Girls Versus Suits
Encyclopedia
"Girls Versus Suits" is the twelfth episode of the fifth season of the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 situation comedy
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...

 How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 19, 2005, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays.As a framing device, the main character, Ted Mosby with narration by Bob Saget, in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting...

and 100th episode overall. It originally aired on January 11, 2010.

The episode features a musical number performed by Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris is an American actor, singer, director, and magician.Prominent roles of his career include the title role in Doogie Howser, M.D., Colonel Carl Jenkins in Starship Troopers, the womanizing Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother, a fictionalized version of himself in the Harold...

, supported by the rest of the main cast.

Plot

Future Ted again expounds on the unknowable nature of destiny, and tells the kids about the time he almost met their mother. After leaving class, Ted
Ted Mosby
Theodore Evelyn "Ted" Mosby is the titular fictional character of the U.S. television sitcom How I Met Your Mother, portrayed by Josh Radnor...

 intercepts a series of fraternity brothers inviting a woman up to the roof to drink. Confiscating the alcohol, he sits down to drink the beer with Cindy (Rachel Bilson
Rachel Bilson
Rachel Sarah Bilson is an American actress. Bilson grew up in a California show business family, and made her television debut in 2003, subsequently becoming well known for playing Summer Roberts on the prime time drama series The O.C. Bilson made her film debut in the 2006 film The Last Kiss and...

), a Ph.D. student roughly his own age to whom he can relate. He asks her out on a date and when he comes to pick her up at her apartment, it turns out Cindy has serious issues with her roommate (who Future Ted reveals to be the Mother); her dates keep falling in love with her roommate, and her roommate's strange habits annoy Cindy. Ted promises Cindy to never fall in love with her roommate ("Oops," says Future Ted).

During the date, Cindy explains more about the strange habits she dislikes about her roommate that Ted secretly thinks are awesome. Cindy tells how the Mother paints pictures of robots playing sports and has breakfast foods singing show tunes. Future Ted reveals the painting of robots playing volleyball is still hanging in the house and that an English muffin singing "Memories" is the most hauntingly beautiful thing he has heard to this day. Even though she complains about her roommate throughout the evening, Ted wants to continue dating Cindy.

After the date, Cindy tells Ted she can't see him again, blaming the University policy preventing students and lecturers from fraternizing, as she fears it could cost her her scholarship. At first Ted tries to rationalize her decision as being for the best, especially as the others point out that Cindy's future and Ted's job are in jeopardy. Ted is inspired to try again, and shows up at Cindy's apartment and tries to persuade her to go out with him again, unwilling to miss out on the chance of her being the right woman. She takes Ted to talk in her room as her roommate is just about to leave the shower. As he tries to convince Cindy that their paths are meant to cross, he picks out items from her room which show how much they have in common. Cindy reveals that all three objects are really connected to her roommate. Frustrated that Ted is already more compatible with her roommate, Cindy tells him to leave. Ted does not meet her roommate, although on his way out he does catch a glimpse of her leg, as she disappears into her bedroom. Ted forgets to take the yellow umbrella he brought with him, revealing how the Mother gets it back.

MacLaren's has hired an attractive female bartender (Stacy Keibler
Stacy Keibler
Stacy Keibler is an American actress, model, and former professional wrestler and valet, best known for her work with World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment ....

), and Barney
Barney Stinson
Barnabas "Barney" Stinson is a fictional character created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas for the CBS television series How I Met Your Mother, portrayed by Neil Patrick Harris. The character has been extremely well received by critics and has been credited for much of the show's success...

 seeks to add her occupation to his list of conquests. There is only one problem: she doesn't like men in suits, having dated insensitive Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...

 losers. Barney is forced to choose between the girl and the suits. For a while he attempts to dress casually, convincing the bartender she misjudged him. He even sneaks away to the bathroom to wear his suit, where he accidentally rips the back. The suit is damaged beyond repair, but his tailor (Tim Gunn
Tim Gunn
Timothy M. "Tim" Gunn is an American fashion consultant and television personality. He was on the faculty of Parsons The New School for Design from 1982 to 2007 and was chair of fashion design at the school from August 2000 to March 2007, after which he joined Liz Claiborne as its chief creative...

