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Trilogy Time
HIMYM episode 7x20 (156)
101700 d1056b
First aired:
April 9, 2012
Director:
Pamela Fryman
Writer:
Kourtney Kang
Barney's Blog

Images (19)

Ted, Marshall and Barney embark on another "trilogy time," where they get together every three years to watch the "Star Wars" trilogy and envision what their lives will be like in another three years. Meanwhile Barney and Quinn move in together.


Recap[]

The episode starts with a man observing Barney from his window, confused as to why Barney comes out of his apartment at 8:00 pm every night, walks seven paces and smiles. It turns out that Barney does this to pass gas, as he can't to do it in his apartment anymore, now that he and Quinn are living together. Although Quinn has sold all of her stuff because Barney wants his apartment as it is, she wants to use her own coffee mugs instead of his, which Barney doesn't approve of. He tells her that he has to assert his dominance as a man in his apartment, which results in a fight between them. He finds the gang unsympathetic at his situation, but as he is about to leave Ted's new apartment, Ted stops him for another "Trilogy Time", in which they watch the original Star Wars trilogy.

The tradition started in 2000, when Ted and Marshall were in Wesleyan. They were supposed to study for their economics final, however Ted proposes that they watch the Star Wars trilogy instead. They make a pact to watch it every three years, since according to Marshall, if one didn't watch the trilogy at least once every three years, the dark side wins. Barney, who becomes friends with them after college, loves Star Wars as much as they do and joins the pact. (Ted and Marshall both fail their economics finals).

With every "Trilogy Time", the guys predict their future for the next three years:

  • Marshall is sporting a mustache, a successful lawyer, settled in with Lily, with Lily always being pregnant, since he wants a large family.
  • Ted is a successful architect, and is with a girl who looks like Robin, has a name starting with R, and is from another country.
  • Barney is always with a new girl.

However, the future that Ted and Marshall predict for themselves never turns out to be true.

In 2012, Ted thinks that there is something wrong with him, as he still hasn't settled down with someone. He predicts the future for 2015, in which he is still living alone, while Marshall and Lily are happy with a large family, Robin has married someone else, and Barney is with a new girl. However, Barney doesn't agree with what Ted has predicted for him, saying that for first time in his life, he doesn't want to be with some random girl in three years, and wants to still be with Quinn in the future. He then leaves to apologize to her, by smashing his own mugs, and also tells her that he plans on being with her for a long time. The two later end up passing gas in front of each other.

Meanwhile, Marshall comforts Ted, saying that he has a good feeling about Ted's life in 2015. In a flash forward to 2015, Marshall and Barney set up for another "Trilogy Time." Though Barney complains that Ted is breaking their tradition by bringing a girl, he and Marshall make an exception because Ted really loves the girl, who is revealed to be his infant daughter Penny.

Continuity[]

  • While many, many episodes depict the guys' love of Star Wars (Ted and Marshall repeatedly watch the trilogy in Do I Know You?, for example), this is the first episode primarily based on their love.
    • Besides Ted and Marshall bonding over Star Wars as college roommates, Barney—who loves the films as much as the others—mentions Star Wars on his first night meeting Ted and Marshall in 2001, in How I Met Everyone Else.
    • Lily only attends the guys' movie marathons in the imaginary futures. The Front Porch​​, Double Date, and The Rough Patch establish her disinterest in and ignorance of Star Wars. She and Marshall do have a film tradition of their own, as depicted in Desperation Day​​.
  • Barney invents back boobs for women, "patent pending".
  • Lily in the 2003 flashforward still has the short, dark bangs she wore in college.
  • Marshall in 2003 has not yet been accepted by a law school. He is attending law school in 2005 in the Pilot, and has graduated and is awaiting the results of his bar exam in 2007's Spoiler Alert​​.
  • Rhiannon in the 2003 flashforward is "hot, but in a crunchy, earthy kind of way", appropriate for Ted in college who is still "Doctor X".
  • Slap Bet establishes that Robin was more promiscuous than Rhiannon before meeting Ted.
  • The 2006 marathon occurs during Where Were We?​​, while Marshall is miserable after he and Lily break up in Come On.
  • Although Ted in 2006 has known since Purple Giraffe that Robin does not want to marry, he expects that by 2009 he will have persuaded her ("or, rather, banged me into it", imaginary Robin says) to change her mind. His and Robin's realization that the other won't change is why they break up, as Something Blue depicts.
  • Marshall's interest in environmental law is depicted in many episodes starting from Life Among the Gorillas.
  • Barney wants "things to stay exactly the same". He is the only member of the gang who never changes homes, jobs, personality, hairstyle, catchphrases, or clothes—whether in the episode's flashforwards or during the nine seasons of the show—and is very upset when he thinks in Dowisetrepla​​ that Marshall and Lily will divorce.
  • The Bracket​​ depicts Barney's interest in decoupage.
  • Lily says in Robin 101​​ that Marshall says that he cannot grow a mustache. His mustache in his dream is what he wishes he could have in the future.
  • Barney tells Quinn he does not drink coffee at home, consistent with World's Greatest Couple.

