“Ten Sessions”
←	HIMYM episode 3x13 (57)	→
First aired: March 24, 2008
Director: Pamela Fryman
Writer: Chris Harris Carter Bays Craig Thomas
Barney's Blog
Images (5)

Ted plots how he will get Stella to say yes when he asks her out at the end of the ten sessions he will spend with her.

Contents 1 Recap 2 Continuity 3 Gallery 4 Memorable Quotes 5 Notes and Trivia 5.1 Goofs and Errors 5.2 Allusions and Outside References 5.3 Music 5.4 Other Notes 6 Guests 7 Reception 8 References 9 External Links 10 Comments

RecapEdit

Ted is at the clinic to remove his tattoo, where he is attracted to his doctor, Dr Stella Zinman. They agree to go to a movie, but Ted doesn't realize Stella had brought her friends along with her, and it was not a date, as this is against AMA rules. At the next session, Ted suggests waiting till his ten sessions are over before asking her out, but Stella tells him she will still say no. Ted still feels that over ten weeks, she will start to like him, so decides to keep trying. Even though the first five sessions go well, Stella confirms her answer is still no. Ted decides that being nice to the receptionist, Abby, would be a good way to let Stella see his good side, but instead, Abby starts to show interest in him. Upset that this didn't work, Ted tries using a self help book he saw in Stella's clinic. When he tries talking to her about this, she reveals it isn't her book, and she detests it, while Abby confirms that Ted was reading the book in the reception.

Robin suggests Ted give up on Stella and instead focus on Abby. Barney agrees, as he made an appointment with Stella to check what she was like, and discovered she had a condition where she is only attracted to men with mustaches. Although Ted doesn't believe him, he still tries to grow a mustache, which Stella laughs at. Upset, Ted says he gives up, but Lily tells him to try again, as Stella is interested in him, though she says she has not been to see her. It is then revealed that Marshall had gone to see Stella to talk up Ted, and found out Stella had a crush on him. Happy that Stella is interested in him, Ted asks her out after his last session, but she says she does not have a time for dating because she has a daughter.

After a while, Ted realizes she didn't actually say the word 'no', just that she didn't have time, and so decides to take her out on a "two minute date" - to dinner at a table at the café next door to her practice and a "movie" in clips at the electronics store two doors down, with help from Ranjit and Wendy the Waitress. The date goes well, and Stella promises to call if she ever has time. Finally, Abby sees Ted outside the clinic holding flowers he tried to give to Stella, and chases him down the street. She is then seen at the reception telling Barney about how he toyed with her emotions, after which they go out to have sex.

ContinuityEdit

• The butterfly tattoo Ted needs removed was acquired during a drunken evening portrayed in Wait For It.
• Ted discussed his desire to date Stella in The Platinum Rule.
• In Brunch, Ted states that Barney always uses 83 percent when he makes up a statistic. Barney says in this episode that it takes a woman 8.3 seconds to find out if she's going to sleep with a man or not.
• The waitress who quickly serves Ted and Stella their lunch at the Gyro Cafe is Wendy the Waitress, who frequently serves Ted and his friends at MacLaren's Pub.
• There is a hint that Stella could be the mother because she states she was at a party on Saint Patrick's Day but left early. Future Ted says that the mother was also at the same party he was at in No Tomorrow. This theory, although it is already known that Stella isn't the mother, is disproven by the fact that Future Ted said at the end of No Tomorrow that "...years later, I found out your mother was at that party.", but he only found out about a week later. 

GalleryEdit

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

Memorable QuotesEdit

Stella:	Ah, the butterfly tramp stamp. My bread and butter. So I'm guessing that the real story involves a bad breakup and some booze? Unless that's a gang tattoo, in which case I think it's time to find a new gang.
Ted:	Uh no, I just thought it would be cool to get a caterpillar tattoo, and a few weeks went by and all of a sudden...

---

Barney:	Hey! How would you like me to take you out to a fancy restaurant and then go on a shopping spree? Treat you the way you should be treated. Would that make you forget about that Ted monster?
Abby:	My mom was wrong; there are nice guys in New York!
Barney:	We just have to go by my hotel room first. My bed was broken; I just have to make sure they fixed it.
Abby:	Then if it's fixed, can we have sex on it and then go shopping?
Barney:	I like you!

---

Stella:	Abby goes bowling with her church group every Wednesday night... and she really wanted to invite you, but she's too shy.
Ted:	Abby is...?
Stella:	My receptionist. You really made quite an impression on her with the coffee the other day. I mean, she has really not stopped talking about you.
Ted:	Oh, Abby. I thought you said "Alan."
Stella:	But you just said, "Abby is...?"
Ted:	Right. Right, I thought I said "Alan."
Stella:	Who's Alan?
Ted:	Who's Abby?
Stella:	My receptionist.
Ted:	Exactly.

---

Notes and TriviaEdit

Goofs and ErrorsEdit

• During the episode, when Barney calls and yells at Abby, her ring is initially on her right hand; later, it is on her left.

Allusions and Outside ReferencesEdit

• Ted refers to himself as complex and requiring multiple listens like the song Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin, to which Robin replies "Roger Daltrey just rolled over in his grave" who was not in Led Zeppelin, but the lead singer of the band The Who and who isn't even dead.
• When talking to Stella at the clinic during his first session, Ted says he has a high threshold for pain: "Just last night I sat through the worst movie ever made." Stella says: "Oh, Plan 9 from Outer Space?" - and Ted replies: "No...the Worst Movie, Manos: The Hands of Fate". Both movies have indeed been named as being among the worst movies ever made.

MusicEdit

• Thirteen - Big Star

Other NotesEdit

• The yellow Nanette Lepore lace dress Spears wore in the episode was auctioned for US$1,525,^[1] and the embroidered rust dress was auctioned for US$1,925. ^[2] The creme cardigan with beading was auctioned for US$3,001.^[3]

GuestsEdit

• Sarah Chalke - Stella Zinman
• Britney Spears - Abby
• Marshall Manesh - Ranjit
• Charlene Amoia - Wendy

ReceptionEdit

The episode attracted 10.62 million viewers, 1 million more than the previous episode, and 2.4 million more than the show's average before the writer's strike. ^[4]
Linda Stasi of the New York Post asserted that Spears looked "slim [...] trim and gorgeous" and that "her acting was nothing short of adorably believable". ^[5]
Omar G at Television Without Pity gave the episode an A-. ^[6]
Michelle Zoromski of IGN argued however that while Spears' appearance was a "nice change of pace from her latest public appearances", it was nonetheless a "bit clunky and not as seamless as other guest roles have been on the show". ^[7]
Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club was also less enthusiastic about the singer's performance. Bowman opined: "The Big Britney Episode, as it will henceforth be known, wasn't really much to get all huffy over. You can say this for the [How I Met Your Mother] team: They tend to minimize the annoyance factor of their special guest stars. Britney was a sideshow, and she got her couple of laughs, but she didn't hog the screen time." ^[8]

ReferencesEdit

External LinksEdit

• Ten Sessions at the English Wikipedia
• Ten Sessions at the Internet Movie Database
• Ten Sessions at TV.com

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