Of Course

"Of Course" is the 17th 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. Barney explains, to a Police Officer, 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 make out at 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 and, later, even pretends to be Robin when accepting Don's date invitation. Later, at Ted's apartment, Barney tells the gang of his failure to snag Anita. Ted speculates that she may have read a book called Of Course You're Still Single, Take a Look at Yourself, You Dumb Slut, which Ted claims is Robin's, but the gang don't believe him. After checking the book for a loophole, Barney discovers that Anita is the author; he plans to seduce her. Later, Robin admits, to Marshall and Lily, that Anita was in a segment on her show and she told her the truth about Barney and their breakup. Eventually the pair hatch a plan to teach Barney a lesson.

Marshall confesses to Lily of his regret that he pushed Robin to keep up with Barney's sexual activity after their breakup and his guilt over concocting a song: "bang, bang, bangity-bang". Barney tells Ted about his failure to develop a counter-strategy to Anita's book. Ted concocts a strategy, in song, 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 Barney's "super-date". Marshall is angry with Ted for crushing Robin; Ted and Barney join Marshall to sing "bang bang, bang, bangity-bang". Ted realizes he had been a jerk to Robin after her breakup with Barney; he hugs Robin.

Later at Barney's apartment, Lily narrates occasions when Robin cried and 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: for preparing a wonderful date for Anita when he hadn't for Robin; he decides to let Robin and Don go the "super-date", promising not sleep with Anita.

Later Anita confronts Barney, for standing her up, but becomes flustered when he uses her own "No" strategy against her. Barney is defiant and Anita offers him compromise offers, the last of which prompts him to jump into the Hudson River in an effort to keep his promise to Robin.

Barney fined $500, for the misdemeanor, and watches the fireworks display that mark the ending of the "super date"; meanwhile Don and Robin kiss. The following morning Robin refuses to discuss the date with the gang, but later breaks into the "bang, bang, bang, bangity-bang" song; everyone, except Barney, join in.

Critical response

Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club rated the episode with a grade A−.^[1]

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

Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger really liked the scene where Barney vomits into a Stormtrooper helmet following by an ad of Jennifer Lopez's awful new movie.^[3]

James Poniewozik of the Time Magazine criticized Jennifer Lopez's acting saying that while I liked her appearances in movies like Out of Sight she now became one of those celebrities I have hard time seeing as anyone other than herself, especially when playing a guest role.^[4]

References

External links

• "Of Course" on IMDb
• "Of Course" at TV.com