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For the character of the same name, see Jenkins (character).
Jenkins
HIMYM episode 5x13 (101)
Jenkins
First aired:
January 18, 2010
Director:
Neil Patrick Harris
Writer:
Greg Malins

Images (16)

Lily doesn't react the way Marshall would expect when she is introduced to a female coworker. Ted's students use Robin's morning show as a drinking game.


Recap[]

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Future Ted discusses the three places a 30 year-old New Yorker shouldn't be caught in: New Year's Eve in Times Square, Rockefeller Center during the holiday season, and any college bar. Ted and Marshall walk into a college bar, and Ted is worried about meeting his students there. Marshall returns to the bar on a regular basis to maintain his skeeball high score, under the pseudonym Big Fudge.

Marshall then announces that they'll be meeting Jenkins, a co-worker, at the bar. He had told the gang a collection of hilarious stories about Jenkins, Ted imagining him as a fat funny-man. Barney then interjects with his desire to sleep with Jenkins, and Ted is surprised to find that Jenkins is a woman.

The next day, Lily unexpectedly shows up for lunch with Marshall, and finds out that Jenkins is a woman. However, Lily is not at all jealous. Ted and Robin explain that it isn't Marshall's loyalty, but in every relationship, there is a "reacher" (a person who reaches for someone beyond their level of beauty), and a "settler" (a person who settles for someone below their level of beauty). Flabbergasted, Marshall forces Lily to classify herself as one or the other, and she, after much hesitation, says "settler."

In an attempt to get Lily jealous, Marshall plans to show her how Jenkins flirts with him. While inviting Jenkins to go out again, this time with Lily, she kisses him. Marshall runs home and apologizes to Lily, who jokes that she's going to go punch Jenkins in the nose, when she obviously thinks he's just lying to make her jealous. Jenkins later apologizes, saying she was drunk from a late-night drinking game (see below), and plans to apologize to Lily, which Marshall knows will prove he is not just a "reacher."

Lily calmly listens to Jenkins' apology and promptly punches her in the nose, and continues beating her up, as Future Ted mentions that Marshall never tried to make Lily jealous again.

Meanwhile, Robin encounters fans of her pre-morning news show. When she met the boys at the college bar, one of Ted's students comes over to tell her that he's a big fan of her work. Full of pride, she interrupts Ted's class the next day to loudly announce that she is the host of the show. After she leaves, the class explains that they are fans because her show comes on as their night of drinking is coming to an end, and her interjection, "but...umm" is the basis for a drinking game (whenever Robin says this, the students take a drink).

Ted and Barney test this game the next night, watching Robin's show, and get thoroughly drunk. After Robin continues to brag about her wide viewership, Ted explains the drinking game. That night, his class invites him out to join their game. Robin gets her own back and decides to repeat the phrase "but...umm" excessively, prompting those playing the game to drink every time. In another bar, Jenkins is also playing the same drinking game and is still drunk the next morning when she kisses Marshall.

During the next day's class, Robin interrupts again, startling the hungover group with a megaphone.

Continuity[]

  • Marshall's nickname "Big Fudge" is introduced.
  • Marshall similarly assures Lily that he did not want to be kissed by another person in the Pilot.
  • Lily realizes that she may not have "the hips to birth an Eriksen child" in Belly Full of Turkey.
  • Marshall's talent at winning games first appears in Game Night.
  • Robin says "but...umm" for the first time in Best Prom Ever.
  • Barney immediately starts taking pictures when Lily starts beating up Jenkins. He has displayed an interest in girlfights previously, as seen in The GoatIntervention, and Happily Ever After. However, he did not attempt to alert Ted to the existance of this girl fight which breaks article 29 of The Bro Code as stated in The Goat.
  • Marshall is shown to be terrible at keeping secrets, as seen in The Goat and Miracles.
  • Jenkins and Marshall bond over being from Minnesota and supporting the Minnesota Vikings. Marshall's love for the Vikings has been referenced in Little Minnesota and Last Cigarette Ever.
  • Scotty mistakes Ted for his econ professor. Ted accidentally taught an economics class, thinking it was an architecture class, in Definitions.
  • Ted teaches his class while extremely hung over. In Girls Versus Suits he tells Cindy that he teaches drunk all the time.
  • Gary Blauman appears in this episode, further confirming that Barney was indeed lying when he claimed that Blauman had died in The Chain of Screaming, as Blauman had also appeared in Sorry, Bro.

Future References (Contains Spoilers)[]

Gallery[]

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

Memorable Quotes[]

Jenkins: I'm so sorry I kissed you yesterday.
Marshall: That's okay.
Jenkins: And I'm sorry I had sex with you in the mailroom.
Marshall: That wasn't me.
Jenkins: Oh, good grief, that's two awkward conversations I have to have today.

Ted: Well, it would be great to finally meet the famous Jenkins, after all those stories.
Barney: Yeah, and there's about to be one more story: I'm gonna bang Jenkins.
Ted: What!?
Barney: You heard me.
Ted: You... you want to have sex with Jenkins?
Barney: With Jenkins, on Jenkins, near Jenkins, you name it. I want to wear Jenkins like a sock!
Ted: But you're... Haven't you... I'm... Really?
Jenkins: Hey, guys!
Marshall: Ted, this is Jenkins.
Ted: Ohhhhhhhhh!
Ted finds out that Jenkins is a woman

Barney: It’s funny, I had a drinking game based on Robin. But it was actually on Robin. I poured peach schnapps in her bellybutton…
Ted: Dude, we agreed we wouldn’t do this.
Barney: Sorry, you’re right. She didn’t like it anyway. Said it woke her up.

Notes and Trivia[]

Goofs and Errors[]

  • Marshall mentions that his oldest brother Marvin Eriksen Jr. has "boobs," but every appearance of that character is a skinny tall man.
    • Marshall's brothers go through a lot of changes off-camera, so it's possible Marvin Jr. only briefly had boobs.

Allusions and Outside References[]

  • When Jenkins is asking Marshall if he is a Vikings fan and he is concerned that she may be out to get him, he says his wife "doesn't have money, but what she does have is a very special set of skills" in reference to Liam Neeson's character in Taken.
  • Neil Patrick Harris, who directed the episode, portrayed Carl Jenkins in Starship Troopers (1997).

Music[]

Other Notes[]

  • Edward Flores, the actor who portrayed "Male Jenkins", also played the role of Food Guy from Mosbius Designs.
  • Neil Patrick Harris makes his directorial debut. This is especially unusual for the show, as Pamela Fryman directed the majority of the episodes before this. [1] Of the previous 100 episodes 94 were directed by Fryman, 5 were directed by Rob Greenberg and 1 was directed by Michael Shea, making Harris only the fourth different person to direct an episode of the show. Harris summarized the experience describing it as "Equal parts overwhelm, education, and exhilaration." [2] Harris' role is smaller in this episode due to directional duties.
  • International Airdates: Australia: June 17, 2010 on Channel 7; United Kingdom: August 19, 2010 on E4
  • Ted's student Betty is wearing the same argyle sweater that Robin wore in Shelter Island.
  • This episode was the most watched television event until the Hope For Haiti Telethon on Friday that week.[citation needed]

Guests[]

Reception[]

  • Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club rated the episode with a grade B+.[3]
  • Brian Zoromski of IGN gave the episode 8.5 out of 10. [4]
  • Cindy McLennan of Television Without Pity rated the episode with a grade B+. [5]
  • The St. Petersburg Comic Review gave this episode 8.5 out of 10 stars. "... Jenkins was a pretty strange looking dude!"

References[]

External Links[]


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