- Of Course (How I Met Your Mother)
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"Of Course" How I Met Your Mother episode Episode no. Season 5
Episode 17Directed by Pamela Fryman Written by Matt Kuhn Production code 5ALH17 Original air date March 8, 2010 Guest stars Jennifer Lopez (Anita)
Joni Bovill (Officer McKie)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
"Of Course" is the seventeenth episode of the fifth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother and 105th episode overall. It originally aired on March 8, 2010.
Contents
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 Anita (Jennifer Lopez) 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 that he is going to seduce her.
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 ("bang, bang, bangity-bang"). Barney tells Ted about his failure to find a counter-strategy in Anita's book. Ted concocts a strategy (in song) of a plan to combine 17 dates into one "super-date," which Barney says is gooey and romantic.
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 his super-date, promising as well to Robin that he would not sleep with Anita.
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 about whatever is going on around him can be seen 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]
- Robin is said to have gone to the shooting range to get over Barney, first brought up in season 1.
- At the very end, when all five are at Ted's place and Robin starts singing "Bang Bang" song, Marshall plays Barney's "Magic Phone's" ringtone - "Turkey in the Straw" - on a banjolele.
- As Barney leaves the bar he passes a cab with the number 9Z72. Almost all the taxi cabs used across the show have the code 9Z72 on top.
- Barney desperately seeks a loophole in 'Of course you're still single, take a look at yourself you dumb slut' much the same way he seeks a loophole in 'The Bro Code' as seen in "The Goat"
Cultural references
- Barney explains to the gang that he did something else much worse than vomit in his stormtrooper helmet when Star Wars Episode I: 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]
- When Marshall goes to Barney's apartment and threw the Stormtrooper's head, Marshall says he is mad at Barney, mad at Ted, mad at himself, and honestly still mad at the empire.
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. CBS. 2009-11-09. No. 7, season 5.
- ^ a b c d Brian Zoromski. "How I Met Your Mother: Of Course Review. Bang, bang, bangity bang.". IGN (News Corporation). http://tv.ign.com/articles/107/1076118p1.html. Retrieved 2010-03-19.
- ^ "Jenkins". How I Met Your Mother. CBS. 2010-01-18. No. 13, season 5.
- ^ "Hooked". How I Met Your Mother. CBS. 2010-03-01. No. 16, season 5.
- ^ Donna Bowman. "How I Met Your Mother: Of Course". The AV Club. http://www.avclub.com/articles/of-course,38995/. Retrieved 2010-03-19.
External links
- Of Course at the Internet Movie Database
- Of Course at TV.com
How I Met Your Mother Episodes Season 1 · Season 2 · Season 3 · Season 4 · Season 5 · Season 6 · Season 7Characters Related articles How I Met Your Mother episodes Season 1 "Pilot" · "Purple Giraffe" · "Sweet Taste of Liberty" · "Return of the Shirt" · "Okay Awesome" · "Slutty Pumpkin" · "Matchmaker" · "The Duel" · "Belly Full of Turkey" · "The Pineapple Incident" · "The Limo" · "The Wedding" · "Drumroll, Please" · "Zip, Zip, Zip" · "Game Night" · "Cupcake" · "Life Among the Gorillas" · "Nothing Good Happens After 2 A.M." · "Mary the Paralegal" · "Best Prom Ever" · "Milk" · "Come On"Season 2 "Where Were We? · "The Scorpion and the Toad" · "Brunch" · "Ted Mosby: Architect" · "World's Greatest Couple" · "Aldrin Justice" · "Swarley" · "Atlantic City" · "Slap Bet" · "Single Stamina" · "How Lily Stole Christmas" · "First Time in New York" · "Columns" · "Monday Night Football" · "Lucky Penny" · "Stuff" · "Arrivederci, Fiero" · "Moving Day" · "Bachelor Party" · "Showdown" · "Something Borrowed" · "Something Blue"Season 3 "Wait for It" · "We're Not from Here" · "Third Wheel" · "Little Boys" · "How I Met Everyone Else" · "I'm Not That Guy" · "Dowisetrepla" · "Spoiler Alert" · "Slapsgiving" · "The Yips" · "The Platinum Rule" · "No Tomorrow" · "Ten Sessions" · "The Bracket" · "The Chain of Screaming" · "Sandcastles in the Sand" · "The Goat" · "Rebound Bro" · "Everything Must Go" · "Miracles"Season 4 "Do I Know You?" · "The Best Burger in New York" · "I Heart NJ" · "Intervention" · "Shelter Island" · "Happily Ever After" · "Not a Father's Day" · "Woooo!" · "The Naked Man" · "The Fight" · "Little Minnesota" · "Benefits" · "Three Days of Snow" · "The Possimpible" · "The Stinsons" · "Sorry, Bro" · "The Front Porch" · "Old King Clancy" · "Murtaugh" · "Mosbius Designs" · "The Three Days Rule" · "Right Place, Right Time" · "As Fast as She Can" · "The Leap"Season 5 "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"Season 6 "Big Days" · "Cleaning House" · "Unfinished" · "Subway Wars" · "Architect of Destruction" · "Baby Talk" · "Canning Randy" · "Natural History" · "Glitter" · "Blitzgiving" · "The Mermaid Theory" · "False Positive" · "Bad News" · "Last Words" · "Oh Honey" · "Desperation Day" · "Garbage Island" · "A Change of Heart" · "Legendaddy" · "The Exploding Meatball Sub" · "Hopeless" · "The Perfect Cocktail" · "Landmarks" · "Challenge Accepted"Season 7 "The Best Man" · "The Naked Truth" · "Ducky Tie" · "The Stinson Missile Crisis" · "Field Trip" · "Mystery vs. History" · "Noretta" · "The Slutty Pumpkin Returns" · "Disaster Averted" · "Tick, Tick, Tick..." · "The Rebound Girl" · "Queen of the Furrow"Categories:- Jennifer Lopez
- How I Met Your Mother (season 5) episodes
- 2010 television episodes
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