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Band or DJ?

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“Band or DJ?”

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HIMYM episode 8x13 (173)

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BassPlayer
First aired:
January 14, 2013
Director:
Pamela Fryman
Writer:
Carter Bays
Craig Thomas
Barney's Blog

Images (0)

When Robin learns that Barney never asked her father’s permission before proposing, she insists that he seek his approval before announcing their engagement. Meanwhile, Ted keeps his feelings concealed by throwing himself into planning their wedding.


Contents

RecapEdit

The episode begins from where the previous one left off. While Ted is at the New GNB Headquarters, he gets a text from Barney, saying that he and Robin are engaged. Future Ted says that their engagement marked a truly happy time for their group, but one of them was not happy about it.

Three days later, Marshall and Lily tell Ted at the bar that Marvin is constipated and won't stop crying. When Robin arrives, Lily tells her that planning a wedding is annoying, and she can do it for her, but Robin says she is looking forward to it. Lily says that they need to pick a date first, which Ted says is May 25th, 2013. Robin tells Lily that Ted offered to help with the planning of the wedding. Ted tells Lily that the ceremony will take place at the church in Long Island where Victoria almost got married, and the colors are cream and lilac, with Lily angrily looking at him and jumps at him when he finishes talking.

Marshall asks Robin about Barney, and she tells him that he is fine and his panic attacks are getting shorter and further apart. She tells them that she asked Barney if he took permission from her dad to marry her, but Barney tells her that he didn't. She tells them that her dad is scary, and she and Barney had lunched with him. Robin is about to shake his hand, but he asks for a hug. He thanks them for meeting him at his favorite restaurant, where he and Carol come. Robin asks him who Carol is, and he tells her that she is his girlfriend and she is the reason he moved to New York eight months ago (which Robin didn't know about, until recently). Barney then introduces himself, but Robin's dad mocks his hair, as grown men are not supposed to be blonde.

Barney then arrives at the bar and says that he wants a band for their wedding, but Ted says that they should get a DJ. Barney asks Lily if she remembers the band she almost booked for her wedding and Lily says that she will book them for the wedding. However Robin says that they shouldn't book anything yet, as Robin's dad hasn't given his permission yet. Barney asks her not to be worried as he has a plan.

The next day, Barney meets Robin's dad at the restaurant alone, with his hair dyed black. He tells her that he is very serious about marrying Robin. Mr. Scherbatsky says that when he wanted to marry Robin's mother he killed a bear with his bare hands to give to her family as tribute, which scares Barney.

At the apartment, Marshall and Lily are worried that Marvin is still constipated, when Robin walks in. Lily informs her that the band they wanted is booked for May 25th, and Ted suggests a DJ again. Robin says that Robin's dad keeps sending her friend requests on Facebook, and she is going to accept it, but the others tell her not to, as she doesn't know what is on his page. However, Robin accepts it anyways.

At Barney's apartment, Mr. Scherbatsky wants him to shoot a rabbit, which Barney can't do as he has instantly become attached to it and has even come up with a name, Fluffernutter, and a backstory for it. Robin then walks in and sees this, and asks her dad why it says that he is married on his Facebook. He tells her that he got married to his girlfriend. Robin is angry that she wasn't informed about this. She tells him that since he has no interest in involving her in his personal life, she may as well tell him that her and Barney are already engaged, and since she was not involved in his wedding, he was not invited to hers.

At the apartment, Lily tells Ted that she found out that Ted is the one who booked the band on the day of the wedding, and Ted tells her that he did that so Barney and Robin can't book them. He says that Robin deserves better than "some crappy unreliable band". He says that bands let you down and "they slept with every girl in New York city." He can't believe that Robin is marrying... "the idea of getting a band". Lily takes Ted to the roof to talk about this. She tells him to say how much he hates that Robin and Barney are getting married. He says that he is happy for them and he is the one who encouraged Robin to go after Barney, but Lily says that he thought he was okay with letting Robin go, but now that she is gone, it hurts. Future Ted says that at that point in his life he had been hurt a few times already (montage a Ted getting hurt in previous episodes is played), but when he read the text from Barney, it hurt a million times more than that. Lily says that he will keep seeing that he is happy for them because of he said anything to the contrary, that would make him that most awful person on the rooftop. She is therefore going to give him an out by saying something that is even more awful. She tells him that sometimes she wishes that she wasn't a mom, and she wants to pack a bag at the middle of the night and not come back. Ted then says that Robin should be with him instead of Barney. He asks Lily if she is serious about what she said, and she says that she loves being a mom and loves Marvin too, but art had been a big part of her life before and there's no time for it now. She spends every day with kids at work and it's the same when she goes home. Ted asks if she has talked to Marshall about how she feels but Lily asks him that same thing; has he talked to Robin about how he feels? She says that they have to accept what is happening in their life. In the apartment, Marshall sees that Marvin's diaper is still clean, but Marvin smiles and poops all over Marshall.