) transplants the buttons to save another suit and Barney cremates
Cremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....

 the remains.

Meanwhile, Lily
Lily Aldrin
Lillian "Lily" Aldrin is a fictional character created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas for the CBS television series How I Met Your Mother, portrayed by American actress Alyson Hannigan. She is the wife of Marshall Eriksen and the best friend of Robin Scherbatsky...

, Marshall
Marshall Eriksen
Marshall Eriksen is a fictional character in the American sitcom How I Met Your Mother, created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas and portrayed by Jason Segel.-Character profile:Marshall is an easy-going, naive optimist from St. Cloud, Minnesota...

, and Robin
Robin Scherbatsky
Robin Charles Scherbatsky, Jr. is a fictional character created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas for the CBS television series How I Met Your Mother, portrayed by Canadian actress Cobie Smulders.- Early life :...

 argue about the bartender's attractiveness. Robin is jealous, and even gets behind the bar to show how the location amplifies natural beauty; Carl soon kicks her out from behind the bar. Marshall insists that the bartender is not that attractive, saying that Lily is the most beautiful woman he has ever met. Lily tries to get Marshall to say that she is not as beautiful as the bartender, and eventually even implies that the bartender is better looking than Marshall, upsetting him a little.

With the urn of suit ashes and his real tears for his lost suit, Barney convinces the bartender to go home with him. In his apartment, she accidentally opens his closet full of suits and realizes he deceived her. She forces him to choose between her and his suits. She is angry as they are shown leaving building and Barney breaks into song, professing his love of suits — only to choose her at the end of the song when he realizes that she is "pretty hot". He tells her she is more important than the suits and they will go first thing in the morning. As they fall into bed, he whispers "you guys are fine" to his suits.

Music

  • "Bullwinkle Part II" by The Centurions
  • "Cherry Pie
    Cherry Pie (Warrant song)
    "Cherry Pie" is a song by the American glam metal band Warrant. "Cherry Pie" is the titular track from Warrant's album Cherry Pie, and both were released in 1990.-Background:...

    " by Warrant
    Warrant (American band)
    Warrant is an American heavy metal band from Hollywood, California, that experienced success from 1989-1996 with five albums reaching international sales of over 10 million. The band first came into the national spotlight with their debut album Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich, and one of its...

  • "Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit
    Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit
    "Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit" is a single released by Neil Patrick Harris and the cast of the comedy series How I Met Your Mother from the 100th episode "Girls Versus Suits."-Background:...

    " performed by Neil Patrick Harris
    Neil Patrick Harris
    Neil Patrick Harris is an American actor, singer, director, and magician.Prominent roles of his career include the title role in Doogie Howser, M.D., Colonel Carl Jenkins in Starship Troopers, the womanizing Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother, a fictionalized version of himself in the Harold...


Continuity

  • In the episode "The Leap
    The Leap (How I Met Your Mother)
    "The Leap" is the 24th and final episode of season 4 of the How I Met Your Mother TV series and 88th overall. It originally aired on May 18, 2009.- Plot :...

    ," Ted first reveals the woman who would become "the Mother" of the show's title was in the class he walked into on his first day. In the subsequent episode, "Definitions
    Definitions (How I Met Your Mother)
    "Definitions" is the first episode of the fifth season of the How I Met Your Mother TV series and 89th episode overall. It originally aired on September 21, 2009.- Plot :...

    ," Ted reveals it was really an economics class he mistakenly walked into. Cindy was also in that same economics class.
  • Barney claims not to have scored a "hot bartender" before — Neil Patrick Harris
    Neil Patrick Harris
    Neil Patrick Harris is an American actor, singer, director, and magician.Prominent roles of his career include the title role in Doogie Howser, M.D., Colonel Carl Jenkins in Starship Troopers, the womanizing Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother, a fictionalized version of himself in the Harold...

     thinks this is "a bit of a lie" on the part of the writers. Barney has previously slept with "Wendy the Waitress", who also works at MacLaren's bar and has been seen bartending on occasion.
  • One of the other soundstages on the lot can clearly be seen past the end of the "New York Street" during Barney's big musical number.
  • Ted leaves the yellow umbrella behind in Cindy's apartment. Future Ted explains that this is how the mother got her umbrella back. Ted is first shown with the yellow umbrella in "Wait for It
    Wait for It
    "Wait for It" is the first episode in the third season of the television series How I Met Your Mother and 45th episode overall. It originally aired on September 24, 2007.- Plot :...

