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ā€œThe Pre-Nupā€
HIMYM episode 8x02 (162)
Pre-Nup
First aired:
October 1, 2012
Director:
Pamela Fryman
Writer:
Carter Bays
Craig Thomas
Barney's Blog

Images (17)

When Barney designs an extensive pre-nup, the guys take note and propose their own relationship amendments to their significant others. Meanwhile, Quinn is outraged and draws up a pre-nup of her own, which causes friction between the sexes.


Recap[]

Future Ted narrates that the summer of 2012 was the summer of love, with all four couples being happy. He then skips ahead to October 2012, the kick-off to what came to be known as the autumn of break ups.

At work, Arthur Hobbs, Barney's colleague, advises him to get a pre-nup. Barney tells him that he trusts Quinn, but Arthur scares him by telling him what happened to him after his divorce. Barney then prepares a pre-nup, with Arthur's help, which includes preposterous terms, leaving Quinn outraged. Whilst Quinn discusses this with Lily and Robin, Barney discusses with Marshall, Ted and Nick that there must be something in their relationships which they would like to change, which they all deny. However, later that night, the other three guys tell their partners about things they would like to change in their relationships:

  • Marshall wants to play with Marvin in a dangerous way, which Lily doesn't allow.
  • Nick wants Robin not to watch TV while they are in bed (Not knowing that Robin is turned on watching herself do the news).
  • Ted wants to throw Klaus out of his apartment, whom he had previously let stay with him to become a hero in front of Victoria which he regrets afterwards.

Quinn then decides to prepare a pre-nup of her own with the help of the girls, which has terms just as preposterous as Barney's. However, when the guys arrive to help Barney, all the couples start fighting. However, Arthur helps them by asking them to talk to each other about their feelings. Later, Barney and Quinn are about to throw away their pre-nups, but can't. Barney brings up Quinn tricking him out of thousands, and Quinn brings up all of Barney's one night stands. They then say that they both need pre-nups, and that they haven't finished adding stuff to them. They realize that they don't trust each other if they have to go through such complicated pre-nups to get married. Barney then tells Ted and Marshall that they broke up, and he has realized that he will never trust someone enough to get married.

A flash-forward then shows Barney talking to his colleagues about his upcoming wedding to Robin. Arthur then asks if he needs a pre-nup but Barney responds "not this time" with a smile because Barney trusts Robin. Robin walks in, they kiss and the two head for lunch together.

Continuity[]

  • Arthur Hobbs doesn't recognize Marshall again, just like in Last Cigarette Ever.
  • Robin getting aroused by watching herself on the newsā€”and, to Quinn and Lily's alarm, winking on camera to her future self having sexā€”may be the "weird thing she likes to do in the bedroom" that causes Max to break up with her in Architect of Destruction.
  • The whiteboard on which Lily and Marshall are shown keeping score and getting up at night for Marvin in a flashforward from The Drunk Trainā€‹ā€‹, can be seen hanging behind their bed in this episode.
  • In explaining how Barney should make his pre-nup, Arthur Hobbs brings up how he lost everything but his children to his ex-wife. He also refers to his dog Tugboat, who was surrendered to his ex-wife around the events of Landmarks.
  • The overprotective voice Lily uses is also seen in The Stinson Missile Crisisā€‹ā€‹.
  • Barney and Quinn's break-up was first foreshadowed in The Magician's Code - Part Two when Robin was revealed as Barney's future bride.

Future References (Contains Spoilers)[]

Gallery[]

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

Memorable Quotes[]

Quinn: I'm not throwing mine out first.
Barney: I'm not throwing mine out first.
Quinn: You've slept with half the women in New York. I'm the one who needs a pre-nup.
Barney: You duped me out of thousands of dollars. I'm the one who needs a pre-nup!
Quinn: I just thought of some more stuff to add.
Barney: I'm not half finished.

Barney: Actually, I'm okay. I found out I'll never trust someone enough to get married, and that's fine. My single life is, and always will be, legen... wait for it...
*a little ways down the road...*
Barney: ...dary! My wedding is gonna be legendary.
Arthur: So pre-nup?
Barney: Not this time.

Robin: I get turned on watching myself do the news during sex.
Lily: Yeah, that's a little weird.
Robin: Seeing myself on TV makes me feel confident and sexy. And that's nothing to be ashamed of, right, sisters?
Robin: ... There's more.
Flashback: (Robin on TV winks to herself in bed)
Lily: Wait. So, when you're doing the news live at 7, you wink to future you watching the rebroadcast at 11?
Robin: ... Maybe.
Quinn: Never speak of it.
Lily: Never!

Arthur: You all have someone who loves you, and you're screwing it up, and over what? Who has the most power? That's not love. Love is trusting someone enough to tell them what's really bothering you.

Barney: She wants to read it first! Just go ahead and sign. It's all pretty standard.
Quinn: "In the event of divorce, Mr. Stinson is granted weekly visitation rights to Ann, Sarah and Molly." You named our future kids? That's actually pretty sweet.
Arthur: Those are Mr. Stinson's names for your lady parts.
Barney: It's important for the girls to maintain a relationship with their daddy.

Notes and Trivia[]

Goofs and Errors[]

  • Arthur Hobbs states that he lost everything in his divorce due to not getting a pre-nup with his wife. This is in fact wrong; he chose to put all of his assets in her name as mentioned in Landmarks.
  • Klaus's pronunciation of German words is again incorrect.

Allusions and Outside References[]

  • Ted calls the summer of 2012 the "summer of love." This calls back to the Summer of Love, which occurred in 1967.
  • Marshall's nicknames for Lily's "lady parts" are Snap, Crackle and Pop.
  • When Ted is disgusted with Klaus' behavior in the apartment, he suggests giving Klaus "das Boot".
  • A provision in Quinn's counterproposal for a pre-nup calls for Barney being able to attend parties at the Playboy Mansion if he is cremated.
  • Klaus introduces Ted and Victoria to Strange Compatriots, the German television version of The Odd Couple. Klaus is played by Thomas Lennon, who would later star in CBS' 2015 revival of The Odd Couple.

Music[]

Other Notes[]

  • In a DVD commentary for the episode Farhampton, the producers said that Barney and Quinn breaking up by this point is partly due to the fact that filming of The Goodwin Games would begin shortly after this. Becki Newton (who plays Quinn on HIMYM) would be a lead actress on The Goodwin Games. Like HIMYM, The Goodwin Games was also produced by Bays and Thomas' production company.

Guests[]

Reception[]

  • The episode was viewed by 8.15 million people. [1]
  • Donna Bowman of The AV Club gave the episode a C. [2]
  • Max Nicholson of IGN gave the episode 5.2 out of 10. [3]
  • Angel Cohn of Television Without Pity gave the episode a C-. [4]
  • The DR Club gave the episode a C+
  • The St. Petersburg Comic Review gave this episode 7.5 out of 10 stars. "...everyone's in love...but things will change soon."

References[]

External Links[]


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