Search

» » How I Met Your Mother Girls vs. Suits (2005–2014)

Short summary

A beautiful woman named Karina starts working as a bartender at MacLaren's. Robin believes Karina's hotness is all circumstantial. Many men are mesmerized by Karina, but none more so than Barney, who has never slept with a bartender. Barney has a plan to woo Karina, but Karina, who has so far treated all the patrons at the bar like her best friend, is immediately turned off by Barney. Marshall learns it's because she previously had a bad experience with a man who worked on Wall Street, so now she immediately is turned off by anyone wearing a suit. Can Barney give up his suit wearing ways to impress Karina, or put aside his suits long enough to sleep with her? Meanwhile, Ted has started dating Cindy, a student at the university. Cindy breaks it off with Ted when she learns that the university has a strict no professor-student dating policy, which means that if they are caught, Cindy could lose her scholarship and Ted could lose his job. But something about Cindy makes Ted feel that he ...

This is Neil Patrick Harris's favorite episode of the show.

This is the show's 100th episode.

When no longer wearing his trademark suits, Barney wears a shirt depicting the cover of the book "Die Neue Wohnung" (german for 'The new appartment') by famous architect Bruno Taut, indicating that the shirt might actually belong to Ted. Barney probably took all his "new" non-suit clothes from Ted's more casual wardrobe.

TV's Tim Gunn (playing Barney's tailor) uses his famous catchphrase when telling Barney that he "just couldn't make it work."

Zachary Woodlee, choreographer of Glee (2009), choreographed the musical sequence within Barney's mind. Heather Morris is a lead on Glee and was one of the dancers in this episode's musical number. Neil Patrick Harris later guest-starred on Glee.

The music accompanying Barney's hidden suit in the restroom in MacLaren's pub is "Bullwinkle pt. II." A reference to a scene in Pulp Fiction (1994). Where, to the same song, Vincent Vega (John Travolta) shoots up heroin.

Marshall actually slaps Barney when Barney's rubbing his face on Marshall's suit, but they don't keep track of this one. If they did this would be the last of the 5 slaps Marshall could give until the later shown "Duck Tie Saga".

According to the DVD commentary of this episode, there was a scene where the suits moved and talked to Barney in different accents. It was cut out because of the 18 minute limit they had due to the song at the end being 3 minutes long. You can see a suit move at the end of the episode,it was going to be a follow up to this.

During the dance number, you can see the Royal Dinner from the set of Bones.

Lily mentions that Karina is younger than Marshall. When in actuality, Stacy Keibler (Karina) is three months older than Jason Segel (Marshall).

Glee (2009) star Heather Morris can be seen dancing in the musical number 'Nothing Suits Me Like Suit' in episode 12, season 5

When Ted says to Cindy, "So, do you ever date cute idiots?" and she responds, "Almost exlusively," this is a reference to the first season Seinfeld episode "The Stakeout" where Jerry says to Vanessa, "Do you date immature men?" and she responds, "Almost exclusively."

User reviews


  • comment
    • Author: Frostdefender
    I think this is my favorite episode so far in the fifth season. On one hand we have Barney's newest exploration/fascination of the fairer sex and on the other we have Ted getting closer to "the Mother" and a much bigger reminder of what the show is all about... Because lets face it, sometimes we forget.

