| “Cupcake” | ||
| ← | HIMYM episode 1x16 (16) | → |
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| First aired: March 6, 2006 | ||
| Director: Pamela Fryman | ||
| Writer: Suzie Mamann-Greenburg Maria Ferrari | ||
| Barney's Blog | ||
Ted and Victoria must decide the future of their relationship when she is offered a fellowship in Germany. Barney takes Marshall to buy a new suit. Robin and Victoria accompany Lily to try on wedding dresses.
Recap[]
Ted and Victoria have been dating for two months, and they are having a great time together. She is offered a fellowship to a culinary institute in Germany. They agree that long distance relationships do not work, so their only options are Victoria stays in New York to be with Ted or they break up. They decide to think about it.
Marshall has a job interview for an internship at the NRDC, but his only suit has holes in it. Barney offers to introduce him to his tailor, but Marshall is too broke to buy a new suit. Barney insists that his "guy" will give him a good deal. Marshall, Barney, and Ted go to the tailor where Marshall gets fitted for a suit. Ted wonders what he should do about Victoria, and Marshall tells him that long distance relationships never work. He recalls how when Lily did a summer art program in Paris during college she had a male friend named Gabriel, who had a thin mustache, so Marshall intimidated him and told him to stay away from Lily. Marshall says that even though he and Lily are soulmates, long distance almost ended their relationship; Marshall advises Ted that if he thinks Victoria might be his soulmate, he should tell her to stay. Ted decides to tell Victoria to go to Germany, because asking her to stay would put too much pressure on their new relationship. However, when Ted meets Victoria for dinner, he changes his mind on the spot and tells her he wants her to stay.
While the guys are at the tailor, Lily, Robin, and Victoria are shopping for wedding dresses for Lily. Robin is having trouble being nice to Victoria, since she still has feelings for Ted. Victoria says she doesn't want to lose Ted, and has even considered dating long distance, but Lily tells her that it doesn't work. Lily tells the girls about when she did the summer art program in Paris, and felt really lonely, her only friend was a homely girl named Gabrielle who was embarrassed by her mustache. For some unknown reason, about halfway through the program, Gabrielle stopped talking to Lily. Later, Robin decides to give Victoria some advice in regards to Ted. Robin admits that she always puts her career ahead of her relationships, and that it can get pretty lonely. She encourages her to stay with Ted, which Victoria agrees she will do. Lily comes out wearing a much too expensive dress, and accidentally ruins it when she sits on a cake. She is forced to use multiple credit cards to pay for the damage.
When Victoria is at dinner with Ted, however, she also changes her mind at the last second and declares that she needs to go to Germany. The two then have a heated discussion about what they should do next, and they ultimately decide to break up. The next day Ted is moping about his breakup with Victoria, but Marshall tells him that since she's still in town for one more day they should have one last amazing day together, which Ted does. They end up having sex the entire day.
Barney gives Marshall the bill for his brand new suit, which is $4,000. Barney had tricked Marshall into buying an expensive suit so that he would interview for a job at Barney's place of work, which, after learning that Lily ruined an $8,000 dress, Marshall accepts Barney's offer.
The next day, Ted drops Victoria off at the airport. They still both have feelings for each other, and just before Victoria leaves they decide they will try to date long distance. Future Ted tells his kids that this was a terrible idea, and that long distance dating absolutely does not work, but he'll get to that later.
Continuity[]
- Ted says he's attracted to 'dog people', and in the Pilot, Marshall mentions how Ted has always described his perfect woman as liking dogs.
- Robin, owner of five dogs in the Pilot, sneers at Victoria being a "cat person".
- Lily is seen reading Perfect Bride magazine in The Wedding, the same one seen around the bridal shop.
- Victoria first mentioned her job and talent of baking in Drumroll, Please.
- Robin says that she is "always putting my career ahead of my relationships", consistent with her statements to Ted in the Pilot and Purple Giraffe.
- Barney has "guys" for suits and shoes.
