The Stinsons

"The Stinsons" is the 15th episode in the fourth season of the television series How I Met Your Mother and 79th overall. It originally aired on March 2, 2009.

Plot

At the beginning of the episode, Barney is seen skipping out hitting on some hot girl because he tells everyone he has to go somewhere, but he is secretive about where. The gang becomes suspicious that Barney might have a secret girlfriend, so they follow him to what turns out to be the house of his mother, Loretta. Barney then reveals that he has a wife, Betty, and a son, Tyler. Barney then tells the gang that they are both actors he hired because his mom was dying and he thought it would make her happy to think he was married. When his mother recovered, Barney was stuck with the fake family. Marshall at first argues that Barney should tell his mother the truth because there shouldn't be secrets within families. After he discovers that Lily hates his mother, Marshall starts to think that some things are better left unsaid.

Ted and Betty begin to develop a connection, since they're both fascinated by theatre. Betty gives Ted some acting tips, after he reveals becoming an actor has always been a secret ambition of his. After dinner, Ted is caught kissing Betty, and Barney is forced to confront him in front of his mother, but the tables are turned when Ted starts using Betty's acting tips to improvise a story that Barney long ago stole his fiancée. Barney then finally tells his mother the truth, and she is relieved because she admits she hates Betty and Tyler. She really hates Tyler because he keeps saying, "Tyler no likey!," (the child actor's attempt to create a catchphrase for his character). After that moment, they share a hug and she tells him to make sure to go for it when he does meet the right girl. At that moment, Robin walks in and Barney looks at her as he tells his Mom he will try. On the ride home, Ted and Betty are in one cab while Barney, Robin, Marshall and Lily are in another. Lily then fakes a conversation on her cell phone with Betty pretending to be Marshall's mother in order to make him think she's on good terms with his mother.

Music

• "Vertigo" by Anya Marina (played when Barney comes clean to his mother about not being married)

Cultural references

• Ted recalls having seen Betty act in Brecht's Die Heilige Johanna der Schlachthöfe (he refers to the play by its original German title).
• Barney's line "Call me crazy but child actors were better in the 80s", is a reference to the actor Neil Patrick Harris, who plays Barney. Harris himself was a child actor in the 1980s playing the title role in Doogie Howser, M.D..^[1] After the line, a cutaway of videotaped stock footage of houses appears with an upbeat musical jingle, both reminiscent of 1980s sitcoms.
• Robin says that Barney's supposed girlfriend must have come from Narnia to manage to make him a committed man.
• Loretta mentions sleeping with the members of Grand Funk Railroad, when she spent three weeks being passed around like a bong.

Critical response

The AV Club rated the episode A-.^[2]

Cindy McLennan of Television Without Pity rated the episode with a grade B.^[3]

References

External links

• "The Stinsons" at the Internet Movie Database
• "The Stinsons" at TV.com