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How I Met Your Mother

The Stinsons

Season 4, Episode 15, Aired Mar 02, 2009

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8.4

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Suspecting he has a secret girlfriend, the gang follows Barney when he leaves MacLaren's and discovers he seemingly has been keeping a family secret from them.

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Cast & Crew

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GUEST STAR
Brooke D'Orsay

Margaret
GUEST STAR
Zachary Gordon

Grant
GUEST STAR
Kimberly Pfiffer

Stage Mom

Josh Radnor

Ted Mosby
Neil Patrick Harris

Barney Stinson
Alyson Hannigan

Lily Aldrin
Jason Segel

Marshall Eriksen
Cobie Smulders

Robin Scherbatsky

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Fan Episode Reviews (12)

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Barney casts a wife and kid to please his mother.

7.5

"Good"

By pudgebyrd722, Jan 03, 2012

This was a unique episode, but a little crazy and unrealistic. But it shows how there ARE some people that Barney doesn't ever want to upset which is nice, even if it is his mother who admitted to being a whore when she was younger. When she thinks she is dying, Barney realizes she told him she didn't want him ending up alone, so he casts a fake wife and then when she requests grandchildren, his "wife" lies and says she's pregnant, with their fake son. The other subplots were even less enjoyable as Ted all of a sudden wants to become an actor and then Lily admits she doesn't like Marshall's mother. I thought we knew this?moreless
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The gang follow Barney and find out he has a wife and son.

8.0

"Great"

By Jon_MW_14, Aug 25, 2011

"The Stinsons" in my opinion is an entertaining episode How I met Your Mother episode. I love how the gang is suspicious the Barney has a secret lover and they follow him and it turns out he has a wife and a son. I love how he reveals that they are actors and he hired them because he thought his mom was dying and he thought it would make her happy if she died knowing he was married. But then she recovered, so Barney has a fake family. I love how Barney writes scripts for his friends. I love how Barney reveals to his mother that Betty and Tyler are just actors and I love how she's relieved because she doesn't like them. I give this episode a 8/10.moreless
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Unrealistic.

4.0

"Poor"

By Canogaparkcindy, Oct 15, 2010

I laughed when I looked at the episode page picture, it's like everybody is saying, "Why am I even in this show? This episode was pretty bad." This is the lowest I've given a HIMYM episode, it seems as though the writers have just given up, and there has been no mention of the mother in weeks. Barney casts a fake family? The only good thing about this episode is that we finally meet Barney's mom, but that's just about it. Ted was incredibly annoying in this episode, with Barney's "wife". Didn't we know that Lilly & Marshall's mom had issues since 109? The first season Thanksgiving episode. The fact that they had to bring this random plot out of nowhere made no sense. Robin bonding with the little boy was laughable. It's like I was watching a different show. It's like someone won a contest, and won the rights to write an episode of HIMYM. All the characters were out of place and unlikable in this episode. The only worthy scene is the bonding between Barney & his mom by the end, and when he looked at Robin which shows the viewers he's still in love with her. A poor episode, with pretty much nothing "great" about it. Just one eventful scene, nothing funny or anything. Not up to par.moreless
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Undoubtedly the worst episode of the series. We're all willing to suspend reality, but this one was just too much.

1.0

"Abysmal"

By judolphin, Oct 08, 2010

This was undoubtedly the worst episode of the series. We're all willing to suspend reality, but this one was just too much. This was too much. I hope this episode was an aberration. This show is basically a soap opera, and this plot twist has absolutely no redeeming qualities regarding character development or plotline, and wasn't very entertaining. Hopefully it's an aberration and not a trend, because this is in general a well-written show. This review has to be at least one hundred words long or tv.com won't let me post it. This review will end in just a second.moreless
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Sounds like something Barney would do! Another fantastic episode.

9.0

"Superb"

By Hornets3, Jun 28, 2010

After noticing some bizarre and elusive behavior from Barney, the gang starts to suspects that he may have found a girlfriend. When he mysteriously leaves MacLaren's during drinks they decide to follow him, and they discover that he's actually been secretly visiting his mother. However, they also discover that Barney has convinced his mother that he's married and has a son, and that he'd hired actors to portray them. After barging in on Barney with his "family," the gang has no option but to play along, until Ted gets caught cheating with Barney's "wife." Meanwhile, Lily admits to Marshall that she hates his mother, while Robin commiserates with the old soul portraying Barney's "son."moreless
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (0)
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QUOTES (5)
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- Barney: Look, mom, there's something I have to tell you, something I should have told you a long time ago. Tyler is dying, and Betty said that when he goes she's gonna off herself. So that's all probably going to go down pretty soon.
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- Lily: Barney, check it, three blond babies drinking bad decision juice at eight o'clock.
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- Marshall: Where is Barney going? Ted: Yeah. We're not even in Manhattan anymore. Where's this girl live? Robin: We're talking about a woman who's gotten Barney to commit. I'm guessing Narnia.
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- Lily: Wait, Barney, hold on. Where are you going? Barney: Nowhere. (he pauses) The beach. It's winter. Laser tag. Home. Shut up! You're going somewhere.
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- (Talking about Barney's choices for heroes in films) Robin: I got one: Terminator? Barney: What is the name of the movie, Robin? Who among us didn't shed a tear when his little red eye went out at the end, and he didn't get to kill those people?
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NOTES (5)
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- The German episode title is "Die Stinsons". The French title is "La famille Stinson", meaning "The Stinson Family". The Italian title is "Famiglia in affitto", meaning "Family for Rent".
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- The nephew in the episode "How Lily Stole Christmas" is the same actor as the kid who plays Barney's son Taylor, or Grant which is his real name, in the episode.
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- International Airdates: Australia: April 27, 2009 on Channel 7; United Kingdom: March 18, 2010 on E4; Czech Republic: November 16, 2010 on Prima COOL
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- Music: "Vertigo" by Anya Marina played when Barney comes clean to his mother about not being married.
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- This episode was originally scheduled to air February 9, 2009, but was pre-empted due to President Obama's first prime-time news conference.
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ALLUSIONS (2)
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- When the gang is following Barney on his way to meet his "girlfriend," they wonder out loud where his mystery girlfriend could live. Robin jokes that for the girl to be able to get Barney to commit, she must live in Narnia. Narnia is the mystical world created by C.S. Lewis for his fantasy novel The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe that the main characters enter via a portal in the wardrobe.
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- Barney, talking about the actor playing his son's poor abilities, says, "Call me crazy, but child actors were better in the '80s," slyly referring to Neil Patrick Harris' own career. This is accompanied by sound-alike music to the theme of his show, Doogie Howser, MD.
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