'How I Met Your Mother' Season 8, Episode 10: 'The Over-Correction' Recap

Lily, Marshall, Robin, and Ted are on four-way calling, all whispering in a panic.

“He’s coming everyone shut up!”

One week earlier:

At the bar, Marshall explains that his mom is coming to stay. Lily presents him a list of hotels, but Marshall insists she must stay with them. He asks to borrow Ted’s airmattress but Ted refuses, saying they never give anything back.

Barney is out with Patrice, which annoys Robin.

It’s an “overcorrection,” Ted hypothesizes—dating the opposite of Quinn.

Lily tries to get Marshall to have his mom stay with Ted. She says it’s crowded enough with Mickey around but he won’t give in.

Robin comes in and says Barney is clearly not serious about Patrice—he came into work, and asked Patrice to lunch. She clearly sees this as a way of getting her attention. She tried to explain Barney to Patrice, but Patrice can’t see past his obvious goodness. Robin needs to steal the playbook and show it to her.

“Or you could do almost anything else, and not sound so creepy.”

The advice doesn’t work. Robin breaks into Barney’s. She searches the apartment for the playbook, but Barney comes in hauling a Christmas tree and she hides in the closet.

Marshall’s mom is visiting, and she wants to talk to Lily. Judy confides in Lily that she’s ready to get back in the dating market… Lily helps her out, and undoes a button.

Robin calls Ted from Barney's closet, begging for aid.

Marshall, in the kitchen, hears Judy cooing to Marvin over the baby monitor. Then he realizes he is holding Marvin… then he hears Mickey cooing back. Marshall bursts into the bedroom, covering his son’s eyes at the horrific sight of the two together.

Ted shows up panting at Barney’s door, telling him Hugh Hefner is in the lobby. Barney grabs his red jacket and books it downstairs. Robin sneaks out but instead of leaving, she continues to look for the book. When she bumps into the Stormtrooper, it comes down from its secret compartment.

Marshall, shivering in a blanket, asks his mother what she is thinking. Mickey comes in wearing just a hoodie and chugging Gatorade.

Barney comes back up, and Robin grabs the book and returns to the closet. She calls Ted again and tells him to get her purse so Barney doesn't see it, but he doesn’t want to come back, until she reveals Barney has his red cowboy boots in the closet and she’ll return them. Ted tries to lure Barney out with Jon Bon Jovi, but no dice.

Robin sends him a picture of her holding his borrowed pocket knife to the boots, and he sneaks into the apartment.

Patrice comes in and Ted hides in the living room closet. Robin calls Lily, and hears the phone ring in Barney’s other closet. Marshall calls her to tell her he just saw the worst thing ever— hence the four-way call.

Lily dashes into Robin’s closet and the two hide. She explains she has been using Barney’s apartment to pump milk for Marvin because there’s more privacy and better T.V. She hears Barney tell Patrice to go to the bedroom, so Robin drops the playbook on the bed.

Mickey and Judy try to lure Marshall out of the closet, where he has locked himself.

Patrice finds the book, and confronts Barney about it. He admits the truth of it. Patrice goes to get some air, amazed that her Honeybear isn’t who she thought he was. Barney follows her to the balcony, and Lily, Robin, and Ted all emerge.

They all duck into the living room closet as they come back inside. Barney tells Patrice she makes him want to be a better person. She tells him she can’t be with a man who has a playbook, and he throws it in the trash and lights it on fire, while the three in the closet watch in amazement.

The fire alarm goes off, and Barney and Patrice go down to explain to the super. The three come out of hiding and head home.

When she comes home Marshall explains that his mom is getting back out there. Lily explains she helped her, and Marshall gets smug because she doesn’t realize what’s happening.

“My mom, and your dad, are humping.”

Lily throws up in her breast milk cooler (borrowed from Ted).

At the bar, Barney is on board with this news. He says that sometimes you don’t end up with who you expect.

Robin thinks Barney’s actions are a cry for help. She suggests an intervention.

They hold one. For her.

“Please tell me this is about my drinking.”

Marshall and Lily apologize to Mickey and Judy about how they acted. They tell them it’s okay to date… but Mickey and Judy insist it’s just about sex.

“We’re family. With benefits.”

Marshall and Lily, shivering in the blanket, hide themselves in the closet.