How I Met Your Mother Wiki
Register
Advertisement
How I Met Your Mother Wiki


Hooked
HIMYM episode 5x16 (104)
Hooked - tiffany indifferent
First aired:
March 1, 2010
Director:
Pamela Fryman
Writer:
Kourtney Kang
Barney's Blog

Images (12)

When a beautiful young woman "hooks" Ted (keeping Ted in reserve as backup while she pursues her own dream boyfriend), the gang discusses their own experiences both as the one who "hooks" and the one on the hook. Guest starring Carrie Underwood as "Tiffany".


Recap[]

Future Ted mentions how most his stories have been romantic or have portrayed him in a fairly positive light, but in this next story, he was simply a jerk. Ted tells the gang that he has invited a woman over under the pretense of checking out his antique camera collection, which Barney classifies as "bait." He's tried many types of bait (slot machine, trampoline), but found that a teacup pig is the best kind, which Ted then borrows.

Later, Ted is at MacLaren's telling the gang about this woman he snared using the pig, Tiffany. She says she's really into him, but can't be with him "right now." The gang sees through her ruse, telling Ted that he's been "hooked," a euphemism for stringing along someone's interest in you until someone better is available.

Everyone gives an example: Marshall did a high school classmate's homework and was her "secret boyfriend," Robin allows her pre-morning show cameraman Mike to pamper her, and Lily's high school flame, Scooter, works at her school as cafeteria staff, where she doesn't exactly tell him that a relationship is impossible.

Ted refuses to believe that he has been hooked, and continues waiting on Tiffany. When she shows up to the bar with her co-workers, Barney is excited to see that she and all her friends are pharmaceutical representatives, which he calls the "hot-chick" Cutting Edge Profession of their generation, like the nurse or stewardess in the past). He hooks up with several of them, before meeting a particularly plain rep, declaring the era of the "hot pharma girl" over.

All the while, Ted himself has "hooked" a librarian from Columbia, Henrietta. Henrietta treats Ted just like he treats Tiffany, even assembling a sumptuous dinner (with an ice sculpture) when he drops by. Ted is just as dismissive of Henrietta as Tiffany is of him. Soon, Ted is invited to go to a wedding with Tiffany, which he sees as a sign of commitment, and he meets her in the room with champagne. Much to his chagrin, she comes in with the best man, the guy who "hooked" her, and she proceeds to pamper him in front of Ted. Ted leaves, intent on making sure Henrietta doesn't feel the same heartbreak.

Unfortunately, he took the best man's jacket by accident, which had the wedding ring inside. Bending over at Henrietta's door to tie his shoes, the ring falls out, and Henrietta opens the door to see Ted down on his knee, in a tuxedo, with a ring in his hand. She immediately assumes he is proposing, says yes, and introduces him to her parents (who had stopped by). With a fair amount of awkwardness, Ted explains what has happened and makes sure she knows that they will never be together.

Meanwhile, Marshall tries to get Lily to let Scooter know she is never going to be with him, but she is immobilized by Scooter's cute puppy-dog eyes. He uses to Barney's teacup pig (in a cute blanket) to train Lily to resist Scooter. Eventually, it works, and the two head down to the cafeteria, but even though Lily is able to tell Scooter it will never happen, Marshall himself can't resist Scooter's charm, telling him to wait until Marshall is dead.

Finally, Barney is getting over the loss of the "hot pharma girls," waxing poetic on the next "hot girl" profession. The gang is suspicious of his optimism, which he reveals has been inflated by his use of some "purple pills" one of the girls left in his apartment.

Continuity[]

  • Scooter was revealed to still be in love with Lily in Something Borrowed, when he tried to stop her and Marshall's wedding, and he decides to become a waiter to get her back when she incidentally comments on their waiter's performance during their post-break-up lunch, as seen in Sorry, Bro.
  • Barney gives another fake history lesson when he explains the evolution of the "Hot Girl Profession."
  • The flashbacks to 15 year-old Marshall in The Window also showed him sporting a rat-tail.

Future References (Contains Spoilers)[]

Gallery[]

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

Memorable Quotes[]

Barney: Really? You're really gonna sit here all night watching the door because Tiffany said she'll "try to stop by"?
Ted: Barney, I'm not just gonna give up on her.
Future Ted: I should've given up on her.
Ted: This girl is special.
Future Ted: She was the devil.
Ted: Things are gonna work out with Tiffany.
Future Ted: No, they're not, dumbass!

