"Wait for It" is the first episode in the
third season of the television series ''
How I Met Your Mother
''How I Met Your Mother'' (often abbreviated as ''HIMYM'') is an American sitcom created by Craig Thomas (screenwriter), Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for CBS. The series, which aired from September 19, 2005, to March 31, 2014, follows main char ...
'' and 45th episode overall. It originally aired on
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
on September 24, 2007.
Plot
Future Ted narrates to his children about the journey to becoming the man ready to meet their mother, beyond the simple tale of a yellow umbrella. At Marshall and Lily's wedding, Barney encourages Ted to "conquer New York," but Ted hesitates until Robin returns with a new boyfriend, Gael, sparking Ted to prove he's moved on. Ted, with Barney's help, aims to outdo Robin by dating someone impressive, ending up with Amy, a tattooed girl played by Mandy Moore.
Lily and Marshall, attempting to dislike Gael for Ted's sake during a double date, find themselves charmed by Gael's allure. Ted, focusing on Amy, impulsively gets a tattoo, leading to a humorous revelation the next morning of a butterfly tattoo on his lower back, shared with Barney, Lily, and Marshall.
Ted confronts Robin, feeling outpaced in their breakup, but learns Robin struggled with their split, soothing his ego with a peculiar reassurance about his physical attributes, leading Ted to claim victory over the breakup.
The episode closes with Barney anxiously anticipating the next slap from Marshall, as part of their ongoing Slap Bet, marking a countdown to an inevitable comedic moment.
Critical response
Donna Bowman of ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
'' rated the episode B+.
Staci Krause of ''
IGN
''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
'' gave the episode 8.7 out of 10.
Joel Keller of ''
TV Squad
Weblogs, Inc. was a blog network that published content on a variety of subjects, including tech news, video games, automobiles, and pop culture. At one point, the network had as many as 90 blogs, although the vast majority of its traffic could b ...
'' originally said Moore "doesn't pull
er hard-ass roleoff", although later said that she wasn't too bad.
References
External links
*
{{How I Met Your Mother episodes, 3
How I Met Your Mother season 3 episodes
2007 American television episodes