I defy you to find a single fan of How I Met Your Mother who isn’t asking themselves exactly that question in the wake of last night’s humdinger of an ending — which seemed to strongly hint (if not outright reveal) that Sarah Chalke’s Stella is the show’s eponymous mom. Unfortunately, only two people on the planet know the answer. Fortunately, I just got off the phone with one of ‘em –executive producer Carter Bays!
Is Stella the mother?
CARTER BAYS: I won’t say whether she’s the mother or not, [but] we were definitely very careful in the wording of the narration. Obviously, we’re not going to say, ‘Okay, here she is! Show’s over.”
Was it an intentional fake-out?
BAYS: Nothing’s a fake-out on this show. We established very early on
that this is a very windy, twisty story, and the message of the show is
there’s a ridiculous series of events that has to happen before this
guy meets the woman he marries… I will say this about the next two
episodes: Everything will be made clear and it will move the ball
forward.
You certainly got people talking.
BAYS: We freaked out a ton of people. We’ve never really kept a big
secret from the audience. And what secrets we do have we usually tell
people and there are usually spoilers floating around. And this kind of
felt like, “Let’s try and do something that takes everyone by surprise
and really blow people’s minds.” And I think we did it.
What kind of reaction have you been getting?
BAYS: It seems to be split 50/50; some people loved it but a lot of
people really hated it. And I certainly don’t want to tell you that I
like it when people hate my show, but knowing where the next two
episodes go, I feel like those are both legitimate reactions and both
what we were going for.
Does the yellow umbrella belong to Stella?
BAYS: I can’t say one way or the other.
Can you give me a preview of next week’s episode?
BAYS: We’ll reveal why Ted running into her again is such huge moment.
He already ran into her once before and didn’t do anything, but this
one has more meaning and we’ll find out why next week.
Is it your plan to hold off on confirming the identity of the mother is until the final episode of the series?
BAYS: That’s always been the plan, but obviously we have a lot of options at our fingertips.
Which side of the 50/50 split do you fall on? And how do you think Stella figures into the Mother mystery? Weigh in below! And then check out Ask Ausiello on Thursday to see out what else Bays told me about this season’s final two episodes.
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STELLA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
She is so very much NOT THE MOTHER.
I would be shocked if she was but that I did not love the character of Stella at the beginning.
SPOILER!!
she is on the episode next week and so is Tony…..They are together why would she be the mother.
Not a Stella fan, I hope she is not the mother. Don’t think she is.
I don’t think she is the mother, but I think she is somehow involved with him meeting her. Whether it be moving on with his life that has been at a somewhat standstill, or actually introducing her.
He did say in the 3 days rule, that after he got the kids’ mother’s number he called her right away, and that wasn’t exactly what happened with Stella right?
PS. I do have a question. In Marshall’s diagrams who was Cecila?
I thought it was a great episode, but Stella is not the mother – he has already “met” her. I do believe she will ultimately introduce Ted to the mom.
I think Stella is not the mother but through her the mother is introduced- like her friend or something
I like Stella, but I don’t think she should be the mother. I still like the idea of Victoria being the mother, as far-fetched as that idea may be.
Stella is a cool character, but the way she left Ted at the altar sort of soured her character for me. I won’t hate the show is she’s revealed to be the mother, but I would much prefer a different character to be the titular mother.
Hell, even Trudy the One/Two-Night-Stand girl would make for a more interesting mother.
I’m guessing it goes down like this:
Ted and Stella talk. Stella sees the umbrella, mentions she has a friend who lost one just like that at a St. Patrick’s Day party, Ted mentions that’s where he found that particular umbrella, Stella arranges for them to meet, and kids… that’s how I met your mother.
“I defy you to find a single fan of How I Met Your Mother who isn’t asking themselves exactly that question”
Actually I would contend that any one who is a fan of the show would be nearly 100% sure she is not the mother since they basically said as much on the show.
When Stella left Ted at the alter they did a scene where future Ted told his children if she had gone through with the wedding then they would look a lot different and then they showed a scene where the two kids were blond instead of dark haired.
