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For the character, see Gary Blauman (character).
Gary Blauman
HIMYM episode 9x21 (205)
Gary01
First aired:
March 17, 2014
Director:
Pamela Fryman
Writer:
Kourtney Kang
Barney's Blog

Images (4)

When Gary Blauman shows up at the wedding, it sends the gang into a frenzy as they each recall an encounter with him.


Recap[]

The episode starts on Wednesday, 8 p.m., three days after the wedding. The mother is standing in front of her apartment waiting for Ted to pick her up. He invites her out for dinner to a Scottish/Mexican fusion restaurant (two things that, according to the mother, do not fuse). Unfortunately, there's live music at the restaurant so they decide to go somewhere else (anywhere but there). Meanwhile, Ted starts telling her the tale of Gary Blauman

The flashback goes back to the wedding day. Gary Blauman, a former co-worker of Barney's, shows up unexpectedly, which freaks out Robin since they never received his reply card. She runs into Marshall and calls a "code red", so he takes over the situation and tries to resolve it. He gathers the rest of the gang and they each reminisce about the last time they saw Gary Blauman and what he did.

Ted states that he hates Gary Blauman. A few years earlier, Ted became obsessed with Teddy Roosevelt after reading a biography of the president. Ted loved it so much, he couldn't stop talking about it. One night, Ted threw a party in the apartment to celebrate something he no longer remembered. At the party, he met a girl who also loved the biography. He started to flirt with her but then Blauman arrived. He had also read and loved the book, so for the rest of the night Ted, the girl and Gary kept on discussing the book. Ted and Gary both seemed to be interested in the girl, so they fought for the girl by using Teddy Roosevelt facts, but neither ended up with her.

Lily, meanwhile, says she loves Gary Blauman. In a flashback to 2006, Lily was back in New York and was thinking of getting a "crazy tattoo" to deal with her break-up with Marshall. Halfway through the tattoo, Blauman talked her out of it and convinced her that she and Marshall would get back together and were meant to be with each other.

Barney sides with Ted, saying he hates Blauman. A few years earlier, Barney met Blauman for a drink at MacLaren's. Barney was upset at Blauman for eating four fries from the basket Barney had ordered (after declining to order any food himself). Not only did he eat four fries, but the fourth one was an "accidental curly."

William Zabka says he 'hates to disagree with Barney', but he loves Gary Blauman for recognizing him as a poet instead of being hated as the antagonist from The Karate Kid.

James joins the conversation after overhearing them. He hates that he once believed he loved Gary Blauman. James cheated on his husband, Tom, with Blauman, and he is the reason that Tom and James broke up and his children will grow up in a broken home. Ted realizes Blauman is gay and was fighting for him and not for the girl at the party previously mentioned.

At this point Marshall orders everybody out of the room so that he may render a judicial decision as to whether Gary Blauman should stay at the wedding. He calls them back in and rules that Gary Blauman must stay because of the bride law: "when a bride asks for something, she gets it."

Ted is telling the story to the Mother as they are walking when suddenly she hides behind a car. Louis, her ex-boyfriend, is in front of them and she doesn't want to see him. She explains to Ted that he proposed to her on Saturday and she is very sorry because she doesn't think she's ready to date again. So they decide to cancel the date and Ted walks her home. When they arrive, they say their goodbyes, and Ted walks away, but then, the Mother calls him back and she asks him to finish the story.

Returning to the story, Ted tells her that he, James, Barney, Lily, Marshall and Zabka went to tell Gary Blauman he could stay. But Gary was offended and decided to leave anyway. Ted and the others were feeling bad about what happened when Blauman comes back and says that he would have never missed the wedding. 

At this point, Future Ted explains to the kids that it's very easy to lose track of people during life. But he also says that he keeps tracks of some people: Ranjit, Zoey, Patrice, Blah BlahCarl, Blitz, Scooter, Jasmine, Jeanette, Kevin and Sandy.

After finishing the story, Ted is about to leave when the Mother kisses him and asks if he wants to walk around a bit more. Ted agrees and takes a few seconds "to remember" what just happened. The Mother takes his hand and they walk together on their first date.

