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World's Greatest Couple
HIMYM episode 2x05 (27)
Worlds greatest couple
First aired:
October 16, 2006
Director:
Pamela Fryman
Writer:
Brenda Hsueh
Barney's Blog

Images (0)

Things get weird when Lily moves in with Barney. Marshall's relationship with Brad gets out of hand.


Recap[]

Mrs

Ted and Robin go to Lily's new apartment to bring her a housewarming gift, but find that her new place is absolutely horrendous. Her bed, which folds out from the wall, makes contact with the door and wall, while her kitchen and her bathroom (as well as her stove, sink, oven, and refrigerator) are combined. Furthermore, she has a raccoon as a roommate, who eats the housewarming gift Ted and Robin brought over. Neither Ted nor Robin can invite Lily to their place, since it would be too awkward for her to live with Marshall again when they're not a couple, and Robin has a lot of dogs, which Lily is allergic to. Ted and Robin want Barney to let Lily stay over at his apartment—which none has ever seen—which he immediately rejects. However, when the wall falls down in Lily's apartment when she pulls the bed down, Ted gives her the spare key, and when Barney arrives after work, he finds Lily sitting on his couch. After some initial reluctance, he agrees to let Lily stay for two days, as long as she doesn't try to change anything. Barney gets annoyed with Lily when she buys groceries, saying that he would be in a relationship if he wanted a refrigerator full of groceries and fresh coffee in the morning. He then gives Lily a tour of his apartment, full of things that try to scare off relationships, such as a king-size bed with a full size blanket and one pillow, a toilet seat which will not remain down, and professionally lit bookshelves of porn. When one particular woman is not deterred by any of these things, Barney finds Lily helpful, as she can pretend to be his wife and scare off the woman. Barney then insists that Lily stay, which she will do only if he allows her to give his apartment a slight makeover so that it looks more like a woman lives there. Lily and Barney accidentally sleep in the same bed while watching Letterman, and merely cuddle together, Barney thinks that he and Lily are in a relationship, and he wants out. Lily gets to keep anything she picked out for Barney's apartment and takes it to her own apartment, and lives there instead of living with Barney.

Meanwhile, Marshall finds that it is hard being single after being in a committed relationship for so long. He had originally bought tickets to an Alanis Morissette concert when he and Lily were still together, but was disappointed that he had trouble finding someone to go with him. He decides to hang out with Brad, a friend of his from law school who is also recently single. They go to the concert, brunch, and a Broadway play, insisting to a curious and skeptical Ted and Robin that it is merely two bros hanging out together. They go to dinner and Marshall begins to feel like he and Brad are in a romantic relationship: Brad pays for dinner, helps Marshall with his coat, and invites Marshall to go to a wedding in Vermont with Brad. Marshall arrives at Brad's apartment to go to the wedding, and sees Brad holding flowers. Marshall tries to break up with Brad, but it turns out that Brad has gotten back together with his girlfriend Kara. Marshall is finally relieved that he wouldn't have worry about Brad making advances on him. Later on, there is an awkward situation when Marshall and Ted run into Brad on the street.

Continuity[]

  • When Lily asks what Barney does for a living, he dismisses her by saying "Please..." the same way he deflects Marshall's queries about his job in Life Among the Gorillas.
  • Lily's apartment was seen previously in The Scorpion and the Toad while she was apartment-hunting with Ted and Robin.
  • Brad was first introduced in Ted Mosby: Architect, as was his girlfriend Kara.

Future References (Contains Spoilers)[]

  • Barney's porn collection returns in The Rough Patch, by which time Lily has changed her mind about Marshall and porn.
  • Lily mentions that Barney has a room just for his suits, which is seen in Girls Versus Suits.
  • The gang learns of another example of Barney's apartment being unsuitable for preparing food in Blitzgiving.
  • Marshall and Brad have dinner at Cafe L'amour. In Garbage Island, Robin lies to Barney about Nora having a date there, and Barney and Nora go there in The Stinson Missile Crisis.
  • Kara breaks up with Brad again by The Stamp Tramp, where he tricks Marshall's firm into revealing their legal strategy for an upcoming case. In Twelve Horny Women, he explains that he did this because he "suited up and started lying" to get what he wanted after Kara dumped him again. He also appears to be single in Definitions, as he asks Robin out.
  • Marshall and Brad discuss having brunch at the Popover Pantry in Twelve Horny Women. The Popover Pantry is also where Ted and Stella first break up in Miracles, and where Nora has brunch with her parents in A Change of Heart.
  • In The Fortress, Barney demonstrates additional features of "The Fortress of Barnitude" designed to get rid of one-night stands.
  • Barney still doesn't drink coffee at home by 2012 in Trilogy Time
  • Marshall and Lily's love of brunch is important in their story in The Platinum Rule.

