The Sexless Innkeeper

Season 5, Episode 4, Aired

Episode Summary

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7.6
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When a girl comes home with Ted from MacLaren's, but merely sleeps and leaves, Barney breaks the news that he's been used for a place to crash. Robin and Barney become the latest to suffer through an awkward "couples night" at Marshall and Lily's.
  • Ted becomes the Sexless Innkeeper.

    6.0
    "Fair"
    "The Sexless Innkeeper" was an alright How I Met Your Mother episode. The idea of Lily and Marshall being super excited to have another couple like Barney and Robin sounds funny, but it wasn't really that funny. It was like they were trying way too hard. But I did love the part where Lily and Marshall ditch another couple and give Robin and Barney another chance. Ted's plot was boring. Again the idea of the sexless innkeeper as you flirt with someone but you really just want a place to sleep for the night. It works good in theory, but then it was totally boring. I give this episode a 6/10.moreless
  • Just plain terrible.

    5.0
    "Mediocre"
    Why oh why has this show become so goofy and forced? The characters used to be believable and the humour was original, but now everyone changes their characteristics to suit the episode and we get ridiculously long and drawn-out jokes that were only funny to begin with.

    I think I'm most disappointed by Marshall, who was always goofy but never over-the-top the way he is now. What's with the silly iPhoto montages and melodrama whenever he's not taken seriously? And while Barney's always been my favourite character, in this episode he inexplicably longs for another couple to double date with. Is this the Lothario we know and love?

    At least Ted's minimal screen time meant his plain-boring character wasn't given the lion's share of the comedy to carry. I'm glad we've got a lot more Lily and Robin this season, but HIMYM's sudden love of stand-alone episodes and repetitive gags make me fear a season as poor as the last one.moreless
  • Marshall and Lily are excited to have a new couple to double date, unfortunately Robin and Barney don't feel the same way. Ted discovers that his new job makes him somewhat of a catch to women.moreless

    8.0
    "Great"
    There were some highs and lows in this episode, Ted's storyline is still going pretty strong but I think we are getting off the mother finding for a while. Marshall and Lily were a great comedic duo, as the couple no one wanted to date. While Robin and Barney were funny it seems that the only way to get the old Barney back is to drag Robin with him.

    Ted is the sexless innkeeper, a great new theory from Barney accompanied by Robin. While Ted thinks his new tweed jacket with elbow patches is his ticket to picking up women but the new couple helps to show him that it is really his apartment's proximity to MacLaren's, thus the tale of the sexless innkeeper. In the end Ted proves them wrong by meeting a woman he eventually sleeps with and ends his tenure as the sexless innkeeper.

    My highpoint was Marshall and Lily taking on the persona of a desperate single woman, because they could find a couple to double date with after several failed attempts with other couples including Ranjit and his wife. After a horrible evening that included Marshall's cheese platter and Lily's planning of outings too quickly. Then there was the video montage, it seems that Marshall has a new obsession to replace charts, video montages with songs he wrote as the soundtrack, there was also text art describing the night's activities. It was a great new weird thing for Marshall after the barrel and charts. What only made this better was that Robin and Barney were not interested in the couple this led to Marshall and Lily curly up under the blankets and eating a large tub of ice cream wondering what went wrong. It wasn't until after Marshall and Lily found a new couple to date that Robin and Barney became jealous and sang and then a few nights later the two couples embraced in the rain. It was just like a bad romantic comedy with a cheese platter.

    I think the show is still trying to workout how to keep the comedy of Barney alive with Robin at his side. This strategy worked well in this case by basically pointing out that both Barney and Robin are not the coupling type and making Marhsall and Lily the couple that comes on too strong.moreless
  • Good concept.

    7.0
    "Good"
    Even though the episodes have been looking up lately, it feels like I'm watching a completely different show. In this episode, Marshall & Lilly are excited to go on a double date with Barney & Robin. Barney & Robin lie and say they have a great time, when they really didn't. I don't understand, they always hang out, all four of them. What made it different if they just labeled it double date. It was just strange to see them say that they don't like hanging out with Marshall & Lilly, when they all been hanging out in a group for the past 4 years! Other than that, I liked some of the scenes that was brought by this concept. I liked how they compared it to an actual relationship, like breaking up, the other couple meeting a new couple. And then finally winning the couple back in the end. I liked the "All By Ourselves" montage. I think Barney has been really out of character ever since he's been dating Robin, I'm not sure if it's a good or bad thing to see Barney settle down without any repercussions. I felt like Marshall's slide shows was just something to take up the 21 minutes of the epsiode, the poem as well. Ted's gets hit on by a girl, but then she falls asleep on his couch. Which makes him the sexless inkeeper. A funny concept, but I didn't like the poems which took most of the plot up. An okay episode.moreless
  • Concept - great; humour - awful!

    9.0
    "Superb"
    This was an OK episode of How I Met Your Mother, but it wasn't really funny. I loved the idea of a couples' night and I thought it was great, but the episode just lacked all humour that you normally get from this show.

