TV.com

How I Met Your Mother Season 4 Episode 22

Right Place Right Time

Favorite

Watched It I've Watched This 8

Next
Episode Previous
Episode

8.3

User Rating

415 votes

Your Rating: 10
Your Rating: 9.5
Your Rating: 9
Your Rating: 8.5
Your Rating: 8
Your Rating: 7.5
Your Rating: 7
Your Rating: 6.5
Your Rating: 6
Your Rating: 5.5
Your Rating: 5
Your Rating: 4.5
Your Rating: 4
Your Rating: 3.5
Your Rating: 3
Your Rating: 2.5
Your Rating: 2
Your Rating: 1.5
Your Rating: 1

Rate Now

EPISODE REVIEWS
By TV.com Users

Write A Review

Episode Summary

EDIT

AIRED: 5/4/09

Ted explains to his future kids how a series of unrelated events led to a chance encounter with a former girlfriend. Barney makes the 200th notch in his bedpost. Marshall goes overboard when he discovers GNB has a department that can make him charts and graphs.

Fan Episode Reviews (17)

What could've happened to Ted?

9.0

By Lostindharma, Jan 30, 2013

This was an episode that could've made you happy or upset. When I first saw this episode I was very excited because I thought I saw something but it actually wasn't. However looking back this was a great episode. This was like the lucky penny episode where a series of random events that lead to something big. At the end, Ted with the yellow umbrella (the future mother's) is a stop sign when someone comes upon him. Let's get to the events that lead to this.

Ted is close to landing a client that wants a cowboy design restaurant. He is having trouble so he gets a bagel. It's not at the normal place due to Robin being sick at the normal place. This gets Ted upset. It's funny when he said where in New York can I get a bagel.

Ted also gets magazine to check out a special girl that Barney was with. By special I mean this was his 200th women. This was due to something that happened in 7th grade when a classmate of his said that he slept with 100 women. What happened in 7th grade along with the way his mother was, his childhood, and how his college girlfriend broke up him is why Barney is the way he is with women. It's funny how his friends react to this. Barney's "special": women turned out to be body builder who's not lacking in muscle. Robin who helped out Barney sort out the list was kind of nice of her. I wonder what number Robin was. I think the list is also a partial callback to the photo album Barney had made.

Speaking of callbacks the intervention is back. But we'll get to that. Before Ted gets to the stoplight he goes visit a homeless man. He does this because Marshall got too much into making graphs. After getting into too making graphs, the gang decides to have intervention, They are always fun. The homeless man ends up getting the graphs that Marshall needed for his job. The homeless man who is the voice of Homer was pretty funny.

This all leads to Ted running into Stella. When I first saw this episode, I thought it was the mother. Even though it was not, I still enjoyed this episode for several reasons. This like with the lucky penny episode and the car accident in season 3 had at least I think an important part in Ted meeting the mother. That story just not happened yet.moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
0 0

Flag
Share Hide
Watch out for spoilers, because I'm gonna rant!

3.0

By SofiaBergenda, Oct 23, 2012

This episode honestly p*ssed me off. The show spent an ENTIRE episode telling us how INCREDIBLY important it was that Ted got to that corner, how if he didn't the kids would never have been born, making us believe that maybe, FINALLY, we'd get to meet her.

And then it turns out to be Stella. An ex, who we KNOW isn't the mother (revealed in the almost-wedding ep.), and whose return only changes one thing in Ted's life: that he decided to be a professor in stead of an architect. And what does that have to do with meeting the mother? Absolutely nothng.

Don't get me wrong, I love the show. And this episode didn't stop me watching, but every time I rewatch the show I always get a flame of irritation burning inside of me when I get to this ep. Because it was just one tease too much.

Later on it didn't bother me as much that we didn't meet the mother, because at least we felt like we were on our way. This season they didn't talk much about the mother, and when they finally DID, they made a HUGE build-up, leading to the reveal of a character who we KNOW is not the mother. Pisses me off every time.

I'm sorry for ruining everyone's day, but it needed to be said.moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
0 2

Flag
Share Hide
Tries to fill the gap 'Friends' left, but doesn't quite do the job.

5.5

By pankajsaksena, Jul 07, 2011

HIMYM is a surprise hit. Its an average show at best, but still it has got high user ratings and high viewership. I guess the reason behind this is that HIMYM started the year after 'Friends' called it a day. That great sitcom, 'Friends' gave us an addiction. It gave us a pleasant and light thing at the end of the day after a long long day. We kinda got used to it and when it made an exit we needed to find an alternative.