Gallery[]

For a listing of all images on the wiki tagged as being from this episode, see Category:World's Greatest Couple images.

Memorable Quotes[]

Barney: You're better than porn!

Lily: Barney, you've clearly some some serious mother issues that have left you the emotional equivalent of a scavenging sewer rat. But in my other apartment, I'd be living with an actual scavenging sewer rat, so, you win.

Marshall: Why can't two guys who are friends go to brunch?
Ted: Because brunch is kind of...
Robin: ... Girlie.
Marshall: Girlie? Breakfast isn't girlie, lunch isn't girlie, what makes brunch girlie?
Ted: I don't know... nothing girlie about a horse, nothing girlie about a horn... but put them together and you get a unicorn.

Lily: Why would I want to change anything? This place is great, except you don't have a TV.
Barney: [Points to wall] See that wall? [Turns on TV]
Barney: 300 inch flatscreen! They only sell them in Japan but I know a guy. They ship it over in a tugboat like freakin' King Kong!
Lily: It hurts my eyes...
Barney: Yeah, that doesn't go away.

Ted : Is that a toilet in your kitchen?...Or a stove in your bathroom?
Lily : Oh... that's not just a stove. That's a stoveinkerator! A combination of a stove, oven, sink and refrigerator. Stoveinkerator! Isn't that futuristic?
Ted: God, I hope not.

Barney: Look around you, Lily! You are in the heart of Bachelor Country. And as a woman, you are an illegal immigrant here. Now, you could try to apply for a sex visa, but that only lasts twelve hours... fourteen if you qualify for multiple entry, heh!
Lily: Ewwww... is something some lame, judgmental chick would say, but I say 'gimme multiple high-fives'!
Barney: Wow, you really are desperate.
Lily: I really am.

Notes and Trivia[]

Goofs and Errors[]

  • If you look closely in the scene after the opening credits in which Ted, Robin, and Barney are deciding where to let Lily stay, Ted's beer goes from being below the top portion of the stein glass handle to above it. This happens sporadically throughout the entire scene, almost comically so if you're paying attention.
  • Robin mentioned that Lily is allergic to dogs, but is seen in many other episodes sitting with them whilst talking to Robin. It has also been mentioned that Lily owned a dog named Bean.
  • In The Front Porch​, Barney explains that he always wears pajama suits at night. However, in this episode, he is seen waking up wearing a white tee shirt and black pajama pants.
  • In this episode, there is another hallway on the far left side of the apartment, next to the clone trooper. In later episodes, it seems this hallway has vanished and next to the stormtrooper is actually a wall.
  • In Barney's bedroom, there are 2 doors on the left, one of which is the bathroom. However in later episodes, there is only one door in that wall, which is used to store suits.
  • Just before Barney shows Lily his huge television, you can see a ring similar to her engagement ring on her left hand ring finger, even though she and Marshall are not together. She can be seen wearing this ring in previous episodes on her right hand ring finger.

Allusions and Outside References[]

  • In his apartment Barney has a life size Clone Trooper from Star Wars.
  • Barney has nicknamed his apartment "The Fortress of Barnitude," a play of his name on "The Fortress of Solitude" from Superman.
  • Lily hands Barney a copy of Relationships for Dummies.
  • Ted says that Marshall and Brad going to the wedding together could be like the film Wedding Crashers.
  • Marshall's comment, "We're here. We're hungry. Get used to it, brunch!" is a reference to Queer Nation's slogan, "We're here. We're queer. Get used to it".
  • An ABBA song, Fernando, is played in reference to the fact that Marshall and Brad were going to see Mamma Mia!, a Broadway musical based on the works of ABBA.
  • Marshall and Brad went together to an Alanis Morissette concert. Which is ironic because Alanis Morissette is who Robin Sparkles is based on

Music[]

Other Notes[]

  • Brad uses the phrase "ridonkulous", which would used by Ted later in the series.
  • Lily's Lithuanian neighbor is shouting "durna mergina, aš tave numarinsiu kaip dvėsiantį žirgą", which actually means "stupid girl, I'll euthanize you like a dying horse." The phrase is correct in grammar and spelling, but very unusual in word choice.
  • In one of the walls of Barney's apartment is a poster that reads 'Carter', the first name of one of the show's creators - Carter Bays.

Guests[]

Reception[]

  • Staci Krause of IGN gave the episode 9.3 out of 10, calling it, " arguably one of its funniest episodes of the season." [1]
  • The St. Petersburg Comic Review gave this episode 9 out of 10 stars. "Lily and Barney in bed together? Fabulous! And Marshall might be gay."

References[]

External Links[]


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