mystery because that really just means it’s an excuse to examine the narrative constructs the show presents to tell its story, and what each element means as part of the whole. I watched “Lost” the same way, and it’s why for me, practically any well-executed ending would have worked (not that I would have done the same). It’s fun and games, people. Fun and games.

But I would be interested to hear what theories and outcomes you might have or want in regards to the overall story of “How I Met Your Mother” and the particulars involved in what’s been “revealed” already. Carry on in the comments, my wayward Internet sons (and daughters).

Rob Payne also writes the indie comic The Unstoppable Force, co-hosts the internet radio show We’re Not Fanboys, and theorizes on HIMYM and other miscellany on the Twitter machine @RobOfWar.









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Comments

" I have no proof — this is just a gut feeling, and I have a decent gut — but it will be the Mother’s grave, or some such image to imply that Ted has been a single dad… the whole time."

There was an episode a while back where they were in the future at a 30 or 40 year class reunion, smoking a sandwich they had confiscated (Ted, Marshall and Lily) and Ted started giggling and said "Where's my wife?"

Yes, it's true, he could have remarried, but seriously, Ted's a douche. Could he really find TWO women who would agree to marry him????? So that's my argument for you being wrong.

Because Ted's a douche.

Posted by: tracey8051 at September 12, 2011 11:10 AM

fuck this and my geographical location.

Posted by: marie at September 12, 2011 11:11 AM

I have no time to explain. I have to get back to the reality accelerator before the vortex closes. Only you can save us, Cindy. I must away!

Posted by: Mrs. Julien at September 12, 2011 11:13 AM

I think Barney dies. And I think it's Marshall's final slap that kills him.

Posted by: Meh at September 12, 2011 11:17 AM

Craig Thomas: You’re always baking. You’re never done. You never feel ready for any of it, but you have to take the leap anyway.

Is this a Buffy cookie dough reference?

I stopped watching HIMYM a couple of seasons ago. I catch a couple of episodes every now and then, but it just lost it for me. I may go back and catch up when it's all done and dusted, but as it felt like it was just going to go on and on without a real end I got fed up. It's nice to know they do have an official end in sight though.

Posted by: Carrie at September 12, 2011 11:21 AM

I've always assumed that the very last moment of the show would be the final slap.

Posted by: Mrs. Julien at September 12, 2011 11:25 AM

Mr. Braddock: Ben, this whole idea sounds pretty half-baked.

Benjamin: Oh, it's not. It's completely baked.

Posted by: Scarecrow Boat at September 12, 2011 11:39 AM

I just caught the episode of Ted's first day of teaching at the college, and I had forgotten but he says the mom is in that room that day. I wonder if they'll stick to that or if it's just going to be re-tooled and ignored.

I definitely think Barney and Robin will end up married. I don't think the Mom will be dead, either. At least I hope that if she was, those kids wouldn't sit there on the couch looking so bored if he were talking about their dead mother.

Posted by: Even Stevens at September 12, 2011 12:01 PM

Cool idea, Rob, but sorry, nope. In the flashforward when Ted sees Wendy the Waitress at the airport, she asks if he's still with Zoey and he says "oh god no, that ended badly," and says he's "happily married with two kids and that's a funny story actually"...but she says she has to catch a flight.

I did hear the writers say once there is no trick or gimmick to who the mom is. So I really think this is simply the journey to meeting the mom, no strings attached.

Pretty sure Robin and Barney end up together, but I don't think they are the ones getting married at the end of the season. I bet that it's his wedding to Nora. But then Barney stops it, realizing he loves Robin or something equally dramatic.

Posted by: M at September 12, 2011 12:13 PM

Or Marshall gives him the final slap to make him come to his senses. Oooh, I like that.

Posted by: Mrs. Julien at September 12, 2011 12:16 PM

I like that, too, Mrs. J. But it's probably just a smidge too clever for them to actually do it.

I had forgotten about Ted's direct references to his wife in the future... But, I guess they could feasibly be before Bob Saget begins his tale? I dunno, I'm not a math whiz. The cryptic nature of whatever that last shot with the kids is, unless they've had an actress cast for years and have been masters at subterfuge hiding her identity, I can't think of much else that would utterly redefine or clarify what we already know. Unless it's just the kids saying, "All that for this? Really? Gee, thanks, dad! Ugh, you really are a douche."

Posted by: RobP at September 12, 2011 1:05 PM

In bullet #7 I thought that said "masturbation" instead of "maturation".

Works either way.

Posted by: John W at September 12, 2011 1:16 PM

Why the hell did I start reading that list of spoilers? Am I that starved for decent tv? Apparently I am. I'm getting the cold sweats waiting for Community. Hopefully HIMYM doesn't disappoint.

Posted by: Dave at September 12, 2011 2:29 PM

All it has to be is one shot of them meeting.
"Hey, I'm Ted Mosby, Architect"
FIN

Posted by: Optimus Rhyme at September 12, 2011 5:22 PM

Marshall slapping Barney at Barney's Wedding...

"That's Five!"

Nice.

Posted by: Wembley at September 12, 2011 6:05 PM

For me, I have stopped caring as much about seeing who the mother is. We all know that it will happen and Ted will live happily ever after. But no one knows when The Slap will occur. I have been anticipating that moment since slap number four. The last one better be epic and the funniest moment in television history.

Posted by: Justin at September 12, 2011 7:05 PM

Please refresh my memory kindly Pajibans: When did the 4th slap happen?

Posted by: happy diaz at September 12, 2011 11:55 PM

The fourth slap occured in Slapsgiving 2 after Marshall unties Barney from the chair and says there will be no slap today, but then he slaps him anyway.

The theory of the mother being dead has been tossed around since season 2 or 3, with the explanation that he starts his story with meeting Robin because she is his second wife. But then, everybody forgot this when they paired Barney and Robin up together. So I don't think this is the ending; it's just too obvious.

I still hang onto the belief that the mother is that brunette that Ted bumps into in the club in "No Tomorrow." If it's not her, why even mention this part of the story? To my knowledge, she never comes up again in any other episodes. She has to be important.

Posted by: Pat at September 13, 2011 12:28 AM

In the episode that Barney meets his dad, the dad says he has a son and a daughter that is away in college.... and we know the wife was in college a few seasons ago.... so maybe your theory that "Ted marrying and having his two kids with Barney’s long lost sister" is true!

Posted by: Mark at September 13, 2011 1:30 AM

Showing my HIMYM dorkiness here but.....the series didn't start with him meeting Robin. It started with Marshall proposing to Lily, which then set Ted's Ted-o-logical clock ticking.

Posted by: Corina at September 13, 2011 12:16 PM

It's doubtfull that Ted'll meet The Mother in the show's finale (probably around May 2013): the fact that the daughter seem to be in her late teens in 2030 (probably around 17-18 yrs old) would put her date of birth during the eighth season which would suggest that Ted meet the mother at the end of season 7 or at the beginning of season 8 with the series finale being the daughter's birth.
Unless (and this would coincide with the show's mentality) Ted isn't the biological father of the daughter, met the mother when she was pregnant (or when the daughter was still a baby) and raised the child as his own

Posted by: The_Gaijin at September 15, 2011 4:31 PM