Farhampton

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“Farhampton”
←	HIMYM episode 8x01 (161)	→
First aired: September 24, 2012
Director: Pamela Fryman
Writer: Carter Bays Craig Thomas
Barney's Blog
Images (21)

Robin’s anxiety on her wedding day to Barney prompts Ted to recount the time he insisted on leaving Victoria’s jilted fiancé a note before they drove off into the sunset together.

Recap

The episode begins with Ted sitting on a bench at the Farhampton Train Station, immediately following the wedding reception on the day of Barney and Robin's wedding. An elderly woman then sits on the bench, and seeing Ted's clothes, asks if the wedding he came from was a nice one. At first Ted is reluctant to chat about it, but then immediately starts telling her about it, starting from when Robin asked to see him (10 hours earlier).

The scene then goes to the wedding where Robin asks him how Barney is doing. He tells her that he is fine (although the next scene briefly flashes to Barney, who is being restrained by Marshall and Lily from running away "to get another tie from home" that is cornflower blue). Robin then tells Ted that she can't go through with the wedding. Ted tries to calm her down, but she wonders if it would be hard to climb down the window. Ted tells her that climbing up the window is real challenge, and Robin then remembers that it's "the same window."

Future Ted then narrates the events of May 2012 (right after the season 7 finale), where Marshall and Lily, and Quinn and Barney are happy, but Robin spoils the moment by picking her teeth. When Barney and Quinn leave to get champagne from the kitchen to celebrate their engagement, Robin thinks that they should call it a night, since Marshall and Lily appear to be sleep deprived. However, Lily thinks that Robin feels weird because Barney is engaged. It is apparent that Lily and Marshall are very sleep deprived when they keep forgetting things. When Robin tells them why it is not weird for her that Barney is engaged, they don't appear to hear her. Quinn later asks Lily and Robin to be her bridesmaids, and Robin thinks that it is weird now. Robin later talks to Barney about Quinn asking her to be her bridesmaid, thinking that she knows Barney and Robin used to date, but Barney tells Robin that Quinn doesn't know about this. Robin tells him that Quinn will find out about it, but Barney tells her that he destroyed all the evidence that could reveal that they used to date. However, Marshall and Lily accidentally speak about this in front of Quinn in their sleep deprived state. Quinn then becomes furious at Barney for lying to her, and tells him that he has a minute to tell her everything, or she'll leave. Barney quickly tells her everything important (beginning from the Pilot). Quinn then confronts Robin, but Barney tells her that there is nothing going on between them and Robin tells her that she has a boyfriend, Nick. Barney thinks that she is lying, but she says that she isn't and she already told Marshall and Lily about it, but they don't remember it. Quinn says that it doesn't matter if Robin has a boyfriend because she will always keep wondering if she has feelings for Barney. However, after meeting Nick, Quinn says she is okay with it. When Quinn leaves, Barney thanks Robin, but she says that it stinks how easy it was for him to throw away everything from their relationship. Barney then gives her a key to a storage unit. When she goes to the storage unit, she sees a box full of things from her and Barney's time together and becomes teary eyed.

Meanwhile, Ted is driving away with Victoria. He says that right now Klaus would be reading the note she left, but Victoria tells him that she didn't leave one. Ted then convinces her to write a note to leave for Klaus. He tells her that he feels guilty for stealing her, but Victoria tells him that she chose him. She then asks Ted to deliver the note. Ted attempts to get to Victoria's dressing room, but does not want to climb the drain pipe. Victoria then gives him the keys to her dressing room, but Ted is stopped from going into the dressing room by Klaus's sister Uta. Ted then gets help from Barney to seduce Uta over the phone, so he can leave the note. Ted then leaves the note, but forgets the car keys in the dressing room. When Ted is about to climb the drain pipe to get the keys, he sees Klaus climbing out of his window. Klaus tells him that he can't get married, and then leaves to take a train to the city. Ted then takes Victoria's note from her dressing room, replacing it with Klaus's so it looks like he is the only one who ran away, absolving Victoria from any blame. He then drives away with Victoria again, but stops at the Farhampton train station to ask Klaus why he didn't want to marry Victoria. He tells him that although Victoria is wonderful, she is not "the life long treasure of destiny" for him; she is "almost the thing he wants, but not quite." Ted tells him that maybe she will become "The One" for him as the time passes by, but Klaus tells him that when you meet "The One", you know instantaneously. He asks Ted if he has met "The One" for him. Ted says he thinks so, but Klaus tells him that if he had met "The One", he wouldn't need to think about it. Ted asks him if he is sure that he will find "The One" for him someday, and Klaus tells him that everyone eventually finds "The One" for them, but they don't know when or where.

