The Bracket

Season 3, Episode 14, Aired
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Episode Summary

Barney's efforts to hook up with women are being thwarted by a mysterious woman from his past. Barney and the gang must sift though his many past flings in an attempt to find out who she is.
9.1
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Fan Episode Reviews (17)

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  • www.tedmosbyisajerk.com

    9.7
    "Superb"
    By Steph__x, Aug 21, 2011 Report Abuse
    Barney has a stalker, a former scorned lover who is ensuring he never "scores" again. When the woman approaches Lily, warning her about Barney, the gang then composes a board of the women that Barney lied to and hurt the most, finally reaching a top 4, Barney and Lily set out to see if any of the 4 are his stalker. Failing, the gang sets up a scheme to catch his stalker in the act.

    This episode was hilarious. Not only was the storyline incredibly interesting and funny, but it managed to reference "Ted Mosby: Architect" (a personal favourite episode from season 2!) The best bit was the plan to catch the stalker in the act at the end. Except for Ted really, the whole gang wasn't that subtle. For example Lily's attempt to hang by the jukebox and not draw attention to herself. Classic! Also Robin's laughing every time she lied and Marshall's freaking out about trying to act normal. A highly enjoyable episode! It also mention Barney's blog again, love it!moreless

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    3 0

  • Barney's attempts to pick up girls are ruined by a girl stalking him, to narrow down who the stalker is the gang make a bracket of the girls who hate barney...moreless

    10
    "Perfect"
    By MaxSharp1, Aug 21, 2011 Report Abuse
    good episode, very funny... only one small plot hole...
    how did "anna" the girl who thought Barney was Ted Mosbie architect end up in the top 4 of the bracket? not only could she not be his stalker because when the stalker sits with lily at the start, her exact words are "Hey, a word of advice, that guy you're talking to... Barney Stinson, i know he seems charming. But he's just saying whatever it takes to get in your pants. sleeping with barney was the biggest mistake of my life." So the stalker knows Barney is Barney, not Ted. so 'Anna' should not even be on the bracket, but how is she make it to the top 4?? barney has done waaaaaaaaaay worst stuff than play Architect for a night, did the writers add 'anna' into the story for an additional joke or did someone somewhere screw up and no one notices?moreless

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    1 0

  • Another mystery woman?

    9.8
    "Superb"
    By Canogaparkcindy, Aug 21, 2011 Report Abuse
    Okay so we still haven't found out who the mother is and now we have to guess who Barney slept with who's after him? The only problem I had with this episode was the anti-climactic ending. It would have been a 10 on the rating scale if we found out who the mystery woman was. Not "Future Ted" saying "We'll talk about that later." I loved the format of this episode! Resembling "March Madness" Barney puts the top 64 girls he slept with in a bracket to narrow it down to see who is trying to ruin his life, when a girl comes up to Lilly thinking she was with Barney. Saying to stay away from Barney. So he goes through the whole episode scavenging for 4 woman, who narrowed it down from his top 64. We get to see some old friends from the past. Such as the girl from 204, when Barney used Ted's name, so now there is a website: tedmosbyisajerk.com, saying that Ted Mosby is a jerk. Then after going through all the girls, they decide to make the girl come to them as Robin disguises as a girl being hit on by Barney. The girl doesn't end up going up to her, another girl does, since Barney doesn't recognize her, he gives her a huge apology, but it wasn't even her. So mystery woman remains a mystery by the end, which like I said, was the only downside of the episode. Other than that, the format, editing and writing was all great. A great episode that introduced a long running arc for Barney: For once.moreless

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    1 0

  • Barney has a stalker which warns women about him.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By Jon_MW_14, Aug 21, 2011 Report Abuse
    "The Bracket" is an awesome How I Met Your Mother episode. In this episode, a women is stalking Barney and telling woman about him, so they'll slap him across the face. I love how the gang creates this system of all the women Barney slept with and who could possibly have a grudge against him. I love how Lily is annoyed that Barney won't apologize to any of the women he's hurt in the past. I love how Barney makes this one heartfelt apology that makes Lily proud. I give this episode a 10/10.moreless

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    1 0

  • Why?

    1.5
    "Abysmal"
    By Daddytrucker, Feb 18, 2011 Report Abuse
    This has been one of the first times I have ever watched, How I Met your Mother. And it will probably be one of the last. The episode wasn't even that funny. Barney takes pictures of all the people he's slept with? What? How is that even funny. Then it gets awful when he finds out a girl he's slept with is trying to ruin his chance at, "scoring agian". So he makes a bracket to see who it is. It's then down to 4 women, who care anyway? One of his friends had seen the one and made him apologize to all 4 of them and then he would find out who it was. They never found out, so what was the point of the episode?moreless

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    0 32
 

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

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    • One of the women shown in the middle of Barney's flash of pictures of the girls he "lied to, seduced, and abandoned" is none other than Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State. When Lily is looking through Barney's scrapbook she says she recognizes "...one government official", and on the tournament board of the top 64 girls that Barney has slept with there is a "Madaline" in "The Village" who makes it into the final 32 as "Madeline", who Barney points to on the board as the woman who thought he was Jorge Posada and who Lily says bought Yankees season tickets to watch him play! Edit
    • There's a picture of the first "Final Four" girl Meg in the scrapbook at the end of the episode, but Lily didn't start taking pictures until she and Barney found the second girl, Anna. Edit
    • The girl in the coffeehouse who started TedMosbyisaJerk.com knew Barney as Ted Mosby. She couldn't have been included in the Final Four because she never knew Barney by name. Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • The German episode title is "Die Rächerin", meaning "The Avenger". The French title is "La folie des finales", meaning "Crazy Finals". The Italian title is "Il grafico", meaning "The Chart". Edit
    • Alternate Title: "The Final Four" Edit
    • International Airdates: Australia: June 5, 2008 on Network 7; Czech Republic: October 11, 2010 on Prima COOL Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Barney: She said I hooked up with her? Well, what's her name? What'd she look like? Lily: She didn't say her name. But she had blonde hair, boobs... kinda trashy. Barney: Dead in the eyes with an aura of self-loathing and despair? Lily: Yes! Barney: That's all of them! Edit
    • Ted: Why don't you check your list? Barney: My list? Ted: Come on, man. Don't pretend you're not the kind of guy who keeps a list of all the women he's slept with. Marshall: I have one. It's called my marriage license. (he and Lily high-five) Edit
    • Barney: Okay, girl who thought I owned Google or girl who thought I was a scuba instructor? Ted: You gotta go scuba instructor. Robin: You're kidding! Ted: She got the bends! Barney: Yeah, she did! Marshall: (Doing a thumbs-down) Boo! Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Attempting to guess Barney's museum tactic, Marshall says, "you're a millionaire art thief casing the joint for a thrill money can no longer give you." This is a description of the 1968 film, and its 1999 remake, The Thomas Crown Affair. Edit
    • The scene at the end of the episode with Barney typing a diary on his computer is reference to Doogie Howser, M.D.. Each episode would end with the title character, played by Neil Patrick Harris, typing his diary on his computer. The music heard during the scene is also the same. Edit

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