HIMYF Season 2 Finale: Does Charlie and Val End Up Together?

The How I Met Your Mother season 2 finale was full of reunions, revelations, and heartbreaks. Jesse and Sophie finally got together after two seasons worth of will-they-won’t they, while Sid and Hannah headed towards a separation.

But the surprise element in the series came from my personal favorite ship in the show – Charlie and Val. Val and Charlie have been perfect for each other throughout the series, with the perfect amount of fun and romance. Other than their difference in opinion about kids, there’s absolutely nothing to stop them from getting together.

In the How I Met Your Father season 2 finale, an older Sophie, narrating the story, confirms that Charlie and Val had a son named Alex. While she doesn’t explicitly mention that they get together, Sophie’s words increase their chances of ending up together.

1. Will Charlie and Val end up together?

Although an older Sophie reveals that Charlie and Val had a son named Alex, she does not confirm that the couple will end up together or are still together (when she is narrating the story to her son).

However, considering what we’ve seen of them till now, there is a high chance Charlie and Val will eventually end up together. Valentina loves Charlie and has mentioned it multiple times. Charlie, too, has feelings for her, and the two haven’t had a serious relationship with others ever since they broke up.

The only reason why Charlie and Val are not together is because Charlie does not want kids, while for Val, that is a deal breaker. Charlie and Val’s relationship is the most mature one in the series, in my opinion.

Neither Charlie nor Val has any commitment issues, unlike the assumed lead couple in the series. When they do have issues, they decide to communicate them to each other rather than assuming things, making a mess, and involving others in their mess.

So, it only makes sense for them to end up together if Charlie changes his mind about kids. Since Sophie confirms that the couple has a child together, Charlie definitely changes his mind. Even if the child is not his biological son, he perhaps doesn’t mind raising kids anymore.

2. Whose son is Alex?

In the season 2 finale, Sophie reveals that Charlie and Val had a son named Alex. We also see a picture of the family together. But she never mentions that Alex is Charlie’s son.

I am assuming that Alex is Val’s biological child. But before guessing who Alex’s biological father is, let’s talk about the conversation that led to Sophie revealing about Alex.

As per Sophie, Val hooked up with Sophie’s ex-boyfriend, Drew, on the night of the hurricane. She describes Val’s thing with Drew as a “huge mess” but says that had Val not hooked up with Drew that night, she and Charlie would not have Alex.

Maybe Val got pregnant after hooking up with Charlie and decided to keep the kid. Charlie then decides to get back together with her or change his mind about kids, so they bring up Alex together.

If we go by the most obvious route, I guess Charlie and Val got married and had Alex together. But I don’t think it would be that simple.

3. Does Charlie change his mind about kids?

Another big question is whether Charlie changed his mind or there is something more to it. Since HIMYF is taking a more progressive, inclusive approach than previous sitcoms in the 90s and early 2000s (including the original HIMYM), I don’t think Charlie would have Alex if not for his own will.

I mean, a track like Ross and Rachel having Emma or Leonard and Penny getting pregnant will not be the case. It would not be an accident.

The series has been hinting at Charlie’s reasons for not wanting kids. The most important of them is perhaps Charlie’s insecurity about his inability to be a good parent. In the season finale, he talks about how his mother left him alone at home during storms when he was a kid, despite him being scared of them.

So, Charlie also has abandonment issues, and he may not have had the perfect childhood. His character has some similarities with Robin’s upbringing in HIMYM in this regard. For context, Robin, too, did not want kids.

Maybe Charlie’s childhood trauma is why he fears being a father and taking responsibility. Val has always been supportive of him, even as a friend. For example, Val calms Charlie down during the hurricane and makes sure he gets over his fear.

Perhaps slowly, Charlie will also get over his insecurities and want to become a father. I hope the series deals with this issue sensitively and does not make it look like subtle gaslighting.

Nevertheless, let’s hope Charlie and Val end up together because no one deserves a happy ending more than Val!

4. About How I Met Your Father

How I Met Your Father (HIMYF) is a spinoff series of the incredibly successful CBS show, How I Met Your Mother. The original show ran for nine seasons, from 2005 to 2014, quickly making its mark with a dedicated cult-like fanbase.

HIMYF was announced to start production in April 2021 with the Lizzy McGuire star Hilary Duff playing the lead called Sophie, narrating her journey to her children in the future.

The show’s flashbacks will start from Sophie and her close friends navigating love, life and struggles in the modern era of dating, paying bills and more, in 2021.

Created by writers Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger of This Is Us fame and directed by the original show’s director, Pamela Fryman, the first season of HIMYF is revealed to have 10 episodes. No further details have yet been released.