Of Course (How I Met Your Mother)

"Of Course"
How I Met Your Mother episode
Episode no.	Season 5 Episode 17
Directed by	Pamela Fryman
Written by	Matt Kuhn
Production code	5ALH17
Original air date	March 8, 2010 (2010-03-08)
Guest stars
Jennifer Lopez (Anita) Joni Bovill (Officer McKie)
Season 5 episodes
Definitions Double Date Robin 101 The Sexless Innkeeper Duel Citizenship Bagpipes The Rough Patch The Playbook Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap The Window Last Cigarette Ever Girls Versus Suits Jenkins Perfect Week Rabbit or Duck Hooked Of Course Say Cheese Zoo or False Home Wreckers Twin Beds Robots Versus Wrestlers The Wedding Bride Doppelgangers

"Of Course" is the seventeenth episode of the fifth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother and 105th episode overall. It originally aired on March 8, 2010.

Plot

The New York Police Department's river patrol pulls Barney out of the Hudson River one night in March 2010. Upon being asked to explain by a police officer how he got there, Barney explains that the chain of events started one week before.

He had picked up Anita (Jennifer Lopez) at MacLaren's. However, she suddenly leaves him just when they were ready to return to his place. Meanwhile, Robin and Don, who have established good chemistry on their morning show, hang out with Marshall and Lily at the bar. Marshall encourages Robin to keep Don, to the point that he later pretends to be Robin accepting Don's invitation for a date. At Ted's apartment, Barney tells the gang about his failure to snag the woman. Ted claims that the woman may have read tips from a certain book called Of Course You're Still Single, Take a Look at Yourself, You Dumb Slut. However, after checking out the book for a loophole, Barney discovers that the woman he met at the bar, Anita, is the author and announces that he is going to seduce her.

Later at the bar, Robin admits to Marshall and Lily that she met Anita during a segment on her show, wherein she told Anita the truth about Barney and their breakup. Anita shows how to break Barney's spirit by saying "No," which she demonstrates on the cameraman who suddenly gets her some coffee. After Barney had talked about one too many of his new ladies, Robin calls Anita and told her to put her plan into action. Marshall confesses to Lily about being upset that he'd been pushing Robin to keep up with Barney's sexual activity after their breakup. He was particularly mad at himself for rubbing Barney's exploits in Robin's face through song ("bang, bang, bangity-bang"). Barney tells Ted about his failure to find a counter-strategy in Anita's book. Ted concocts a strategy (in song) of a plan to combine 17 dates into one "super-date," which Barney says is gooey and romantic.

Robin cancels her date with Don after Ted informs her of the super-date Barney was planning. Marshall later vents his anger at Ted for crushing Robin - he (and also Barney) joined Marshall on the "bang bang, bangity bang" song. Then Ted realizes he, too, had been a jerk to Robin after she tried to bounce back from her breakup with Barney. After hugging Robin at the restroom, the three head to Barney's apartment, where Lily narrates to him every occasion that Robin cried somewhere else and later vented her frustration at the shooting range after hearing Barney brag about his sexual conquests. Barney heads off to the shooting range and apologizes to Robin about preparing a wonderful date for Anita when he never tried it even once with her. He decides to let Robin and Don go on his super-date, promising as well to Robin that he would not sleep with Anita.

Anita confronts Barney at the bar for not showing up on their own date and finds herself being treated to her own "No" strategy. Barney is defiant and Anita offers him multiple compromise offers, the last of which prompts him to head to the Hudson River and jump. Barney is later fined $500 for the misdemeanor and watches fireworks meant to cap off the super date, while Don and Robin kiss watching them. Robin declines to talk to the gang about the date the following morning, but later breaks into the "bang, bang, bangity bang" song, and everyone except Barney joins in.

Continuity

• The episode refers to Barney and Robin's break up in "The Rough Patch".^[1]
• Robin's habit of saying "but...umm" is referenced in her interview with Anita.^[2][3]
• Flashbacks of Robin's depression include scenes from "The Playbook" and "Rabbit or Duck."
• Marshall's tendency to sing about whatever is going on around him can be seen in episodes like "Sweet Taste of Liberty" and "Spoiler Alert".
• Cameraman Mike immediately went off Robin's hook, and got on Anita's hook in this episode.^[4]
• Robin is said to have gone to the shooting range to get over Barney, first brought up in season 1.
• At the very end, when all five are at Ted's place and Robin starts singing "Bang Bang" song, Marshall plays Barney's "Magic Phone's" ringtone - "Turkey in the Straw" - on a banjolele.
• As Barney leaves the bar he passes a cab with the number 9Z72. Almost all the taxi cabs used across the show have the code 9Z72 on top.
• Barney desperately seeks a loophole in 'Of course you're still single, take a look at yourself you dumb slut' much the same way he seeks a loophole in 'The Bro Code' as seen in "The Goat"

Cultural references

• Barney explains to the gang that he did something else much worse than vomit in his stormtrooper helmet when Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace came out.^[2]
• Anita's dating book Of Course You're Still Single, Take a Look at Yourself, You Dumb Slut satirizes self-help books such as The Rules.^[2]
• When Marshall goes to Barney's apartment and threw the Stormtrooper's head, Marshall says he is mad at Barney, mad at Ted, mad at himself, and honestly still mad at the empire.

Critical response

Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club rated the episode with a grade A-.^[5]

Brian Zoromski of IGN gave the episode 9 out of 10.^[2]

References

1. ^ "The Rough Patch". How I Met Your Mother. CBS. 2009-11-09. No. 7, season 5.
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Brian Zoromski. "How I Met Your Mother: Of Course Review. Bang, bang, bangity bang.". IGN (News Corporation). http://tv.ign.com/articles/107/1076118p1.html. Retrieved 2010-03-19. 
3. ^ "Jenkins". How I Met Your Mother. CBS. 2010-01-18. No. 13, season 5.
4. ^ "Hooked". How I Met Your Mother. CBS. 2010-03-01. No. 16, season 5.
5. ^ Donna Bowman. "How I Met Your Mother: Of Course". The AV Club. http://www.avclub.com/articles/of-course,38995/. Retrieved 2010-03-19. 

External links

• Of Course at the Internet Movie Database
• Of Course at TV.com