Barney: Dude, ditch Tiffany and join the Barnacle in a pharma girl free-for-all. Side effects may include loss of clothing, rug burns, shortness of breath, and sore abdominals the next morning. What in the world is up?

Tiffany: I just don't think you and I are gonna work...right now.
Future Ted: And that's when it hit me. I was on the hook. I also realized...Tiffany was on this guy's hook. It was a vicious cycle. Henrietta was on my hook, and years later I found out this poor bastard was on Henrietta's hook.

Barney: Pharma girls are no longer exclusively hot chicks. It's the end of an era!
Robin: You're being a little dramatic.
Barney: Am I? It starts out with a Gladys. Next thing you know a few not-so-fabulous gay guys enter the ranks. And before you know it, pharma girls look like the crew of on a Southwest flight from Albuquerque to Little Rock. It's over!

Notes and Trivia[]

Goofs and Errors[]

Allusions and Outside References[]

  • Lily says she had been a fan of rap group Wu-Tang Clan in college.
  • When Barney says "Ain't no party like a Pharma-Girl party, 'cause a Pharma-Girl party don't stop!" he is paraphrasing the lyrics of the song 1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin' New) by Coolio.
  • While Scooter and teacup pig are looking at Lily with those cute eyes, the music is played is based on Nino Rota's A Time For Us.
  • The scene when Ted accidentally proposes to Henrietta with someone else's ring that fell out of someone else's jacket is similar to a scene in "Friends", where Joey accidentally proposes to Rachel with a ring that fell out of Ross's jacket.
  • When Lily is successfully rejecting the teacup pig, Marshall yells "Finish him!", referencing the Mortal Kombat franchise. (It's also a line from the original The Karate Kid, which is often referred to on HIMYM.)
  • Marshall wears an Auburn Tigers shirt in this episode.
  • Barney says 'hop on your disco stick' which is a line from the song LoveGame by Lady Gaga.

Music[]

Other Notes[]

  • This episode was filmed in front of a live studio audience, consisting of members of the Television Critics Association. This is unusual as the show is normally pre-recorded and the complete episode played for an audience which is then recorded for the laugh track. Writer Kourtney Kang described singer Carrie Underwood as a 'pleasant surprise' and worked to find additional jokes because she performed well in rehearsals. [1] [2]
  • Kourtney Kang had planned to have Barney include the bone organ from The Goonies as one of the things he used to get women to visit his apartment but the idea was dropped as it was too difficult to get permission. [3]
  • It is ironic that David Burtka plays Scooter, since Scooter works in the lunch-room while David Burtka owns a catering business.
  • International Airdates: Australia: July 8, 2010 on Channel 7; United Kingdom: September 9, 2010 on E4.
  • The end of this episode marks the middle of the series. There are 208 episodes altogether, and this is the 104th.

Guests[]

Reception[]

  • This episode premiered to 10.48 million viewers.
  • Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club rated the episode with a grade B-. She calls "the structure familiar in outline, but just the slightest bit shoddy in execution" and is a little disappointed by the good episode because it is not at the same high level as the rest of the season. [4]
  • Lindsey Bahr of The Atlantic wrote that the episode "wasn't all that funny" because "there were too many failed jokes". [5]
  • Brian Zoromski of IGN gave the episode 8.5 out of 10. He was surprised how well singer Carrie Underwood performed in her first acting role. He found the scene where Ted accidentally proposes "groan-worthy" and likened it to a scene straight out of Three's Company. [6]
  • Cindy McLennan of Television Without Pity rated the episode with a grade C+. She criticizes the idea of the hot-pharmaceutical girl as unoriginal, saying it "was funny seven and a half years ago, when Heather Locklear played one on Scrubs". Finally she notes the writers of the show have been keeping the audience on the hook for years and it might be better not to rub it in their faces. [7]
  • The St. Petersburg Comic Review gave this episode 7 out of 10 stars. "...what's up with the teacup pig?"

References[]

External Links[]


Previous episode
Rabbit or Duck
Hooked
(all episodes)
Next episode →
Of Course
Advertisement