Perfect Week

"Perfect Week" is the 14th episode of the fifth season of the CBS situation comedy How I Met Your Mother and 102nd episode overall. It originally aired on February 1, 2010.

Plot

Future Ted starts off by explaining that Barney's way of dealing with stress was imagining he was being interviewed by CBS sportscaster Jim Nantz, who listed Barney's many accomplishments with women. Barney explains that it all started a week ago, when he issued himself a challenge. At MacLaren's, he "called his shot," pointing out a woman at the bar and saying she'd be the one he'd go home with that night. Thus began his attempt at a "perfect week," defined as having sex with seven women in seven days without a single rejection.

The rest of the gang is having a less-than-stellar week. Robin went out on a bad date but becomes insecure when he won't call her back. Ted laughed at a student's name ("Cook Pu") after assuming it was a fake name added to the roster as a prank, which (later in the episode) leads her to drop the class. Marshall and Lily drive away another couple on a double date when they let slip that they use the same toothbrush. Ted and Robin soon realize they also, at one point, used that same brush.

After four days, Barney's streak is unbroken, but on the fifth night, Marshall is worried because a big merger at work fell through and Barney was getting blamed for it. He said he thought Barney might get fired. Still, Barney stands at the bar, trying to look confident. Marshall says that management were going to have a meeting on Friday to see if Barney would keep his job. Lily wants to talk to Barney, but Ted intervenes, and Barney asks him for help finding the dumbest girl in the bar, whom Barney promptly takes home.

Nantz asks Barney if he'd ever used performance-enhancing drugs, but Barney said he respects "the game" too much. He said he'd been offered them before, and flashed back to a time when Marshall was grinning, but holding a pillow on his lap. He asked what time it was, then counted out four hours and realized he had to go to the hospital (indicating a priapism). Barney has a quickie on Staten Island to get through number six.

The gang continues to mock each other for their mistakes, making "poo jokes" at Ted's expense, mocking Robin's desperation for a man she doesn't even like, and sitting in judgement of Lily and Marshall's dental habits. When Barney stops by the apartment, Lily confronts him about losing his job, and utters the phrase "perfect week", jinxing Barney. Even Jim Nantz was stunned, saying, "There are two things you don't do: One, you don't open an e-mail from Phil Simms in front of your kids, and, two, you don't jinx a man going for a perfect week".

The next night, Lily is so confident that Barney was going to score with "third-martini girl" (Christy) at the bar, she says "there's no such thing as a jinx." The subsequent jinx leads to a member of the 2009 World Champion New York Yankees walking through the door: Nick Swisher. The gang is convinced Barney's streak was over. Robin doesn't get the appeal of a Yankee, so Lily compares it to the appeal of a Vancouver Canucks' player.

Christy starts to walk over to Nick Swisher and a dejected Barney comes over to the table figuring his week was a waste and he was going to get fired the next day. In the awkward silence, Lily realizes they all needed Barney's perfect week to make them feel better. She gets up and trips in front of Christy. She asks Christy to get her some ice, and Marshall foolishly uttered again that there is no such thing as a jinx. Jim Nantz is outraged by this and kicks over his chair. Wendy the waitress then comes to bring the ice to Lily and Christy continues to walk towards Nick Swisher. Before she arrives, Marshall and Ted run to sit by Swisher, starting a conversation about sharing toothbrushes. Nick comments that he loves hockey, making Robin hot and interested.

Meanwhile, Christy, who receives a fourth martini from Barney, says they should go back to her place. As she heads outside, Barney stops for high fives and a hoisting onto shoulders in triumph. His conversation with Jim Nantz being over, Barney goes in to talk with the boss. Barney keeps his job, and his boss says it must have been a stressful time for him. "I barely slept," Barney says.

Back at the bar, the gang commemorates Barney's week by retiring the tie he wore on the seventh day and Ted claims he'll never tell his kids about this story, which makes Future Ted doubt his qualifications to be a parent. Later, we see Ted accidentally embarrass Cook Pu once again when she picks up take-out at MacLaren's.

Music

• The music in the scene with Ted and Barney choosing the 'dumbest girl' is a clip from the main theme of the movie Major League by James Newton Howard.

Cultural references

• The music playing during Ted's talk with Barney at the bar about possible hookups uses baseball terms and music from the film Major League.
• In describing the appeal of being a New York Yankee, Ted recounts the time Phil Rizzuto "rack-jacked" (stole) one of his dates sometime after he and Marshall moved to New York. Marshall also quotes his signature "holy cow!" catchphrase by saying, "Holy cow, that guy had game."

Continuity

The group expresses concern over Barney's possible firing despite Barney's claim in S04E20 "Mosbius Designs" that because of what he knew he would never be fired, stating instead that he would more likely wash up on a beach with no fingerprints or teeth. In this episode Marshall and Lilly said that they have been sharing single toothbrush,but in episode "Zip Zip Zip" of season one there is as a scene where Marshall and Lilly shown brushing their teeth at the same time with separate toothbrushes.

Critical response

Donna Bowman of The AV Club rated the episode with a grade A-.^[1]

Brian Zoromski of IGN gave the episode 8.7 out of 10.^[2]

References

External links

• "Perfect Week" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Perfect Week" at TV.com