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
Guest appearance(s)
Jennifer Lopez (Anita) Joni Bovill (Officer McKie)
Season 5 episodes

"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. 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 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, 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 plans 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. During the segment Anita shows Robin how she can break the spirit of men like Barney by saying "No." She demonstrates this on the cameraman who brings her a tray of elaborate cappuccinos, espressos, and other selections after she refuses his initial offer of "coffee"; Robin only has a cup of coffee. Even after this demonstration, Robin refuses Anita's offer but later calls her up and tells her to put the plan into action after hearing Barney brag about another female conquest. Marshall confesses to Lily that he was upset about 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 Barney's super-date. Marshall later vents his anger at Ted for crushing Robin - he (and also Barney) joined Marshall on the "bang 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 for preparing a wonderful date for Anita when he never tried it once with Robin. 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 is flustered that he uses her own "No" strategy against her. Barney is defiant and Anita offers him multiple compromise offers, the last of which prompts him to march out of the bar and jump into the Hudson River in an effort to keep his promise to Robin. 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, bang, bangity-bang" song, with everyone except Barney joining 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]

References

1. Donna Bowman. "How I Met Your Mother: Of Course". The AV Club. Retrieved 2010-03-19.
2. Brian Zoromski. "How I Met Your Mother: Of Course Review. Bang, bang, bangity bang.". IGN. News Corporation. Retrieved 2010-03-19.

External links

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