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ā€œSpoiler Alertā€
HIMYM episode 3x08 (52)
Spoiler alert - input pass
First aired:
November 12, 2007
Director:
Pamela Fryman
Writer:
Stephen Lloyd

Images (3)

An annoying habit in Ted's new girlfriend causes the gang to point out various bad habits unnoticed by other members of the group. Marshall forgets his password and can't check the results of the Bar exam; he turns to Barney for help.


Recap[]

Ted thinks that he has found the perfect girl, Cathy, but the group disagrees. At first they refuse to give a reason so as not to "spoil" her for him, but eventually Marshall tells him that she talks too much. Now that Ted knows, he cannot stand her garrulousness. The five friends then let slip each other's flaws until all are "spoiled", and thus are more annoying to those who had previously not noticed the flaws:

  • Lily: chewing loudly (pointed out by Ted)
  • Marshall: singing about whatever he is doing at the moment, or nonsense (pointed out by Robin)
  • Ted: correcting people (pointed out by Lily)
  • Robin: overusing and misusing the word "literally" (pointed out by Ted)
  • Barney: speaking in a falsetto, overusing catch phrases, and spacing out when his friends are talking to him (pointed out by Marshall, Robin and Ted)

Whenever one or more of the group has these quirks pointed out to them, the sound of glass shattering is heard. This represents the shattering of their illusions about one another.

Meanwhile, Marshall's bar exam results have been released, but he cannot remember the password he needs to retrieve the results online (thus saving him from waiting months for a notification by mail), even while classmates Brad and Kara have passed. Barney offers to help but this is only a ruse, and, with Marshall angry at Barney and the whole gang annoyed with one another, the arguments reach a climax. The argument is halted when the group mockingly sings one of Marshall's 'nonsense' songs; the song was actually a mnemonic device to help Marshall remember his password for the bar exam results website. He enters it and proudly announces "I'm a lawyer." The group then celebrates with champagne at MacLaren's, with each sliding back into their bad habits.

At the end, in a time leap forward, Ted runs into Cathy with her deaf fiancƩ, and uses sign language to announce how Cathy talks too much. Even though the man is deaf and it does not affect him that much, Ted has 'spoiled' Cathy, and a subtitle displays "(Glass shattering)" as Ted walks away and Cathy's fiancƩ looks on in despair.

Continuity[]

  • Marshall's habit of singing everything he does was previously seen in Sweet Taste of Liberty, where he does it while studying.
  • Robin displays her habit of overusing the word "literally" in Ted Mosby: Architect, when she claims that Ted had been complaining about work "literally" non-stop.
  • Barney uses the catchphrases "Awesome" and "Lawsuit up!"
  • The montage of the early bloom of Ted's romance with Cathy is similar to the one in Little Boys, during which Future Ted admits he started actually liking Stacey, the girl he and Barney were competing over.
  • Ted uses sign-language to communicate with Cathy's deaf fiancĆ©. He first displayed the skill in How I Met Everyone Else, in a flashback to when he met Barney.
  • Marshall had taken the bar by Dowisetreplaā€‹, as a flashback shows Ted asking him about taking it tomorrow after he, Barney, and Robin wake up him by watching sports in the apartment late at night.
  • Ted imagines Robin telling him "I used to be a dude" in Slap Betā€‹.
  • Marshall has a harsh and intense phone conversation with his grandmother because he is frustrated over not receiving his bar exam results. He previously had a similarly harsh conversation with his grandmother in Atlantic City, where she apparently used inappropriate language when discussing Lily calling off the wedding.

Future References (Contains Spoilers)[]

Gallery[]

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

Memorable Quotes[]

Ted: Lily, she knows all about art. Marshall, she's open to the existence of UFOs. Barney, she's hot. Robin, she's not hotter than you. (Ted tells the gang why they should all like his new girl)

Marshall: I assume it's because she's loyal, wears shiny belts, and I resemble a young Harrison Ford. (Marshall on why he thinks Ted calls Lily "Chewbacca")

Marshall: Brother, you're driving the "I wanna have sex with her" truck, and it has a huge blind spot.
Ted: That's ridiculous.
Barney: Is it, really? Ted, let me tell you a little story about a young lady I wanted to have sex with. Lucilia. On a white sand beach in Rio de Janeiro, we made love for ten straight hours, and when we were done, she applauded, and told me I was far, far better than the best lover she could possibly imagine, and that I had restored her faith in God.
Ted: What's that have to do with Cathy?
Barney: Who's Cathy?

Robin: Oh, my God, Lily! What are you eating? Gravel?
Marshall: Oh, I know, right? It sounds like cufflinks going up a vacuum cleaner!
Lily: Well, why don't you sing about it?
Marshall: (singing) Because I don't sing about everything I do!
Robin: No, no, sometimes you just sing nonsense words, like a stroke victim. And what's worse: they're catchy! Apple, Orchard, Banana Cat Dance (Ted, Barney, and Lily join in) 8663. See, we know that one because you once sang it for like three hours? What the hell is that?
Marshall: That's my password: AOBCD8663.

Notes and Trivia[]

Goofs and Errors[]

  • Barney mistakenly refers to the National Security Act of 1947 as the "National Security Act of 1948."
  • In real life, Marshall would not have needed a password to look up his bar exam results; New York posts a list of the names of everyone who passes the bar exam publicly.
  • During the scene where the gang argues about each others habits, and more specifically when Robin says "I literally mean literally," the wall in Marshall and Lily's room is painted blue, however in other episodes it is painted red.

Allusions and Outside References[]

  • Ted calls Lily Chewbacca because she chews her food loudly, a reference to the Star Wars character. He also says that her eating ribs "sounded like Jurassic Park."
  • Cathy's name and her flaw of excessive talking is a reference to the phrase and toy Chatty Cathy.
  • The name of the girl Barney seduces in Rio probably is a reference to JosĆ© de Alencar's novel LucĆ­ola, about the deficient morality in Rio de Janeiro in the XIX Century.

Music[]

Other Notes[]

  • Lindsay Price, who plays Cathy, and Josh Radnor, who plays Ted, started dating at some point while making this episode, just like how their characters were dating in this episode.

Guests[]

Reception[]

  • Omar G at Television Without Pity gave the episode an A-.[1]
  • Donna Bowman of the AV Club gave the episode a B rating.[2]
  • IGN rated the episode 8.6 out of 10.[3]
  • The St. Petersburg Comic Review gave this episode 8.5 out of 10 stars. " 'No, he was not.' ... Boy, does she talk a lot, or what?"

References[]

External Links[]


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