    ", where it is mentioned that the umbrella will play a part in him meeting the mother. Ted is shown acquiring the umbrella in "No Tomorrow" and carries it around in "Right Place Right Time
    Right Place Right Time
    "Right Place, Right Time" is the 22nd episode of the fourth season of How I Met Your Mother and 86th overall. It aired on May 4, 2009.- Plot :...

    ."
  • Ted's love of female bass players, referenced in "Matchmaker", "Milk" and "Little Boys
    Little Boys
    "Little Boys" is the fourth episode in the third season of the television series How I Met Your Mother and 48th overall. It originally aired on October 15, 2007.- Plot:Lily tells Robin she can set her up on a date with a guy named George...

    ," is mentioned again when he finds his future wife's bass guitar
    Bass guitar
    The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

    .
  • Barney also abandons his suits in "Okay Awesome
    Okay Awesome
    "Okay Awesome" is the fifth episode in the first season of the television series How I Met Your Mother. It originally aired on October 17, 2005.- Plot :...

    ", "Monday Night Football", "The Yips
    The yips
    The yips can refer to:*Yips, an apparently baseless loss of ability to perform in various sports*"The Yips" , a 2007 episode of the situation comedy How I Met Your Mother...

    ", and "How Lily Stole Christmas
    How Lily Stole Christmas
    "How Lily Stole Christmas" is the 11th episode in the second season of the television series How I Met Your Mother. It originally aired on December 11, 2006.- Plot :...

    ".
  • Robin laughs when she says that she doesn't think she is the hottest girl in the bar. In "The Bracket
    The Bracket
    "The Bracket" is the 14th episode in the third season of the television series How I Met Your Mother and 58th overall. It originally aired on March 31, 2008.-Plot:...

    " we learn that Robin laughs when she lies.

Barney's blog

Barney discusses choosing between women and suits, and says it is like Sophie's Choice
Sophie's Choice (novel)
Sophie's Choice is a novel by William Styron published in 1979. It concerns a young American Southerner, an aspiring writer, who befriends the Jewish Nathan Landau and his beautiful lover Sophie, a Polish survivor of the Nazi concentration camps...

. He compares the decision to many a great battles, and declares the result in the form of a video clip.

Cultural references

  • The CD belonging to Cindy's roommate that Ted picks up when he is in Cindy's room is Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?
    Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?
    Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? is the third and last full-length album of Canadian Indie-rock band The Unicorns. Originally released on CD October 21, 2003, the album was re-released on a black & pink vinyl format in March of 2004....

    by The Unicorns
    The Unicorns
    The Unicorns were a Lo-Fi/Indie Pop band from Montreal, Canada formed in December 2000 by Nicholas Thorburn and Alden Penner , who were later joined by Jamie Thompson in December 2003.-History:...

    . The book he picks up next is World's End by T. Coraghessan Boyle
    T. Coraghessan Boyle
    Tom Coraghessan Boyle is a U.S. novelist and short story writer. Since the mid 1970s, he has published twelve novels and more than 100 short stories...

    . Immediately following, he picks up a bass guitar, specifically a Fender Precision Bass
    Fender Precision Bass
    The Fender Precision Bass is an electric bass.Designed by Leo Fender as a prototype in 1950 and brought to market in 1951, the Precision was the first electric bass to earn widespread attention and use. A revolutionary instrument for the time, the Precision Bass has made an immeasurable impact on...

    .
  • This episode features Heather Morris from Glee
    Glee (TV series)
    Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...

    as a dancer.
  • Ted works for Columbia University
    Columbia University
    Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

    . Cindy tells him that University policy prevents them from dating. According to Columbia University: "Consensual, romantic relationships between faculty and other employees and students and between individuals who work together are generally not considered sexual harassment
    Sexual harassment
    Sexual harassment, is intimidation, bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. In some contexts or circumstances, sexual harassment is illegal. It includes a range of behavior from seemingly mild transgressions and...

     and are not prohibited by University policy."
  • When Barney abandons wearing suits, he wears a t-shirt that has the image of the cover of the 1924 book Die neue Wohnung by the famous architect Bruno Taut
    Bruno Taut
    Bruno Julius Florian Taut , was a prolific German architect, urban planner and author active during the Weimar period....

