Of Course
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"Of Course" is the seventeenth episode of the fifth season of the CBS situation comedy How I Met Your Mother and 105th episode overall. It originally aired on March 8, 2010.
Plot
The New York Police Department's river patrol pulls Barney out of the Hudson River one night in March 2010. Upon being asked to explain by a police officer how he got there, Barney explains that the chain of events started one week before.
He had picked up another woman at MacLaren's. However, she suddenly leaves him just when they were ready to return to his place. Meanwhile, Robin and Don, who have established good chemistry on their morning show, hang out with Marshall and Lily at the bar. Marshall encourages Robin to keep Don, to the point that he later pretends to be Robin accepting Don's invitation for a date. At Ted's apartment, Barney tells the gang about his failure to snag the woman. Ted claims that the woman may have read tips from a certain book called Of Course You're Still Single, Take a Look at Yourself, You Dumb Slut. However, after checking out the book for a loophole, Barney discovers that the woman he met at the bar, Anita, is the author and announces plans to get her in bed with him.
Later at the bar, Robin admits to Marshall and Lily that she met Anita during a segment on her show, wherein she told Anita the truth about Barney and their breakup. Anita shows how to break Barney's spirit by saying "No," which she demonstrates on the cameraman who suddenly gets her some coffee. After Barney had talked about one too many of his new ladies, Robin calls Anita and told her to put her plan into action. Marshall confesses to Lily about being upset that he'd been pushing Robin to keep up with Barney's sexual activity after their breakup. He was particularly mad at himself for rubbing Barney's exploits in Robin's face through song (which went, "bang, bang, bangity-bang"). Barney tells Ted about his failure to find a counter-strategy in Anita's book. Although Ted tells him to combine 17 dates into one "super-date," they go to a strip club instead.
Robin cancels her date with Don after Ted informs her of the super-date Barney was planning. Marshall later vents his anger at Ted for crushing Robin - he (and also Barney) joined Marshall on the "bang bang, bangity bang" song. Then Ted realizes he, too, had been a jerk to Robin after she tried to bounce back from her breakup with Barney. After hugging Robin at the restroom, the three head to Barney's apartment, where Lily narrates to him every occasion that Robin cried somewhere else and later vented her frustration at the shooting range after hearing Barney brag about his sexual conquests. Barney heads off to the shooting range and apologizes to Robin about preparing a wonderful date for Anita when he never tried it even once with her. He decides to let Robin and Don go on the super-date.
Anita confronts Barney at the bar for not showing up on their own date and finds herself being treated to her own "No" strategy. Barney is defiant and Anita offers him multiple compromise offers, the last of which prompts him to head to the Hudson River and jump. Barney is later fined $500 for the misdemeanor and watches fireworks meant to cap off the super date, while Don and Robin kiss watching them. Robin declines to talk to the gang about the date the following morning, but later breaks into the "bang, bang, bangity bang" song and everyone except Barney joins in.
Continuity
- The episode refers to Barney and Robin's break up in "The Rough Patch."[1]
- Robin's habit of saying "but...umm" is referenced in her interview with Anita.[2][3]
- Flashbacks of Robin's depression include scenes from " The Playbook" and "Rabbit or Duck."
- Marshall's tendency to sing songs based on current situations can be traced in episodes like "Sweet Taste of Liberty" and " Spoiler Alert."
- Cameraman Mike immediately went off Robin's hook, and got on Anita's hook in this episode.[4]
Cultural references
- Barney explains to the gang that he did something else much worse in his stormtrooper helmet when the Star Wars film The Phantom Menace came out.[2]
- Anita's dating book Of Course You're Still Single, Take a Look at Yourself, You Dumb Slut satirizes self-help books such as The Rules.[2]
Production
- In the series so far, only Alyson Hannigan has not sung the lead in a song, whereas the other four lead characters have. Cobie Smulders has sung her Robin Sparkles numbers "Let's Go To The Mall" (from Season 2 episode Slap Bet) & "Sandcastles In The Sand"(from Season 3 episode Sandcastles In The Sand), Jason Segel has sung "You Just Got Slapped"(from Season 3 episode Slapsgiving) & "It Was The Best Night Ever"(from Season 5 episode The Sexless Innkeeper), Neil Patrick Harris has sung "Nothing Suits Me Like A Suit" (from Season 5 episode Girls Versus Suits) and Josh Radnor has sung "Super Date," from this episode. This is due to Alyson Hannigan's strong fear of singing in public, a trait that was given to her character Willow from Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Critical response
Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club rated the episode with a grade A-.[5]
Brian Zoromski of IGN gave the episode 9 out of 10.[2]
References
- ^ "The Rough Patch". How I Met Your Mother. Season 5. Episode 7. CBS.
{{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter|episodelink=ignored (|episode-link=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|serieslink=ignored (|series-link=suggested) (help) - ^ a b c d Brian Zoromski. "How I Met Your Mother: Of Course Review. Bang, bang, bangity bang". IGN. News Corporation.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|accesdate=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "Jenkins". How I Met Your Mother. Season 5. Episode 13. CBS.
{{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter|episodelink=ignored (|episode-link=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|serieslink=ignored (|series-link=suggested) (help) - ^ Hooked
- ^ Donna Bowman. "How I Met Your Mother: Of Course". The AV Club. Retrieved 2010-03-19.
External Links
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