    I thought the poems by Barney and Ted were the funniest part of the episode, but even that seemed bazaar, and overall, that didn't produce a good episode, in my opinion.

    I thought that the episode was decent, but I wouldn't recommend it as highly as most other episodes of this show. Decent, but if there's an episode to miss, it's definitely this oen.moreless
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  • TRIVIA (3)

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    • In the beginning of this episode Lily and Marshall are entertaining guests in their new apartment, which was supposed to take place in 2007. Lily and Marshall did actually buy that apartment in November 2007 in "Dowisetrepla", but because of the crooked floor they discovered in "No Tomorrow" in March 2008, they couldn't move in for months later.

    • The calendar in Marshall's video has October 14 and 15 twice, while there are no October 11 and 12.

    • In the scene where Ted is sitting at the table having breakfast and watching videos Marshall has published online, he is holding the spoon in one hand, but that hand appears next to the computer when there's a close-up of the laptop screen.

  • QUOTES (11)

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    • Ted: Chicks dig the professor look.
      Robin: There's something to that. I remember thinking my 10th grade math teacher was really hot. I wonder if Harold's still in jail. (everyone stares at her) What? Tax evasion. Among other things.

    • Barney: Ah, tweed. Fabric of the eunach. Lily: I've always wondered why tweed jackets have those elbow pads? Barney: That's because people who wear tweed are always going (puts elbows on table) Aw, gee. When will I get laid?

    • Ted: Barney, are you wearing sweatpants? Barney: Maybe. But they're Armani!

    • Lily: What about you, forgetting to check the egg time for charades? I gave you one thing to do, Marshall! One thing! Marshall: One thing? I suppose that Gouda just marched itself through the door, sliced itself up, and arranged itself around not three, not four, but five sturdy cheese-bearing crackers. Lily: You're a sturdy cheese-bearing cracker!

    • Lily: How do we know you two won't hurt us again? Robin: You don't. Lily: Damn it! Why is there something so attractive about a bad boy? And girl. Marshall: I think we can change them!

    • Barney: We're sorry we haven't been returning your calls, and we respect you too much to give you the old song-and-dance, so here's the truth. The US Navy has found intelligent life at the bottom of the ocean, and for reasons too complicated to explain, Robin and I have been chosen to lead the expedition. Lily: Wow, Barney. That kind of sounds like a line you give your dates when you're too much of a coward to dump them. Marshall: That's exactly what it sounds like. But if it's true, that would be awesome.

    • Barney: Maybe we can call that weird couple down the hall from me. With the ferrets. Maybe they'll want to come over and play Taboo. Robin: It's after midnight. We can't Taboo-ty call them, it'd be pathetic.

    • Ted: T'was the night before, I had hours to kill. I sat in the tavern, grading parchments with quill. Barney: With quill? Ted: Barney, it's a poem. A busty, young lassie flashed me a grin. Her garb said "classy," but her eyes whispered "sin." She said, "you're a teacher?" I said, "yes, indeed." "I must have you," she moaned. "I'm turned on by tweed." With haste we did scamper to my chamber anon. We fell to the couch, and, bro, it was on. I unlaced her bodice. Our passions grew deeper. And thus ends the tale of the sexless innkeeper.

    • Barney: T'was the night before New Year's, and the weather grew mean. It was 3:00 in the morning, and I was stranded in Queens. The tavern grew empty, The gas lights grew dim. The horse-drawn carriages were all but snowed in... Ted: Wait, if this was last year, why are you acting like it was Oliver Twist? Barney: Ted, it's a poem. Last call was approaching, And my fortunes looked bleak. Then I turned to my left and stifled a shriek. She had a peach fuzz beard and weighed 16 stone. She gobbled up hot wings and swallowed the bones. I muffled a scream and threw up in my mouth. I asked, "Where do you live?" and she said, "One block south." I swallowed my pride and six shots of whiskey. And prayed to the gods that she wasn't too frisky. Back in her cave, she prepared us a snack. 'Neath her mighty hooves, the floorboards did crack. But when she returned, She found a sound sleeper. And thus she became the sexless innkeeper. And so are you.

    • Ted: How was the couples night? Barney: Brutal. Ted: How? Barney: It was like we were on a date with a sad chubby girl our mom made us call.

    • Lily: Hey, guys, good news. First of all, you can ignore all the e-mails and texts we've sent you. Robin: We have. Go on.

  • NOTES (3)

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    • The website Marshall creates, www.itwasthebestnightever.com, is real and shows some scenes from the couples night and a video of Marshall and Nuno Bettencourt.

    • The Italian episode title is "Gioie da single", meaning "Joy of Being Single".

    • International Airdate: Australia: March 4, 2010 on Channel 7; United Kingdom: June 17, 2010 on E4; India: October 4, 2010 on Star World; Czech Republic: December 8, 2010 on Prima COOL; Germany: January 19, 2011 on ProSieben; Slovakia: November 17, 2011 on JOJ Plus

  • ALLUSIONS (0)

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