Unfinished

edit info

“Unfinished”
←	HIMYM episode 6x03 (115)	→
First aired: October 4, 2010
Director: Pamela Fryman
Writer: Jamie Rhonheimer
Barney's Blog
Images (6)

Barney attempts to use his womanizing tactics on Ted after he turns down the chance to finish the new GNB headquarters. Robin still has unfinished business with Don.

Recap

Future Ted tells his kids that during his early years as a professor, he had a simple goal: to give a lecture that would change someone's life. He believes he accomplished that goal, and tells the story. In 2010, Barney surprises Ted one day by telling him that Goliath National Bank is reconsidering his design of the new GNB headquarters that had previously been scraped. Ted is intrigued but decides he doesn't want to work for GNB, (with he and Marshall likening them to the Galactic Empire.) Barney seems to accept this, but later is seen to be ignoring Ted. Ted realizes Barney is playing him like he would a hot girl, as Barney really wants Ted to design the building.

Barney's attempts to "woo" Ted seem to be working, and Ted finds himself wanting to accept the job more and more. Finally, Barney tells Ted they have already accepted another offer, with Marshall backing up his claim. Finally, Ted goes to Barney and offers to do the job at half price, but Marshall reveals they hadn't accepted another offer, only pretending to do so to convince Ted even more. Shocked Barney and Marshall had lied to him, Ted declines the offer again, but later while giving a lecture on an architect's unfinished work, he changes his mind and rushes to Barney to accept the job; he however forces Barney to take him out to dinner first, as Barney had stated he never took a woman out before "closing the deal" first.

Robin realizes she may not have gotten over her relationship with Don after seeing him on TV in Chicago. She ends up drunk dialing him and leaving angry messages. Lily tries to get her to delete Don's number, though at first she lies about it and leaves another message. Later she actually does delete his number, but ends up calling him anyway and leaving another message as she had memorized his number. Later, Robin attempts to leave him another message, but finds she has forgotten his number; smiling, she realizes she finally got the closure she wanted.

Continuity

• Ted and Barney leaving Marshall out of certain activities, such as being a wingman, previously came up in Third Wheel, Little Boys, and Definitions. Barney and Marshall were previously seen being each other's wingmen in The Scorpion and the Toad.
• Marshall believes Ted's situation would be perfect for a song. He has previously written songs in Slapsgiving ("You Just Got Slapped") and Of Course ("Bang, Bang, Bangity Bang"). Robin also pointed out his annoying habit of singing everything he does in Spoiler Alert.
• in the flashback to Marshall performing with his funk band, he is wearing the Suessian hat that prompted his intervention, as seen in Intervention.
• The plan for the new GNB building is revived after having been scrapped in Old King Clancy. It was originally commissioned in Woooo!, where it was also Barney who got Ted the job.
• Barney claims to have slept with 236 women. He hit the 200 mark some time before Right Place, Right Time, as is revealed in a flashback.
• Robin, who broke up with Don in Doppelgangers, was shown to still be depressed over it in Big Days.

Future References (Contains Spoilers)

• Robin is still not fully over her break-up with Don in Subway Wars, but gets there after winning the race to get to Gregor's Steakhouse and hitting it off with Max.
• Lily getting people to tell the truth by asking "where's the poop?" is introduced. She does this to Robin and Ted, respectively, in Canning Randy and Something New.
• Barney gives Ted a plane while "putting the moves" on him. Ted later holds and looks at it in Landmarks when trying to decide whether or not to support the preservation of the Arcadian.
• Ted's building begins construction in Challenge Accepted and is completed by The Final Page - Part One.
• Marshall mentions his "all-lawyer funk band" and its ridiculous name, "the Funk, the Whole Funk, and Nothing but the Funk", to the Mother in Bass Player Wanted to get her to tell him her band's name (Superfreakonomics).

Gallery

1/5

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

Memorable Quotes

Lily:

Where's the poop, Robin?

---

Robin:

I'm going to kill you, fly to Chicago, kill you, put your face on a deep-dish pizza and eat it. And then maybe catch a Bears Game, but mostly the killing and eating your face thing.

—Robin's threatening voice mail to Don.

---

Barney:

Barney Stinson always gets the 'yes'.

---

Robin:

I want to say, from the bottom of my heart, I am gonna kill you- No, I'm not. I am happy for you- and that Asian slut on your Facebook page, she's dead too.