The scene then goes to the same train station in the future, where The Mother comes out of a taxi, holding up her yellow umbrella in the rain and stands a few feet from Ted.

Continuity

• In the first scene Ted is seen reading "Love in the Time of Cholera". Ted's passion for this book has been mentioned many times starting in Matchmaker.
• In the Pilot, the first place Marshall and Lily have sex after they are engaged is on the kitchen floor of the apartment. In this episode, Barney and Quinn also have sex in the kitchen, having just announced their engagement.
• Barney, when attempting to explain his unmentioned prior relationship with Robin, summarizes and references many of the show's events beginning at the start of the Pilot with Marshall and Lily's engagement and goes on to mention:
  1. When Ted first sees Robin "across a crowded room." (Pilot)
  2. Barney's initial evaluation of Robin when he stated "Oh, yeah, you just know she likes it dirty." (Pilot)
  3. Barney's introduction of Robin and Ted via Have you met Ted?, a game previously mentioned in several episodes. (Pilot)
  4. Ted and Robin's first date. (Pilot)
  5. Ted stealing the Blue French Horn for Robin. (Pilot)
  6. Ted's three nights of parties in an attempt to be "casual" with Robin. (Purple Giraffe​​​​)
  7. Ted first meeting Victoria at Stuart and Claudia's wedding. (The Wedding​​​​)
  8. Ted's failure to close at the end of several big dates.
  9. Ted and Victoria's relationship. (Drumroll, Please to Cupcake)
  10. Victoria's move to Germany. (Cupcake)
  11. The kiss between Ted and Robin before Ted broke up with Victoria. (Nothing Good Happens After 2 A.M.)
  12. Ted's rain-dance. (Come On​​​​)
  13. Ted and Robin's relationship. (Where Were We?​​​​ to Showdown​​​​)
  14. Ted and Robin's break-up. (Showdown​)
  15. Robin's short stay in Argentina (although Barney says "Brazil"). (Wait For It)
  16. Robin's return with her new boyfriend Gael. (Wait For It)
  17. Ted's butterfly "tramp stamp." (Wait For It)
  18. Barney and Robin's first hook-up. (Sandcastles in the Sand)
  19. Barney and Ted's feud over Barney and Robin's hook-up. (The Goat)
  20. Ted getting hit by a bus. (Although Barney was the one who was hit by a bus). (Miracles)
  21. Ted and Barney's reconciliation. (Miracles)
  22. Barney and Robin's relationship. (Definitions​​​​ to The Rough Patch​​​​)
  23. Barney's weight gain and Robin's hair falling out as a result of their relationship. (The Rough Patch)
  24. Barney and Robin's break-up. (The Rough Patch​)
  25. Robin and Don's relationship. (Of Course to Doppelgangers​​​​)
  26. Barney and Nora's relationship. (The Stinson Missile Crisis​​​​ to Tick Tick Tick)
  27. Barney cheating on Nora with Robin. (Disaster Averted)
  28. Barney and Nora's break-up. (Tick Tick Tick)
  29. Robin and Kevin's short relationship. (Field Trip​​​​ to The Drunk Train​​​​)
  30. Barney's introduction to Quinn. (The Drunk Train)
  31. Quinn stealing Barney's grandfather's watch. (The Drunk Train)
  32. Quinn letting Barney fart in front of her. (Trilogy Time​​​​)
  33. Barney's proposal to Quinn. (The Magician's Code - Part Two​​​​)
  34. Barney's trip to The Price is Right and his prize of a Dune Buggy. (Showdown)
• In explaining why Victoria must leave a runaway-bride note for Klaus, Ted was referring to how Stella left him at their wedding and left a note in Shelter Island​​​​.
• Robin first met Nick, her secret crush, a few years before as stated in Hopeless.
• The Mother is shown holding her yellow umbrella on the night Ted finally meets her. Ted revealed in No Tomorrow​​​​ that his kids already know the short version of how they met, "the thing with your mom's yellow umbrella."
• The Mother at the station has the bass guitar and shoes that Ted saw in Cindy's apartment in Girls Versus Suits.
• In Big Days​​​​, Challenge Accepted and The Magician's Code - Part Two, it is revealed Ted will meet the mother on the day of Barney and Robin's Wedding.
• The town of Farhampton was first mentioned in Becky's boats commercial in Canning Randy​​​​​.

