6 big questions for the How I Met Your Mother finale

How I Met Your Mother Finale

After nine seasons, we’ll finally learn how (or if) Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) found marital bliss with “The Mother” (Cristin Milioti) in the two-part How I Met Your Mother finale, “Last Forever,” airing Monday, March 31, at 8pm ET/PT. We’ll also learn what happened to newlyweds Robin and Barney (Cobie Smulders, Neil Patrick Harris) and Italy-bound parents Lily and Marshall (Alyson Hannigan, Jason Segel).

How I Met Your Mother Finale

Theories for how the series will end abound, and Hannigan says all our questions will be answered, even those we didn’t know we had. While we ponder those, here are the six big questions we do have heading into the How I Met Your Mother finale:

What happens on the train platform? So there’s that image of Ted sitting at the train platform in Farhampton after Barney and Robin’s wedding, reading a book, while The Mother stands in the rain with The Yellow Umbrella and her bass guitar case. Clearly we know Ted doesn’t go to Chicago, since he and The Mother have a date three days later. Does meeting her here lead to a train ride home together and the setting up of that date that eventually changes Ted’s mind about Chicago?

How I Met Your Mother finale

Is The Mother dead? An ominous exchange between Ted and The Mother in this season’s episode “Vesuvius” certainly hinted at The Mother’s demise (fueling more theories that Ted does end up with Robin). But Milioti called that theory “insane” (but, really, what is she supposed to say?) It would make for one massive tearjerker of a series finale. If it was just a red herring tossed in there, at least maybe we could get some explanation on what exactly that exchange was about.

Do Robin and Barney stay married? Flash forwards have shown Robin and Barney without their wedding rings, leading to speculation that their marriage doesn’t last. I have always felt Barney and Robin lacked chemistry (Robin’s doubt right before the wedding only reinforced that idea), and I’ve never fully bought into their relationship. Some longtime fans have always felt Ted and Robin will somehow end up together eventually.

How I Met Your Mother Finale

What’s The Mother’s name? Not that it matters much in the big picture of the series, but it’s still a mystery (sort of like how Mr. Big’s name remained unknown until the Sex and the City series finale).

How does Marshall save the world? While Marshall’s career as an environmental lawyer hit a few snags, we’re told in “Field Trip” Season 7, Episode 5, that Marshall and his boss do indeed end up saving the world, though we’re not told specifically how. So what chain of events did Marshall set off in this episode that eventually made him the savior of the planet?

How does Future Ted end the story? What final words will Bob Saget utter in the series, and will they be, well … legendary? The very end of the story was filmed back in 2006, with the show’s creators wanting to have the finale set before the child actors got too old or in case the series faced abrupt cancellation. But just as anticipated as the story’s closing lines, we’d like to know what was the impetus for Ted telling the story to begin with (other than Ted liking to tell stories).

How do you want to see How I Met Your Mother end? Tell us in the comments!

 

Photos: (Finale) Credit: Ron P. Jaffe/Fox © 2014 Fox Television. All rights reserved

About Ryan Berenz 2166 Articles
Member of the Television Critics Association. Charter member of the Ancient and Mystic Society of No Homers. Squire of the Ancient & Benevolent Order of the Lynx, Lodge 49, Long Beach, Calif. Costco Wholesale Gold Star Member since 2011.