---

Robin:

I am never going to have closure. Okay, closure doesn't exist. One day, Don and I are moving into together, and the next thing I know, he's on a plane to Chicago. It just... ended. And, no matter how much I try to forget that it happened, it will have never not happened. Don and I will always be a loose end. We will always be- (Shot to Ted giving a lecture)

Ted:

Unfinished. Gaudí, to his credit, never gave up on his dream. But that's not usually how it goes. Usually it isn't a speeding bus that keeps the brown, pointy, weird church from getting built. Most of the time it's just too difficult, too expensive, too scary. It's only once you've stopped that you realise how hard it is to start again, so you force yourself not to want it. But it's always there. And until you finish it, it will always be... (Ted runs from the classroom)

—Robin and Ted recount how their great loves (Don and Architecture) are unfinished.

---

Ted:	What are you doing here? Oh, God! You're dating one of my students. It's Rachel, isn't it? Barney, I know she wears provocative sweaters, but she's 19! Now I'm gonna have to hear all about it, right? Go on. Tell me every detail.

—Ted's reaction to seeing Barney walking into his classroom

---

Ted:	I finally know what your kind (women) go through. I get it now!
Robin:	For the last time, I don't care how big it was. It is not the same as giving birth!

---

Robin:	Oh, Teddy. You are so gonna spread your legs and design that building.
Ted:	I am not that kind of architect!

---

Ted:	Barney wants me to take the job so bad he's putting the moves on me?
Marshall:	I hope that's his endgame. Actually, I don't. I like you two together!

---

Robin:

"This just in," is what I'm going to say when I'm stabbing you!

—Robin to Don

---

Notes and Trivia

Goofs and Errors

• Lily claims she had a dog as a child, but it was established in World's Greatest Couple that she is allergic to dogs. That also had been proven false in other episodes, including The Scorpion and the Toad and Where Were We? where Lily is seen with dogs.
• Robin says when she first tried to delete Don's number, the phone 'asked' if Robin was sure, and Robin claims "I wasn't sure". However, at the end she deletes Don's number without it displaying 'Are you sure?'.

Allusions and Outside References

• The series opens with a picture of the Sagrada Família, a building designed by Antoni Gaudí. It's long history and reputation for being "unfinished" was used as a parallel to the episode's storyline. Also, towards the end, Ted is nearly hit by a bus. This is in reference to Antoni Gaudi's death when he was hit by a tram, leading to halt in the construction of the cathedral.
• The episode references the design of the Death Star from Star Wars: A New Hope, and its destruction by a single torpedo aimed at a vent. The scene in the garbage compactor with Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewbacca is also referenced.
• Lily mentions "the time when everyone was going: Whassup?" when trying to determine how long it had been since she took a karate class.

Music

• The opening music is Franz Schubert's Symphony Number 8, the "Unfinished Symphony"
• Beach Comber - Real Estate plays when Ted goes to meet Barney at the end of the episode

Other Notes

• The karate uniform worn by Lily and the karate class is the same as the ones worn by Tony's students in The Wedding Bride.
• Chrissy's pink sweater is the identical sweater worn by Henrietta in the Season 5 episode Hooked.
• In this episode, it's noted that Don Frank is the anchor of the 11 o' clock evening news. Before his job at WNKW, Don was noted for his presence in no less than 39 morning shows (including his last one as co-anchor with Robin).

Guests

• Tara Erica Moore - Rachel
• Malea Mitchell - Chrissy
• Jude Will - 7-year-old Clint Eastwood
• James Lanham - 16-year-old Clint Eastwood
• Clark Gilmer - Blond Girl at the bar
• Keith Middlebrook - Scott Weisman
• Carolyn Ordoñez - Chrissy's Friend

Podcast

thumb|300px|right|Podcast for the episodeFeaturing an interview with Carter Bays and Jamie Rhonheimer.

Reception

This episode premiered to 8.604 million viewers.
Deann Walkerat Television Without Pity gave the episode a B⁺.
Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B⁺.
Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode a rating of 9 out of 10.
Chris O'Hara of TV Fanatic gave the episode a rating of 3.5 out of 5.

External Links

• Unfinished at the English Wikipedia
• Unfinished at the Internet Movie Database
• Unfinished at TV.com
• Unfinished at CBS Press Express

← Previous episode Cleaning House

Unfinished (all episodes)

Next episode → Subway Wars