Future References (Contains Spoilers)[]
- Marshall starts his internship at Barney's company in Life Among the Gorillas, where its name, AltruCell, is revealed.
- Future Ted mentions that Ted and Victoria's long-distance relationship will not work, foreshadowing the events of Nothing Good Happens After 2 A.M..
- Distance does kill Marshall and Lily's relationship in Come On.
- While Marshall claims to have used crazy eyes to dissuade Gabriel, he does not believe in girls having crazy eyes in Swarley.
- Barney mentions that his company gets sued a lot. AltruCell and its subsidiary Goliath National Bank engaging in unsavory and criminal activities is referenced in many episodes, including The Goat, Last Cigarette Ever, and Architect of Destruction.
- Robin learns more about Lily's credit cards in I'm Not That Guy.
- Marshall claims that he is "not much of a fighter", but this is proven to be untrue in The Fight. He says he had never been in a fight before in Sweet Taste of Liberty.
- Lily's college semester in Paris comes up again in Say Cheese.
- Ted wonders aloud to Victoria in Ducky Tie what if he had gone to Germany with her.
- Ted jokes about him and Victoria getting back together, even if they aren't single, when she gets back from Germany. This happens when she leaves her fiancé for him in The Magician's Code - Part Two.
Gallery[]
- For a listing of all images on the wiki tagged as being from this episode, see Category: Cupcake images.
Memorable Quotes[]
| Ted: | 'Long distance' is a lie teenagers tell each other to get laid the summer before college. |
| Marshall: | Hey baby, how's the dress place? |
| Lily: | Everything's so fluffy and white, it's like shopping in a marshmallow! How's Barney's tailor? |
| Marshall: | Everything here is dark, sketchy, and seems illegal; It's like shopping in Barney's mind. |
| Barney: | Hey, don't knock long distance relationships. I really think they can work. |
| Ted: | Really? You? |
| Barney: | Absolutely. I'm juggling four right now. There's Lisa in Madrid, Erika in Tokyo. There's Lora in Denmark and Kelly on 34th Street. (Irish Accent) The lass thinks I'm a humble sheep shearer from Killarney. |
| Lily: | Long distance, it's all talking and no sex. Kill me now. |
| Marshall: | Long distance, it's all talking and no sex. Kill me now. |
| Robin: | A cat person, why am I not surprised? |
| Future Ted: | Kids, When it comes to love, the best relationships are the ones that just come naturally. |
Notes and Trivia[]
Goofs and Errors[]
- When Marshall and Barney are at Barney's tailor, Barney says, "Da, da, da". Marshall says, "You speak Ukrainian?" The tailor spoke in Russian, not Ukrainian. Barney also replied to him in Russian, not Ukrainian.
- When Robin and Victoria are talking in the wedding dress store, Victoria pretends to cut a piece of cake and put it on her plate, but she does not actually cut the cake or take a piece. However, when she is pretending to cut a piece of cake, audiences can clearly see that there was already piece of cake on her plate.
- It's highly unlikely that an international, multi-month fellowship program would tell its applicants they were accepted only a few days before the program started.
- As seen in "Say Cheese", Marshall brought Ted with him to France when he visited Lily during her semester abroad. It seems unlikely that Ted wouldn't know the story of Gabriel(le) if he was with Marshall in Paris when it transpired.
Allusions and Outside References[]
- Robin refers to Victoria as Punky Brewster.
- Ted mentioned Germany in Epcot which is theme park in Florida.
Music[]
Other Notes[]
Guests[]
- Ashley Williams - Victoria
- Caroline Lagerfelt - Bridal Shop Lady
- Sergey Brusilovsky - Sergei the Tailor
Reception[]
- The St. Petersburg Comic Review gave this episode 8.5 out of 10 stars. "We love the separate story-telling - first Ted tells the story, then Victoria, and then it all fits together!"
References[]
External links[]
- Cupcake at the English Wikipedia
- Cupcake at the Internet Movie Database
- Cupcake at TV.com
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