| “Purple Giraffe” | ||
| ← | HIMYM episode 1x02 (2) | → |
| ||
| First aired: September 26, 2005 | ||
| Director: Pamela Fryman | ||
| Writer: Carter Bays Craig Thomas | ||
| Barney's Blog | ||
Ted continues to try and impress Robin, by throwing three parties to make himself seem more casual. Marshall cannot return Lily's heightened affections, as he stresses over an essay. Barney needs to get rid of a girl, who keeps showing up at all of the parties.
Recap
The episode begins in 2030 where Ted recounts the events of Pilot to his kids.
After telling Robin that he loves her, Ted changes his stance and decides to not contact Robin on the pretext of wanting to give everyone the false impression that he is not in love with her anymore. However, after he finds out from Marshall that Lily has officially met Robin, having recognized her from the news, and that Robin told Lily that she was still interested in him, Ted decides that he is still in love with her. Since Robin doesn't want a serious relationship, Ted tries to convince her that he is "casual."
After seeing her on the bar's tv, he runs to meet her at a location where she is reporting (where a kid is stuck inside a crane machine trying to get a purple giraffe) and informs her that he is throwing a party. Because of Robin's absence from the first party, Ted ends up having two more days of party just so he could have Robin come to the party.
Robin inadvertently finds out (when Marshall bursts out that Ted should stop waiting for her) that the parties were held for her on the third party night. Ted covers it up by saying that he wanted her to meet Carlos. But after a while, as Robin goes up onto the roof, Ted decides that he has to confront and confess his love to her and thus try to win her affections.
On the roof, they decide that they both want different things and since Robin is new to the town, Ted agrees to be friends with her and they go to buy a drink. Robin then tells Ted that she will help him find 'the one' for him.
Meanwhile, due to the repeated parties, Lily has an increased sexual desire which is also partly due to the new ring on her finger given to her by Marshall. This troubles Marshall as he has to submit a 25 page paper for a class in his law school. After someone uses one of his law books as a coaster in the party, Marshall appears to get angry but drinking two beers at the bar with everyone else increases his confidence and he ends up doing fairly well on the paper, especially considering that he wrote the 25 pages in the night before the deadline.
Barney is also facing his own relationship troubles. After finding the one girl at the party who does not know anyone else (which is the norm in parties in the city), Barney decides to pursue her. However, this woman returns to the parties in the subsequent nights and deciding that the best way to get rid of her was by following Ted's "I think I'm in love with you" line, he manages to end their impromptu relationship. Nevertheless, she appears on the party for Sunday night as well and he eventually finds that she is with the guy who Ted tried to setup Robin with.
Continuity
- Barney first begins making up statistics in this episode.
- In this episode, Marshall calls himself "the kid" for the first time.
- Barney gets rid of Works With Carlos Girl by saying "I love you" to her, referencing Ted's outburst to Robin in the Pilot.
- The Apartment and MacLaren's are established to be on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, as Ted can run to 75th and Columbus during Robin's remote segment.
- After Ted asks Robin about her segment Robin answers, "Yeah, a kid stuck in a crane machine. How sweet of you to call it 'news'", establishing her dislike of non hard-news assignments.
Future References (Contains Spoilers)
- Lily displays her inability to keep secrets, which comes up again in future episodes, including Little Minnesota, The Leap, and The Rehearsal Dinner.
- In The Leap, when Robin decides she doesn't want to be with Barney, Marshall suggests she "Mosby" him by saying "I love you", as Barney does to Works With Carlos Girl.
- Robin tells Ted that she will help him find his future wife. She makes good on her promise eight years later, in Last Forever - Part Two.
- The start of Last Forever - Part One where this episode ends.
Gallery
- For a listing of all images on the wiki tagged as being from this episode, see Category:Purple Giraffe images.
Memorable Quotes
| Lily: | Look who I ran into. |
| Ted: | Since when do you guys know each other? |
| Robin: | Since about, here. (points to top of glass) |
"I just gotta bump into her somewhere. Now if only I knew her schedule, I could arrange a chance encounter."
