



For the character, see Gary Blauman (character).

When Gary Blauman shows up at the wedding, it sends the gang into a frenzy as they each recall an encounter with him.





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Recap

The episode starts on Wednesday, 8 p.m., three days after the wedding. The mother is standing in front of her apartment waiting for Ted to pick her up. He invites her out for dinner to a Scottish/Mexican fusion restaurant (two things that, according to the mother, do not fuse). Unfortunately, there's live music at the restaurant so they decide to go somewhere else (anywhere but there). Meanwhile, Ted starts telling her the tale of Gary Blauman.

The flashback goes back to the wedding day. Gary Blauman, a former co-worker of Barney's, shows up unexpectedly, which freaks out Robin since they never received his reply card. She runs into Marshall and calls a "code red", so he takes over the situation and tries to resolve it. He gathers the rest of the gang and they each reminisce about the last time they saw Gary Blauman and what he did.

Ted states that he hates Gary Blauman. A few years earlier, Ted became obsessed with Teddy Roosevelt after reading a biography of the president. Ted loved it so much, he couldn't stop talking about it. One night, Ted threw a party in the apartment to celebrate something he no longer remembered. At the party, he met a girl who also loved the biography. He started to flirt with her but then Blauman arrived. He had also read and loved the book, so for the rest of the night Ted, the girl and Gary kept on discussing the book. Ted and Gary both seemed to be interested in the girl, so they fought for the girl by using Teddy Roosevelt facts, but neither ended up with her.

Lily, meanwhile, says she loves Gary Blauman. In a flashback to 2006, Lily was back in New York and was thinking of getting a "crazy tattoo" to deal with her break-up with Marshall. Halfway through the tattoo, Blauman talked her out of it and convinced her that she and Marshall would get back together and were meant to be with each other.

Barney sides with Ted, saying he hates Blauman. A few years earlier, Barney met Blauman for a drink at MacLaren's. Barney was upset at Blauman for eating four pieces of fries from the basket Barney had ordered (after declining to order any food himself). Not only did he eat four fries, but the fourth one was an "accidental curly."

William Zabka says he 'hates to disagree with Barney', but he loves Gary Blauman for recognizing him as a poet instead of being hated as the antagonist from The Karate Kid.

James joins the conversation after overhearing them. He hates that he once believed he loved Gary Blauman. James cheated on his husband, Tom, with Blauman, and he is the reason that Tom and James broke up and his children will grow up in a broken home. Ted realizes Blauman is gay and was fighting for him and not for the girl at the party previously mentioned.

At this point Marshall orders everybody out of the room so that he may render a judicial decision as to whether Gary Blauman should stay at the wedding. He calls them back in and rules that Gary Blauman must stay because of the bride law: "when a bride asks for something, she gets it."

Ted is telling the story to the Mother as they are walking when suddenly she hides behind a car. Louis, her ex-boyfriend, is in front of them and she doesn't want to see him. She explains to Ted that he proposed to her on Saturday and she is very sorry because she doesn't think she's ready to date again. So they decide to cancel the date and Ted walks her home. When they arrive, they say their goodbyes, and Ted walks away, but then, the Mother calls him back and she asks him to finish the story.

Returning to the story, Ted tells her that he, James, Barney, Lily, Marshall and Zabka went to tell Gary Blauman he could stay. But Gary was offended and decided to leave anyway. Ted and the others were feeling bad about what happened when Blauman comes back and says that he would have never missed the wedding.

At this point, Future Ted explains to the kids that it's very easy to lose track of some people during life. But he also says that he keeps tracks of some people: Ranjit, Zoey, Patrice, Blah Blah (Carol), Carl, Blitz, Scooter, Jasmine, Jeanette, Kevin and Sandy.

After finishing the story, Ted is about to leave when the Mother kisses him and asks if he wants to walk around a bit more. Ted agrees and takes a few seconds "to remember" what just happened. The Mother takes his hand and they walk together on their first date.

Continuity

Future References (Contains Spoilers)

The flash forward sequences of Ted and the Mother together three days after Robin and Barney's wedding is an initial indication that Ted would ultimately not push through with his plan to move to Chicago the day after the wedding. In Last Forever - Part One , Marshall and Lily would find Ted at MacLaren's where Ted explained that he put off moving because he met who would be the Mother.

, Marshall and Lily would find Ted at MacLaren's where Ted explained that he put off moving because he met who would be the Mother. The gang is shown to be at The Farhampton Church, indicating that the scenes first shown in Season 6 are about to occur.

Gallery





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

Memorable Quotes

Barney : And the fourth fry he took... the fourth fry he took...the fourth fry he took was an accidental curly!

—Barney reminiscing the last time he saw Blauman.

Ted : We're crouching behind a van, hiding from your ex boyfriend. Forgive me, I'm a bit of a detective. Was it a bad breakup? The Mother : Pretty bad. Ted : Bad like there was a big fight? The Mother : Bad like there was a big ring. Ted : Bad like this it happened in the past year? The Mother : Bad like it happened Saturday. Ted : So, bad.

