I have been watching TV for a really long time. My whole life. One of my favorite stories that my parents tell me is how when I would wake up early as a young kid, my dad and I would go out into the living room. He would put The Wizard of Oz on and while he would fall asleep, I would sit and watch with my eyes glued to the television.
If I had to pin point moments of my life where TV had an impact, there are many but one of the stand out ones was watching TGIF and more importantly Boy Meets World. That show holds a special place in my heart and in most hearts of my generation. With the news of a sequel, Girl Meets World, excitement and rabid fan response has taken over the Internet, myself included.
Last night, after an extremely personal and emotional episode of How I Met Your Mother, I was thinking about the two shows and came to a realization: the cast of HIMYM is the grown up counter parts of BMW. I posed this theory at lunch and here is my very educated reasoning:
Barney and Robin are Shawn and Angela. They fight, they bicker, they do this little dance and then they divulge their true feelings. Marshall and Lily are Cory and Topanga. The couple that makes you want to believe in true love and makes you realize you will never have that kind of relationship. And Ted, poor lovelorn Ted. He represents Mr. Feeney and Eric. He can be ridiculous (The red cowboy boots that he is "pulling them off.") and full of wisdom ("Shouldn’t we hold out for that person who… not only tolerates our little quirks… but actually kinda likes them?".) Both shows deal with hilarious situations ( doppelgangers and the boys dressed up like girls) and with tragic life moments (Marshall's dad's death and Mr. Turner's motorcycle accident.) I'm not saying it's a perfect comparison but I could easily see the BMW crew turning into the HIMYM gang.
Again the reason for this comparison was last night's episode of HIMYM, "The Time Travelers". I came into episode excited, mostly because it was a new episode that was going to feature Future Ted and Future Barney in some hilarious way according to the previews. What happened was what will now be known as my favorite episode of the series. Without spoiling the episode, the episode was a love letter to the fans.
The show is heavily based in it's own mythology and that has frustrated many of it's fans. Lots of people would like to know who the titular "mother" is but I for one am more than happy to wait until the show deems it necessary for me to have that information. But like Ted, I too have grown jaded and have less reason to hope that my true love is out there. Every relationship seems like it could be the "one" until it ultimately ends in failure and sadness on one side or another. I am the single in a group of doubles and while they all welcome me with openness, Ted and I both are just in a holding pattern and we are close to despair.
But this is where the show gives us despairing souls, including Ted, some bittersweet hope. In true romance fashion, Ted imagines running to his soon-to-be wife's apartment and gives one of the most heartbreaking, hopefully bittersweet speeches in the history of television. I'm going to have to share it with you so SPOILER ALERT:
“Hi. I’m Ted Mosby,” Narrator Ted imagined himself saying, “and exactly
45 days from now, you and I are going to meet, and we’re going to fall
in love and we’re going to get married and we’re going to have two kids.
We’re going to love them and each other so much. All that is 45 days
away. But I’m here now, I guess, because I want those extra 45 days with
you. I want each one of them. If I can’t have them, I’ll take the 45
seconds before your boyfriend shows up and punches me in the face.
Because I love you. I’m always going to love you. To the end of my days
and beyond.”
I realize that this is television and someone wrote this for a fictional character. I understand that life is not a TV show and that you don't get to have moments where you tell your future self it'll be OK. But... wouldn't it be amazing if you could? Wouldn't it be worth every moment of heartbreak?
As tears fell down from my face during this moment I could help but think, "It's gonna be legend- wait for it...."