Continuity[]

  • Ted tells a story to the Mother, much like he did in Vesuvius, foreshadowing when The Mother says she doesn't want him to 'live in his stories'. At this point she perhaps doesn't realize how much he does it yet as she wants to hear his stories. But in Vesuvius, we know she has heard them all numerous times.
  • When Ted and the Mother are walking, an advertisement for Wharmpess can be seen behind the taxi. Wharmpess was introduced in Canning Randy​​.
  • It is revealed that James had an affair with Gary which caused him and Tom to break up. James, however, got back together with Tom and starts to tell his teenage children how he met their father, which is a reference to Ted's parents in Brunch​​​, and the series as a whole.
  • Marshall, Lily and Ted reference the butterfly tattoo that Ted received in Wait For It. It is revealed that Lily also got a butterfly tattoo, actually before Ted.
  • Future Ted reveals the future for many secondary characters:
    • Carl keeps on working at MacLaren's with his son.
    • Jeanette is sent to court-mandated therapy, where she meets Kevin and they end up together.
    • Ranjit became an owner of a Limousine Service after earning money from the stock exchange.
    • Patrice will start her own talk-show on radio called "Patrice! in the morning", with Robin being one of the callers.
    • William Zabka becomes the youngest person ever to win the American Humanities Medal for Literature.
    • Zoey continues to be an activist and shows up on the news every once in awhile, protesting for various causes.
    • Scooter finally moved on from Lily by marrying her doppelganger, Stripper Lily (a.k.a. Jasmine).
    • Steve (a.k.a. The Blitz) from Blitzgiving​​​ is still under the curse of the Blitz and started to have a small gambling problem.
    • Blah Blah's real name is finally revealed to be Carol.
    • Sandy Rivers' career in USA is terminated after his sexual behavior caught up with him, which forces him to work in Russia.
    • James gets back together with his ex-husband Tom.
    • Gary Blauman comes back to the wedding.
  • The Three Days Rule is finally broken by Ted; this rule was introduced in The Three Days Rule​​.
  • The bride law, already validated by Barney in the episode Something Borrowed, has been applied again.
  • Future Ted states that, if it was 8 years earlier, he would have given an embarrassing speech to the Mother, like his first date with Robin in the Pilot.
  • Ted mentions his detective skills (The Mosby Boys) to the Mother, previously seen in Dowisetrepla​​​, Cleaning House​​​, Glitter​​​, and Daisy​​​.
  • Ted uses the phrase Right? Right?.
  • Louis, the Mother's ex-boyfriend, re-appears. His break up with the Mother was seen in How Your Mother Met Me.
  • Ted and Gary Blauman share a telepathic conversation like the other main characters. The telepathic conversation was first introduced in Mary the Paralegal​​​ and this is the third time it has occurred with someone outside the main cast (the first being between Ted and Stella in Shelter Island​​​ and the second was between Robin and Kevin in 46 Minutes​​​.
  • Barney says having an "accidental curly" fry in an order of normal fries is "the dream," and Ted agrees. This phrase was previously said in several episodes, such as Bass Player Wanted and Rally.
  • Barney punching a hole in the wall is reminiscent of when he punched a hole in the wall of Ted's apartment back in Intervention
  • Table 27's yearly reunions are shown to be at Tuckahoe Funland, first mentioned in I'm Not That Guy​​​.

Future References (Contains Spoilers)[]

  • The flash forward sequences of Ted and the Mother together three days after Robin and Barney's wedding is an initial indication that Ted would ultimately not push through with his plan to move to Chicago the day after the wedding. In Last Forever - Part One, Marshall and Lily would find Ted at MacLaren's where Ted explained that he put off moving because he met the Mother. 
  • The gang is shown to be at The Farhampton Church, indicating that the scenes first shown in Season 6 are about to occur.

Gallery[]


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

Memorable Quotes[]

Barney: And the fourth fry he took... the fourth fry he took...the fourth fry he took was an accidental curly!
Barney reminiscing the last time he saw Blauman.

Ted: We're crouching behind a van, hiding from your ex boyfriend. Forgive me, I'm a bit of a detective. Was it a bad breakup?
The Mother: Pretty bad.
Ted: Bad like there was a big fight?
The Mother: Bad like there was a big ring.
Ted: Bad like this it happened in the past year?
The Mother: Bad like it happened Saturday.
Ted: So, bad.
Ted asking The Mother the details of her latest break-up.

Future Ted: That's how it goes kids. The friends, neighbors, drinking buddies, and partners in crime you love so much when you're young, as the years go by, you just lose touch....
Ted telling his kids how easy it can be to lose contact with other people.

