“The Naked Truth”
←	HIMYM episode 7x02 (138)	→
First aired: September 19, 2011
Director: Pamela Fryman
Writer: Stephen Lloyd
Barney's Blog
Images (5)

When Marshall gets the job of his dreams, he worries that, once the company discovers videos he made in the past, they may rescind the offer. Meanwhile, Ted can't decide whom to take to the Architects' Ball.

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 Podcast 8 Reception 9 References 10 External Links 11 Comments

RecapEdit

Marshall is still hungover from Punchy's wedding reception, and makes a "sweeping declaration" to never drink again. Future Ted says that Marshall's "sweeping declarations" typically don't work. While at The apartment, he receives a call from Garrison Cootes, the senior partner at Honeywell & Cootes, one of the biggest environmental law firms in America. He tells Marshall that the company is very interested in him and will accept him after an extensive background check. The danger of a background check concerns Marshall, who fears that an online video of him streaking through Wesleyan calling himself "Beercules" could result in him not getting the job. He tries to convince the uploader, Pete Durkenson, an old college acquaintance, to remove the video. Pete says that he will remove the video if Marshall beats him in a game of "Edward forty-hands". However, this Marshall ends up getting drunk and streaking again and another "Beercules" video is uploaded. Pete's refusal to take it down prompts Lily to blackmail him with certain information that she can tell to women who dated him in college. Eventually, Garrison does see the video and calls Marshall that he's hired - the video is not an issue with him.

Thinking about a date with Nora, Barney appears to the gang in crutches and a leg cast, explaining to the gang that he can gain sympathy from Nora this way. He ends up seeing Nora on their date with a neck brace. Nora quickly realizes that he is lying and is about to leave when Barney apologizes and says he lied to her because he likes her and thinks that she is out of his league. He says that he will never lie again to Nora, and tells her to ask him anything. She asks him to tell her every lie he said to have sex with a girl and he starts to explain all the plays he ever made on women, the worst of which irks a woman in another booth whom Barney hit on in the past. Nora leaves, disgusted at what Barney tells her. However, Barney says that to prove to Nora that he will never lie to her again, he vows not to leave the diner until she agrees to a second date. The gang eats at the diner nine hours later and sees Barney wake up. He refuses to make an order several times, and true to his word, does stay at the diner the whole time, which humbles Nora when she comes back.

Ted capitalizes on him being featured in New York magazine to meet women who get a copy of the issue at newsstands. He befriends 16 women and dates two of them on separate occasions. With Lily and Robin's help, he is forced to decide on one whom he will take to the exclusive "Architects' Ball." Robin thinks that the event will be boring, but drops hints about an interest to become Ted's date when he claims Lenny Kravitz will be at the event (she is an avid fan of the rock star). when Ted sees Barney at the diner, waiting for Nora, he decides he wants to have real love and winds up taking Robin to the Ball, where she discovers that the Lenny Kravitz Ted was referring to is Leonard Kravitz who is an old architect. Visually annoyed, Robin leaves Ted. Future Ted tells his kids that a person will know for sure about falling in love "pretty quickly and with absolute certainty." While looking at the guests, he sees Victoria arranging cupcakes at a table and they establish eye contact.