"That's great, Ted. You'll be the most casual stalker ever."
- —Ted and Lily
Marshall: So, Gatsby, what are you going to do when Robin shows up?
Ted: OK, I got it all planned out. She steps through the door, and where's Ted? Not eagerly waiting by the door. No, I'm across the room at my drafting table, showing some foxy young thing all my cool architecture stuff. So Robin strolls over and I casually give her one of these "Hey, what's up?" She says "Hey, nice place, et cetera, et cetera ." And then I say "Well, make yourself at home" and I casually return to my conversation. Then, an hour later, "Oh, you're still here," I say, like I don't really care, but it's a nice surprise. And then, very casually, "Wanna see the roof?"
Barney: Solid plan, my little friend.
Ted: We're the same height.
"Hey, where the hell is my...oh! OK. Introduction to Contract Tort and Restitution Statutes from 1865 to 1923 is not a coaster! Ted! I'm jeopardizing my law career so you can throw, not one, not two, but three parties for some girl that you just met who's probably not even going to show up. I mean, where is she, Ted, huh? Where's Robin?... Hi. Hi, Robin."
- —Marshall has a good rant going... until Robin arrives
Ted: Hey, don't you have a paper to write?
Marshall: Dude, you're talking to The Kid. I'm gonna knock back this beer. I'm gonna knock back one more beer. I'm gonna go home. I'm gonna write a 25-page paper. I'm gonna hand it in and I'm gonna get an A. My name is Rufus and that's the Trufus.
Future Ted: He got a B-, but still. 25 pages in one night? B-? The Kid was good.
Ted: You know it's so funny I ran into you. We're having a party next Friday if you'd like to swing by, but, you know, whatever.
Robin: Oh, I'm going back home next weekend. Too bad it's not tonight.
Ted: It is, it's tonight. This Friday. Did I say next Friday? Sorry, 'cause I've been saying next Friday all week. But yeah it's tonight; the party is tonight. But, you know, whatever.
Lily: Hey I'm just sitting here. Wearing my ring. Me beautiful ring. Kinda makes wearing other stuff seem wrong... my shirt. Kinda don't wanna wear my shirt any more. Or my underwear. Oh, that's right, I'm not wearing any.
Marshall: (Stops working and looks at Lily) No underwear?
Lily: Not even slightly.
Ted: Guys. Boundaries.
"My friends are gonna love you. Like you. You know, as a friend..."
- —Ted to Robin
Robin: You can't turn off the way you feel.
Ted: (pantomimes turning a dial on his chest) Click. Off. Let's make out.
Robin: What?
Ted: What, that was the off switch! And I turned it off... I mean, yes, sure, I wanna fall in love, get married, blah blah blah, but... on the other hand, you, me... the roof...
Robin: There's no off switch.
Ted: There's an off switch. And it's off.
Robin: (leaning in) No it's not.
Ted: Yes, it is.
Robin: No, it's not.
Ted: Yes. It is...
(they kiss passionately)
Ted: ...No it's not... You were right. There's no off switch... God, I wish there was an off switch!
"Okay, buddy, time for the tough talk... Robin seems great. But let's look at the facts, you wanna get married. And right now there's a million women in New York looking for exactly you... but Robin ain't one of them."
- —Lily tries to get through to Ted
Robin: Sorry I missed your party again.
Ted: Hey, ain't no thing but a chicken wing, mamacita!
(to Marshall and Lily)
Ted: Who am I?
" Hello?"
"Hi, Ted."
"Amanda? Oh, Denise, sorry, you totally sounded like Amanda..."
- —Ted tries to act casual on the phone with Robin
"Ted, let's rap. Statistics: At every New York party there is always a girl who has no idea whose party she's at. She knows no one you know, and you will never see her again. Do you see... where I'm going... with this?"
- —Barney
"I love dip. Well, I don't love dip, I like dip. As a friend."