Future References (Contains Spoilers)[]

  • Unpause shows that Robin's family is "super rich."
  • Voice-recognition systems are still unreliable in 2030, based on Last Forever - Part Two.
  • Future Ted reveals that in 2015, he and the Mother have a baby daughter together.

Trilogy Time (Future Events)[]

  • 2018 - Ted and Tracy are happily dating and have two children Penny who is 2 and Luke who is almost 1. Marshall is finally living out his dream as a Judge in Queens and he and Lily are still happily married. Lily is also living out her dream as an art dealer. Marshall and Lily are happily married and have three children Marvin who is 5, Daisy who is 3 and their third child is 1. Robin is living out her dream as a travel news anchor in World Wide News and she and Barney got divorced in 2016. Barney and Robin been single for two or three years. Two of the new Star Wars movies are out The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi.
  • 2021 - Ted and Tracy been married for one or two years and their children Penny who is 5 and Luke is 3. Marshall is a bald State Supreme Court Judge with Lily. Marshall and Lily's children in 2021 are Marvin who is 8, Daisy is 6 and Marshall and Lily third child is 4. Barney had a daughter out of wedlock and his daughter Elle is almost 1 years old. Robin is still living out her dream and travelling around the world as a World News anchor. The three new Star Wars movies are out this year The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker.
  • 2024 - Ted and Tracy are still happily married for five years and Tracy passed away this year. Ted and Tracy's children Penny who are now 8 years old and Luke is 6 years old. Marshall and Lily's children Marvin who is now 11 years old, Daisy who is now 9 years and Marshall and Lily's third child is 7 years old. Barney's daughter is three years old in 2024.
  • 2027 - Ted has been widowed for three years and Robin spends time with him and his children. Ted, Marshall and Barney are watching all nine of the Star Wars Trilogy.
  • 2030 - Ted tells the story to his children about how he met Tracy. Ted and Tracy's children Penny who is 15 years old and Luke is 13 years old. Marshall and Lily's Children Marvin who is 18 years old and starts his freshmen year at Ted and their parents alma mater Wesleyan University, Daisy is 16 years old and Marshall and Lily's third child is 14 years old. Barney's daughter Elle is 9 or 10 years old. Ted and Robin finally get together.

Gallery[]

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

Memorable Quotes[]

Marshall: Where is Robin?
Future Ted: In the summer of 2009, Barney and Robin were secretly dating.
Ted: Oh, Barney said she's taking some extension class on how to decoupage and Barney's taking a different decoupage class in the same building- that's why they shared a cab that one time.
Future Ted: We were idiots.
Marshall: Wait a minute. You're saying that Barney Stinson is at a decoupage class? That means we can watch Star Wars on his giant TV!

Marshall: Briefcase, lawyer, knighthood, mustache, all that stuff from before.
Ted: Congratulations, bro.
Robin: And congratulations to you too, Ted, for locking this down (winks). You know, it's weird, I never thought I would get married, but you talked me into it. Or rather, banged me into it. You're so good in bed, ooh.
Ted and Marshall having dreams on how their lives will be in year 2009.

Ted: Marshall, you want to watch Star Wars?
Marshall: No, can do, old bean! You see, we're up on the Cape living the idyllic family lifestyle that you've always dreamed of.
Lily: Oh, and I'm pregnant with baby number five!
Ted: But baby number four isn't even out yet.
Marshall: I'm just that good!

Notes and Trivia[]

Goofs and Errors[]

