How I Met Your Mother Wiki
Register
Advertisement
How I Met Your Mother Wiki
For more information on doppelgangers, see The Five Doppelgangers.
Doppelgangers
HIMYM episode 5x24 (112)
Dopplegangers - barney street performer2
First aired:
May 24, 2010
Director:
Pamela Fryman
Writer:
Carter Bays
Craig Thomas
Barney's Blog

Images (6)

Marshall and Lily spot Barney's doppelganger, fulfilling the requirements they set to start trying to have a baby. Robin is offered a better job in Chicago, and is in a dilemma about what to do.


Recap[]

Although Marshall is ready to have a baby, Lily is not, so they reach a compromise: they make a pact to start trying to have a baby once they finally see Barney's doppelgänger. One day, they finally spot Barney's doppelgänger, who appears in the form of a brunette cab driver. When talking about how Barney looks better as a blonde (in the absence of Barney), the gang convinces Ted to dye his hair blonde. Marshall later spots Barney's doppelgänger again, and is about to thank him, but finds out it is only Barney's tactic to pick up women from the UN headquarters and sleep with them, to complete his list of sleeping with at least one woman from every country on the planet. However, Marshall doesn't tell Lily this as she is finally ready, but she finds out from Barney when she and Marshall are about to conceive a baby.

Robin finally gets an offer for her dream job as lead anchor at rival station WNKW. However, she eventually decides to give it up as it requires her to move to Chicago and she wants to stay in New York for the sake of her relationship with Don. Having nearly had to deal with Robin's departure, Barney realizes that the addition of a baby to the gang would not be that bad after all, and dresses up as an Estonian street performer in order to convince Lily that the fifth doppelgänger has appeared. Lily and Marshall see through his act, but thank him for the gesture, assuring him that he will always be family.

Robin is disappointed when Don tells her that he accepted the WNKW job. Heart-broken that Don was not willing to do the same for her, she breaks up with him and moves back to Ted's apartment. Ted tells her that although they have all been searching for their doppelgängers, things have changed so much in the five years since they first met that the five of them are now, in fact, doppelgängers of their own selves. Ted comforts Robin by saying she has become more courageous and that "doppelgänger Robin" is amazing. They nearly kiss, but Robin bursts out in laughter when she takes off his cap and sees his blond hair again.

Four months later, Lily sees a street vendor selling pretzels who bears an uncanny resemblance to Barney and gathers the rest of the gang to witness the doppelganger, but they find that the vendor looks nothing like Barney. Just as Barney is about to protest, Marshall telepathically stops him. Future Ted points out that people can look for signs all they want, but usually only see what they want to see, when they're ready to see it, before Lily turns to Marshall and says "Marshall Eriksen, put a baby in my belly."

Continuity[]

  • Ted mocks Robin's claim that she constantly faces the dilemma of "career versus romance", stating that she always chooses her career. Robin states in Purple Giraffe​, soon after meeting Ted, that her job is her priority.
  • Lily and Marshall make their deal with the universe to only start trying to have a child after seeing Barney's doppelganger in Robots Versus Wrestlers.
  • Ted mentions having formerly worked as a senior lifeguard. This was shown on his resume in The Possimpible.
  • When Ted lists the various ways in which the gang has changed from who they were five years ago, several flashbacks to the Pilot are shown. These include Lily and Marshall getting engaged, the flashback to how Ted and Barney met, and Ted seeing Robin for the first time.
  • The gang engages in telepathic conversations with each other.
  • The gang discuss what Ted can and can't pull off in Everything Must Go, referring to his red cowboy boots.
  • Lily says "Marshall Eriksen, put a baby in my belly" in Not a Father's Day​, when she gets drunk and interrupts him at work.
  • Don mentions having "given up on pants" before meeting Robin, referring to how he initially refuses to wear pants around the studio after becoming Robin's co-anchor in Last Cigarette Ever, before eventually doing so in Rabbit or Duck​ after his rejection by Robin convinces him to take the show more seriously.

Future References (Contains Spoilers)[]

  • While the gang don't find Barney's doppelganger here, they eventually do when they meet Dr. John Stangel, Lily and Marshall's fertility doctor, in Bad News​.
  • Lily ultimately finds out she's pregnant in Challenge Accepted, with her eventually giving birth in The Magician's Code - Part One​. In Disaster Averted, it is revealed that Marshall and Lily's child was likely conceived in August 2011, while seeking shelter from Hurricane Irene in Barney's apartment.
  • The gang again debate whether or not Ted can pull something off in No Pressure, when they discuss the possibility of Ted going bald.

Gallery[]

For a listing of all images on the wiki tagged as being from this episode, see Category:Doppelgangers images.

Memorable Quotes[]

Don: Put yourself in my shoes. Can you imagine what it's like to have the phone ring and it's your dream job on the other end?
Robin: Yes, I can. Good luck in Chicago, Don.