Future References (Contains Spoilers)

• Ted mentions that the place where Barney will marry Robin was the same place that Victoria almost married Klaus, which will be fully established in Band or DJ?
• Barney will freak out over forgetting his cornflower blue tie in The End of the Aisle.
• Quinn makes reference to Barney wanting to "ride down the aisle on a grizzly bear," a possible foreshadowing of the "Ring-Bear" at Barney and Robin's wedding.
  • Barney will mention having a bear at his wedding throughout Season 9 and it happened in The End of the Aisle.
  • Barney will also mistakenly claim that he will go down the aisle in Vesuvius.
• The flashforwards that occur on the Farhampton Train Station platform occur in the series finale, Last Forever - Part One and Last Forever - Part Two.
• At the beginning of the episode it can be seen that Ted's hand is bandaged. He hurt it when he did the "high infinity" with Barney, as it is shown in Last Forever - Part One.

Gallery

• The Mother in Farhampton
• Mother
• Where it started

1/18

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

Memorable Quotes

Barney:	Challenge Accepted! (To Quinn) Honey, it's not cheating if it's on the phone, right?
Quinn:	Say what now?
Barney:	Quinn's on board!

---

Quinn:	Honey, it's not cheating if I lie down on the bar and let Nick do shots from of my belly button, right?
Barney:	Say what now?
Quinn:	Barney's on board!

---

Barney:

(About Nick) You know he has chicken legs. Little tiny chicken legs. You guys saw those, right?

---

Klaus:	Victoria is wunderbar, but she is not my "Lebenslanger Schicksalsschatz." She’s my "Beinaheleidenschaftsgegenstand"… It means the thing that is almost the thing that you want, but it’s not quite. Das ist Victoria to me.
Ted:	How do you know she’s not "Lebenslanger Schicksalsschatz?" Maybe as the years go by she’ll get "Lebenslanger Schicksalsschatz…ier?"
Klaus:	Oh, nein, nein, nein. "Lebenslanger Schicksalsschatz" is not something that develops over time. It is something that happens instantaneously. It courses through you like the water of a river after a storm, filling you and emptying you all at once. You feel it throughout your body, in your hands, in your heart, in your stomach, in your skin… Of course, you feel it in your "Schlauchmachendejungen." Pardon my French. Have you ever felt this way about someone?
Ted:	…I think so.
Klaus:	If you have to think about it, you have not felt it.
Ted:	And you’re absolutely sure you’ll find that someday?
Klaus:	Of course. Everyone does eventually… You just never know when or where.

---

Robin:	You replaced me with a tiger...
Barney:	I couldn't completely get you out of that one. Had to get creative.

---

Robin:

It, uh, kind of sucked seeing how easy it was for you to throw away everything from our relationship. I could never do that.

---

Quinn:

52 seconds.

Barney:

7 years ago, when Marshall and Lily got engaged, Ted saw Robin across a crowded room and I said "oh yeah you just know she likes it dirty," but Ted really liked her so we played "Have you met Ted?" They went to dinner, he walked her home, shoulda kissed her, didn't-- lame-- so he stole a smurf penis, went back to her place, should've kissed her, didn't-- lame. He threw three parties, they kissed on the roof but decided to be friends-- lame-- then Ted wanted to take Robin to a wedding, she couldn't go, he went alone and met Victoria, didn't kiss her either-- lame-- not a great closer, Ted-- but he finally kissed her, they started dating, she went to Germany, Ted kissed Robin, lost Victoria, Ted did a rain dance, got Robin. Ted and Robin broke up, Robin moved to Brazil, came back with a Latin stud, Ted got jealous, got a tramp stamp, not really relevant to the story I just like mentioning that as much as possible, I hooked up with Robin, Ted and I stopped being friends, Ted got hit by a bus, we made up... (Big Breath) Robin and I started dating, I got fat, her hair fell out. We broke up. Robin dated Don, I dated Nora, cheated on her with Robin, I dumped Nora, Robin dated Kevin, but not for long, and then I met you and you took my grandpa's watch but I fell in love with you anyway, and you let me fart in front of you, and I asked you to marry me and you said yes and we came over here to meet little Marvin and that's everything! Also I went on the Price is Right and won a dune buggy."

—Barney telling Quinn about his past with Robin

---

Lily:	She lets you fart in front of her?
Marshall :	Barney... you go get that girl.

