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Recap / How I Met Your Mother S 5 E 16 Hooked

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Ted becomes hooked on a girl who is only keeping him as backup in case she can't follow through with the guy of her dreams.


This episode provides examples of:


  • Beautiful All Along: Subverted. Tiffany claims to have been very geeky and awkward in high school, but when Ted expresses surprise, she admits she was kidding.
    Tiffany: I've always been hot.
  • Cuteness Overload: Barney's teacup pig triggers this in women. And Marshall.
  • Jerkass Ball: Acknowledged in the intro. Ted's very callous towards Henrietta (at least at first), and Future Ted outright admits he was a complete jerk in this particular story.
  • Stringing the Hopeless Suitor Along: The whole plot is about people doing this, not fully rejecting someone who has no chance with them for various reasons.
    • Tiffany keeps Ted on the hook because he's a good backup option if things don't work out with the guy she really wants...
    • ...who in turn clearly doesn't care about her, and only humors her because she dotes on him.
    • Ted has kept his nerdy coworker Henrietta on the hook for ages because she fawns over him, but the experience with Tiffany pushes him to do the right thing and tell her it's just not gonna happen. Years later he finds out an even nerdier guy is on her hook.
    • Robin has also kept an older cameraman from her job on the hook because he does her favors. She promises to let him off... as soon as he finishes this load of laundry.
    • As a teenager, Marshall was hooked by a classmate who had an actual boyfriend, but kept Marshall around as her "secret" boyfriend who did her homework.
    • Lily has kept Scooter hooked for years, but it's not due to selfishness in her case. She really does want him to go away and leave her alone, but he's so pathetic that she can't bring herself to tell him "no" outright, and chickens out every time. When she finally does get up the courage, Marshall ends up pitying the poor bastard and won't let her do it.
    Marshall: Hang in there, Scoots! I'm not going to live forever.
  • That Came Out Wrong: When discussing the core premise of dragging people along Robin says that she's been on the hook and been the hooker... "Move past it guys. There have been times I've been a little loose, but money never changed hands."

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