The same night, Robin agrees to meet her dad one more time. He apologizes for getting married without consulting her and is going to get a divorce from Carol to make things right. He asks if it was what she wanted. Robin says that all she wants a normal dad. She wants him to give Barney permission to marry her, come to the wedding, give her away and dance with her like a normal dad, but he only agrees to one dance. He says that he'll see her at the wedding. She tells Ted about this and says that it is amazing that Barney made her dad apologize to her when he was never done it before and that Barney must really love her. Ted says that Barney would be crazy not to and that he is really happy for them, but she should still consider getting a DJ. Future Ted says that he made a really strong case that night, but Robin wanted a band.

Four months later, Ted meets Cindy and her partner Casey on a train ride, a week before Barney and Robin's wedding. He tells them that the band that was hired to play at the wedding cancelled, and asks them if they know a wedding band. Cindy tells him that she recently had brunch with her ex-roommate (The Mother), and her band is available for the weekend to play at the wedding. Ted says that he is lucky to run into both of them.

Future Ted says that "lucky' doesn't even begin to describe it, because if Barney and Robin had taken his stupid advice and hired a DJ, he never would have met the mother. A flashforward to the wedding shows the band playing. Ted sees the bass player and smiles.

ContinuityEdit

  • In the beginning when Lily finds out Ted is planning the wedding, the music from Lily's "you're dead to me look" is played.
  • The montage of Ted getting hurt before is mostly taken from previous episodes:
  • Barney mentions the band that Lily almost hired for her wedding in Best Prom Ever.
  • In Big Days, Future Ted says that Cindy did become a mother. In the "four months later" scene, Cindy and Casey have a stroller with them in the train.
  • This is Cindy's first appearance since Big Days.
  • It is implied that Cindy and The Mother are on better terms now than they were at the time of Girls Versus Suits where Cindy calls her a "whore" and dislikes the attention men were giving The Mother and not her. It is said that she and Casey went to brunch with The Mother earlier that day when Ted sees the two on the train. It could be related do the fact that, as now Cindy dates girls, she doesn't feels competitive at all with The Mother.
  • In Pilot, Ted mentions he prefers a band than a DJ for his wedding.
  • Marshall says he'll ask Barney to check the cameras. In The Final Page - Part Two, it is shown that Barney has cameras in their apartment.

GalleryEdit

For a listing of all images on the wiki tagged as being from this episode, see Category:Band or DJ images.

Memorable QuotesEdit

Robin: Hey guys.
Lily: Well, well, well. Here comes the bride. Now the annoying part, right; planning the wedding. So not fun, right?
Robin: I don't know, I am kinda looking forward to it.
Lily: Fine, I'll do it for you. First thing we need to do is set a date.
Ted: May 25th, 2013.
Lily: Thank you, Ted. The ladies are talking.
Robin: Actually, that is the date. Ted offered to help with a planning a little. And well, uh. (Ted takes out a binder)
Lily: That's a big binder.
Ted: Oh, this. This is just cakes. Anyways, we are having the ceremony at that beautiful little church on Long Island where Victoria almost got married. Lovely spot. And then we are gonna have the reception in a big white tent on the front lawn of the hotel. Oh, and the colors are cream and lilac.
Lily: (jumps at Ted) Imma cut you, bitch!
Robin: This is, like the fifteenth time my dad has sent me a friend request. I'm just gonna hit "accept".
Ted: No!
Marshall: No, no, no, no, no! Don't do it, Robin. You don't want to see what's behind that door.
Robin: What are you talking about?
Ted: He's talking about my mom's 2000-word review of Fifty Shades of Grey. And 14 of those words were "vulva".
Marshall: You're gonna get endless requests to play some game that has something to do with gangsters or farming.
Lily: Never mind the embarrassing cheerleading photos from highschool.
Marshall: Begged my mom to burn those.
Future Ted: I made a pretty strong case that night, but in the end, she (Robin) didn't want a DJ, she wanted a band. And guess what happened?
*Four months later*
Ted: ...That's right, the band cancelled at the last minute, just like I said they would. The wedding is in a week and no bands. When will people realize I always know what's what?
Cindy: He says to the lesbian he dated for a month.
Ted: That's a fair point. Anyways, you guys wouldn't happen to know of any good wedding bands available at the last minute, would you?
Casey: Ted, do you believe in destiny?
Ted: You really don't know me, do you?
Cindy: We just had brunch with my ex-roommate.
Ted: The bass player?
Cindy: No, she's not just a bass player, she's a bass player in the best wedding band in the Tri-state area. They had a gig lined up for this weekend, but it just fell through this morning.
Casey: You, my friend, are gonna save that wedding.
Ted: Do you know any DJs?
Cindy: Dude! Come on!
Casey: Let it go bro, just let it go.
Ted: All right, all right, all right. Well, I guess it's a lucky thing I ran into you guys.
Future Ted: And kids, "lucky" doesn't even begin to describe it, because if Robin and Barney had taken my stupid advice and hired a DJ, I never would have met your mother.
Marshall: Oh, still clean. What's that little buddy, you're smiling?
Future Ted: (confetti sprays all over Marshall) Kids, it wasn't confetti.
Lily: Holy confetti!
Lily: Ted, roof, now.
Lily: (On the roof with Ted) Okay, what's your problem?
Ted: What problem?
Lily: Look, I know you don't like the idea of Robin marrying Barney, but you've got to at least try to be happy for them.
Ted: I am, I am really happy for them.
Lily: Are you trying to convince me or yourself? You hate the idea, but you don't want to say anything because that would make you the worst person on this rooftop. Well, I'm going to say something that's going to make you feel even worse. Sometimes, I wish I wasn't a mum. Sometimes, I want to pack a bag and leave in the middle of the night and not come back.
Ted: Robin shouldn't be with Barney, she should be with me.

