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7.0
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Marshall and Barney lie to keep Ted from finding out the headquarters he'd been hired to design for GNB has been cancelled. The gang try to decipher the story of a celebrity encounter Robin once had.
  • The gang tries to guess a celebrity Robin slept with.

    8.5
    "Great"
    "Old King Clancy" is a great How I Met Your Mother episode. I love how Robin revealed she was slept with a celebrity once and she makes the gang guess the celebrity, his collection, and the Canadian sex act. I love how Barney finds a website of Canadian sex acts. I love how the episode is spent with the gang guessing the celebrity. I love how the gang didn't even know the celebrity. The one thing I didn't like about this episode was that Ted architect project was shut down and Barney and Marshall made it seem that it didn't shut down. That was completely stupid. I love how Ted was given the chance to build the room where people get fired. I love how the flashbacks and the audience is the camera and you get to see the crazy reactions of people getting fired. I give this episode a 8.5/10.moreless
  • Marshall and Barney try to protect Ted

    9.5
    "Superb"
    There is no way this show is on it's death bed. This was a fun episode. It's always fun to explore Ted's doucheness and now he's moving in a different direction in his career. How could you not love all the Canadian Sex Acts and the website to go along with it!! Alan Thicke is awesome! Newfoundland Lobster Trap...hilarious!! It was full of Canadian jokes and seriously, can you ever go wrong with the Canadian jokes? This season has some good moments (i.e. The Naked Man), and this was just a part of a very solid season. It would be nice if we got somewhere in the mother search though. And honestly, if the show is that painful to watch, don't watch it. I guarantee there's enough fans out there to keep the show alive.moreless
  • Ted finds out that his architectural project was shut down... a month ago.

    5.0
    "Mediocre"
    Wow, this season has really been a roller coaster ride, I'm not saying it's a good thing. Some of the episodes this season have been downright terrible, and others have been awesome. This is not one of the awesome episode. Like I said in another review, the work episodes never set well with me. But that wasn't the problem here. The plots were just not good. Ted finds out that his architectural project was shut down... a month ago, turns out his friends made up a task force so they can listen to his designs. He soon gets a chance to design another room in the building, the place where people get fired. The only remotely funny scene was when Barney was firing people, and you were a security camera's eye view. The only funny scene. Then Ted gets fired, so by the end he decides to start his own firm. Lets wait & see how this unfolds. The Robin plot was just as terrible, Marshall & Lilly have to guess which Canadian celebrity she slept with, that's all they do throughout the whole episode, just look through canadiansexacts.org. By the end, they find out, and it wasn't even funny or anything. Which was the point, but still it was pretty much a waste of time. We also find out that Robin was the one who asked about the inappropriate sex act, not the Canadian "celebrity" which was supposed to be funny, but I didn't laugh. Mediocre episode, with some development.moreless
  • Can't expect much from a show in its death bed.

    3.5
    "Bad"
    As my rating says it all, this episode and most episodes so far stink big time. It has really reached a point where, whatever Lily or Robin says is exactly the opposite of funny. There were a couple of good scene like the firing room, and the ocean's series mockups, but that pretty much explains why I gave a 3.5 instead of a 1.

    You just can't say something is funny by saying something ain't funny. Marshall's fish joke is a perfect example to prove my point. HIMYM perception of comedy has taken the crapper - pretty much like NBC's Office. A scene where the writers have no idea, what version of comedy really appeals to a greater portion of the public.

    It's pathetic.moreless
  • Amazing hilarity from beginning to end!

    9.0
    "Superb"
    Marshall and Barney decide to keep Ted in the dark after they discover that Goliath National Bank (GNB) is cancelling plans to build the new headquarters they hired Ted's firm to design. In order to protect Ted's feelings after such an intense year, they decide to let him ride out the two remaining months on the original architecture contract and set up an elaborate lie to keep him working on the design. Ted soon discovers the truth and Marshall and Barney scramble to get him some real work with GNB to save his job, but his plans are rejected and Ted gets fired from his firm. Meanwhile, the gang tries to pry information out of Robin after discovering that she'd once almost spent the night with a celebrity.moreless
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  • TRIVIA (0)

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  • QUOTES (10)

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    • Ted: Is there anything else you want to tell me?
      Marshall: You know how you played third base for the GNB softball team?
      Ted: Yeah.
      Barney: There is no GNB softball team. We just rented a field, rounded up a bunch of guys and told them to make you the hero.
      Ted: So my game-winning walk was a lie?

