Single Stamina
Comments5| “Single Stamina” | ||
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| First aired: November 27, 2006 | ||
| Director: Pamela Fryman | ||
| Writer: Kristin Newman | ||
| Barney's Blog | ||
Barney's gay, black brother comes to town to serve as a wingman and the gang discovers a secret he is keeping from Barney.
Contents |
Recap
Edit
It's winter in New York and Marshall, Lily, Ted and Robin are in "couple's hibernation" leaving Barney out in the cold. Finally, Barney announces that he has asked his brother, James, to be his wingman. Lily explains to Robin (who has never met James) that James is exactly like Barney except that he's gay. However, when he comes in the door, Robin is shocked to learn that he also happens to be black.
James reveals that he is, in fact, just like Barney: from suits, to laser tag, to blogging. Robin asks about their different color skin but they decline to explain (Future Ted explains that they got many different excuses for this from their mom growing up, eating only vanilla ice cream with Barney and only chocolate ice cream with James, "just one of those things", or they are just a bunch of racists). James convinces the rest of the gang to join him and Barney for night on the town.
They go to a trendy bar where the two couples promptly find somewhere to sit leaving Barney and James to help each other pick up dates. But James keeps declining any potential suitors causing Robin and Lily to deduce that he's in a relationship. They tell Barney that his brother is in a monogamous relationship. Barney doesn't want to admit it but when he confronts James he finds out James is getting married.
Barney is upset. He and James head back to MacLaren's where Barney demands to know how James could do this. While Barney has no problem with gay marriage in particular, he hates the idea of marriage. When James asks Barney to be his best man, Barney refuses.
Barney decides to end the marriage by taking James and the gang to a gay bar and fixing James up with a new man. Lily and Robin enjoy not being hit on and Marshall and Ted revel in the attention they receive. However, the boys soon grow tired of the flirtations of men. Meanwhile, Barney has no success getting James to stray. Finally, James explains that he and his fiancé Tom are adopting a son. With a baby in the picture, Barney quickly changes his mind about the marriage.
A year later, Barney is the best man at James and Tom's wedding and Marshall and Lily are married. Barney tells his nephew that in twenty and a half years he will teach him how to live. He then goes on to pick up a distraught girl.
ContinuityEdit
- At James's wedding a year later, Ted and Robin do not leave the reception when Lily and Marshall do, which shows that Ted and Robin now have single stamina again; thus alluding to their break up at the end of Season 2.
- When Barney enters the club with the group, he says "Daddy's home!" This is a reference to a pick-up line he attempted in The Pineapple Incident.
- When the gang tries to encourage Barney to support James's decision, Ted mentions his sister's marriage to someone who wore "sandals and socks". This is referenced in Little Minnesota, where Ted stated his sister's faults, including getting "married for 5 days".
- In The Rebound Girl, we see James and Tom's son grown up and also learn that they adopted another kid.
- Barney says he decided not to include James's "hetero college" phase in his best man speech. In The Yips, James is shown in a flashback where he mentions his girlfriend, though several of his comments during the flashback hint that he was in the closet at that time.
- When Robin asks James and Barney about their upbringing, both brothers chuckle and say "Please." This is the same response Barney consistently gives when asked what he does for a living.
- In this episode, we learn that Barney's real name is Barnabus.
GalleryEdit
- For a listing of all images on the wiki tagged as being from this episode, see Category:Single Stamina images.
Memorable QuotesEdit
| Barney: | If gay guys start getting married, then suddenly the world is going to be doing it. That's how it works: they start something, then six months later, everyone follows... Gay marriage is going to cause single life as we know it to die out. Think of how the American family will be strengthened! |
| James: | Guys! You are young, attractive people here in the greatest city on Earth! There are boys and girls in Nobody Cares, Wyoming wishing they could be here. But instead, they are in someone's basement drinking bad malt liquor debating whether they're gonna spend the rest of their Saturday night in the parking lot of the feed store or in some other dude's basement. You owe it to them to rise up and shimmy your lazy asses into something hot. And you go out there and YOU LIVE THE DREAM! Can I get a hell yeah?! |
| James and Barney : | Haaave you met my brother? (pointing at each other) |
Notes and TriviaEdit
Goofs and ErrorsEdit
Allusions and Outside ReferencesEdit
- Barney refers to the two lazy couples as "Grandparents of Willy Wonka" in reference to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, where all four of Charlie Bucket's grandparents share the same bed, which they never leave.
- A girl in the bar says her scarf is H&M, a famous Swedish clothing brand.
- During Barney and James' pickup act at the bar, Barney deflects James with the phrase "Popozao", referring to a Kevin Federline song of the same name.
MusicEdit
- Skyway - The Replacements
- Mama Your Boys Will Find a Home - Scissors for Lefty
- If I Could Split - Kite Flying Society (DVD only)
Other NotesEdit
- In the sitcom, Barney and James are straight and gay respectively. Coincidentally, this is the exactly the opposite for the real-life counterparts: Neil Patrick Harris is gay, whilst Wayne Brady is straight.
- In The Rebound Girl, Tom is played by actor Jai Rodriguez. He and the man that appears in this episode don't look alike at all.
GuestsEdit
- Wayne Brady - James Stinson
- Gabrielle Richens - Girl at bar with Tattoo
- Lombardo Boyar - Scotty
- Sarah Cahill - Rosa
- Megan Mullally - Barney's Mother (voice only)
ReceptionEdit
James McCracken of The Reviewer gave it a 9 out of 10. [citation needed]
IGN gave the episode 8.2 out of 10. [1]
ReferencesEdit
External LinksEdit
- Single Stamina at the English Wikipedia
- Single Stamina at the Internet Movie Database
- Single Stamina at TV.com
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