Robin: Why does this have to happen now? I mean, just when things are going so great with Don. It's the never-ending battle of my life: Career versus romance.
Ted: "Never-ending battle"? Career has been trouncing romance for years. It's like the Globetrotters versus the Generals. Career's sinking hook shots from half court, Romance is just a bunch of slow white guys who couldn't make it in the Italian league.
Robin: Ted, I'm lost. What should I do?
Ted: Okay, you seriously need to talk to Don about this.
Robin: I'm just too confused to put this on Don. I need to leave him out of it until I figure out what I want.
Ted: That makes sense.
Robin: Yeah.
Ted: And I'm sorry I can't give you better advice on this. The truth is, it's impossible for me to be objective about you moving away.
Robin: Mm. Did you get a manicure?
Ted: No, I didn't get a
Old woman: He sure did.
Ted: Flo!

Barney: Hang on, hang on, hang on. I heard you were doing this, so I worked on some stuff. Uh, hey, uh, I'm planning a "White Wedding. Tell me, Billy Idol, is it a nice day for that? Some other Billy Idol ones. Um, if anyone's looking for the real Slim Shady, he's right here. That one's only okay. Robin, why aren't you getting in on this?
Ted: Okay, first of all, I'm getting tons of compliments. Second of all, tell him.
Robin: He's not getting tons of compliments.
Ted: No, the other thing.
Robin: Oh. I might move to Chicago next week.

Marshall: Have you completely forgotten what Barney looks like?!
Barney: You guys banging?
Marshall: Why are you in our bedroom? (Robin enters bedroom. Why are you in our bedroom? (Ted enters in the bedroom) Why is Ellen DeGeneres in our bedroom?
Ted: Hey, this is working!
Barney: Wait a minute. Candles, flowers. Oh, I guess Marshall "forgot" to tell you. The Fifth Doppelganger was me.
Lily: What? Wait, and you knew about this? You lied to me?
Marshall: By omission, and it's only because this whole "leave it to the universe" thing of yours is insane, Lily. Baby, you Lily, we need to be in control of our own
Barney: Guys, guys! We're forgetting what's really important here. Ted's blond.

Marshall: Barney?
Barney: I am simple street performer from Estonia. Who is this Barney?
Marshall: Oh, he's just this guy we know who has, like, a really lame blog.
Barney: I hear it's getting better. I mean, wha-what is "blog"?
Marshall: It's just something that was cool, like, eight years ago.
Barney: Still cool. Still sounds pretty cool, man.

Ted: Think about all of us five years ago when we first met you. Marshall and Lily were just boyfriend and girlfriend. Now they're married and thinking about kids.

And Barney? Barney was never gonna commit to anyone ever. And last year, he fell in love.

And me? I was chasing some girl I was convinced was "The One". "Now she's one of my closest friends". And you? Five years ago, you never would have chosen love over your career, but today you did.
Robin: Looks like I'm getting dumber.
Ted: No, just more courageous. Look, we've all been searching for The Five Doppelgangers, right?
Robin: Mm.(muttering)
Ted: But eventually, over time, we all become our own doppelgangers. You know, these these completely different people who just happen to look like us. "Five Years Ago Robin"? That girl, she was pretty great. But Doppelganger Robin? She's amazing.

Notes and Trivia[]

Goofs and Errors[]

  • When Barney is reading the jokes about Ted's blond hair, the list is actually blank.
  • In Something Blue​, Barney claims to have slept with an Argentinian exchange student. However on his map of the world, there is no tick over Argentina.
    • Barney's shown a lack of knowledge about geography in the past. It's likely he thought Argentina was somewhere else on his map.
  • In Arrivederci, Fiero​, Barney reveals that he had never learned to drive. Ted makes a brief attempt to teach Barney without success. However, Barney drives a cab around with ease as a ploy to pick-up women, despite the fact that there was no later mention of him learning how to drive. Barney is also shown driving in As Fast As She Can​.
    • Barney revealed he had never learned to drive in a flashback. Since then he could have learnt to drive and he drove on more than one occasion since then (speeding tickets, moving truck).
  • Ted mentions that a senior drowned while he was on lifeguard duty years ago. However, in The Possimpible, Ted's resume states that while he was a lifeguard he had "0 fatalities."
    • Drowning doesn't necessarily mean death. The person could have drowned but just require medical aid and resuscitation. Actual definition of drowning according to the WHO "Drowning is the process of experiencing respiratory impairment from submersion/immersion in liquid". (Still it's bad for lifeguards to allow swimmers to drown even if there are no fatalities resulting from that)
  • In the daydream when the helicopter blows Ted away, the wall moves.

Allusions and Outside References[]

Music[]

Other Notes[]

Guests[]

  • Benjamin Koldyke - Don Frank
  • Bonnie Bailey-Reed - Flo
  • Brianna Belladonna - Petra
  • Brian Huskey - Sal
  • Bette Rae - Margaret
  • Mina Kim - Korean Woman

Reception[]

  • Donna Bowman of The AV Club gave the episode a B rating. [1]
  • Amanda Sloane Murray of IGN gave the episode a rating of 8.9 out of 10. [2]
  • Cindy McLennan of Television Without Pity gave the episode a C+ rating. [3]
  • The St. Petersburg Comic Review gave this episode 8.5 out of 10 stars. "...was that the fifth doppelganger, or wasn't it?"

References[]

External Links[]


Previous episode
The Wedding Bride
Doppelgangers
(all episodes)
Next episode →
Big Days
Advertisement