Doppelgangers (How I Met Your Mother)

"Doppelgangers"
How I Met Your Mother episode
Episode no.	Season 5 Episode 24
Directed by	Pamela Fryman
Written by	Carter Bays and Craig Thomas
Production code	5ALH23
Original air date	May 24, 2010 (2010-05-24)
Guest stars
Benjamin Koldyke (Don) Brian Huskey (Sal) Bette Rae (Margaret) Mina Kim (Korean Woman) Bonnie Bailey-Reed (Flo) Brianna Belladonna (Petra)[1]
Season 5 episodes
Definitions Double Date Robin 101 The Sexless Innkeeper Duel Citizenship Bagpipes The Rough Patch The Playbook Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap The Window Last Cigarette Ever Girls Versus Suits Jenkins Perfect Week Rabbit or Duck Hooked Of Course Say Cheese Zoo or False Home Wreckers Twin Beds Robots Versus Wrestlers The Wedding Bride Doppelgangers

"Doppelgangers" is the 24th and final episode of the fifth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 112th episode overall. It originally aired on May 24, 2010.

Plot

Although Marshall is ready to have a baby, Lily is not, so they reach a compromise: they make a pact to start trying to have a baby once they finally see Barney's doppelgänger. One day they finally spot Barney's doppelgänger, who appears in the form of a brunette cab driver, but later find out it is only Barney's tactic to pick up women from the UN headquarters and sleep with one woman from every country on the planet. Meanwhile, Ted decides to get his hair dyed blonde, much to the amusement of the gang. Robin finally gets an offer for her dream job as lead anchor at rival station WNKW. However, she eventually decides to give it up as it requires her to move to Chicago and she wants to stay in New York for the sake of her relationship with Don. Having nearly had to deal with Robin's departure, Barney realizes that the addition of a baby to the gang would not be that bad after all, and dresses up as an Estonian street performer in order to convince Lily that the fifth doppelgänger has appeared. Lily and Marshall see through his act, but thank him for the gesture, assuring him that he will be a part of their family.

Robin is disappointed when Don tells her that he accepted the WNKW job. Heart-broken that Don was not willing to give up the job like she did, she breaks up with him and moves back to Ted's apartment. Ted tells her that although they have all been searching for their doppelgängers, things have changed so much in the five years since they first met that the five of them are now, in fact, doppelgängers of their own selves. Ted comforts Robin by saying she has become more courageous and that doppelgänger Robin is 'amazing'. They nearly make out, but Robin bursts out in laughter when she takes off his cap and sees his blond hair again. Four months later, Lily sees a street vendor selling pretzels who bears an uncanny resemblance to Barney and gathers the rest of the gang to witness the doppelgänger, but they find that the vendor looks nothing like Barney. Just as Barney is about to protest, Marshall stops him. They realize that one only sees what one wants to see, when one wants to see it, and know that Lily is finally ready to have kids.

Music

• "Lifesize" by A Fine Frenzy
• "Hungarian Dance No. 5" by Johannes Brahms (when Barney talks about leasing a cab to get together with foreign chicks)

