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How I Met Your Mother Season 5 Episode 12

Girls Vs. Suits

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AIRED: Jan 11, 2010

7.2

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Episode Summary

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Barney chooses between wearing suits and sleeping with a sexy bartender. Meanwhile, Ted dates a student from Columbia and reveals she's the roommate of his future wife.

Fan Episode Reviews (16)

Funny while contributing something important to the main storyline

8.0

By nananabatman, May 07, 2013

As the title of the episode already reveals, it's about Barney choosing between a hot girl and wearing suits. But if we concentrate on our narrator Ted's life, it's about him stepping into the apartment of his future wife for the first time, however, with the intention on going on a date with her roommate.

This episode has surprisingly low score on this site, since IMDB users gave it an average rating of 9/10 which is pretty darn high. This is for the reason that most of the people that watch How I Met Your Mother like the stories with Barney being all player-like the most. Besides that, this episode contains an epic musical sequence in Barney's mind, directed by Glee choreographer Zachary Woodlee. This episode had Rachel Bilson and Stacey Keibler as guest stars and while I liked the firstmentioned a lot, the other was just a helping hand for Barney's story part and had nothing special about herself.

"Girls Versus Suits" had something that amounts to all good How I Met Your Mother episodes: a plot that is in a connection with the main, eponymous storyline of the series. This episode had a couple of references to Ted's future wife and that's always a good idea. Moreover, it was also quite a funny episode, especially the musical part of it.

It's an episode that works in the typical style of the show and does so very well, therefore I had a lot of fun with it and I think it's the best episode of this season yet.moreless
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The 100th episode

8.5

By Lostindharma, Mar 20, 2013

A 100th episode is a big moment for a show. Generally big things are supposed to happen and it didn't disappoint. The biggest strike in this episode was that it too much of a season 5 stink to it. That's not a knock against this episode it's just like whole season 5, season, something was missing and wasn't up to the standards of this great show.

At the start of the episode Ted is outside of his classroom and meets a student who he has a connection with. Warning don't read this for they are spoilers. Like with Maggie this women is not the mother. Also like with Maggie, this storyline could've made you happy or upset. This made he more happy then when he met Maggie. This women turns out to be the mother's roommate. Great choice for the women who played her. I loved how future Ted talked about when he came in Cndy's place for the first time and talks about how when Ted and Cindy are on the date when Cindy talks about her roommate with future Ted commenting. It was a great tease by the producers not saying who the name of Cindy's roommate was. Another great scene when Ted is in the Cindy's room and everything he mentions is his future wife. It adds of things too look for and remands you of things have mentioned before.

Meanwhile Barney tries to hook up with a new bartender but finds trouble when he finds out (through Marshall) that she hates guys who wears suits. Dedicated to nailing women, Barney suits down. It was a little bit weird but more funny to see him like this. It was amusing to see the pic of Barney on water skis in a suit. It was also good to see how Barney was going through withdrawal. Barney eventually is successful in getting the women to his apartment where she sees the room of suits that Barney has. This leads to another break in reality with a song. I did like the song and it was nicely done but I think it would've been better done either before or after this episode.

If it annoys you that you don't see the mother (at least all of her) remember that this a long story. When Ted first sees Robin he falls in love but she winds up being the story of how Ted met Aunt Robin. I don't think Ted was in love with her but when he first saw her, he knew there was something special about her. It's the same way with Cindy. Although on a smaller scale. My only other complaint about this episode was that I wish this could've been a little bit longer.

Overall a fine episode.moreless
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The show has officially lost it..

1.0

By koyettsu, Oct 31, 2011

I don't even need to make this a long review because there is not a lot to say about How I Met Your Mother anymore. I am not sure what happened to the show, but the last few episodes especially this one I found my eyes diverting elsewhere for something interesting to do. The plot was boring, once again they decided to tease at his future wife but again failed to deliver. The joke is old and stale now, just show the damn mother already. The parts with Ted once again were ridiculous and bored the hell out of me. I seriously could do with a lot less Ted and a lot more everyone else. Well except for Robin, she has lost all purpose on the show now. They simply have her there just because she has been there since the beginning and find excuses to keep squeezing her in.

