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Now We're Even
HIMYM episode 7x21 (157)
Now We're Even 1
First aired:
April 16, 2012
Director:
Pamela Fryman
Writer:
Chuck Tatham
Barney's Blog

Images (0)

Just as Ted starts to settle into his new apartment alone, Barney tries to entice him into going out every single night. Meanwhile, Lily has a provocative dream about someone other than Marshall, and Robin finally becomes a famous news anchor.


Recap[]

Ted is beginning to get used to living alone. He tells Marshall all the things he feels free to do now, particularly being able to walk around naked and eating takeout food he saved for himself. But this new freedom coincides with a new plot of Barney's to "make every night legendary" by doing things like establishing a Mariachi band and bringing a horse inside MacLaren's. Barney insists Ted join him, but finally Ted balks at Barney's proposal to bungee-jump off of the Statue of Liberty. Barney locks Ted out of the apartment to make him go out on the town, but Ted just goes down to MacLaren's instead. Finally Barney admits that he needs Ted to take Barney's mind off of Quinn stripping in the Lusty Leopard. Ted, deciding to help him out, takes up Barney's challenge to pick up a woman while wearing a green dress.

Meanwhile, Marshall is distraught upon learning that Lily has had a sex dream about someone else that she refuses to tell him about. As they go out on a fancy dinner date, he notices the way she acts around Ranjit and figures out that he was the one she dreamed about. He accuses her of "sleep cheating," and Lily angrily leaves him and seeks advice from Quinn. Later over dinner, Marshall and Ranjit talk about the dreams and Ranjit counsels him that part of being a good husband and father is remaining calm while everyone else acts crazy. Marshall realizes that all the men in Lily's sex dreams were all great fathers, and so he tells Lily that everything is fine, telling her that he's going to be a great dad. Lily resolves to keep her wildest sex dreams a secret.

Although Robin has been promoted at World Wide News, she is hurt to see how she is the only one in the building that needs an ID to get through without recognition, telling Lily and Marshall that she wishes she were famous. Sandy Rivers asks her do a traffic report from a helicopter. When the helicopter pilot has a stroke, she is able to successfully land the helicopter. It is covered live on television. Everyone else watches breathlessly as Robin makes it to the ground safely. The incident made Robin an instant star - which resulted in her meeting Mayor Michael Bloomberg, appearing on Letterman, and having a special deli sandwich named after her. She gets a call or text from everyone she knows, including from Ted, even though he wasn't talking to her at the time.

Continuity[]

  • This episode shows the reason behind Ted's "Now We're Even" from the end of The Mermaid Theory.
  • Marshall gets Lily away from the table by asking her if she needs to go to the bathroom. Lily's frequent urination was previously mentioned in Duel Citizenship.
  • Barney copies a show/movie without knowing it has been done before. In Woooo!​ he does what Mad Men would do, and uses Inception in this episode.
  • Barney gives Ted 83 points for high fiving Tommy Lee, using his favorite number again.

Future References (Contains Spoilers)[]

  • Another item would be named after Robin in The Time Travelers.
  • In How Your Mother Met Me, it is shown that the Mother was at the bar just minutes before Ted came in wearing a dress in the last scene. In addition, a deleted scene (available on the Season 9 DVD) associated with that episode would show the Mother in her flat watching live coverage of Robin landing the helicopter. This event would prompt her to start dating Louis.

Gallery[]

For a listing of all images on the wiki tagged as being from this episode, see Category:Now We're Even images.

Memorable Quotes[]

Ted: Okay, now we're even!

Ted: Oh, my favorite is when she banged George Washington.
Barney: I liked the three way with Bill Cosby and Papa Smurf.
Ted: Oh, he smurfed the smurf out of her!

Marshall: You sleep-cheated. You've been sleep-sleeping around, I'm sick of it!

Marshall: *while crying* I had no idea that food could be this delicious.

Future Ted: More than a legendary night we'd remember forever, Uncle Barney needed a bro to help him forget. In this case, a bro in a dress.
Barney: I'm proud of you. Are you wearing perfume?
Ted: It's a unisex fragrance. It was in Details.
Barney: It's nice.
Ted: It's perfume.
Ted wears a dress to help Barney forget Quinn was working on a strip club.

