“The Final Page - Part One”
←	HIMYM episode 8x11 (171)	→
First aired: December 17, 2012
Director: Pamela Fryman
Writer: Dan Gregor Doug Mand
Barney's Blog
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Robin takes steps to have Patrice fired from WWN, while Marshall puts a jinx on Barney. Meanwhile, Ted invites his architecture professor to the dedication of the GNB building, and Marshall and Lily run into an acquaintance from college.

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

While the gang is at MacLaren's, when Marshall and Barney order the same drink, at exactly the same time, Marshall "jinxes" Barney. Future Ted then explains that five years earlier, when Barney broke a jinx set on him by Marshall, he got hit by a bus. Since then, Barney started taking jinxes very seriously and began jinxing others. The gang then celebrate jinxing Barney for the first time in many years. Barney applauds them and asks them to say his name (to break the jinx), but Ted tells him that this will be a long jinx.

With the construction of the New GNB Headquarters finished, Ted decides to call his architecture professor from Wesleyan, Professor Vinick, who once said that his building design was terrible and that he would never be an architect, to the opening to show him that he did become an architect. Marshall says that Professor Vinick is Ted's "pit guy", which Lily explains is someone that a person has been obsessed with for so long that they would throw them in a pit in their basement (like in The Silence of the Lambs). Ted says that he would never do that, and Robin sides with him, saying that there is no one that she hates so much that she would throw them in a pit. But Lily says that Patrice, Robin's co-worker who is dating Barney, is Robin's pit person. Marshall and Lily further say that they would be the "pit persons" of Daryl LaCoutre, an acquaintance from Wesleyan, who become obsessed with them after playing a game of hacky sack with them in freshmen year. Lily says that Daryl is still obsessed with them and keeps trying to contact them.

Later, Ted gets an RSVP from Professor Vinick, declining the invitation, since he doesn't remember Ted. This makes Ted furious, he and decides to drive to Wesleyan, accompanied by Marshall, Lily and Barney, to confront Vinick. At Wesleyan, Ted sits at the back of class taught by Vinick, thinking about how to confront him, but is impressed by the lecture he is giving. After the lecture, Ted sees Vinick, telling him that he is an old student of his and showing him drawing of the GNB building, but Vinick says that it is hideous and again tells Ted that he will never be an architect.

Meanwhile, while at Wesleyan, Marshall and Lily run into Daryl, who lives down the street from the Wesleyan campus and has a hacky sack stand at Wesleyan, called "The Three Hackmigos", after him, Marshall and Lily. Daryl invites Marshall and Lily to his house to "give them something". He takes them to the basement of their house, making Marshall and Lily scared as they think he is going to murder them, which they blurt out when he returns with his hands behind his back. However, Daryl tells them that he only wanted to give them a check for a hundred thousand dollars for coming up with the idea of "The Three Hackmigos" with him. Lily apologizes to him and for acting like idiots tries to accept the check, but he says it's fine and he doesn't need the their validations since he is doing great. He then tears the check, instead of giving it to them.

When Lily tells this to Ted, who has made a 3-D model of his building to get Vinick's approval, he realizes that he doesn't need Vinick's approval, and is about to throw the model of his building when Vinick sees him, and tells him that it's sad that he made a model of his building to prove some sort of point, but when Ted tells him that he was about to throw it away, Vinick doesn't believe him.

At WWN, Sandy tells Robin that it is time for year-end reviews and that they get to fire some people. Robin tells Sandy that unlike him, she doesn't fire people for personal differences. However, she sees Patrice's files and calls her in. She realizes that Patrice is indeed in her pit and decides to fire her. When Patrice asks he she is getting fired Robin makes non-work related excuses, like no one should be as happy as her and that her cookies are only "pretty good". Before leaving her office, Patrice asks Robin that is this is really about her, Robin tells her that it's not and Patrice hugs her. Robin apologizes to her and tells her that seeing her with Barney has brought back some old feelings and she doesn't like feelings, but she tells her that that is neither her nor Barney's fault, it's just hard seeing them together. She later tells Sandy that she didn't fire Patrice.

On their way back from Wesleyan, when Marshall and Lily get out of the car to get some snacks, Barney shows Ted an engagement ring, which causes Ted to say Barney's name, thus ending his jinx. He tells Ted that he is going to propose to Patrice, and when Ted reacts to this, Barney jinxes him. He tells Ted that he would surely tell him that he is moving too fast or over-correcting, but he is not. He was slept with a lot of women and this has left him feeling nothing but broken, but with Patrice, for the first time in his life, he feels settled and happy and he wants to feel this way for ever. He says the following night, on the roof of the WWN building, Patrice's favorite spot in the city, he is going to propose to her. He tells Ted that he will unjinx if neither tries to talk him out of this nor tell this to anyone else. Ted agrees to these conditions and Barney unjinxes. When Marshall and Lily return, Barney tells them that he tricked Ted into unjinxing him, and in turn jinxes them. He asks Ted if he has anything to talk about, but Ted says he doesn't.