ContinuityEdit

• Marshall is still hungover from the previous episode.
• The way in which Ted gets women to give him their number is reminiscent of how Barney hooked up with Shelly in The Playbook, however, unlike Barney, Ted shows them a real magazine article on him.
• Ted previously mentioned, in Double Date, to Jen that a pet peeve of his is a girl not offering to pay the bill after dinner.
• Victoria was last seen in Nothing Good Happens After 2 A.M., when the two of them ended their relationship because Ted tried to sleep with Robin.
• Nora is angry at Barney for lying to her about his intentions, which occurred in A Change of Heart.
• Ted uses a legal pad to write down a list of pros and cons. He previously did this in I'm Not That Guy.
• After Marshall declares that he will never drink again, again, a flash to Marshall drunk and gambling is seen. Beside Marshall at the table is a stunned Barney, wearing a tie with ducks. This is a reference to Ducky Tie, which was first mentioned in The Best Man. The full scene and the events surrounding it are shown in Good Crazy and The Magician's Code - Part One.
• As Garrison Cootes is being introduced, the camera zooms in on his headline on the magazine with Ted on the cover. The headlines below it read, "See also: Mystery vs. History", the title of the sixth episode to come in Season 7 , "By George: is Van Smoot Van Smitten?" suggesting that The Captain has found love after Zoey, and "Plus Willem...Dafoe!", quoting Marshall from the Season 5 episode Robots Versus Wrestlers.
• When Marshall searches the internet under the picture of him and Ted there is a link to a website to Marshall's band "The Funk, The Whole Funk and Nothing But the Funk" which was seen in Unfinished.

GalleryEdit

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

Memorable QuotesEdit

Marshall:	I wanna be the kind of man my child can look up to. So, sweeping declaration, I am never getting drunk again as long as I live. (the rest of the gang laughs) I'm serious! (scene briefly stops so Future Ted can narrate)
Future Ted:	Kids, it's not that your Uncle Marshall had a drinking problem. But whenever he made a sweeping declaration like that, you pretty much knew... (the next day, Marshall walks in drunk)
Marshall:	I DID IT AGAIN!
Future Ted:	But I'm getting ahead of myself.

---

Marshall:	Third base.
Ted:	So I can go to second base.
Marshall:	Yeah, honk away my friend!

---

Ted:	Robin, get me my legal pad. It's Pros and Cons Time!

---

Ted:	Sixteen moments of pure destiny in one day! And of those 16, 10 where single. Of those 10, 7 liked what they saw. Of those 7, 4 were women. Of those 4, 2 gave me their real number, and I have a date with both of them.

---

Notes and TriviaEdit

Goofs and ErrorsEdit

• When Marshall shows the video of him streaking in college, thumbnails of the video where he streaks after getting drunk with Pete Derkenson can be seen in the right-hand side of the screen, at the time Marshall watches the video the second video had not been recorded.
• When the gang is in the Diner near the end of the episode, Robin can be seen tapping Lily's phone, but the screen is on the iPhone unlock screen.

Allusions and Outside ReferencesEdit

• The line by Barney "you make me want to be a better person", comes from the movie As Good as it Gets, spoken by Jack Nicholson's character.
• Barney quotes Black Swan: "If I only cast the white swan, the role would be yours".
• Barney claims that he hurt himself while performing in Man of La Mancha and Fiddler on the Roof.

MusicEdit

• Victoria - The Kinks.

Other NotesEdit

• In the gambling scene Marshall is wearing a shirt that says "Marshall and Steph 4-eva".
• How I Met Your Mother director, Pamela Fryman, directed one episode of an American television sitcom, The Naked Truth which has the same title to this episode.

GuestsEdit

• Nazanin Boniadi - Nora
• Martin Short - Garrison Cootes
• Jimmi Simpson - Pete Durkenson
• Ashley Williams- Victoria
• Kallee Brookes - Sara
• Nicole Hayden - Jessica
• Kristen Henry King - Carol

PodcastEdit

How I Met Your Mother - The Naked Truth Podcast(20:54)
103 views

Featuring an interview with Carter Bays and Stephen Lloyd.

ReceptionEdit

This episode premiered to 12.22 million viewers, becoming the most viewed episode of the season, and second most viewed episode of the entire series.^[1]
Donna Bowman at the A.V. Club gave the episode an A-.^[2]
Angel Cohn at Television Without Pity gave the episode a C.^[3]
Robert Canning at IGN gave the episode an 8 out of 10.^[4]

References Edit

External LinksEdit

• The Naked Truth press release at CBS Press Express.
• The Naked Truth at the English Wikipedia
• The Naked Truth at the Internet Movie Database
• The Naked Truth at TV.com

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