The Stamp Tramp

"The Stamp Tramp"

"The Stamp Tramp" is the seventh episode of the eighth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 167th episode overall.

Plot

Marshall reports to the gang that he chanced upon his old law school classmate Brad while going to work. Noting that Brad has been a bum for the past two years (and has applied to be a hotdog outlet mascot), Marshall decides to recommend him to his bosses as an associate partner. The gang is displeased with what Marshall did because he always gives stamps of approval to everyone and everything that comes his way. Lily notes that this has already earned him the ire of a senior partner, Mr Honeywell, after treating his colleagues to food from a restaurant with unsanitary health ratings. She states that this can even affect his performance in the case against Gruber Pharmaceuticals. Mr Honeywell is not impressed with Brad's attitude and later removes Marshall from the case, but he gets back with Ted and Lily's help.

Taking off from Marshall's story of stamping approvals, Ted tries to dispel Lily's claim that he has never sealed his own stamp of approval and piggybacked on everybody else's ideas. He pulls out his old video diary tapes from college to prove a point. Lily is touched when she sees one video entry where Ted approved of her as Marshall's potential soulmate after they went out on their third date.

Barney has discovered that his ex-fiancee, Quinn, has returned to stripping at the Lusty Leopard. Since appearing there would make things awkward for both of them, Barney decides to find a new strip club. Soon enough, numerous strip clubs woo him over even as a Lusty Leopard employee begs him to stay; Barney is one of the club's most loyal patrons. When Robin suggests further options, Barney lets her negotiate with the strip clubs. Her dealing results in Barney being the next patron of the seniors' joint "Golden Oldies". He fires Robin when he learns that the strip club - which he earlier rejected - bribed her with gifts. They reconcile by going drunk at Barney's new strip club, the Mouth Beach (which he announces at MacLaren's). Barney and Robin reflect on what happened and he kisses her - she momentarily returns it but soon rebuffs him and leaves.

At the hearing, Marshall and Mr Honeywell are stunned to see Brad among Gruber's lawyers. The company, who had actually hired Brad during those two years he told Marshall he was unemployed, planted him as a bum to spy on the law firm. Honeywell warns Marshall that he will be fired if Gruber - now well-informed of the prosecution's battle plan - wins the case. Future Ted says there will be more of the case later.

Music

• Dishwalla - Counting Blue Cars

Continuity

• Ted is forced to admit that he is Doctor X, a radio DJ at Wesleyan that was first revealed in the season 4 episode "The Possimpible." However, in the same episode, Marshall and Lily already knew it was him back in college. In this episode, a video diary entry shows that one of Ted's classmates suggested the moniker.
• Brad last appeared in the season 5 episode "Definitions" on a date with Robin.
• Ted again calls himself "Teddy Westside," from the season 5 episode "Rabbit or Duck."
• Marshall's firm, Honeywell and Cootes, rejected Gruber Pharmaceuticals' settlement offer in the season 7 episode "Field Trip."
• One of Ted's video entries touches on the origins of Marshall and Lily's love story, which was detailed in the season 3 episode "How I Met Everyone Else."
• Marshall does his stand-up comedy routine on fish.

Cultural references

• Ted claims that Doctor X promoted the band Dishwalla back in college, especially their hit single Counting Blue Cars.
• Robin compares Barney's pursuit of a new strip club to LeBron James' "Decision Special," right down to his formal announcement. Ted says the Cavs are a better team without James; Marshall retorts that LeBron has moved on and he should too.
• Ted claims his mother enjoys watching a movie only if Richard Dreyfuss is in the cast.
• Lily states Ted just started doing video diaries because of Winona Ryder's character in the film Reality Bites.

Critical reception

Todd van der Werff of the AV Club graded the episode at B, writing that in general the show "really does feel like a story that's kept going past its sell-by date," but that this episode "is one of the better half hours of the season, though it still features some of the show's recent comedic problems." He also noted that the story involving Marshall "elevates this episode from merely pleasant to downright enjoyable."

Hillary Busis of Entertainment Weekly described the plot involving Barney and Robin as "silly" and the story involving Ted and Lily as "sweet". With the story involving Marshall she commented that the return of Brad to the show was a "reason to be excited".

Michael Arbeiter of Hollywood.com said that the episode "doesn't offer much". He describes the Barney & Robin plot as having "a vile of energy that is almost bone-dry" and as "nonsense ... without so much as a single solid joke." Even the kiss at the end he calls "sudden, lazy, and unsurprising." With Brad and Marshall he writes that "in exchange for an easy plot twist [they] sell old Brad's character down the river." He says that no plot line is ever "utterly 'useless,' but "Ted's story this week is the closest thing to it."

Ethan Alter of Television Without Pity gave the episode a C, saying that overall it was a "moderately funny episode" that was "largely a time-waster that didn't advance the overarching plot in any significant way," although lately the overarching plot has been "terrible." He says the Barney & Robin story has a "belabored set-up" leading to a "dated pop culture joke." He says that Ted's story this week is "not much of a plot," although "douchey College Ted is one of the few remaining reliable sources of humor that this show has left."

Max Nicholson of IGN gave the episode a score of 5.3/10 (Mediocre), saying it was "pretty drab," but "noticeably more tolerable that before" and "still generally lacking in overall entertainment value." He wrote that the episode "featured a nice arc for Ted" and that "college Ted and Marshall are almost always good for a laugh." He commented that "Brad's return wasn't all it was cracked up to be" as the show "sullied a once liked character by turning them into someone else completely," He said that the Barney and Robin plot was "the most ludicrous and least inspired" storyline.