---

Robin:	Okay, don't sugarcoat it, Mosby. Just give it to me straight, okay? How bad is Barney freaking out right now?
Ted:	Oh, he's fine. No, I'm serious. He's totally fine.
Barney:	I have a better tie at home! It's cornflower blue! It's cornflower blue!
Ted:	You may rest assured, Barney Stinson is absolutely 100% going through with this wedding.
Robin:	(sighs) Okay. Good news. Um, just one small issue, uh I can't go through with this wedding.
Ted:	Okay, calm down, everyone feels this way on their wedding day. It'll pass.
Robin:	No. It's more than that. I'm having a serious crisis. And I wonder if it would be hard to climb out that window.
Ted:	Uh, climbing out's easy. Climbing in's the real challenge.
Robin:	Oh, right. It's the same window, isn't it?
Ted:	Yeah.

---

Notes and Trivia

Goofs and Errors

• While Barney is explaining his and Robin's relationship in a minute, he incorrectly states several points. Although, this could be character detail as Barney's storytelling is known to be inaccurate. Either way, the points are below:
  • Robin moved to Brazil: Robin actually moved to Argentina after she and Ted broke up (although Barney's knowledge of geography is known to be poor).
  • Ted was hit by bus: Barney was actually hit by the bus while running to the hospital because Ted had been in a car accident. He may have said this because he did not want to mention this to Quinn.
• After Barney explained the story in one minute, Lily comments disgusted "She lets you fart in front of her?": However in Something Borrowed Marshall clearly says that he had a farting contest with Lily.
• Robin says that she could never get rid of everything from her relationship with Barney. In Stuff, Robin is ruthless about getting rid of everything from old boyfriends, except her dogs. However, this could be a result of character development.
• Klaus' German is quite improper. Although "Lebenslanger Schicksalsschatz" translates word by word to "lifelong treasure of destiny" and "Beinahe-Leidenschaftsgegenstand" translates to "almost-passion object," neither are German expressions nor idioms. When Klaus thinks Ted speaks German and begins rambling, his words are supposed to translate to: "You speak German? That's awesome. I don't have any friends who speak German in America which makes me so lonely. So lonely." However, there is a grammatical error in Klaus' way of saying it.
• In the photos from her and Barney's relationship, Robin's hair is in the same style as season 8 (shorter and wavy). However, during seasons 4/5, Robin had long straight hair.

Allusions and Outside References

• Ted calls Klaus' sister "Andrea the Giant", a reference to the famous French wrestler André the Giant.
• Ted is shown reading his all-time favorite book, Love in the Time of Cholera, as the Mother steps into the station.
• Ted's exchange with Klaus' sister, in which he says "I'll be quick" and she responds "You'll be dead," is a Star Wars reference. In A New Hope, Luke Skywalker and Evazan have a similar exchange at the Mos Eisley Cantina, where Luke says "I'll be careful" and Evazan responds "you'll be dead" in a similar threatening tone.

Music

• The Funeral - Band of Horses
  • Played during the final scene

Other Notes

• Farhampton is the name of the (fictional) town where Barney and Robin get married.
  • It is also where Ted finally meets The Mother.
• Barney finished his explanation about him and Robin's relationship in approximately fifty seconds, he had fifty-two seconds to finish when he started.
• This episode marks the first time that every member of the gang is in a relationship. Marshall and Lily; Barney and Quinn; Robin and Nick; Ted and Victoria.
• Carter Bays and Craig Thomas provide audio commentary for the episode which is included in the Season 8 DVD.
• As Quinn gave Barney a minute to explain his previous relationship with Robin, a timer appeared on the DVD version but not on the Netflix version.

Guests

• Ashley Williams - Victoria
• Becki Newton - Quinn Garvey
• Thomas Lennon - Klaus
• Michael Trucco - Nick Podarutti
• Hal Havins - Cab Driver
• Colleen Smith - Uta
• Judith Drake - Bernice
• Jennifer Birmingham - Woman
• Jarrod Crawford - Guy

Podcast

Behind the scenes of the official HIMYM soundtrack featuring Craig Thomas, John Swihart, Andy Gowen, and Brian Kim.

Reception

• The episode was viewed by 8.84 million people.
• Donna Bowman of The AV Club gave the episode a B.
• Max Nicholson of IGN gave the episode 6 out of 10. He said, "While the end is clearly in sight, HIMYM's season premiere lacks the classic elements that once made the show so great."
• Angel Cohn of Television Without Pity gave the episode a D⁺.
• The St. Petersburg Comic Review gave this episode 7.5 out of 10 stars. "...clearly, Ted does not speak German."

External Links

• Farhampton at the Internet Movie Database
• Farhampton at TV.com
• Farhampton at the English Wikipedia

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Farhampton (all episodes)

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