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Swarley
HIMYM episode 2x07 (29)
Swarley
First aired:
November 6, 2006
Director:
Pamela Fryman
Writer:
Greg Malins
Barney's Blog

Images (7)

Marshall goes on his first date since the break up with Lily much to her dismay. Barney gets a new nickname.


Recap[]

The guys go to a coffee shop, where Ted points out that Chloe, the girl working there, has drawn a heart next to Marshall's name on his cup. Ted insists that Chloe has a crush on Marshall because she always laughs at his lame joke about how they fit a pumpkin into a pumpkin-flavored latte. When Marshall approaches Chloe, she gives him her number on a coffee cup. When Marshall introduces Chloe to Ted and Barney at the bar, they tell him that she has the "Crazy Eyes", an indicator of future mental instability. Both Ted and Barney give Marshall examples of their experiences with this malady; Barney's crazy-eyed date wanted a threesome with a teddy bear; Ted's crazy-eyed date picked up a long metal rod and repeatedly hit a car that nearly hit them as they were about to cross the street. Marshall shrugs it off. The next day, as Marshall is taking a test, he receives a call from Chloe who says that she is being followed by a hunchback with a limp. Later, Marshall takes Chloe back to his apartment and suspects that she broke a picture of him and Lily that was sitting on the end table. However, it turns out that Lily has been hiding in the apartment, and pops out (much to Marshall and Chloe's surprise). She introduces herself, and leaves the apartment dejected and crying. Marshall follows her out to the steps, leaving Chloe sitting on the sofa.

Lily confides in Robin that she is scared by the idea of Marshall going out on a date with another woman. Despite hearing that Ted believes she has crazy eyes, Lily wants to see what Chloe looks like. It turns out that Lily was the hunchback following Chloe -- she was carrying a bookbag, then covered herself with a coat to shield herself from the rain (the hump), and limped because she hit her knee. Lily, while visiting Ted and Robin in the apartment, realizes that Marshall has moved the picture of the two of them. She then sneaks into the apartment before Marshall brings Chloe home to put it in a more conspicuous place, and it breaks. While hiding from Marshall and Chloe, she gets upset and then pops out. Marshall realizes that he should get back together with Lily even though he says that Lily has the craziest eyes he's ever seen. 6 months after Ted came back to the apartment and found Marshall alone and upset after the engagement ended, he returns to find Marshall and Lily happy and back together. The gang return upstairs to the apartment, finding it has been ransacked by Chloe who has been "searching" for her "lost" keys which are in fact sitting in plain sight on the coffee table in front of where she had been sitting. Marshall points out the keys and Chloe departs, leaving a nonplussed gang and apparently proving the "Crazy Eyes" theory.

Meanwhile, Chloe writes Barney's name as "Swarley," prompting everyone to call him Swarley for the duration of the episode. Barney protests, but variations on the nickname become a running gag throughout the episode. Just prior to leaving the apartment, Chloe calls Robin "Roland", and Barney tries to use it as an opportunity to stop everyone from calling him "Swarley." In the final scene, however, Barney walks into the bar, everyone shouts "Swarley," and he turns and walks out dejectedly as Carl plays Where Everybody Knows Your Name.

Continuity[]

  • Marshall and Lily finally get back together after breaking up in Come On. This episode marks the first and last time Marshall is seen going on a date with a woman besides Lily.
  • Lily mentions the time she and Marshall had sex in the bathroom, in Brunch.
  • Marshall mentions threatening someone with his crazy eyes in Cupcake.
  • Robin's mother makes an offscreen appearance.

Future References (Contains Spoilers)[]

  • In Showdown, additional details about the night Lily and Marshall got back together are revealed.
  • The look Ted mentions Robin giving during sex, where she bites her lower lip, shyly looks away, and thrusts her chest out, is the same one she has at the beginning of the "Let's Go to the Mall" music video in Slap Bet.
  • When Lily tries to sell her paintings in Everything Must Go, she displays one at the same coffee shop the guys visit here.
  • In Vesuvius, Ted and Marshall call Barney "Swarley" when he makes fun of Marshall over the "The Wedding Bride Too" character Narshall.

