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Home Wreckers

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"Home Wreckers"

"Home Wreckers" is the 20th episode of the fifth season of the CBS situation comedy How I Met Your Mother and 108th episode overall. It aired on April 19, 2010.

Plot

When the gang discovers Marshall doesn’t have any money to pay for the pizza they had ordered, Marshall is forced to reveal that he had been mugged by a man (Jon Dore) with a gun in Central Park. Lily is worried, and aided by Robin’s gun-loving nature, expresses her interest to buy a gun for herself. Marshall is frightened by this prospect, and then reveals he hadn’t been mugged; instead, he had visited the Central Park Zoo, and while standing close to a monkey cage, a monkey had swiped his wallet. The rest of the gang agrees the story is hilarious (with Barney joking the monkey had held Marshall at “gunpoint” with a banana), and Robin asks to interview him for her show. Although Marshall fears embarrassment, he agrees to help boost her show’s ratings. Robin gets the go ahead from her producers, who liked the story so much, they believe his story could gain nationwide attention. Marshall then privately explains to Barney and Ted that the monkey story is false, and that he really had been mugged; he had made up the monkey to calm down Lily and stop her from buying a gun. Ted is unable to determine if Marshall is lying or not, while Marshall is unsure if he can lie about his monkey story on the news show.

Meanwhile Barney is using the story of being mugged to pick up women. He is interrupted by a woman he had earlier convinced he was Neil Armstrong. He tells an even greater lie in an attempt to get out of it and suggests a threesome. Barney says the threesome was awesome but Marshall and Ted do not believe him, noticing he has been splashed with vodka martini and even has a lime in his hair. Barney continues to believe his own version of events. Barney tells how disappointed he was when he found out the woman he lied to admitted she was not actually 28 but 31 years old, and that people want to believe the lie. Barney explains to Marshall a lie is "just a great story that someone ruined with the truth".

The next morning, Ted brings along a scale model of the Empire State Building he had been working on; Ted had asked Robin to interview him about it, but she refused, but Ted brings it in case Marshall is unable to talk about the monkey mugging. Marshall is rattled when Robin reveals they had brought the monkey from the zoo as well, and the monkey will be separated from its mate Milly for committing the crime. Marshall finally refuses to talk about it, causing Robin to cut to a commercial and question him as to why. Bombarded with everyone asking him what really happened, Marshall then says “I’m going to bed,” before leaving, with the Future Ted saying they never did find out what really happened. Ted tells Barney he would be better off if he stopped telling lies but Barney replies Ted will someday tell this story and lie to give it a better ending. Robin is forced to interview Ted about his model, but as they are about to start, the monkey breaks free and snags a small doll nearby. It then proceeds to climb to the top of Ted’s model, with the cameraman throwing paper airplanes at the monkey to get it off. Ted is left in disbelief that the ending from King Kong is being recreated before him, while Future Ted simply states "True story".

Music

Continuity

  • Barney is seen wearing "the belt," first mentioned on "Third Wheel" as the prize for having a threesome.
  • Arthur the Pizza Guy first appeared in "The Rough Patch," and now he and the rest of the gang are good friends, thanks to Marshall's obsession with pizza. Marshall's pizza obsession includes Arthur's mention of a pizza coupon with Marshall's likeness on it and Ted and Marshall's (and Lily's) road trip to Chicago to Gazola's in "Duel Citizenship."
  • Marshall and Lilly's accidents in the home include a scene from the pilot episode, where Marshall accidentally popped a champagne cork into Lilly's eye.
  • Barney is known for telling wildly improbable stories that no one believes, ending them with the statement "True story" in the same way Ted ended this story.
  • Lily says to Marshall that their credit cards are finally active. This is reference to Lily's shopaholism which was introduced in I'm Not That Guy episode.
  • Barney has previously expressed disgust at pursuing women in their early 30s, although he does not mind pursuing older women.
  • Marshall quotes facts about monkeys. His fascination with them was first mentioned in Life Among the Gorillas episode.

Cultural references

  • Marshall throwing Lily during a dance maneuver is a reference to American Wedding, in which Michelle (also played by Alyson Hannigan) is thrown in the same way by Jim, Jason Biggs' character in the original trilogy of American Pie films, before he learns to dance properly.
  • Ted acts out the final scene of Sleepless in Seattle with miniature figures on his replica of the Empire State Building in his living room, which annoys Robin to no end.
  • The end of the episode is a spoof of the last scene of King Kong.[2]
  • One of Ted's monkey jokes ("Maybe he was just curious...were you wearing a yellow hat?") references to the iconic Curious George book series.
  • The woman Barney is hitting on asks if Neil Armstrong is the cyclist confusing the astronaut with cycling champion Lance Armstrong.
  • Barney is unwilling to believe actor Jack Palance is dead. Palance died in 2006.

Critical response

Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club rated the episode "Zoo Or False" with a grade B-.[3]

Amanda Sloane Murray of IGN gave the episode 9 out of 10.[4]

Cindy McLennan of Television Without Pity rated the episode with a grade C+.[5]

References

  1. ^ "How I Met Your Mother - Episode 5.19 - Zoo or False - Press Release".
  2. ^ http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2010/04/how-i-met-your-mother-stop-monkeying-around.html
  3. ^ Donna Bowman (2010-04-12). "How I Met Your Mother "Zoo Or False"". The AV Club. Retrieved 2010-04-12.
  4. ^ April 13, 2010 Amanda Sloane Murray How I Met Your Mother: "Zoo or False" Review. Mugged by a monkey. http://tv.ign.com/articles/108/1083437p1.html
  5. ^ Cindy McLennan (2010-04-12). "How I Met Your Mother: Why Can't You Do It? Why Can't You Set Your Monkey Free?". Television Without Pity. NBC Universal. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
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