Robots Versus Wrestlers

"Robots Versus Wrestlers " is the 22nd episode of the fifth season of the CBS situation comedy How I Met Your Mother and 110th episode overall. It aired on May 10, 2010.

Plot

Barney is excited to get the gang to come with him to a grandscale fighting match called "Robots Versus Wrestlers". Barney had bought a fifth ticket for Robin, despite knowing she had wished to spend time away from them, and indeed she ends up declining. Meanwhile, Ted finds himself continuously snubbed by his friends whenever he tries to appear intellectual, such as by reciting a poem, as his friends always make fart noises to interrupt him. At the apartment, Barney is introduced to Marissa Heller, who Ted explains was their apartment's previous occupant. Ted has been receiving her mail ever since they had moved in 10 years ago, and over the years, Marshall and Ted had gotten a good idea of what she might be like, although they have no idea what she looks like. In the present, Ted opens another such envelope addressed to her, which is an invitation to a high-society party in the Alberta Building, a famous building that Ted describes as the most beautiful in Manhattan. Unfortunately, the party is the same night as "Robots Versus Wrestlers", so Ted convinces the gang they'll make a brief appearance at the party before heading over to Robots, having Lily pretend to be Marissa so that they can gain entry to the party.

As Lily is about to introduce herself as Marissa to the doorman, the real Marissa arrives, foiling their plan. Ted manages to impress Marissa with his intellectual knowledge, and Marissa agrees to take the group with her up to the party. Ted has a great time at the party, becoming a big hit, while Marshall, Lily, and Barney find it boring and want to leave. Ted decides to stay, leaving Barney hurt, as he, Marshall and Lily head to the Robots event.

Marshall thinks "Robots Versus Wrestlers" is awesome, but Barney is bothered by the fact that their group appears to be growing apart: Robin moving in with Don, Ted leaving them for the party, and Marshall and Lily possibly having a baby soon. Lily assures Barney that, though they might drift apart, they'll still remain friends. Meanwhile, Ted continues to have a good time at the party and begins reciting a poem to everyone there, in the original Italian. As he does so, Ted is amazed no one interrupts him and realizes maybe he has gone too far, and wishes someone would stop him. At that moment, Marshall and the others discover Ted's doppelgänger, a Mexican wrestler at the event. Barney sends Ted a picture, who upon seeing it immediately leaves the party. Meanwhile, Barney, Marshall, and Lily are at MacLaren's, where Barney has been making a series of absurd rules they have to follow if Marshall and Lily have their baby. Barney gets up to get a drink, and Marshall asks Lily to seriously consider the possibility of having a baby. Lily points out they won't be able to do as many fun things as before, such as finding Ted's doppelgänger at "Robots Versus Wrestlers". They then agree that they won't start trying to have a baby until after they've found the fifth doppelgänger of the group, Barney's. Ted arrives later, where Barney apologizes to him and allows to him to recite another poem. As Ted begins to do so, Robin arrives and interrupts him with a fart noise. As the gang shows her Ted's doppelgänger, Future Ted explains that, although the group grew apart one time or another, they always made sure to get together every year for "Robots Versus Wrestlers".

Production

Film director Peter Bogdanovich; Arianna Huffington, editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post; and Will Shortz, Crossword Editor of The New York Times guest star as themselves.^[1]

Music

• "The Living End" by Jesus and Mary Chain
• "Tell Me Why" by From (first bar scene)
• "One Spring Away" by From (plays during Ted’s picture of Marissa Heller)
• "Constance Fry" (or Aura Lee) performed by the Ted Mosby Quartet
• "We All Belong" by Dr. Dog (closing bar scene)^[2]