Future Ted: You will be shocked kids, when you discover how easy it is in life to part ways with people forever. That's why, when you find someone you want to keep around, you do something about it.
Ted giving advice on his children about keeping in touch with other people.

The Mother: Goodnight.
(They kiss)
Unless..you wanna walk around some more? It's still early.
Ted: Sure.
The Mother: What are you doing?
Ted: Remembering this.
The Mother: (Offers her hand)
Come on.
Ted and The Mother share their first kiss.

Notes and Trivia[]

Goofs and Errors[]

  • The episode opens with Ted and The Mother's first date occurring on the Wednesday after the wedding.  However, in Last Forever - Part One, Ted calls The Mother on Monday and sets up a date for Tuesday.
    • Since Ted continues to talk to The Mother as he walks off camera it's very possible that one of them realized that Tuesday wouldn't work and asked to reschedule the date to Wednesday. They could also have had a first dinner on Tuesday and decided to meet again on Wednesday.
  • It is unknown why Lily did not get Stella to remove her unwanted tattoo while she was dating/engaged to Ted.
    • Also, Lily's wedding dress was strapless, so her tattoo would have been visible.
      • Lily specifically says that she uses coverup. So she might have kept everything quiet since Ted was mocked for his tattoo, she didn't want anybody to know, and this includes Stella.
        • Especially given the cost of tattoo removal along with Lily's salary at the time.
  • Zabka says that he "hates to disagree with Barney," but all Zabka overheard was "Gary Blauman," not Barney's hatred for him.
    • Barney was shouting, so it's possible he heard it through the wall.
  • When Ted and Blauman are talking about Roosevelt’s achievements, Blauman mentions Roosevelt’s ascent of the Matterhorn, saying that he climbed the "tallest mountain in Europe." However, the Matterhorn is not the highest mountain in Europe.

Allusions and Outside References []

Music[]

Other Notes[]

  • Alyson Hannigan has three tattoos in real life, although none of them are a butterfly.
  • The title is a reference to the character, Gary Blauman.
  • This is the first time where all of the characters played by the main cast's spouses (Taran Killam, Alexis Denisof, and David Burtka) appear in the same episode.
  • We find out that Sandy Rivers becomes a newscaster in Moscow. In Last Forever we find out that Robin's based in Moscow sometime in the 2017-2020 time frame, prior to that around 2015 Robin was briefly in St. Petersberg while still married because Barney joined her. It's not stated whether or not their careers intersect while both of them are based in Russia.
  • This episode features the most secondary characters from throughout the series out of any season.
  • The tracking shot showing the future of the characters is reminiscent to the Two Minute Date in Ten Sessions as well as a musical number Ted performed in Of Course.
    • Alyson Hannigan appears in character as Lily at the beginning of the shot, and also Jasmine later in the shot (both characters are wearing the same earrings).
    • William Zabka also appears multiple times in the shot, in the group shot at the beginning and when he's presented with his award.
    • Amazingly the tracking shot was apparently done with practical effects instead of body doubles or green screens for Alyson Hannigan and William Zabka. If one looks closely during the 'behind the scenes of "Gary Blauman"' feature on the season 9 DVDs (disk 3 special features), one sees the filming from the perspective of somebody on the set. After the initial setup, one could spot Alyson Hannigan and William Zabka running off to the side. Zabka had 53 seconds to change shirts and run behind the camera to get in place for his presentation. Hannigan had to have Jasmine's dress put over Lily's formal dress and wig, and run in place (roughly 1 minute 15 seconds). Afterwards both Zabka and Hannigan had to run behind the camera, change clothing, and join the group for the end of the scene.
    • A green screen was used to insert Blah-Blah into the scene (presumably the actress wasn't available when the scene was filmed) and for Sandy Rivers (more practical to use an insert shot for somebody appearing on a television screen) so it seems strange that they didn't decide to use a green screen for the Scooter - Jasmine scene.
  • This marks the second time in Season 9 not to state how many hours there are before the wedding, and instead chooses to put a timestamp on its framing story (3 days after the wedding).

Guests[]

Podcast[]

Reception[]

  • Donna Bowman of the A.V. Club gave this episode an A.[1]
  • Max Nicholson of IGN gave the episode a 8.7 out of 10.[2]
  • Angel Cohn of Television Without Pity gave the episode a C. [3]
  • The St. Petersburg Comic Review gave this episode 9.5 out of 10 stars. "...Gary Blauman might be the keystone to the entire series!"

References[]

External Links[]


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