- Barney is forced to break out "The Playbook" one final time to keep Ted from getting back together with Jeanette and taking her to his wedding, and Marshall embarrasses Lily at an art exhibition.
- Ted is desperate to bring a "+1" to Robin and Barney's wedding, and currently has Jeanette as that +1 despite he realizing that she is crazy. Robin and Barney are so adamant that Jeanette not be Ted's +1 that Barney swears Ted to secrecy in how he is helping Ted find an alternate +1: by staging plays from his playbook, which he purportedly burned in front of Robin but in reality burned a fake book instead. If Robin finds out about the playbook, there may be no reason for Ted to have a +1 as there will be nothing for him to bring a +1 to. Meanwhile, Lily, as The Captain's new art buyer, is attending a gallery showing by an up and coming artist named Strickland Stevens. Marshall is confident that he can play the art buyer husband at functions so important to Lily's career which may not be the most obvious fit for Marshall. This gallery showing may test Marshall's actual ability in this role.—Huggo
- Barney wakes up in the middle of the night, twice, dreaming about a special play called the "Weekend at Barney's". It angers Robin, who already knows he destroyed the Playbook. Robin says that burning the Playbook was the sure sign for her that Barney is serious about a relationship.
Later at MacLaren's, they are not pleased to see Ted returning his wedding invitation with Jeannette as his plus-one. When Ted returns to his apartment, he sees Jeannette, who just messed up the place after reading a spam email message. She breaks up with him on the spot. Although Marshall and Lily console him, in actuality the gang is elated at the breakup. But then, Ted starts to remember how amazing the sex was with Jeanette and is determined to win her back.
Learning of the couple's breakup and Ted's plan to win Jeannette back, Barney sees it as an opportunity to find a replacement plus-one by matching up Ted at the bar using the Playbook (the copy he burned in front of Patrice was just a "ceremonial" copy). Barney sets up a station at the apartment to guide Ted with the plays. The first one is "The Special Delivery", where Ted dresses up as a delivery man with a package and approaches a woman at the bar. Barney tells Ted what to say via a microphone and Ted inevitably tells the woman that the package refers to his penis, which he hopes to deliver to her. The woman walks away in disgust. The next play is "The Kidney". Ted is in a hospital gown and is supposed to be donating a kidney to his best friend. Ted is supposed to say to a woman "Before I give my friend this organ, I would like to give you a different organ - my penis". Ted refuses to say this line and strikes out. Two attempts fall flat, but as Barney guides Ted with a Scottish-themed play ("I Have a Pet Loch Ness Monster"), Robin appears at Ted's apartment. She angrily storms out at seeing the Playbook, causing Barney to go after her, barely missing Jeannette making up with Ted at the bar. At the sidewalk, Barney explains to Robin that all his plays were definitely based on lies, but it helped him realize that he loves her, winning her over with a bouquet of paper roses.
Meanwhile, Marshall and Lily visit an art gallery where an up-and-coming artist named Strickland Stevens (Christopher Nicholas Smith) is showing off his works. Since she's now the Captain's art consultant, Lily aims to scout for new works while Marshall tries to crack art-related jokes on the guests. The jokes include "Why couldn't the art dealer pay rent, because he ran out of Monet". He fails with the jokes and later accidentally spills a bag of Skittles on the floor, embarrassing Lily and the guests as Stevens asks them to join him on a moment of silence to honor his late grandmother (his inspiration for a new art piece). Now humiliated by the gaffe, Marshall pledges to remain quiet, but an off-the-cuff remark about TMNT results in him and Lily hitting things off with Stevens.
Ted returns to his apartment with Jeannette, who fumes at seeing the Playbook. He simply sits on the street while she throws all his things out the window, Marshall and Lily join him in the meantime. As Jeannette tapes the Playbook to a batch of fireworks from Barney's prop trunk, Ted asks her not to blow it up, but Barney allows it to be destroyed, for good. At this point, Ted pledges to no longer date and is ready to settle down, erasing Jeannette's name from the invitation.
Future Ted narrates that at that point for the first time in his life, he really meant it.
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