    .
  • The scene when Barney is in the bathroom stall putting on his suit references the scene in Pulp Fiction
    Pulp Fiction (film)
    Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references...

    when Vincent Vega (John Travolta
    John Travolta
    John Joseph Travolta is an American actor, dancer and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, after appearing on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease...

    ) is injecting himself with heroin, including the fact that both scenes use the song "Bullwinkle Part II" by The Centurions.
  • Ted describes the Mother's rendition of "Memories" [sic] hauntingly beautiful. The song is "Memory" from the Andrew Lloyd Webber
    Andrew Lloyd Webber
    Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...

     musical Cats.

Production

Executive producer and co-creator Craig Thomas
Craig Thomas (screenwriter)
Craig Thomas is an American television writer, he, along with writing partner Carter Bays, has written episodes of American Dad!, Oliver Beene, Quintuplets and the hit CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, which they created in 2005. He has been nominated for six primetime Emmy Awards...

 revealed Neil Patrick Harris will be performing a "big-ass musical" number as the culmination of a big Barney story. Thomas has said "There is some serious Mother action in episode 100" revealing only a small teaser about the episode.
"Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit" was backed by sixty five dancers and accompanied by a fifty-piece orchestra.

Casting

Rachel Bilson
Rachel Bilson
Rachel Sarah Bilson is an American actress. Bilson grew up in a California show business family, and made her television debut in 2003, subsequently becoming well known for playing Summer Roberts on the prime time drama series The O.C. Bilson made her film debut in the 2006 film The Last Kiss and...

 was cast for an undisclosed role in episode 100 of the show, although her representative said she is only contracted for one episode.

Tim Gunn
Tim Gunn
Timothy M. "Tim" Gunn is an American fashion consultant and television personality. He was on the faculty of Parsons The New School for Design from 1982 to 2007 and was chair of fashion design at the school from August 2000 to March 2007, after which he joined Liz Claiborne as its chief creative...

 of Project Runway
Project Runway
Project Runway is an American reality television series on Lifetime Television, previously on the Bravo network, which focuses on fashion design and is hosted by model Heidi Klum. The contestants compete with each other to create the best clothes and are restricted in time, materials and theme...

brings his sartorial skills to help out Barney in a time of need. Craig Thomas explains "Tim is basically like Barney's ER physician for a serious suit emergency" and serves as a personal tailor and fashion consultant to fix a "Suit Catastrophe" for Barney.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight is a daily tabloid television entertainment television news show that is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution throughout the United States, Canada and in many countries around the world. Linda Bell Blue is currently the program's executive producer...

, Neil Patrick Harris said that they "never had a guest star on the show that people responded to more than Tim Gunn" and that even the cast and crew were asking for his autograph.
Alyson Hannigan
Alyson Hannigan
Alyson Lee Hannigan is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Willow Rosenberg in the cult classic television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Michelle Flaherty in three American Pie films, and Lily Aldrin on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother.-Early life:Hannigan was born in...

 described him as "more popular than Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...

."
Although unofficial, On the Season 5 DVD commentary of the episode, it has been expressed that they hope to have him return as a possible recurring character.
Former wrestling diva Stacy Keibler
Stacy Keibler
Stacy Keibler is an American actress, model, and former professional wrestler and valet, best known for her work with World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment ....

 guest stars as Karina, a bartender in MacLaren's. The writers describe her as "the hottest bartender in the world" and she gives the episode its title, as she forces Barney to choose between his suits and getting the girl. Her three previous ex-boyfriends were all suit wearers, and Barney cannot get with her without giving up his suits.

Critical response

Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...

 rated the episode with a grade A, describing the 100th episode as one of the best the show has ever produced. She describes the episodes as appealing to fans in a way that doesn't exclude other viewers, noting the quality of the writing and editing, the voiceover being used to great effect, and advancing the storyline for all the characters.

Brian Zoromski of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...

 gave the episode 9.8 out of 10.

Cindy McLennan of Television Without Pity rated the episode with a grade A.

Nickolas Clague of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

gave the episode 9.2 out of 10.
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