Notes and TriviaEdit

Goofs and ErrorsEdit

  • At the end of the episode, the bass player (the mother) doesn't play the song at all, her hand and fingers aren't moving till the end of the guitar solo and when they do, they go up the neck (to a higher note), while the tone you hear is getting deeper.
  • Robins father said, he would only dance to Cheeseburger in Paradise, but the music is Guiding Light by Television.
  • In the whole song played at the wedding is no saxophone.
  • Cindy alludes to a fact that she and Ted dated for a month. In Girls Versus Suits, they only went on one date, before breaking up.
  • Ted implies that he met Robin's father while they were dating. However, in Happily Ever After it is said that none of the gang has met Robin's father, meaning that this is not the case, and that Ted, Marshall and Lily met him at some other time after this episode.

Allusions and Outside ReferencesEdit

MusicEdit

Other NotesEdit

  • This episode shows the very first moment Ted ever directly sees The Mother (before "meeting" her) when she's playing her bass guitar on the dance floor during the later half of the wedding. The first time The Mother ever saw Ted was in Definitions, when he walked into the wrong class (Economics). Ted also caught the first glimpse of the mother in Girls Versus Suits, when he saw her foot in Cindy's apartment.
  • It is revealed that The Mother is the bass player in the band playing at Barney and Robin's Wedding band.
  • The "Four Months Later" flashforward confirms the Wedding and day Ted will meet The Mother to be May 25th, 2013 and is the first instance of a flashforward about the wedding that doesn't use "A little ways down the road".
  • Barney writes about the rabbit's backstory in his blog; The Splendiferous Adventures...
    • This is the third time Barney interacts with a rabbit. The first one being in Rabbit or Duck (his phone turns into a rabbit) and the second in Architect of Destruction (he strokes a rabbit).

GuestsEdit

ReceptionEdit

This is the most viewed episode of Season 8, so far, with 10.51 million viewers. [1]
Donna Bowman of The AV Club gave the episode a B+. She mentions that the Marvin storyline was not like the others saying that "The preoccupations of new parents and the drama of the search for young love pull the show in two different directions, and the result is that one or the other is bound to find itself ghettoized." She also said that Ted's and Lily talk on the roof "vibrated with creative honesty". [2]
Max Nicholson of IGN gave the episode a 7 out of 10. He says that "although Robin Sr.'s scenes with Barney weren't particularly funny, his scenes with Robin were a bit more compelling." He also says that "the Ted not being over Robin thing is now officially tiresome" and that "Lily's confession to Ted that stood out as the more meaningful revelation". [3]
Angel Cohn of Television Without Pity gave the episode a C. He says that the episode demonstrates that the show is "going to beat this Ted loves Robin nonsense into the damned ground now". Cohn also comments that it would have been better for Jason Segel to "have made Muppets 2 instead of sticking it out with this show another year". [4]

ReferencesEdit

  1. ↑ http://www.tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2013/01/15/monday-final-ratings-how-i-met-your-mother-the-bachelor-adjusted-up/165336/
  2. ↑ http://www.avclub.com/articles/band-or-dj,89965/
  3. ↑ http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/01/15/how-i-met-your-mother-band-or-dj-review
  4. ↑ http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/how-i-met-your-mother/band-or-dj.php

External LinksEdit


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