Garbage Island (How I Met Your Mother)
| "Garbage Island (How I Met Your Mother)" |
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"Garbage Island" is the seventeenth episode of the sixth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother and the 129th episode overall. It aired on February 21, 2011.
Plot
At an airport in Hong Kong in 2021, Ted's flight to New York has been cancelled. While arguing with an attendant at the departure lounge, he runs into Wendy the Waitress. Future Ted describes how it happened.
At MacLaren's, Ted and Zoey tell Wendy the Waitress how they ended up together. Ted says Zoey was unhappy with her marriage to the Captain, and after a serious fight that ended with the Captain wanting a divorce, Zoey and Ted decided to give a relationship a try. Zoey asks Ted to get her personal belongings from the Captain's apartment. The stuff has been left at the lobby. Just as Ted comes to get the box, the Captain encounters him and at his study, says that Zoey left him for a mustachioed man, narrating a different version of his last argument with Zoey. Ted fails to get the box. He later returns to the apartment building, where the Captain claims that the doorman seduced Zoey. He threatens to harm the doorman but Ted convinces him to let her go because they have nothing in common anyway. Before leaving the apartment with Zoey's box, he admits that he was the one for whom Zoey left the Captain. Later at MacLaren's, Zoey says that good things can come out of something bad.
Meanwhile, Barney reports to the gang that his laser tag date on Valentine's Day with Nora did go well, despite her giving him her calling card which he later tears up. Robin catches Barney smiling whenever he mentions Nora, and gives him a napkin with Nora's phone number so he can call her. Robin eventually dares him to sleep with her to prove he does not like Nora. Barney shows up at Ted and Robin's apartment, which infuriates Robin because she had been encouraging him to pursue Nora. However, Barney reveals he had actually come to ask for Nora's phone number; pleased, Robin gives it to him and tells him to go for it.
Lily is frustrated at home because Marshall is too fixated with watching a documentary about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to even think about sex. He creates a presentation for a new GNB environmental campaign, but it is negatively received and Arthur Hobbs fires Meeker, the only employee who liked the presentation. Lily catches Marshall in the dumpster trying to find a set of Tallboy O-rings. Marshall tells Lily that his father's death affected his career choices and fears that starting a family right away could force him to work at GNB forever. Lily asks him to save the planet first then start raising a family.
Marshall's obsession also angers Wendy the Waitress because his advocacy prompts MacLaren's to have her carry spent bottles to the recycling center every night, which results in her having back pains. Future Ted says Meeker was a MacLaren's patron who met Wendy the night he goes to the bar to confront Marshall over his dismissal. Wendy's bag of bottles breaks and Meeker helps Wendy pick them up.
The ending scene shows that because they both hated Marshall, Wendy and Meeker did end up together, being on their second honeymoon when they encountered Ted at the airport. Ted says he is already married with two kids, and his relationship with Zoey did not end well. Ted begins the story of how he met his wife starting from the wedding, but Wendy interrupts saying they have to go. Ted immediately calls Marshall about the encounter.
Continuity
- Marshall still has trouble coping with the death of his father in "Bad News". His issues about GNB and financial security for his family were brought up in "Natural History" and the season 4 episode "The Best Burger in New York".
- Barney says that Robin hasn't had sex for 18 weeks. Robin's boyfriend Max breaks up with her in "Architect of Destruction", which aired exactly 18 weeks from this episode. After that episode, Robin hasn't been shown to date anyone.
- Lily brings up the NRDC, where Marshall landed a job in the season 3 episode "I'm Not That Guy".
- Robin mentions Nora will be eating at Cafe de l'Amour to Barney, the same restaurant Marshall and Brad ate at after watching Mamma Mia! during the second-season episode "World's Greatest Couple".
- Ted briefly recounts his scene with Marshall outside the church at the wedding where he met his future wife, which was shown in "Big Days".
- Ted sees the Captain giving him his cold glare, which frightened the gang in "The Mermaid Theory".
- In "Oh Honey", Marshall compares Honey (Miss Scarlett), Ted (Professor Plum), Barney (Reverend Green), The Captain (Colonel Mustard) and Zoey (Mrs White) to characters of the board game Clue. Each wear the characters respective colors; while The Captain doesn't appear in that episode, he does appear in this wearing a bright yellow top.
Barney's blog
Barney provides a flow chart to determine how long a woman has gone without sex.
Cultural references
- Barney's way of spacing out whenever women try to talk to him is reminiscent of the teacher's voice in Peanuts.
- Barney's quote, "With great penis comes great responsibility," references the famous words from the Spider-Man comics and Movies, "With great power comes great responsibility".
- The Captain compares himself and Zoey to Greek gods Poseidon and Amphitrite, then refers to Scylla and Charybdis.
- When The Captain is telling his story of how he lost Zoey, Ted spits out the brandy he is drinking, saying, "It's a damn good brandy." This is a reference to the 1990s TV series Twin Peaks.[citation needed] Kyle MacLachlan, who plays The Captain, also played the role of Special Agent Dale Cooper, whose catch phrase was "Damn good coffee."
- Marshall's boss recalls meeting Sting during an event for GNB's green initiative.
- When Ted contacts Marshall after Wendy the Watress leaves, Maeshall appears via holographic communication, another reference to Star Wars.
Critical response
Donna Bowman of The AV Club gave the episode an A-. [1]