  • The same calendar is on the wall by the front door through all of the fantasies and real-life segments.
  • When Robin plays the bass guitar in Ted's first fantasy, the music is unrelated with what she is actually playing (she doesn't even change notes with her left hand). But as this is a fantasy the men are having, and none of them know how to play bass, they just imagine it'll be done correctly when they get to it like in Marshall and Lily's imagining of playing Bridge on their future front porch.
  • Robin says "That's why I have never thrown anything out for any relationship ever." This is untrue as she gave away her dogs for Ted in Stuff​​​ as he felt uncomfortable.
    • She may have been making that mistake for the sake of the joke.
    • One can also assume that dogs are not things you literally throw away, but actually give away since they went to a new home.
  • In Ted's depressing imagination of what 2015 will be like, Robin is seen throwing the phone off of Marshall's boat. It lands in the water with a very audible splash. Despite this, Ted can still hear them laughing.
    • Due to the fact that this is just his imagination, and exaggerated to be depressing, it may just be that the laughing is stuck in his head.
  • Ted and Marshall go to Barney's apartment to watch Star Wars because they think he's at decoupage class. However they knock on his door even though they think he's not there.
  • In Ted's vision of 2006 when "Rhiannon" speaks French, she says, "Et aussi maintenant, je suis français." She should have said "française", since that's the feminine form, whereas "français" is the masculine form. The phrase itself is a bit strange, although not grammatically wrong, since French people wouldn't usually tell it this way.
  • Barney is holding a cup when he asks Quinn a question. On the next shot, when she answers, he is no longer holding a cup.
  • Ted is briefly seen wearing a wedding ring during the flashforward to 2015, although the series finale reveals he had not yet been married until 2020. This may, however, simply be to keep this a secret from the viewers and the rest of the cast.
    • Though he could be wearing it because he already proposed even if they postponed the wedding.
  • In the flashback to 2006, Ted tries to convince Marshall that Lily will come back while Marshall is pessimistic at the idea. However, as depicted in Where Were We? and How Lily Stole Christmas, Marshall was desperately clinging to the idea of Lily returning while Ted was resentful of Lily and encouraged Marshall to move on.

Allusions and Outside References[]

  • Ted, Marshall and Barney watched the Star Wars trilogy.
  • In 2015, Barney whispers to Ted's daughter that Han shot first, referencing the controversial revision made to a scene in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
  • The newspapers in the trilogy time predictions have Al Gore, Howard Dean, and Dennis Kucinich as US presidents, in 2003, 2006, and 2009, respectively while in the 2015 prediction, George W Bush would serve a third term.
  • In 2009, Robin hides from Ted and Marshall in Barney's Stormtrooper costume.
  • A girl Ted is with in three years time is named after Rhiannon, a song by Fleetwood Mac.
  • Barney's catchphrase in this episode is Whassup? which was used in a Budweiser beer commercial that originally ran from 1999-2001.
  • According to his uniform and medal ribbons in his fantasy, Marshall has, in addition to induction into the Order of the British Empire, been made the honorary colonel of a regiment; possible the Army Legal Services Branch. However, there is no evidence to suggest he is a knight of any sort, and he is in fact wearing the wrong Order of the British Empire ribbon; a military, not civilian one. It could, however, be that he served in the Army Legal Services Branch at some point in the past, though this is unlikely due to his American citizen status.
  • Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens was released in December of 2015, making the Trilogy Time depicted in 2015 on the show more special, as they were probably viewing the films to prepare for the new one.
  • In 2015, Marshall was trying to talk to a Smart TV to request for the Star Wars trilogy.  Coincidentally in the same year, Apple released a version of AppleTV that features Siri, its voice assistant where the user speaks through the remote and not to the TV directly.  

Music[]

The music played when the years flash up on screen between flashbacks is:

  • "Victory Quest" by John Powell

Other Notes[]

  • This episode marks the first appearance of Ted's daughter outside of the 2030 framing sequence.
  • On the CBS version, at the start of the episode, when Barney walks out, the back heel of a woman walking past with a yellow umbrella can be seen.
  • Lily is visibly pregnant in each imaginary flashforward. This was likely to accommodate Alyson Hannigan's pregnancy.
  • On the 2015 flash forward Barney is hiding his hand from the camera, according to the episode's director this was purposely done so that the audience wouldn't know whether he was married or not, which he was, to Robin.
  • In 2000, Ted is holding a VHS Set of the Trilogy from 2000. From 2006-2009, Ted uses the 2004 Widescreen Trilogy DVD and in 2012, he uses the Blu-Ray Set.

Guests[]

Podcast[]

Featuring an interview with Chris Elliott.

Reception[]

  • This episode was viewed by 8.00 million people. [1]
  • Donna Bowman of the A.V. Club gave the episode a B+. [2]
  • Chris O'Hara of TV Fanatic gave the episode 5/5. He praised Kourtney Kang, saying that she "did very well to bring us back from the dark side of countless weeks with no new episodes". [3]
  • Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode 9 out of 10. [4]
  • Ethan Alter of Television Without Pity gave the episode a C+. [5]
  • Michelle Profis of Entertainment Weekly said the episode's final scene opened potential for further material late in the series. [6]
  • The St. Petersburg Comic Review gave this episode 7 out of 10 stars. "...forward story-telling this time ... 'And they never saw her again!' "

References[]

External Links[]


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