    The first half of the episode we have Barney chasing a hot bartender and strangely finding himself in a situation of choosing between girls and suits. The scene where Barney is suiting up in the bathroom being similar to that scene in Pulp Fiction where John Travolta is doing drugs is hilarious. Though it is nothing compared to Barney singing "Nothing Suits me Like a Suit". The entire sing-along was very clever and so in character. The other part of the episode is Ted going on a date with Cindy the "Mother's" roommate. This is a reminder to the audience that Ted still has yet to meet the "Mother". It was really great how Ted was in Cindy's bedroom and picked out the three things that had been borrowed from the "Mother", given to Cindy by the "Mother" or was the "Mother's". All in all this was a great episode 100th filled with sweet moments (when Ted sees the "Mother's" foot), great laughs (Barney mourning the "death" of his suit), and wicked singing (Barney's mini musical) Episode Highlights: The Girls vs Suits sing-along, Ted receiving the first description of his future wife ("She's a whore," given by Rachel Bilson who was a wonderful guest star), and the scene where Barney is going into withdrawal from not wearing a suit... he starts rubbing up against Marshal's suited arm and actually doling out a kiss. (Marshal lightly slaps his cheek to wake him up.)
  • comment
    • Author: Marr
    This is the show's 100th episode. And by far my favourite episode. It is hilarious, and the musical number at the end just makes it even better.

    Plot In A Paragraph: When he becomes obsessed with a new female bartender (Stacey Keibler) at Maclarens, who hates men who wear suits, Barney finds himself in the strange position of having to choose between girls or suits. Meanwhile Ted gets one step closer to the mother (which is actually what the show is supposed to be about, because let's be honest, sometimes we forget) when he starts dating a student (Rachel Bilson), Back at Maclarens, Lily is amazed that Marshall does not find the new bartender hot, whilst Robin is upset at no longer being viewed as the hottest girl in the bar.

    Any episode that features the brilliant Neil Patrick Harris's character Barney Stinson in the main storyline is always excellent, and this one is no exception, in fact I consider this my favourite episode of HIMYM. The musical number in Barney's mind is TV gold, and Alyson Hannigan looks great in a suit.

    I could go on and on about the brilliance of this episode, and in particular Neil Patrick Harris but I won't bore you with it.
  • comment
    • Author: Benn
    Barney and his suits! His love for them is demonstrated in this wonderful episode. I am not very much into men in suits as well. But even though Barney is hot in the jeans he completely convinced me that nothing suits him like a suit. I loved to see Tim Gunn in this episode. Who else would one run to to save a suit? And the musical section at the end was just epic.

    It was also fun how at the 100th episode they started again the talk about mother. And Ted was actually in the same apartment with her! Rachel Bilson was a nice guest star as mother's roommate. I actually felt bad for her, and now I wonder even more how great this mother must be.
  • comment
    • Author: Saberdragon
    this episode of how i met your mother is special as it makes how i met your mother a 100 episode old. as Ted becomes one more step closer to meeting the mother. while barney faces a strong inner conflict as to whether suit down or to lose sleeping with as he says a "10". i loved this episode as it was practically a Broadway show. the title girls vs suits is apropos as barney thinks of suits as his life partners and friends while he considers women on the opposite side as objects, barney as always has been apart from the gang as a single ready to mingle guy but in season 5 he finally kicks of his dating life but till girls vs suits he breaks up with robin his girlfriend . this i suppose makes him realize that women in his life are as he says 'i got them coming and going, what up'. therefore he decides which is more important to him suits or women
  • Episode credited cast:
    Josh Radnor Josh Radnor - Ted Mosby
    Jason Segel Jason Segel - Marshall Eriksen
    Cobie Smulders Cobie Smulders - Robin Scherbatsky
    Neil Patrick Harris Neil Patrick Harris - Barney Stinson
    Alyson Hannigan Alyson Hannigan - Lily Aldrin
    Rachel Bilson Rachel Bilson - Cindy
    Stacy Keibler Stacy Keibler - Karina
    Tim Gunn Tim Gunn - Tim Gunn
    Joe Nieves Joe Nieves - Carl
    Lyndsy Fonseca Lyndsy Fonseca - Daughter
    David Henrie David Henrie - Son
    Ryan Bailey Ryan Bailey - Herb (as Ryan Kyler Bailey)
    James Pumphrey James Pumphrey - Frat Dude #1
    Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
    Quinn Lipton Quinn Lipton - Dancer
    All rights reserved © 2017-2022 hd.thomson-multimedia.com