Notes and Trivia[]

Goofs and Errors[]

  • Ted says it is the first time he doesn't have a roommate, however he did live alone for a few episodes after being left at the altar, while Robin was temporarily staying at Lily and Marshall's apartment.
    • Given Ted's state of mind after being dumped at the altar it's likely he's blocked out much of what happened in the aftermath.
    • He also lived in the main apartment during that time, which was often so crowded he may not have considered it to be living alone.
  • As Ted is walking downstairs "naked", the basket bounces several times and the audience can clearly see the waistband of his underwear.
  • In MacLaren's, when Marshall prompts Lily to go to the toilet, she blames her need to use the toilet often on the fact that she is pregnant. However, it was shown in Duel Citizenship that Lily already needed to urinate frequently.
    • While Lily normally needs to urinate a lot, she REALLY needs to urinate a lot when she's pregnant.
  • When Lily gets upset with Marshall and asks Ranjit to pull over, his hand slides on the steering wheel like he is taking a turn, but it is clear that the steering wheel is not moving.

Allusions and Outside References[]

  • Ted and Barney form a Mariachi band.
  • One of Barney's proposals for Legendary nights concerns seeking out Phil Collins to help him reunite Genesis.
  • Future Ted says Robin was a guest on the late-night talk show, Late Show with David Letterman.  Letterman was aired on CBS, the same network that aired HIMYM in the US.  The picture used to reference this is from Cobie Smulders' actual appearance on Letterman in 2011.
  • Robin met the Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg.
  • Lily's previous sex dreams include George Washington and a threesome with Bill Cosby and Papa Smurf.
  • Future Ted mentions she also had a dream involving Frankenstein and the teacup from Beauty and the Beast.
  • Barney mentions how Ted once convinced the gang to watch the movie Norbit, during which Lily did not recognize that one of the antagonists was portrayed by Eddie Murphy.
  • Barney says he spent five years trying to Inception Lily, but when Marshall points out the movie is only 2 years old, Barney replies: What movie?

Music[]

Other Notes[]

  • After Robin lands the helicopter, the soda machine that was in front of her picture is now in front of Sandy's, implying (or stating very strongly) that she's now the more famous anchor.
  • Barney's Legendary Nights:
    • The Night We Started A Mariachi Band
    • The Night We Ate Everything On The Menu
    • The Night We Brought A Horse Into The Bar
    • The Night We Bungee Jumped Off The Statue Of Liberty
    • The Night We Stole A Mummy From The Natural History Museum
    • The Night We Partied With The Mole People
    • The Night We Tracked Down Phil Collins, Became Best Friends With Him, And Talked Him Into Reuniting With Peter Gabriel, And Then We Got To Sing Back-Up On The New Genesis Album And It Was Awesome
    • The Night We Stole A Camel
    • The Night You Got Locked Out In Your Pajamas And Robin Landed A Freakin' Helicopter And There's Still Time To Reunite Genesis
  • Though Robin says that she loves helicopters, the last time the audience sees her in one is right after a traumatic experience during a flashback to her childhood in Mystery vs. History.
    • Of course that was a childhood incident. It's possible that as a teen celebrity Robin Sparkles was ferried to public events in helicopters to increase the visibility.
    • It is also possible that she lied in order to get a work opportunity.
  • Ted's 'now we're even' scene was reenacted three distinct times given the revelations in the second and third version.

Guests[]

Podcast[]

Featuring and interview with Chuck Tatham.

Reception[]

  • This episode was viewed by 7.24 million people. [1] This is the lowest number of viewers any Season 7 episode has received.
  • Donna Bowman of the A.V. Club gave the episode a B-. [2]
  • Chris O'Hara of TV Fanatic gave the episode 4.5/5. [3]
  • Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode 8 out of 10. [4]
  • Ethan Alter of Television Without Pity gave the episode a D+. [5]
  • Michelle Profis of Entertainment Weekly lauded the episode for its "eclectic mix" of multiple elements. [6]
  • The St. Petersburg Comic Review gave this episode 8 out of 10 stars. "...Robin lands a helicopter!"

References[]

External Links[]


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