I'll be the first to admit that my favorite part of the final season of How I Met Your Mother was the Mother herself, or more accurately Cristin Milioti's performance as the Mother. Needless to say, Cristin Milioti was what first drew me to watch the pilot of A to Z.
From the outset, the viewer is told through an omniscient narrator that the main characters, Andrew (Ben Feldman) and Zelda (Milioti) will date for eight months, three weeks, five days and one hour. This being said, the season will likely end at their break-up, or else it will suffer from spreading those eight months, three weeks, five days and one hour over multiple seasons. Regardless of the fact that we know from episode one (aptly named A is for Acquaintances) that their relationship is doomed, I was still drawn in to the 'fated' couple that is Andrew and Zelda.
While the two first appear to be nearly polar opposites, with Andrew a believer in true love working for a matching making website and Zelda a violently independent lawyer, the personalities they exhibit through their interactions with their slightly over-the-top sidekick best friends prove that they are actually very similar with their quick-witted humor.
The secondary best friends Stu (Henry Zebrowski) and Stephie (Lenora Crichlow) as of yet don't seem to serve much purpose yet other than to encourage Andrew and Zelda to pursue one another, and to show that the shows leads are actually quite normal compared to their counterparts. Stu and Stephie (who's British accent just seems like a quirky add-on) serve as the goofy sidekick trope that permeates almost every sitcom, but other than that, don't seem to be of much importance.
The casting of Milioti in the lead role may have initially pulled me in to the show, but it is the fast-paced witty dialogue and knowledge that the couple probably isn't 'endgame' that will keep me watching A to Z. The show is fast paced through dialogue, which I believe will help keep the upbeat nature of the pilot throughout the season. Like How I Met Your Mother, where the audience knows Ted will end the story by meeting his future wife, the audience also knows that A to Z will end in the break-up of Andrew and Zelda. But will A to Z pull a plot twist like HIMYM did? Maybe the couple will only date for eight months, three weeks, five days and one hour because the show will end in their marriage. This is a show I'll be sticking with to find out.
