How I Met Your Mother Episodes

How I Met Your Mother
toys with its audience.  You can’t take a report, like the following one, about one scene being filmed for a specific episode and draw any meaningful conclusions.  On How I Met Your Mother, not everything is as it seems.  There are fantasies, and lies, and false perspectives all on display.  The structure of How I Met Your Mother is unique: it’s a story being told from the future in the first person.  This conceit gives the writers untold freedom.  They can stage scenes that don’t actually happen, without it being a cheesy dream sequence or fantasy.  So, please take this story with a grain of salt.  It probably doesn’t mean too much, but just in case….

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!  HOLD BACK IF YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE SPOILERS!!!

The LA Times is reporting that How I Met Your Mother has filmed a wedding scene featuring Ted and Stella for an episode set to air in October.  The Times reporter seems to be under the impression that Ted and Stella are indeed getting married.  While that’s a possibility, it’s certainly not a given.  I would be surprised if the filmed wedding wasn’t a fake out of some kind. 

But, let’s suppose that Ted and Stella indeed do get married in an October episode.  That it’s not a flash forward or a fantasy, but the couple actually ties the knot.  What does this mean?  Other than the mere fact that it’s a big story development, people will want to claim that this means Stella is the mother.  I firmly disagree.  I’m still of the belief that Stella’s appearance last season, and the subsequent acceleration of her and Ted’s relationship, was purely a way to give fans closure if CBS had opted not to pick up How I Met Your Mother for a fourth season. 

There are myriad ways the Stella story could go.  Maybe they do get married, but it doesn’t work out.  Maybe Stella will be the mother, eventually.  Having Ted enter a marriage this quickly would be teetering on that dreaded shark jump, and the Mother writers are better than that.  I like Sarah Chalke as much as the next guy, but Stella has never struck me as the actual mother.

What do you think?  My prediction: the marriage scene in question will turn out to be a storytelling advice.  The two will separate prior to actually exchanging vows.