Warning: Contains spoilers for How I Met Your Father episode 9.
In the How I Met Your Mother was its lack of diversity in its central characters, which included 5 white straight people. How I Met Your Father has addressed that with a much more diverse range of characters and now season 1 might end with the only happy relationship being a same-sex one.
In How I Met Your Father episode 9, Sophie (Hilary Duff) and Jesse (Christopher Lowell) are dealing with the fallout of their kiss at the end of the previous episode as Sophie plans to break up with Drew (Josh Peck). Valentina (Francia Raisa) upsets Charlie (Tom Ainsley) by not understanding that his attempt to get his friends to watch football is because he is homesick and talks about a possibility for their future. Meanwhile, Sid (Suraj Sharma) and Hannah (Ashley Reyes) get into another argument, this time about Sid’s suggestion that Sophie and Jesse’s kiss was “good cheating."
How I Met Your Father finale, there is room for Ellen (Tien Tran) to have the one and only happy ending. Most of her dating has happened off-screen, but episode 5 introduced the character of Rachel (Aby James), who seemed mutually interested in Ellen. While things ended in a tense situation between the two, Rachel moving in across the hall from Ellen means that there is room for Ellen and Rachel to get together in the How I Met Your Father season 1 finale, representing the only happy couple for the season-ending.
With most of the relationships falling apart in the How I Met Your Father season 1 ending and only Ellen in a happy relationship, the series can echo the How I Met Your Mother season 1 ending with a fresh twist. At the end of How I Met Your Mother season 1, Ted gets together with Robin, but his happiness is juxtaposed by Marshall revealing that Lily has left him to pursue art in LA. There is a natural final scene for How I Met Your Father season 1 where Ellen arrives to give the happy news of her new relationship with Rachel only to find that the rest of the characters are upset and depressed.
Having Ellen be the only character to receive a happy ending in the How I Met Your Father season 1 finale would also be an interesting twist on historic trends. Because of issues set in motion by the Hays Code, LGBTQ+ characters have regularly had been given endings where, even if they don’t die, they are given a sad conclusion to their story, leading to the trope of “burying your gays.” For the only happy relationship at the end of a mainstream sitcom season like How I Met Your Father to be a queer one would be a stark contrast and can help to define How I Met Your Father’s relationship with Ellen and other queer characters going forwards.
How I Met Your Father releases new episodes Tuesdays on Hulu.