By Spence Blazak
How I Met Your Mother viewership has hit
a sudden surge over the past year, making it the most popular it has ever been
in its 8 season run. Part of HIMYM’s
draw is its unconventional narrative timeline that frequently jumps between
different points in the story and points of view, its episodes that are
satirizing Friends, and its
compelling story. Since the beginning of season 7, the dynamic of the show
changed into something I like to call “The HIMYM
Paradox.”
There was
always a realm of mystery to the show. The setup was too good to resist: 2005’s
Ted Moseby has a terrible love life, but the tale of how he meets “the one” is
told to his children many years in the future. No one except him knows the how,
when, where, or even what parts of his story are real. One of the most interesting
dynamics of the show is how Ted falls in love with a woman named Robyn in the
pilot, before immediately blowing it with her and guaranteeing to the audience
that she is not the mother. As seasons go by, the viewers can’t help but
wonder….is Ted lying?
Not
anymore. At the end of season 6, it is revealed that Ted meets the mother at
the loveable character Barney’s wedding, and at the end of season 7, it is revealed
that Barney is marrying Robyn. While it was a natural plot progression to move
towards a point where the series can end, the problem is that this put every
single character into limbo. Too much is known about the end game to keep it
going for a satisfying 8th (and possibly 9th) season.
At the
beginning of season 8, Barney is engaged to the stripper-with-a-heart-of-gold
Quinn, and by the second episode they have broken up. This leaves all of the
viewers saying “…so?” You know he winds up with Robyn so…in the words of Peter
Griffin, “Who the hell cares?” It was known from the beginning of the season
that the relationship was headed for disaster. It doesn’t really work
poetically either, but just serves as a moment to spur a looking at of one’s
watch, waiting for the two Ted chronologies to catch up with one another.
Another
problem is that the characters of Marshall, Lily, and Ted are in a dramatic stand
still. You know that everything Ted does is doomed in everything he pursues until
he goes to Barney’s wedding, and Marshall and Lily have achieved all of their
goals, are happy, and…don’t really have much a purpose anymore. Jason Segel
(who portrays Marshall) has been achieving huge big screen success and has made
it to the A-List, causing him to look like the quarterback that got a full ride
to Alabama that is just waiting out his senior year of high school in a bunch
of electives.
The way
that How I Met Your Mother can save
itself is to make this its last season, break it off between Ted and Victoria in
an interesting fashion that furthers his character, and keep Barney from dating
Robyn again for awhile, instead throwing him into an existential crisis of some
sort that matures his character. But the most important thing that the show can
do, all fans can agree on….the bringing back of Ranjit the cab driver to be a
regular for the last season.
Ted has gone from mild mannered
architect to beacon of hope for a generation of lovelorn single men, so for his
and everyone’s sake, let’s hope he meets the mother soon.
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