Continuity

• The fourth doppelgänger, Mexican Wrestler Ted, appears in this episode. The existence of the doppelgängers was first mentioned in "Double Date." Lesbian Robin, Mustache Marshall, and Stripper Lily were the first three doppelgängers shown.
• Ted claims that they had seen the other three Doppelgängers "earlier that year", whereas in the episode "Double Date" Ted informs us that the first two Doppelgängers had been seen over the past few years.
• Lily's fake British accent was first used in "Intervention" of Season 4.
• Robin's reasons for being missing from the group were from the previous episode "Twin Beds".
• Barney mentions watching "Robots Versus Wrestlers" as part of their group traditions. Several other traditions include the Super Bowl ("Monday Night Football," Season 2) and Thanksgiving at Marshall and Lily's ("Slap Bet", Season 2, "Slapsgiving", Season 3 and "Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap", Season 5).
• Ted meets the New York Times crossword-puzzle editor, Will Shortz, in this episode. In a flashback in "Rabbit or Duck", while answering a crossword, Don asks to himself why Ulee's Gold was always used. In the flash forward, Ted answers that it is used because of the vowels. The editor confirms this reason in this episode.
• Barney's usual method of hooking up with girls using elaborate lies fails to work with the high-end crowd.
• Ted uses his extensive knowledge of architecture, being an architect and a professor, to get invited by Marissa Heller to the party.
• Marshall and Lily's baby plans first surfaced in "Not a Father's Day" in Season 4.
• When Ted and Marshall move into their apartment, in the flashback 10 years earlier, there is a cardboard box labeled Pot Lids, and when Ted moves into Robin's apartment that was the only box he had to move in with.
• In the same scene, where Ted and Marshall are moving in, Ted is seen without the goatee, even though this time of his life he wore it.
• The party the group attends is held by the Van Smoot's, which was also the name of the mansion in which Marshall and Lily got married in season 2.^[3] The following season Ted and the gang will meet more of the Van Smoot family.^[4]
• Barney makes up rules under which circumstances it is okay for Lily and Marshall to have a baby. A few scenes later, a scene stats with him saying "Rule Number 83" which is a reference to Barney always using the number 83 in various situations, first mentioned in "Brunch".

Barney's blog

Barney lists the guidelines he presented to Lily and Marshall if they are to have kids.^[5]

Cultural references

• The board game Clue: Lily jokingly murders Ted, saying "Miss Lily, in the living room, with the candlestick."
• Ted recites a part of Dante's Inferno, from the Divine Comedy, written by the Italian poet Dante Aligheri.
• Ted also recites the poem "Friendship," written by Ralph Waldo Emerson.
• Marshall hits a gong, which was supposedly used in 1885 during the London premiere of The Mikado, by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan.
• Lily mentions the TV soap opera The Young and the Restless in the elevator.
• Actor Willem Dafoe's name is used by Marshall as part of a joke.
• Barney uses the "Stimulus Package" of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 as part of his attempts to hook up with Arianna Huffington. He then mockingly calls her Zsa Zsa Gabor.
• The candlestick that Lily holds supposedly belonged to the poet Edgar Allan Poe.
• A group at the party (including Ted) sings "Constance Frye," a barbershop quartet song that was first heard in the 1983 film Trading Places. The song is based on the tune of the folk song "Aura Lee," which was also used in Elvis Presley's hit "Love Me Tender."
• Ted tells Marissa that the architect of the Alberta, Lewis Lamar Skolnick, is one of his favorite architects. Lewis Skolnick and Lamar were both characters in Revenge of the Nerds.
• The Alberta is a parody of The Dakota a New York City apartment building with a storied history.

Critical response

Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club rated the episode grade A.^[6]

Amanda Sloane Murray of IGN gave the episode 7.2 out of 10. "With its rare departure from the show's signature blend of flashbacks and cutaways, this episode often felt like it was ganked from a completely different, less funny show."^[7]

Television Without Pity gave the episode a C+ rating.^[8]

References

External links

• Robots Vs. Wrestlers at TV.com
• Robots Vs. Wrestlers at the Internet Movie Database
• How I Met Your Mother 5.22 - Robots Vs Wrestlers Promo on YouTube