Gallery[]

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

Memorable Quotes[]

Robin: What's up, Swarles?
Barney: No, okay? No! No more! I will not let this become a thing! It's OVER! No more "Swarley!" No "Swarles!" No more "Swar-LAY!" No more "Swar--wait for it--LEE!" No more "Bob Swarleyman!" No more! No! It's over! Do you understand?
Lily and Robin: Yes.
Barney: Thank you. [walks away, unaware of a "CALL ME SWARLEY :-)" sign on his back]

Carl: Phone call for Swarles Barkley.
Robin: [taking the phone]: Hey, Ted. No he's not here. Good one though. Remember that one.

Ted: Hey dude, by the way, I really like that suit. Tell me about the fabric; is it foreign or something?
Barney: Wow...it is foreign. I'm impressed, Ted! It's Moroccan, actually.
Ted: Whoa...

[Carl interrupts from the bar]

Carl: I've got a phone call for Swarley. Is there a Swarley here?
Barney: You weren't interested in my suit at all, were you?

: The gang notices that the coffee girl has put a heart on Marshall's cup
Marshall: Well, what if the heart doesn't mean anything? What if she writes them on all the cups?
Ted: Mine says "Ted", no heart
Barney: Mine says... "Swarley".... How'd they get "Swarley" from "Barney"? It's not even a name. Who would ever be called "Swarley"?....(Marshall and Ted smile) Oh, please don't start calling me "Swarley"... This would never happen at a bar!

[Barney leaves the coffee shop]

Ted: Man! What's up with Swarley?
Marshall: I know. You almost never see old Swarlz get that upset.
Ted: Psssh.

Notes and Trivia[]

Goofs and Errors[]

  • Ted's date with the "crazy eyes" smashes a car window after the car almost runs into them, a split second later the car is fine.

Allusions and Outside References[]

  • The opening scene where Barney, Ted and Marshall are sat drinking coffee is a nod to similar series Friends when Barney states "Hanging out in a coffee place, not nearly as much fun as hanging out in a bar."
  • The final scene is a reference to the TV show Cheers, when everybody yells "Swarley!" when Barney enters the bar. The theme song to Cheers is then played on a boombox, and the camera angle changes to show the same bar set-up and framing for the main interior bar-shots featured in Cheers. Additionally, the end credits are done in the same font and color as those of the show, and the executive producer credits are overlayed on the final scene instead of over a black background (the only time in the series that this happens).
  • A man at MacLaren's can be seen wearing a Converge shirt.
  • Billy Joel is mentioned by Marshall and Ted.
  • The coffee shop where Chloe works is called Costa Coffee, the name of the largest coffee chain in the United Kingdom, which currently has no locations in the United States.
  • Chloe demonstrates for Marshall the fact that she knows all the words to "We Didn't Start the Fire".
  • When Ted calls the bar, he asks to speak with Swarls Barkley, a play on the name Charles Barkley, a former NBA player and sportscaster.
  • When Barney asks Robin and Lily to stop calling him Swarley, he says "no more Bob Swarley", a play on the name of musician Bob Marley.
  • Barney calls Robin "Monica Rolinsky", doing a pun with the name Monica Lewinsky.

Music[]

Other Notes[]

Guests[]

Reception[]

  • Staci Krause of IGN gave this episode a 7.8 out of 10, stating "while most of the episode lacked hilarity, the two-minute reunion of Marshall and Lily made it worth the ride."  She criticized the Swarley joke, saying that it "wasn't all that inventive and got boring after a while."  She praised the moment between Chloe and Marshall saying that when Marshall realized that "he missed and loved Lily still" was one of the best emotional moments this show has ever given us.  In conclusion, she said that the "episode was fairly good, by no means great, but solid enough." [1]
  • The St. Petersburg Comic Review gave this episode 7 out 10 stars. "... pumpkin latte can bring the world together."

References[]

External Links[]


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