The musical was very cheesy and I did not find it remotely entertaining at all. Sure Neil did great in Dr. Evil but there is no heart what so ever put into this. All in all I found this episode to be one of the worst in the entire series. I no longer wait to see the show every week, I usually catch them whenever I have nothing better to do and then I usually wish I had cleaned or something.moreless
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It just keeps getting worse.

3.0

By sanniescott, Oct 20, 2011

This episode had everything going for it. It had a catchy title 'Girls vs Suits'. It had two hotties as guest stars (Rachel Bilson and Stacy Keibler). And there were rumors that we'd get glimpses of the Mother. But yet, it all fell apart the moment it was revealed that Rachel was the mother's roommate (who didn't see that coming?). Seriously, I'm tired of this repeated formula. I don't understand why they can't introduce the mother and have her join the gang. Robin seems completely wasted and I wouldn't miss her if she were replaced by the mother. And what was with the musical ending? It just shows the laziness of the writers. This episode will surely reduce the fanbase of HIMYM.moreless
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Barney has to choose between a girl or his suits.

9.5

By Jon_MW_14, Aug 30, 2011

"Girls Versus Suits" is an awesome How I Met Your Mother episode. I love how Ted gets closer to the mother and we get even more clues as to who she is. I love how the mother is the roommate of Ted's student Cindy. I love how Ted loves all the stuff he thiinks belong to Cindy, but they actually belong to the mother. I love how Ted gets a glimpse of the mother's feet. IN this episode, there's a new bartender who Lily and Marshall find attractive and Robin says she's only attractive because she's serving beer. I love how she goes behind the counter and she too looks attractive to everyone. In this episode, Barney has to choose between his suits and a girl. And I love how he chooses suits. I love the musical number at the end. I give this episode a 9.5/10.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Josh Radnor	Ted Mosby
Neil Patrick Harris	Barney Stinson
Jason Segel	Marshall Eriksen
Alyson Hannigan	Lily Aldrin
Cobie Smulders	Robin Scherbatsky

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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James Pumphrey	Frat Dude #1	Guest Star
Ryan Kyler Bailey	Herb	Guest Star
Michael Busch	Ricky	Guest Star
Bob Saget	Voice of Ted, 2030	Recurring Role
Lyndsy Fonseca	Daughter	Recurring Role
David Henrie	Son	Recurring Role

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Episode Photos

Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) and Karina,...

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Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) and Karina,...

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Ted (Josh Radnor) dines with Cindy (gues...

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Ted (Josh Radnor) dines with Cindy (gues...

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (1)
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- The clips of Barney suiting up in the bathroom at MacClaren's are out of order: it shows him putting on the jacket, then backtracks and shows him buttoning the shirt and tying the tie.
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QUOTES (2)
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- Ted: (opening narration) Kids, you never know when you're going to meet someone really important. It's not like life gives you a warning, you just look up and there they are... her.
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- Barney: (singing) Nothing suits me like a suit!
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NOTES (3)
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- The Italian title is "Lei odia giacca e cravatta", meaning "She Hates Suits and Ties".
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- International Airdates: Australia: April 22, 2010 on Channel 7; United Kingdom: August 12, 2010 on E4; India: October 18, 2010 on Star World; Czech Republic: December 22, 2010 on Prima COOL; Germany: February 2, 2011 on ProSieben; Slovakia: November 23, 2011 on JOJ Plus
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- Music: "Cherry Pie" by Warrant (when Robin serves drinks)
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ALLUSIONS (1)
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- The music ("Bullwinkle Part II") heard while Barney puts on his suit is the same as when Vincent Vega gets high in Quentin Tarantino's 1994 film, Pulp Fiction.
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