I worry that the writers aren’t actually all that into season 9. They seemed to have a good stopping point planned for season 8 as the series finale, and it seems like being forced to stretch it out into another season may have been detrminental to their vision.

But I don’t actually know them or what they’re thinking so I could be way off :) It is possible that they will do a bang up job of tying everything together across this weekend, but it will take tons of flash backs and forwards to satisfy me. It is important to me that I see Ted bond with the mother and see how they fall in love. Even if it’s love at first sight, there’s that wonderful honeymoon period where you’re so in synch with a new love and the world is so amazing. I’d like for Ted to experience that in a way that lets me see it!

You’re right, though, this time next year I will be wishing for more episodes even if they are crappy. :)

But in “Milk”, he must have paid for the info, because he is able to contact her, ask her out, arrange a date, and then cancel it. So he’s gotta know at the very least her first name and phone number.

I don’t think Cristin Milioti resembles those pictures at all, but that still leaves room for the pics to be Ted’s mental pictures of her. It’s hard to think up a brand new face for someone that you’ve never seen before, you know? Like even right now I was thinking, hmm, can I imagine a hot guy that could be my soulmate? (Only for the purposes of getting in Ted’s head, of course…or not) Anyway, it’s super difficult to imagine a face out of the blue. It always ends up kinda blurry or just a composite of other faces of people you know, celebrities, etc.

I read on Tumblr that your brain can’t dream of faces you’ve never seen before. I don’t know if it’s true but it would make sense for this scenario.

As for Denise Cox, I have wondered the same thing myself! I’ve done some minor snooping online and couldn’t find much to work with either. It would be fascinating to find out how much of the love story was based in truth, and how much developed in the show.

Their wedding announcement was spontaneous – less than a week from the date itself, when Robin was already in Japan.
but Ted and Stella got engaged months before that and spent the summer being engaged, so i think Robin’s freak-out was sometimes after, when she saw how serious they were, a little before she left for Japan.

as for season 9 unfolding.. we’ll just have to wait for this Fall. the writers LOOOVE messing with timelines, so who knows what tricks they have up their sleeves?