- Barney is upset after Robin wins James's wedding ring during the poker game, and Ted argues with Marshall and Lily over whether he gave them a wedding gift.
- James continually badmouthing the institution of marriage leads to a showdown between him and Robin in the form of their respective wedding rings, that showdown which Robin wins. This confrontation leads to Loretta coming to her son's defense against Robin. As such, Barney is forced to choose between his family and his soon to be wife. Lily learns that Ted is getting Barney and Robin multiple wedding gifts. This act is the last straw in what has been a slow burn for Lily and Marshall since their wedding as Ted never got them a wedding present, despite Marshall having dropped continual hints over the years. But when they eventually confront Ted, Ted flips it around on them, stating that he did get them a wedding gift. They never sent him a thank you note, about which he continually dropped hints to Marshall over the years. They will have to get to the bottom of whether Ted really did get them a wedding present or if he really forgot.—Huggo
- On Friday at 6:00 PM, 48 hours before the wedding, Barney, Ted, Robin, Lily, James, Marshpillow, Tim Gunn the tailor, Ranjit (Marshall Manesh), and Billy Zabka continue to play poker. All but Barney, Robin, James, Billy Zabka, and Ranjit fold before long. During the later stages of the game, Robin dares James to wager his own wedding ring over his frequent jabs against getting married. Robin is really angry at James for making snide comments about marriage, while he is still wearing his wedding ring. James claims that he wears the ring as it helps him attract other gay men.
Robin wins the ring, but James later brings in his mother Loretta into the mix to try forcing her to give it back. As a result, Barney is caught between siding with his mother and brother or Robin (who defeats Loretta in a round of strip poker and gets her special blouse). Lily counsels him that in a marriage, the husband always stands by the wife. She says that in marriage being right is less important than being supportive. But Barney convinces Robin to give back James's ring and Loretta's blouse, which she does. Barney goes to them to return it. Barney learns that James failed in his marriage as he ignored Tom to spend all the time at the gym to maintain his appearance. This prompts Barney to declare that he's severing his ties to James and Loretta after realizing that they're both selfish, but claims Robin ordered it so.
Lily is visibly displeased at Ted's plans to give Barney and Robin three wedding gifts. Future Ted says her anger stemmed from Ted's apparent failure to give them a wedding gift six years before; Marshall repeatedly signaled Ted about it ever since. As the months passed by the hints got more desperate, as Marshall dressed as a wedding present on Halloween and Marshall reminded him even as Ted was about to get married to Stella. In order to send a loud and clear message, Marshall and Lily gifted Ted a gift-wrapping station. Ted sends a huge thank you note for the gift-wrapping station.
When Ted is questioned about the present, he insists that he sent them a coffeemaker as his gift but also dropped his own hints for Marshall to acknowledge it. Ted says that he never got a thank you note for his gift. He kept dropping hints for a thank you note every time Marshall talked about a wedding present. At Halloween, Ted was dressed as a thank you note. Marshall is mortified as he says that it is a pride for Erikson's to send their thank you notes on time. He promises to make this right for Ted. Lily discovers that Ted never got a thank-you note because Stuart passed it off as his present; he claims the item further strengthened his marriage to Claudia. Stuart was in charge of getting Lily and Marshall a present and he forgot. By taking Ted's gift, he passed himself off as responsible in front of Claudia, who was having doubts about Stuart and decided to give him another chance. Based on that coffeemaker, Stuart built his entire marriage to Claudia.
Ted reconciles with Marshall by placing an order with their old Chicago pizza haunt Gazzola's and having a delivery man send it to Marshall as he and Daphne pass through Chicago. Marshall had explained the magic of the Gazzola's pizza to Daphne, but she refuses to stop when she learns that the place was originally closed down because of rats and has only been recently reopened.
Future Ted angrily says he received a thank-you note from Marshall four months later.
Loretta lets Robin keep the blouse but warns that she's not yet finished with her.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content