How I Met Everyone Else

"How I Met Everyone Else"
How I Met Your Mother episode
Episode no.	Season 3 Episode 5
Directed by	Pamela Fryman
Written by	Gloria Calderon Kellett
Original air date	October 22, 2007
Guest actors
Abigail Spencer (Blah Blah [Carol]) Jolie Jenkins (Alexa)

"How I Met Everyone Else" is the fifth episode in the third season of the television series How I Met Your Mother and 49th overall. It originally aired on October 22, 2007.

Plot

At the bar Ted introduces the gang to his newest girlfriend, whose name Future Ted can't remember and instead refers to as "Blah Blah". Embarrassed that she and Ted met online, she makes up a story about how she saw Ted across a crowded room at a cooking class. It soon becomes clear that she is extremely neurotic and paranoid when she feels threatened by Robin. In order to change the subject, everyone begins to reminisce about how they all met each other, and their stories are told through flashbacks.

• How Marshall met Lily - Marshall and Lily first met in 1996 when Lily needed help with her stereo and she had a strange feeling about room Hewitt 110. Knocking on the door, Marshall answered and it was clearly love at first sight.
• How Ted met Marshall - Ted and Marshall first met when they became college roommates. Marshall was "eating a sandwich" when he was told that the Dean was coming. When Ted arrived, Marshall attempted to conceal the "sandwich" and became upset that Ted (believing him to be the Dean) would be his roommate. The confusion was cleared up when Marshall walked in on Ted eating a sandwich of his own.
• How Ted met Barney - Ted and Barney met in the men's room of MacLaren's in 2001, after which Barney made Ted his new wingman and told a girl that Ted is deaf so that Barney can get the girl's phone number. When the girl mentioned she knew sign language, Ted signed to her that Barney was a great guy and recommended she give him her number. After telling the story, Barney comments that he knew from that moment that he and Ted would be wingmen forever, even though the girl gave him a fake number. Ted reveals that he actually instructed the girl in sign language to give Barney a fake number, which upsets Barney.
• How Ted met Robin - Ted provides a condensed version of how he first spotted Robin across the bar in 2005, and the two instantly felt a connection.

Throughout the stories, Blah Blah becomes increasingly paranoid rather than mollified, particularly when she learns that the gang already knows that she and Ted actually met online and after hearing the story of how Ted and Robin met and dated for a while. When she wishes that she and Ted had a wonderful first meeting story like Lily and Marshall, Ted reluctantly counters that the story isn't as great as it sounds and tells the story of how he met Lily.

• How Ted met Lily - During a freshman party at college, Ted and Lily met as Marshall chugged from a keg. He flirted with Lily and suggested that she come to his room, after which they began making out.

Ted explains that Lily had come to his and Marshall's room the next day and he and Lily have never spoken about their first meeting since. Blah Blah, keen to make Ted uncomfortable, vindictively orders Ted to confess to Marshall or she will. Returning to the table, Blah Blah asks Lily how she met Ted. However, Lily recounts the event differently.

• How Lily met Ted - When Lily went to Marshall and Ted's room, Ted had been on the phone desperately apologizing to his long distance girlfriend Karen for making out with another girl. After Marshall introduced her to Ted, Ted quickly rushed off upon seeing her to try sending Karen an e-mail.

When Blah Blah presses for details, Ted takes Lily aside to discuss what happened at the party. Though Lily recalls kissing someone at the party, she can't remember who the guy was while Ted insists the guy was him. Meanwhile, Marshall and Barney talk about how they met.

• How Barney met Marshall - In 2001, Barney had attempted to persuade Marshall to forget his girlfriend and score with a random girl at MacLaren's. Marshall initially refused, but decided to play along when Barney unwittingly selected Lily as Marshall's target. Marshall had walked up to her and kissed her, which immediately impressed Barney until he learned that Lily was Marshall's girlfriend.

Unimpressed, Blah Blah tells Marshall that Ted and Lily kissed. Marshall doesn't believe the story, because he remembers that Ted and Lily had kissed two other people, not each other, at the freshman party, which Lily easily accepts. A furious Blah Blah storms out, but not before revealing that she met Ted playing World of Warcraft.

For the sake of Marshall and Lily's relationship, Ted accepts Marshall's story, though he is secretly unconvinced. At their college reunion in 2020, Ted is approached by a woman who tells him that she was the one he made out with at the freshman party, proving Marshall was correct. Later Ted, Marshall and Lily all sit down for a "sandwich" that Marshall confiscated and get high when Ted suddenly realizes he can't find his wife.

Critical response

• Donna Bowman of The AV Club rated the episode A.

• Staci Krause of IGN gave the episode 8.9 out of 10.

• Omar G of Television Without Pity rated the episode A.

Awards

Gloria Calderon Kellet, the writer of this episode, won a National Council of La Raza ALMA award for Outstanding Writing for a Television Series for this episode on August 17, 2008.

External links

• "How I Met Everyone Else" at IMDb
• "How I Met Everyone Else" at TV.com