HIMYM stepped in cleverly, starting just the year after Friends called it quits in 2004.

HIMYM is an average sitcom. First of all its too much in the image of Friends with five (instead of six) friends living together; hanging out for a lot of time in a bar (instead of a coffee house); with Marshal and Lily living along with Ted just above the bar (just as Monica and Chandler just above the coffee house). So its only natural for viewers to compare with it with Friends, and its even more natural to get disappointed in HIMYM when you have something as marvelous as Friends in mind.

Secondly, Ted, the leading actor is pathetic. He is too serious to be comic, and the show is too comic to allow Ted to be serious. Thus he hangs on confusingly between the realm of comedy and drama and he has no clue what to do with his character. The creators had to make him comic as Ross was in Friends, but they had to teach true love to their viewers!

Thirdly, HIMYM has too many artificial characters. Barney who is said to be the soul of the show, is a very very artificial character. He is an impossible mix of a a very witty person who is also a great womanizer. Its like you have mixed Chandler and Joey!!!

One can either be Chandler and make extremely intellegient and sarcastic jokes or you can be a dumbo and be a womanizer like Joey, but you can't be both at the same time. What they have done in HIMYM is that they have tried to mix those two characters and that makes for the artificiality of the character, though it goes hand in hand with the entire show.

Sometimes Barney makes me sick with his excessive stress of his 'awesomeness'. A little less artificial character would do. Robin too is an artificial character and she is so unfunny, though she is so gorgeous that one overlooks her bad acting.

The only discovery and the pleasure of the show is the couple, Marshal and Lily. They are the only two characters who can naturally be comic, who look like they are born to do comedy. Lily is particularly great and a very good actress and then Marshal follows her as the second best actor of HIMYM. I watch the show 'coz of this couple.

I would rate the acting and the pleasantness of the characters in this order:

1. Lily

2. Marshal

3. Robin

4. Barney

5. Ted

I hope the creators come up with some more in the fifth season.moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
4 23

Flag
Share Hide
Mother revealed, or is she???

7.5

By sequoa84, Jan 31, 2011

I am rating this episode as good, but let me be clear - it was not funny at all. My ratings are a measure of the story content, the way this episode was paced, and finally some indication of closure.

Something tells me that they've done something like this before. I don't know - I get the deja vu all the time. But still, the whole concept of what would have happened, I had done this instead of that and explaining every single detail of it is something I've seen before. Barney doing 200 women, Robin throwing up on handbags, and Marshall fooling around with charts were way too silly. I think this episode is crucial in a lot of ways. Bringing back Sarah Chalke may in a way confirm that she is the mother. Anyway, its time to end the show, and I am happy if they plan to do so soon.moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
2 8

Flag
Share Hide
Will we finally meet the mother?

9.5

By Canogaparkcindy, Sep 12, 2010

This was really season finale material, I must say. Ted starts telling his kids the events that took place before meeting their mother. Saying, if I didn't do this or that, you wouldn't be born. So through the whole episode he explains what he did to lead up to that moment in which Ted was holding the yellow umbrella, and a girl walked up to him, and tapped him on the shoulder. A moment in which, if it wouldn't have happened, his kids wouldn't have been born. Is this the mother? Well Ted explains the whole thing. If Robin wouldn't have gotten food poisoning at the bagel place, and if the group hadn't of used an intervention against Marshall's charts, he wouldn't have been on the street corner. He turned left instead of right, and he cut the street to pay back a homeless man who took Marshall's charts. Ted bought them back when Marshall needed them for work. The hugging sequence was a bit unnecessary but it was still good build up. Meanwhile Barney gets ready to sleep with the 200th girl he's ever slept with. Until Robin notices a mistake on the paper, saying he's only slept with 198 women, so he hurries to sleep with an ugly girl, only to find out he was right the first time, so his 200th wasn't a model, it was an ugly muscle builder. It was an enjoyable plot and one of the reasons why Ted was on that street corner. The thing that probably shocked everyone was the ending: The girl who tapped Ted on the shoulder was Stella. Is she the mother? When you narrow it down, it pretty much seems like it. So a huge cliffhanger! That's what made this so season finale material. It was very enjoyable and light. I can't wait to see the next episode.moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
1 0