—Ted asking The Mother the details of her latest break-up.

Future Ted : That's how it goes kids. The friends, neighbors, drinking buddies, and partners in crime you love so much when you're young, as the years go by, you just lose touch....

—Ted telling his kids how easy it can be to lose contact with other people.

Future Ted : You will be shocked kids, when you discover how easy it is in life to part ways with people forever. That's why, when you find someone you want to keep around, you do something about it.

—Ted giving advice on his children about keeping in touch with other people.

The Mother : Goodnight.

(They kiss)

Unless..you wanna walk around some more? It's still early. Ted : Sure. The Mother : What are you doing? Ted : Remembering this. The Mother : (Offers her hand)

Come on.

—Ted and The Mother share their first kiss.

Notes and Trivia

Goofs and Errors

Gary Blauman is alive in this episode and is in fact a focal point. However, in The Chain of Screaming ​​, Barney tells the gang that he died. Gary Blauman being alive is not a goof. Carter Bays stated on Twitter that Barney made up the story in The Chain of Screaming .

​​, Barney tells the gang that he died. The episode opens with Ted and The Mother's first date occurring on the Wednesday after the wedding. However, in Last Forever - Part One , Ted calls The Mother on Monday and sets up a date for Tuesday. Since Ted continues to talk to The Mother as he walks off camera it's very possible that one of them realized that Tuesday wouldn't work and asked to reschedule the date to Wednesday.

, Ted calls The Mother on Monday and sets up a date for Tuesday. It is unknown why Lily did not get Stella to remove her unwanted tattoo while she was dating/engaged to Ted. She probably would have gotten a friend's discount too. Also, Lily's wedding dress was strapless, so her tattoo would have been visible. Lily specifically says that she uses coverup.

Zabka says that he "hates to disagree with Barney," but all Zabka overheard was "Gary Blauman," not Barney's hatred for him. Barney was shouting, so it's possible he heard it through the wall.



Allusions and Outside References

Music

Where Are They Now? - The Kinks

Other Notes

The title is a reference to the character, Gary Blauman.

This is the first time where all of the characters played by the main cast's spouses (Taran Killam, Alexis Denisof, and David Burtka) appear in the same episode. This is the first time that Cobie Smulders (Robin Scherbatsky) and Taran Killam (Gary Blauman) appear in the same scenes. It is also the last appearance of Denisof and Burtka. Killam would however, reprise his role as Blauman in The End of the Aisle though will have no spoken lines there.

We find out that Sandy Rivers becomes a newscaster in Moscow. In Last Forever we find out that Robin's based in Moscow sometime in the 2017-2020 time frame, prior to that around 2015 Robin was briefly in St. Petersberg while still married because Barney joined her. It's not stated whether or not their careers intersect while both of them are based in Russia.

we find out that Robin's based in Moscow sometime in the 2017-2020 time frame, prior to that around 2015 Robin was briefly in St. Petersberg while still married because Barney joined her. It's not stated whether or not their careers intersect while both of them are based in Russia. This episode features the most secondary characters from throughout the series out of any season.

The tracking shot showing the future of the characters is reminiscent to the Two Minute Date in Ten Sessions as well as a musical number Ted performed in Of Course . Alyson Hannigan appears in character as Lily at the beginning of the shot, and also Jasmine later in the shot (both characters are wearing the same earrings). William Zabka also appears multiple times in the shot, in the group shot at the beginning and when he's presented with his award. Amazingly the tracking shot was apparently done with practical effects instead of body doubles or green screens for Alyson Hannigan and William Zabka. If one looks closely during the 'behind the scenes of " Gary Blauman "' feature on the season 9 DVDs (disk 3 special features), one sees the filming from the perspective of somebody on the set. After the initial setup, one could spot Alyson Hannigan and William Zabka running off to the side. Zabka had 53 seconds to change shirts and run behind the camera to get in place for his presentation. Hannigan had to have Jasmine's dress put over Lily's formal dress and wig, and run in place (roughly 1 minute 15 seconds). Afterwards both Zabka and Hannigan had to run behind the camera, change clothing, and join the group for the end of the scene. A green screen was used to insert Blah-Blah into the scene (presumably the actress wasn't available when the scene was filmed) and for Sandy Rivers (more practical to use an insert shot for somebody appearing on a television screen) so it seems strange that they didn't decide to use a green screen for the Scooter - Jasmine scene.

as well as a musical number Ted performed in . This marks the second time in Season 9 not to state how many hours there are before the wedding, and instead chooses to put a timestamp on its framing story (3 days after the wedding).

Guests

Podcast

Reception

Donna Bowman of the A.V. Club gave this episode an A. [1]

gave this episode an A. Max Nicholson of IGN gave the episode a 8.7 out of 10. [2]

gave the episode a 8.7 out of 10. Angel Cohn of Television Without Pity gave the episode a C. [3]

gave the episode a C. The St. Petersburg Comic Review gave this episode 9.5 out of 10 stars. "...Gary Blauman might be the keystone to the entire series!"

References