- —Ted awkwardly chats up Robin
(Ted, Lily and Marshall is sitting on the sofa after the party)
Marshall: Now the kid has got to get to work, and the kid is not to be disturbed. Repeat after me: I will not have sex with Marshall.
Ted and Lily: I will not have sex with Marshall.
"The girl from last night, I took her back to my place, then this morning spun her around a couple of times and sent her walking. She'll never find her way back and there she is!"
- —Barney
[Robin reported a story about a kid that got stuck in a crane machine]
Ted: Did they let him keep the purple giraffe?
Robin: Yea, they let him keep all the toys, he was in there a long time and little kids have small bladders.
(Barney looks for girls at the party pretending to be using the telescope of a submarine)
Barney: Beep, target acquired. Now it's time to play a little game I'd like to call: Haaave you met Ted?
Ted: Oh come on, not this..
[Barney pokes the girl on the shoulder]
Barney: Hi, haaave you met Ted?
Robin: I don't know, Ted. I mean, we barely know each other and you're looking at me with that look, and it's like-
Ted: Like what?
Robin: Like, let's fall in love, and get married, and have kids, and drive them to soccer practice.
Ted: I'm not going to force sports onto them unless they're interested.
Ted: She wants casual. Okay, I'll be casual. I'm gonna be a mushroom cloud of casual. You know why? 'Cause it's a game; I wanted to skip to the end and do the whole happily ever after thing, but you don't get there, unless you play the game!
Marshall: So you're gonna ask her out?
Ted: Yeah! No! I can't ask her out! 'Cause if I ask her out, I'm asking her out! So how do I ask her out, without asking her out?
Lily(to Ted and Barney): Did you guys get high?
Barney: This is so lame.
Ted: Lame . . . or casual?
Barney: Lame.
Ted: . . . or casual?
Barney: What does Carlos have that I don't?
Robin: A date tonight?
Lily: Ohh, stop the tape, rewind, play it again!
Robin: (Makes a rewind tape song) A date tonight?
Barney: I'm not sure I like her.
—Robin is making fun of Barney the first time they met.
Notes and Trivia
Goofs and Errors
- The couch that the Ted's kids are sitting on has changed. In the Pilot it was a modern black leather couch. In this and later episodes, it is a Chesterfield style couch.
- Inexplicably, the closed captions call Robin "Trubotsky" when she signs off her story.
Allusions and Outside References
- Marshall calls Ted "Gatsby" at one point in reference to the novel "The Great Gatsby", in which Gatsby throws successive parties in the hopes that the woman he loves, Daisy Buchanan, might attend. At one point in the party, the lamp next to the couch glows green, which is one of the most popular metaphors in "The Great Gatsby".
- In describing the party, Marshall says, "Everybody Wang-ed. Everybody Chung-ed," in reference to "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" by the band Wang Chung.
- The song "The Roof Is on Fire" by Rockmaster Scott & The Dynamic Three is parodied by Barney when he says "You were so right about the roof. The roof! The roof... is... on.... fire, Ted!"
- When Marshall says "My name is Rufus and that's the trufus" that's a reference to a similar quote from Do the Right Thing, a 1989 film by Spike Lee.
Music
- Haven’t We Met instrumental version - Stephen Lang (in broadcast only DVD replaces with a jazz piece by John Swihart) [1]
Other Notes
- When Robin leaves the booth and Ted starts talking about her, Lily makes a squeaking noise. Ted detects that she has a secret about him and makes her spill the beans. This would become a running gag throughout the series.
Guests
- Beth Riesgraf - Works With Carlos Girl
- Jon Bernthal - Carlos
- Lindsay Schoneweis - Fantasy Girl
- Jae Head - Leroy
Reception
- The St. Petersburg Comic Review gave this episode 7 out of 10 stars: "Three parties to try to get a girl? Only Ted could pull it off!"
References
External links
- Purple Giraffe at the English Wikipedia
- Purple Giraffe at the Internet Movie Database
- Purple Giraffe at TV.com
← Previous episode Pilot |
Purple Giraffe (all episodes) |
Next episode → Sweet Taste of Liberty
|