Flag
Share Hide

See All Fan Reviews

Cast & Crew: STARS

EDIT

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

See All Cast & Crew

Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

EDIT

John Duerler	Harlen Johnsen	Guest Star
Joel McCrary	Ged Wilkinson	Guest Star
Tanner Maguire	12-Year-Old Barney	Guest Star
Bob Saget	Voice of Ted, 2030	Recurring Role
Sarah Chalke	Stella	Recurring Role
Lyndsy Fonseca	Daughter	Recurring Role

See All Cast & Crew

Watch Online

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

FILTER BY TYPE

TRIVIA (2)
ADD TRIVIA
- Marshall's ranking of Presidents by how dirty their names sound:
  
  1. Johnson
  2. Bush
  3. Harding
  4. Polk
  5. Filmore
  6. Pierce
  7. LBJ
  8. Hoover
  9. Bush
  10. Clinton
  EDIT SHARE
- This episode contradicts earlier established continuity that Barney didn't become obsessed with sexual conquests until after his hippie phase working at a coffee shop, where his girlfriend was stolen from him as they were preparing to go on a Peace Corps mission.
  EDIT SHARE
QUOTES (6)
ADD QUOTES
- Marshall: What the hell happened to my charts?!
  Ted: We threw them away. That's how an intervention works. You wouldn't stop using, so we flushed your stash.
  Marshall: Come on, Ted! I need my charts! Just for today and then I promise I will never use charts again, I'm under a lot of pressure here, I need my charts, Jack!
  Ted: Oh, God. You're doing charts at work?
  EDIT SHARE
- Marshall: (sees the intervention banner) What's going on?
  Robin: Enough with the charts.
  Barney: And the graphs.
  Ted: Really any visual representation of data.
  Marshall: I'm not an idiot. I know how you guys feel about my charts and my graphs. As a matter of fact, I made a chart of your reactions to my charts. (pulls out a chart) Let's take a look. It's true, since Cecilia your interest has been steadily dropping. But based on recent trends, I have also made a projection chart! And look, HUGE spike in interest coming! And this isn't some dead cat bounce. This is big sustainable growth over the long term!
  Barney: You're a big sustainable growth.
  EDIT SHARE
- Barney: Marshall, you know how important this is to me. Do you think Lily would ever consider, I would do all the work—
  Marshall: I would end your life.
  Barney: Right.
  EDIT SHARE
- Barney: Petra will be, if all goes well, wait for it, my 200^th! Sorry, I couldn't wait, I'm too excited.
  Ted: 200^th, as in 'sex with'?
  Barney: As in 'sex with'! I request the highest of fives!
  Ted: Not if I was wearing a HazMat suit.
  EDIT SHARE
- Robin: It's food poisoning. I got food from this place, and three hours later I was spewing like an open hydrant.
  Ted: From where?
  Robin: Well, that's a gross question.
  EDIT SHARE
- Future Ted: The great moments of your life won't necessarily be the things you do. They'll also be the things that happen to you. Now, I'm not saying you can't take action to affect the outcome of your life. You have to take action. And you will! But never forget, that on any day, you could step out the front door, and your whole life could change forever. You see the universe has a plan kids; and that plan is always in motion. A butterfly flaps it's wings, and it starts to rain. It's a scary thought, but it's also kind of wonderful. All these little parts of the machine constantly working, making sure that you end up exactly where you're supposed to be, exactly when you're supposed to be there. The right place. At the right time.
  EDIT SHARE
NOTES (5)
ADD NOTES
- The German episode title is "Zur richtigen Zeit am richtigen Ort", the French episode title is "Au bon endroit, au bon moment", and the Italian title is "Al posto giusto nel momento giusto", all exact translations.
  EDIT SHARE
- International Airdates: Australia: June 15, 2009 on Channel 7; Germany: February 13, 2010 on ProSieben; United Kingdom: May 6, 2010 on E4; Czech Republic: November 29, 2010 on Prima COOL
  EDIT SHARE
- Music: "Glad Girls" by Guided by Voices
  EDIT SHARE
- To keep the ending a surprise, Sarah Chalke's appearance was not listed on pre-air press releases.
  EDIT SHARE
- Though credited, Alyson Hannigan does not appear in this episode due to her pregnancy.
  EDIT SHARE
ALLUSIONS (1)
ADD ALLUSIONS
- Marshall's Venn diagram, depicting the intersection of "People Who Are Breaking My Heart" and "People Who Are Shaking My Confidence Daily" to be "Cecilia", is derived from the lyrics of Simon & Garfunkel's 1970 song, "Cecilia".
  EDIT SHARE