    • Marshall: I was thinking, we're paying Ted's firm for two more months, can't we just let him keep working? He's had a rough year, he should be happy for once.
      Barney: Marshall, what you're suggesting is a lie that requires a long term commitment. A nice guy like you can't pull that off.
      Marshall: I could too.
      Barney: Lie to me right now.
      Marshall: I have a spaceship.
      Barney: What kind of fuel powers your spaceship?
      Marshall: Okay, I don't have a spaceship.
      Barney: See, that's your mistake! When telling a lie, distract from the original lie with more lies! Like this, I have a pony. Ask me a question.
      Marshall: What color is your pony?
      Barney: Well when I first got Dandelion she was a lovely chestnut brown but her stable is located next to a chemical plant and she's turned a sickly grayish/off white. The vet says there's nothing he can do to fix her.
      Marshall: Oh my god, is Dandelion gonna be okay? (Barney gives him a knowing look) Nice! Dandelion's not even sick, is she?

    • Marshall: How're you doing?
      Ted: I'm frustrated. Anything creative I put into my designs Bilson just hacks out with a machete. I hate having to answer to a guy like that.
      Marshall: You should quit, this job is beneath you!
      Barney: Yes! To a new chapter in Ted Mosby's life, may the wind be at your back-
      Ted: Are you crazy? I can't quit. They laid off another architect at my firm. I mean Bilson's a pain, but without it, I'm probably out of a job.
      Barney: Yeah, it's funny you mentioned the project because-
      Marshall: You're nailing it! Your hair and teeth loo fantastic today, you're shining like a diamond!
      Ted: Thanks! I needed to hear that.

    • Ted: Good morning, lying bastards. Anything you want to lie about before I head off to work to get fired?
      Barney: That's a nice shirt.
      Ted: You're the devil.

    • Ted: I don't believe it. I just got screwed by my two best friends, and I didn't even know it.
      Lily: In Canada, that's called a Sneaky Snowplow.

    • Marshall: So, how'd it end with Bilson?
      Ted: Well, after he suggested a vocational paradigm shift, I made an impromptu presentation using a four-pronged approach that really brought him to his knees.
      Barney: You hit him with a chair?
      Ted: Yes sir.
      Barney: That's my boy!

    • Ted: What is an ETR? Barney: It's an Employee Transition Room. Ted: What does that mean? Barney: Well, it's a space where a supervisor and an employee engage in a knowledge transfer about an impending vocational paradigm shift. Marshall: People get fired here.

    • (Barney talking about how he knows Canadian sex acts' names) Lily: How do you know all these? Barney: Canadiansexacts.org. It's bookmarked on the top right. Marshall: Dot org? Barney: Yeah, it's not for profit. They really just want to get the information out there.

    • Ted: I have to think of ways to put my wood into Bilson's dark atrium.

    • Marshall: If I could nail any celebrity, it'd be Lily. She's the star of my heart. Lily: For me, it would be Hugh Jackman.

  • NOTES (4)

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    • The German episode title is "Old King Clancy". The French title is "Le vieux joueur de Hockey", meaning "The Old Hockey Player". The Italian title is "Giochi erotici canadesi", meaning "Canadian Erotic Games".

    • International Airdates: Australia: May 18, 2009 on Channel 7; Germany on February 6, 2010 on ProSieben; United Kingdom: April 8, 2010 on E4; Czech Republic: November 22, 2010 on Prima COOL

    • A last-minute timeslot change had this episode air at 8:00 rather than its regular 8:30.

    • The canadiansexacts.org website featured in this episode was created by show staff and is available on the Internet.

  • ALLUSIONS (2)

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    • The manner in which the different people that comprise the New HQ task force are introduced (Roy, Louisa, Arthur and Reginald) is similar to the opening credits of Guy Ritchie's 2000 film, Snatch, where all the main characters are freeze-framed in a similar manner. The song playing is similar to one of the movie's songs, as well ("Fuckin' in the Bushes" by Oasis).

    • After Ted learned that the plans for the new GNB HQ had been scrapped, Marshall and Barney put him in charge of designing a room at the office for employees to be fired in. As Ted walks into the bar, Marshall calls him Mr. Mister in reference to their song "Broken Wings" in honor of Ted "learning to fly again" on this new project.

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