I dont think she’s the mother. That’d be too simple. Also, that carefully worded narration smells “fake out!” to me. Also, the story STARTS when Ted meets Robin…. so SOMEHOW, the mother has to circle back to that moment or that night (the restaurant? the horn?)
Not the mother! I’m thinking that she and her husband will lead Ted down the road that will point to his wife. I hope the show does not end with finding the mother. I hope in fact that it shows some of their relationship once they are together. I’m hoping that the sexy pumpkin is the mother.
I assume that she isn’t the mother, what with Scrubs possibly (probably?) getting picked up for another season. Still, I’m not a fan of Stella. I happened to be watching some Season 1 episodes this week and realized how much I liked Victoria as a match for Ted.
i didn’t like stella or this episode. but of course she’s not the mother. she can’t be. for god’s sake, she doesn’t like star wars!
Christina – the Cecila on Marshall’s chart was from the Paul Simon song. The lyrics say “Cecila…You’re breaking my heart. You’re shaking my confidence daily”. That’s why it was funny.
Slutty pumpkin! I forgot about her. That would be funny, if only because we get to see Barney in his Top Gun Halloween costume again!
Why meeting Robin was the starting point:
-Ted went out with Robin
-Ted broke up with Robin
-Ted got the tattoo
-Ted got the tattoo removed via Stella
-Ted and Stella got engaged
-Ted and Stella broke-up
-Ted has a chance meeting with Stella
-Stella leads Ted to his eventual wife.
If Ted never went out with Robin, none of this would have happened. As it has been said, the entire series is about all of the little situations that lead to an important point of your life.
Marshall’s Cecilia chart has lyrics from the Paul Simon song Cecilia.
“PS. I do have a question. In Marshall’s diagrams who was Cecila?” It’s a joke on the song. “Cecelia”, by Simon & Garfunkel: lyrics: “Cecilia, you’re breaking my heart,You’re shaking my confidence daily.” See? Cecelia is the intersect of doing BOTH. It took me a few seconds to get that joker — then laugh out loud.
@Christine – the celia chart was in reference to a simon & garfunkel song
Stella can not be the mother – there was already an episode where they showed two blond kids sitting there with stella walking in
Complete List Of US Phone Area Codes: http://www.lookuphistory.com/area_codes.php
Cecilia is a song by Simon and Garfunkel, http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x25ntu_simon-garfunkel-cecilia_music
Marshall was quoting the song’s lyrics in his diagram
If she’s the mother I give up. Stella is not right for Ted with the NJ issue
I agree wholeheartedly with many commenters below that Stella is not the mother. I never considered for a moment that she was, but instead him running into her is yet another step in his path. I enjoyed the episode, though, and am particularly enjoying Barney’s arc this season.
I don’t think it matters who the mother is. I believe that he is telling the kids how he met their mother while they are visiting him (because perhaps he and their mother are separated) and “Aunt” Robin will be the one he ends up with. Just a theory.
I hope that the Mother turns out to be either the Slutty Pumpkin or the Pineapple girl.
EXACTLY, Dan, the “Shelter Island” episode was so explicit that Stella was not the mother and how everything would have been different had they been married, most notably the existence of the children. Do fans really have that short a memory? Stella’s a link to the mother, which also helps explain all of the different storylines the past 4 seasons (Ted dating Robin, hooking up with Mandy Moore, who gave him the tattoo that allowed him to meet Stella, etc etc etc). The creators always said this was a journey, and now the progression is finally starting to make sense.
Last week’s episode, Ted said in his voiceover that when he met the kids’ mother he called her the next day. When he first met Stella, he didn’t seem to call her the next day. So they already ruled out Stella. Besides, there has been no talk about Sarah Chaulke not being available for Scrubs if it is renewed where most of the other actors have been discussed as attached to other projects.
I’m not going to say that if Stella is the mother I’ll stop watching the show, because honestly I’m watching the show for Barney/Robin, but I will be really mad if that take that road. I do not like Stella and I do not like the idea of her being the mother.
Does anyone think Robin’s preggers? (on the show, she is obviously preggers in real life) She has been smelling weird things, puking, and lots of other pregnancy signs for the past 2 or 3 episodes. No one is talking about it??