Continuity

• The show has a running joke that doppelgängers exist for the main cast. Prior to this episode, we have seen: Stripper Lily,^[2] Mustache Marshall^[2] Lesbian Robin,^[2] and Mexican Wrestler Ted.^[3]
• In the episode "Robots Versus Wrestlers", Lily tells Marshall that when they see the final doppelgänger (Barney's), that will be a sign that they need to start trying to have a baby. They finally see Barney's doppelganger, a fertility specialist named Dr. Stangel, in the season six episode "Bad News".
• "Telepathic" conversations taking place between members of the group were previously used in "Mary the Paralegal", "Bachelor Party", "Three Days of Snow", "Shelter Island", and "Murtaugh".
• The gang's issue with Ted "pulling off" certain styles was first explicatively highlighted in "Everything Must Go", with his red cowboy boots. In other episodes, it has included an old shirt, how he does his hair and his goatee.
• While discussing whether Ted can pull off "that blond look", he mentions working for a summer as a lifeguard at a country club. At the end of the fourth season episode The Possimpible, you can also see part of Ted's resume as he erases his stint as Dr. X at his university, and it shows that Ted worked as a lifeguard at a condominium complex in the summer of 1998.
• The episode flashes back to "fireworks kiss" of Robin and Don's "Super Date" in "Of Course".
• Don mentions having given up on "pants", referring to the time that he didn't wear them during his first broadcast with Robin in "Last Cigarette Ever".
• Towards the end, the episode flashes back to the very beginning, the series' pilot, showing Marshall and Lily after their first engagement, the flashback to how Ted met Barney, Ted meeting Robin across the crowded bar, and to a scene in "Definitions" with Barney and Robin's first public appearance as a couple.
• In Barney's world map, Argentina is not checked off. At Marshall and Lily's wedding however, he tells to Robin and Ted that he once has been with an Argentinean exchange student.
• In the episode Right Place Right Time Robin remarks that there isn't much 'ethnic diversity' in the women Barney has slept with (in regards to viewing his 'list'). It could be that the world map is a new goal he's had since reaching 200.
• Marshall uses a variation on his phrase "Lawyered" in this episode, when he and Lily are talking about what the universe wants and they see Barney's doppelgänger he says "Universed".
• Lily quotes the episode "Not a Father's Day" when she says "Marshall Eriksen, put a baby in my belly."
• In "Last Cigarette Ever", Future Ted states that Lily quits smoking on the day she decides to get pregnant, which she does at the end of this episode. Thus making Lily the first character on the show to quit smoking for good.

Barney's blog

• Barney's blog is again mentioned in this episode, as well as Barney telling people to read it.
• Barney explains why you should not have kids until you are at least 45. He also mocks Ted for dying his hair blonde.^[4]

Cultural references

• Among some of the names the group calls Blonde Ted are Billy Idol, Slim Shady, Brigitte Nielsen, Dolph Lundgren and Ellen DeGeneres. Lundgren and Nielsen were mentioned as a homage to their roles in Rocky IV.
• Ted uses the Washington Generals and the Harlem Globetrotters as a metaphor for Robin's career and love life.
• Barney spoofs Jules Verne's book, Around The World In Eighty Days, with him getting "around the world in 180 lays".

Critical response

The AV Club gave the episode a B rating.^[5]

IGN gave the episode a rating of 8.9 out of 10.^[6]

Cindy McLennan of Television Without Pity gave the episode a C+ rating.^[7]

References

1. ^ "Press release: Episode Title: (#524) "Doppelgangers"". http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings/20100427cbs03/. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} "Double Date". How I Met Your Mother. CBS. 2009-09-28. No. 2, season 5.
3. ^ "Robots Versus Wrestlers". How I Met Your Mother. CBS. 2010-05-10. No. 22, season 5.
4. ^ Stinson, Barney (2010-05-24). "Barney's Blog: 45". Archived from the original on 2010-05-29. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbs.com%2Fprimetime%2Fhow_i_met_your_mother%2Fcommunity%2Fbarney_blog%2Findex.php&date=2010-05-29. Retrieved 2010-05-30. 
5. ^ Donna Bowman (2010-05-24). "How I Met Your Mother "Doppelgangers"". The A.V. Club. The Onion. http://www.avclub.com/articles/doppelgangers,41480/. 
6. ^ Amanda Sloane Murray (2010-05-25). "How I Met Your Mother: "Doppelgangers" Review". IGN. News Corporation. http://tv.ign.com/articles/109/1092563p1.html. 
7. ^ Cindy McLennan (2010-05-26). "How I Met Your Mother: This Just In". Television Without Pity. NBC Universal. http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/how_i_met_your_mother/doppelgangers_1.php. 

External links

External images
How I Met Your Mother - Doppelgangers
	Promotional Image: Marshall and Lily meet a man who looks like Barney

• Doppelgangers at the Internet Movie Database
• Doppelgangers at TV.com
• "Doppelgangers - Promotional Photos". Spoiler TV. http://www.spoilertv.com/2010/04/how-i-met-your-mother-episode-524.html.