If you think way back to the first time we met How I Met Your Mother‘s Barney Stinson, the idea of him getting married was the most absurd thing I could think of. Things have obviously changed in the last couple seasons, as one of the bigger mysteries of the show has been the identity of his future bride. “The Magician’s Code” finally delivered on the big reveal and it absolutely landed it.
Technically, my predictions have been wrong these last couple of weeks. I had posited that the intended couple would be Barney and Nora (earlier) or Quinn (more recently). In the future, there would be some last minute, sitcom-esque shenanigans that would eventually install Robin as the rightful bride, with everyone living happily ever after – except, I guess, the spurned bride. I’m much happier with Robin being the intended bride for a variety of reasons, including eliminating the idea of HIMYM revisiting someone not getting married that was supposed to – but more on that later. Obviously the story of next season will have to include how we get from Barney’s (awesome) proposal to Quinn to his wedding with Robin. Knowing that the show is headed in the right direction is incredibly reassuring.
If there is anything I’ve appreciated about this season of How I Met Your Mother, it is the recognition that Victoria is Ted’s “one that got away,” and not Robin. She’s only shown up a couple of times, but she’s played a significant role, considering she’s the one that put the bug in Ted’s ear about not being over Robin. If there is any woman that the show has ever featured that I think could be the titular mother, it is Victoria. And, surprisingly I don’t really have a problem if she’s just a bit of misdirection/obstacle until Barney and Robin’s wedding OR if we discover Future Ted has been a bigger unreliable narrator than we originally believed. There’s always been something about them as a couple – or even the idea of them as a couple – that has worked for me. If we have to discover that we’ve been lied to to make it work, then I’m willing to forgive the writers for that one.
No matter how Victoria and Ted’s story eventually ends, he is going to feel incredibly guilty for what he’s done. As much as I like Victoria, I’m a little disappointed in Ted. I’m glad he as a character – and the show in general – didn’t forget that he’d been left at the altar once himself. I would hope though, as Ted generally comes off as a (occasionally douchey) good guy, that the memory would result in more than just a quick pause in his decision-making process. His words were that it almost killed him. What will the guilt of having done that to someone else do to him?
What did you think of the season finale?
The Lily’s In Labor website is real, but we’ve embedded the video below:
Notes & Quotes
Clacked by Ivey West 
on May 14, 2012 @ 21:39 EST5EDT
HA! So the whole time I was watching this, I was thinking that your two dreams for this show were shattered — when Barney proposed to Quinn, I was sure she’d be the bride, and I also thought Ted was going to finally end it with Victoria and shed get married. Wasn’t I surprised — and aren’t you sitting pretty! ;-)
*POST AUTHOR*
Hateraide!!
I’m not saying Victoria SHOULD be the mother, I’m just saying I wouldn’t have a problem if she was :)
Anyone else still wondering about the obvious hiding of Barney’s ring finger in one of the flash forward clips from a few weeks ago? Just wondering if that plays a part…
Might be like the “Marshal loves /smenameiforgot” tshirt shown earlier in the season that got people thinking maybe he and Lily were going to separate at some point.
Still think Ted’s wife is going to be Barney’s Half Sister. Some of the stuff Future Ted said about what happened when he met his mother makes it impossible that Victoria is the mom
*POST AUTHOR*
If we can believe everything Future Ted says, then sure. I’ve been pimping the “Carly is the mother” theory ever since she was first referenced.
But if Future Ted turns out to be an unreliable narrator or outright lying – which is a distinct possibility and there is some prescidence – then anything can happen.
that’ll be a pretty big lie. To lie different times over multiple seasons about something that’s important to him in telling his kids how he met their mother after getting mad at his parents for how they met
well we should still take note that something “horribly wrong” will happen in Barney’s wedding.. :)
Victoria is not the mother. That students roommate is.
*POST AUTHOR*
I’ll just quote myself for emphasis:
“If there is any woman that the show has ever featured that I think could be the titular mother, it is Victoria. And, surprisingly I don’t really have a problem if she’s just a bit of misdirection/obstacle until Barney and Robin’s wedding OR if we discover Future Ted has been a bigger unreliable narrator than we originally believed.”
I don’t think Victoria is the mother. I think Carly is the mother. But I do not believe everything that Future Ted has ever said to be 100% reliable, and will not necessarily use certain things he has said to disprove every theory that might pop up.
We talk so much about the wedding and Victoria that we didn’t really talk about the episode before that! I thought that episode was 80% genius and 20% kinda crappy.
I loved the small stories, specially the freakishly long hair and the closet one. And ofc little Lilly and her dad and Marshall vs the machine. But… man the overacting at the hospital was hurting my eyes. I loved their doctor in the previous episode but today I just couldn’t take the over the top acting, and also to some extent Alyson herself, as much as I love her. Anyone felt the same?
it was obvious for robin to be the bride because in season 6 epi 12 robin asks ted to be her best man and he agrees so at the end of the season when lily says that the bride wants to see you ..so it did give a clue cause over 1 season (24 epi) it wasnt likely for ted to develop such a relationship with any girl that would make the girl ask for the best man..
That is a really good point. Why would any other girl have asked to see Ted on her Wedding day?
Victoria isn’t the mother. The show is called “How I Met Your Mother,” and isn’t called “How I Wasted 8 Years Between Meeting Your Mother and Starting a Relationship with Her.” It’s funny when Future Ted gets mixed up like with the goat and calling that girl Honey because he couldn’t remember her real name, that’s all well and good but those are the minor details. We shouldn’t forget that the show is set up such that we aren’t the intended audience, Ted’s kids are the intended audience, and they know how it all works out in the end, they would know if Victoria was their mom the second Marshall described the wedding cake as the best cake in the world. Victoria isn’t the mother, but I think in Season 8 she is going to be a major step that eventually leads Ted to his future wife.