ContinuityEdit

• Barney's bus accident in Miracles is referenced as being believed to have been caused by his breaking of a jinx.
• A Telepathic Conversations is shared between Marshall and Barney. These conversations were introduced in Mary the Paralegal.

GalleryEdit

For a listing of all images on the wiki tagged as being from this episode, see Category:The Final Page - Part One images.

Memorable QuotesEdit

Marshall:	Hand gettin' tired?
Barney:	(nods his head)
Marshall:	Not happening bro.

---

Barney:

I know that if you could talk, you'd say that I'm crazy, or that I'm over-correcting, or that I'm moving too fast, but you would be wrong. Look, I have banged my way through every bimbo in the tri-state area, and it left me feeling nothing but... but broken. But now, with Patrice... for the first time in my life, I feel settled, and happy. I wanna feel this way forever.

—Barney jinxes Ted, before telling him about his plan to propose to Patrice.

---

Barney:	(Mouthing) I'll tell you how my day went you bastards, I spent an hour in a taxi unable to tell him where to go. So I got reamed out at work for being late. But at least when they asked who was too busy to work this weekend, I couldn't say anything, so that's my Sunday! Now I beg of you in the name of Destiny's Child... Say my name! SAY MY NAME!
Ted:	Yeah, I didn't get any of that.

---

Barney and Marshall:	Ooh, Vanhelsing.
Marshall:	Jinxed.

---

Notes and TriviaEdit

Goofs and ErrorsEdit

• In Last Cigarette Ever, Future Ted said Marshall had his last cigarette when his son was born. Marshall is shown smoking after Barney is jinxed.
  • Marshall smoked a cigar, not a cigarette, so what Future Ted said still holds true.
• When Marshall shows Ted and Robin a picture of Marvin on which Daryl has commented, his surname is spelled as "Erickson", however throughout the series, his surname is spelled as "Eriksen".
• In the basement, Marshall tells Daryl: "[...] and before you murder us, you should know that we have a child!". This is redundant since it was shown, earlier in the episode, that Daryl has commented on pictures of baby Marvin and thus knows that they have a child.
• In Miracles, after Ted is in the car accident, the hospital phones for Marshall, Lily and Robin and Lily is shown leaving work. However in this episode, Lily and Marshall are shown sitting on the sofa drinking beer. If this had to have happened then, Lily was drinking before her work as a Kindergarten teacher or they have shown them after work which therefore does not fit the previous version of the story.

Allusions and Outside ReferencesEdit

• The gang's concept of the pit refers to Silence of the Lambs, which is also referenced in Robin's fantasy ("It puts the lotion in the basket" is a quote from the movie) and her Freudian slip, calling Patrice "Clarice" (as in Clarice Sterling).
• Ted says that he wouldn't Silence of the Lambs Vinick, but would rather Revenge of the Nerds him.
• Barney asks the gang to unjinx him by mouthing "in the name of almighty Destiny's Child, Say My Name".
• Marshall was about to talk to the Minnesota Twins player Frank Viola when Barney jinxed him.

MusicEdit

• If The Hudson Overflows - Goldspot

Other NotesEdit

• This episode was originally entitled "Silence Of The Jinx".^[1]
• Alyson Hannigan and Seth Green were originally cast in Buffy the Vampire Slayer as boyfriend and girlfriend. They were together between season 2 to 4.
• Daryl's basement is the same basement as Buffy's in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

GuestsEdit

• Ellen D. Williams - Patrice
• Alexis Denisof - Sandy Rivers
• Seth Green - Daryl LaCoutre
• Peter Gallagher - Professor Vinick

ReceptionEdit

This episode, along with The Final Page - Part Two, received 8.70 million viewers.^[2]
Donna Bowman of the AV Club gave the episode an A. She calls the episode "hilarious" and "touching". She adds that "nearly every character gets great material" in the episode. ^[3]
Ethan Alter of Television Without Pity gave the episode a C⁺. He referred to the presence of Peter Gallagher and Seth Green as "the upside" of the episode and using the "Silence of the Lambs motif as both a comic and dramatic device" as "the downside". He describes the trip to Wesleyan as "obvious, but not entirely unenjoyable filler". ^[4]
Max Nicholson of IGN gave the episode a score of 7.8 out of 10. He writes that Seth Green's "pathetic obsession with Lily and Marshall offered a few chuckles, as did Barney's sustained silence throughout the proceedings".^[5]

ReferencesEdit

External LinksEdit

• The Final Page - Part One at the English Wikipedia
• The Final Page - Part One at the Internet Movie Database
• The Final Page - Part One at TV.com

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