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How I Met Your Mother Review: “The Stamp Tramp” (Season 8, Episode 7)

So far this season of How I Met Your Mother has been quite a letdown. The plot has slowly winded its way to an abundance of insignificance, while far too few moments of hilarity have been sprinkled in. The season is still young however, so there's still plenty of time for the show to turn it around and have a strong finish worthy of the phenomenal series the fans have come to love.

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It’s determined that Lily has the most credible stamp, with everything all the way down to Robin’s bra being based on a Lily recommendation. Ted however, is simply a piggy-back stamper. The only new stamp he’s given is on a quality ear, nose, and throat doctor.

This revelation sends Ted on a hilarious quest to find something he was the first to recommend. Episodes that delve into Ted’s past, especially his college years, always provide great laughs. Of the three characters we get to see in college, Ted is by far the best. His pretentious moments are way more prevalent than they are in the modern day, and they’re such a great contrast to the relatively socially adjusted Ted we see now.

Ted thinks he’s onto something, he remembers a Dishwalla song that he insists he showed the whole campus to. Lily claims she was the one to show them, but Ted claims it was Dr. X who showed everyone. Lily brings up the obvious point that if Dr. X showed everyone then it wasn’t Ted’s stamp that mattered. Ted thinks about this for a second, and finally makes the not-so-shocking confession,  prompting the best planned, synchronized spit-take I’ve seen.

Ted spends the rest of the episode diving into his college video diaries (yes he made video diaries), searching for something, anything that he was the first to stamp. He comes to the crushing realization that not only was he lacking in new ideas, but he was also nowhere near as cool and sophisticated as he thought he was.

Eventually Lily and Ted stumble upon a clip of Ted and Marshall after Marshall’s third date with Lily. It turns out that Marshall was concerned maybe they were moving too fast, especially since he hadn’t dated any other girls in college. However, Ted puts Marshall’s concerns to rest by giving Lily the ultimate stamp of his approval, and saying that meeting the one when you’re 18 just means you get to spend that much more time with them. So it turns out even though Ted wasn’t the first to show everyone a new song, he did give a stamp of approval that led to a child, which isn’t a bad alternative.

Marshall’s stamp isn’t working out quite as well as Ted’s though. It turns out that Brad isn’t suited for any interview, let alone one set up by a friend. He make racist/sexist comments, talks about the upcoming case due to advice from his psychic and his astrologist, and he lets one rip before Marshall and his boss, Honeywell, leave the room.

Honeywell isn’t happy with Marshall’s advice, and Marshall begins to rescind his support of Brad before realizing no, he has to stand by his stamp. He points out that Brad was third in their class, and that impresses Honeywell, at least enough to go back into the interview for two more minutes.

Everything seems to be going well until basketball is brought up. It turns out the not-too-tall Honeywell has a bit of a size complex. And by a bit, I mean he’s about 5’6″ and thinks he’s 6’1″. Marshall plays along saying that since Honeywell is 6’1″ Marshall must be over 7 feet. Brad however won’t play along. He makes a few offensive comments before leaving to take a dump, and Honeywell has lost his confidence in Marshall.

When he is at first ignored, Marshall attempts to win his boss’ affection back, little by little, by first showing a funny internet video, then making a recommendation about combining cheese and caramel popcorn. Eventually he tells Honeywell that his deep v-neck works well, and his trust is regained.

When it’s time for the Gruber Pharmaceutical case, defending Gruber is none other than Brad. It turns out his horrible interview was all just an elaborate scheme to get into the office and spy on the strategy Marshall’s team had put together. Honeywell tells Marshall he has to win the case or he’s fired, but we don’t get the rest of that story yet.

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